To be so close to home yet so far away by the wretched barbed wires of DMZ…
Although free from the oppressions of North Korea, freedom doesn’t seem all that sweet for the students of Hangyeore High School including Haejung. Hangyeore High School is a special boarding school founded to help North Korean teens adjust to life in South Korea. At the same time, this also meant that the teens were unfortuantely separated from their families in the North. A severe culture shock is not an abnormal transition these teens go through while living in the South. It must be very wondrous yet strange to accept how much more advanced the South is compared to the North, technologically and economically, yet while the North and South are part of the same one country. The students’ biggest dream is not only to fit in with the everyday society of the South, but to see the day the North and the South become one. The annual field trip to the DMZ for the students is a once-a-year chance for the students to stand ever so close to their original home without being allowed to enter it. The DMZ is not just a border; it is a grim reminder of the Korean War and the animosity between the North and the South. Yet the students still hope. With the recent events of the North Korean rocket launches, it is fairly difficult to determine whether or not if reunification is possible.
People tend to indulge themselves into fictional worlds to satisfy their fantasies and ideals. Often times this fictional world is visualized through media, especially dramas. Connecting this idea to Korea, we realized that most of Korean romance dramas have their storylines based on the well-known fairytale Cinderella in which reflects many people’s dreams of experiencing “rags-to-riches” and eventually leading to a happy ending. Although the basic plot has always remained the same in many Korean dramas, the characters changed as the ideals of people changed over time. These changes are apparent on their fashion, makeup, personalities, age and their interaction with the opposite gender. Dramas that take the risk to incorporate revolutionary factors are seen as the archetypes and those that follow the new trend are seen as stereotypes.
Cinderella, a fairy tale, is the archetype of the storyline of Korean romance dramas.
Reflection
When we settled on focusing on archetypes and stereotypes of Korean dramas, we realized that it was fairly a large subject, as there were so many aspects altogether despite the very few genres Korean dramas cover. Thus, we decided to focus on a narrower category: Korean romance dramas. Reflecting on many well-known Korean romance dramas, we noticed that many of the storylines scripted from the shows all followed or were inspired by the plot of the fairytale Cinderella. In addition, we were able to quickly sum up just about every stereotypical characteristic of Korean romance dramas as they were constantly shown.
(A stereotypical scene would depict the ”prince” saving the “poor girl “from danger, resulting the ”prince” looking heroic and the “poor girl” falling in love with him.)
At first, we were afraid that there weren’t any archetypal aspects of Korean romance dramas as most of the ideas from each shows are constantly recycled. However, as we researched deeper into the subject, we discovered a few new changes and revolutionary attempts regarding characters and genre. For example, the archetype of a Korean romance drama female character was Ko Eun Chan from “Coffee Prince” (2007), who started the “tomboy” trend. Another archetype example would be “Full House” (2003), which was the first Korean romance drama based on a comic.
Dramas today portray strong and active female characters or tomboys like EunChan from Coffee Prince.
The archetypal drama, Full House, started the new trend of comic-based dramas.
The drama, School 1, is the archetype of school dramas for adolescents.
What we found unfortunate as we worked on this project was that we could have compared and contrasted the dialogue, the soundtrack and other media aspects of past and today’s dramas yet we were unable to do so as videos of past dramas were rare. Thus, we settled upon analyzing what we observed from images. The first difference we noticed was that characters in the past dramas were depicted with gender stereotypes. For example, a female character of the past was always represented weak, fragile, and polite while a male character of the past was always neat and gentleman-like. Small variety of personalities was reflected on the limited facial expressions such as a mild smile or blank face. On the other hand, dramas nowadays feature male and female characters with wider range of personality and physical traits. For example, the main heroine of “Boys Over Flowers” (2009) is very rebellious and stubborn while the main hero was first featured as a very arrogant and immature brat. In turn, today’s dramas portray characters with much more facial expressions that are full of excitement, anger or agony.
With pale skin and long hair, female characters in the past were portrayed as pure and weak.
Male characters in the past were portrayed as neat, manly, mature and hardworking. Notice the combed hair and tucked in shirt.
(Male characters today are often portrayed as immature in the beginning, but grow up as the series progresses.)
(Female characters today are often portrayed as courageous and active.)
Despite repetitive and tacky plots, Korean audiences still enjoy romance dramas because they reflect their most ideal romantic fantasies. The audience understands unrealistic aspects of dramas but this does not change the fact that romantic stories give pleasure to people.
Audience and Archetypes/Stereotypes
Among the images of Korean romance dramas, we could determine archetypes and stereotypes by exploring which drama began certain trends that diverged from traditional styles. Entering the 21st century, drama producers experimented on innovative ideas that broke away from the stereotypical 90’s dramas. Most notable change was in the portrayal of female and male characters. The usual traits of manly male characters and submissive and calm female characters started to overlap, which eventually began the new “pretty boy” and tomboy trend. For example, in the drama “Coffee Prince” (2007), the main female character, EunChan was a tomboy with short hair. EunChan became the archetype because after this show, many successor female characters in the following dramas were portrayed with short hair, who we view as the stereotypes. Another major change in Korean drama is the combination of couples from older guy and younger girl to younger guy and older girl. The archetypal drama “Snow White” (2004) started this new trend and resulted in many copied couples in other dramas that followed.
The archetypal drama, Snow White, started the new trend of younger-guy-and-older-girl trend.
Despite directors’ innovative experiments, Korean romance dramas still follow the stereotypical setting and storyline of Cinderella. In many dramas, there is a rich male character, a poor female character and a jealous, rich female character who tries to break the other two apart. Images of male characters in luxurious clothing and huge houses are stereotypical in this respect. Similarly, images of main female characters in cheap clothing are also stereotypical. The attire each characters wear usually reflects the social status the respective characters are in. For example, a man in a formal suit could be from a wealthy family that owns a successful company while a woman in plain shirt and dress is normally of what a commoner would wear.
Female characters are usually poor and often get help from the male characters.
Stereotypical antagonists are rich girls/women who are jealous of protagonist female characters.
Ideal male characters are usually very wealthy.Female characters are usually poor and often get help from the male characters.Female characters are usually poor and often get help from the male characters.
All of the images we found are intended for Korean audiences because these drama elements are well recognized and acknowledged by Koreans. Male and female are evenly represented. In the past, age group of twenties and early thirties were widely represented, but today, adolescents are more widely represented. Since we are focusing on romance dramas, elders are least represented.
A common factor of all the dramas from 1990s to today is that the characters and storyline represent the ideal figures and situations of the time period the show is aired. Dramas are created to give satisfaction to people by showing something people dream of. This is part of reason why many people dress like the characters in our images; to make themselves close to the idealistic figures in dramas.
Vocabulary and Word Cloud
vocabulary-list-for-korean-romance-dramas.doc – Here is a list of key vocabulary terms which relate to archetypes and stereotypes of Korean romance dramas.
(Alphabetical order)
Archetype
Audience
Character Development
Cinderella
Comic-based
Differences
Diligent Guy
Fashion
Fragile Women
Hairstyle
Happy Ending
Hero
Idealistic
Immature Guy
Innocent Women
Jealous competitor
Korean Romance Dramas
Love Triangle
Make up
Mature Guy
Older ♀ ♥ Younger ♂
Older ♂ ♥ Younger ♀
Past
Present
Princely
Rescue
Rich v. Poor
School Drama
Similarities
Stereotype
Strong Women
Tomboy
Trend
TV Couples
Younger Characters
Resources and Links
archetypes-and-stereotypes-of-korean-romance-drama11.ppt – Here is a slideshow summarizing most of the archetype and stereotype elements of Korean romance dramas, ranging from characters and subgenres.
Cormac McCarthy, author of "All The Pretty Horses"
1. What authors or genres of writing are cited as influencing McCarthy’s writing style?
The NY Times article views McCarthy’s writing as a combination of Larry McMurthry’s “Lonesome Dove” and Mark Twain’s “Huckleberry Finn” yet McCarthy’s vision is much deeper and darker. This is understandable as there is much emphasis on Western elements in “All the Pretty Horses”. Although the novel begins with typical Western and nostalgic imageries, the story eventually transitions into showing the dark sides of human nature and the decay of old Western traditions. The article also mentions that “Cormac McCarthy must be acknowledged as a talent equal to William Faulkner…”
2. How does McCarthy treat human characters in his story as opposed to landscape and animals like horses?
While McCarthy’s portrayal of Western landscapes and animals are elaboratly detailed and symbolic (almost fantasy-like and beautiful) the human characters are shown as victims suffering from the results of civilization development and disperse of old traditions. John Grady Cole and his friend Rawlins “escaped” from America to Mexico in order to live on as ranch cowboys, yet what they face later after a short bliss is the evil side of human nature.
3. What type of dialogue does the article state McCarthy uses?
The article states that McCarthy incorporates realistic dialogue in his fiction writings. While reading “All the Pretty Horses”, I felt that the style of the dialogue was accurate enough to hear the characters’ voices “speaking” in my head.
4. What is notable about his diction (word choice)?
The article mentions that McCarthy’s “diction and phrasing come from all over the evolutionary history of English…resembling Elizabethan language in its flux of remarkable possibilities.” At the same time, McCarthy’s choice of words are simple enough for the reader to comprehend what exactly is going on, almost as if “watching” the events of the story occurring frame-by-frame like a feature film.
#1. In what ways would you need to change your routine in order to disconnect yourself from all media (i.e. no TV, no Internet, etc.) What problems would you encounter if you unplugged for one day? One week? One month?:
One way I am able to disconnect myself from all media is to visit my grandmother’s place which is away from the city. There, I am unable to access to the Internet and although there is a TV, I rarely watch it as there is no cable. I may be able to survive a couple of days or even a week without the media by entertaining myself with my other hobbies such as reading, drawing, or writing stories. But later on, my symptoms of being media-deprived may include the following: refusing to do anything but sleeping (and eating), running around screaming like a maniac (this is actually true), suddenly becoming a pessimistic wretch, and more.
#2. How many hours per week do you estimate you spend on Facebook or similar personal networking sites? What are the benefits and disadvantages of using these sites?:
While the hours I spend on Facebook or similar personal networking sites are very small (1-2 hours at most), the time I spend on the computer is shockingly no less than 12 hours…per day. The benefits may be that I am able to express myself more freely online as I am socially introvert. Also I am able to make online friends who have very similar interests that I have. The obvious disadvantage is that I am unable to focus on my school assignments and even worse, college applications. Thus I now usually begin homework at very late time and recieve only a few – or even no – hours of god-blessed sleep. Also, I sometimes feel briefly unsecure whenever a stranger asks me to add him as a friend on Facebook. Naturally, I decline his/her (but mostly his) offer yet I frequently question myself whether a certain person online is being true about themselves.
#3. To what extent are you aware of viral marketing, the use of “advertorials” (presenting advertisements as editorial content), or direct marketing on Facebook and other social networking sites?:
I am very aware of (and am very much annoyed by) the multi-number of advertisment links and graphics that raid well-known social networking sites. I may have come across a few “advertorials” but I am not quite so sure myself.
#4. Personal response based on your individual viewing of “Growing Up Online”.:
The first words that came to my mind while watching this documentary were, “Reality Check.” Current media is creating a giant gap between the child/teen generation and the adult generation. One generation cannot easily comprehend the other. The younger generation is evidently mentally more advanced online-wise, which isn’t always an advantage. In turn, parents take the rightful (to their eyes anyway) action to protect their children from being victimized by the Web yet this also has its own disadvantages. This can even create a conflict between a parent and a child just because of something that made everybody’s lives just easier: the Internet. It’s not the Internet’s fault that some dad or mom and a kid are cat-fighting with each other over “freedom of rights” or whatnot; it is how the kid uses the Internet that affects the outcome.
School, a certain period when the majority goes through in a dragging, painstaking manner to spend the rest of their 60 years with a successful life involving good payment, good job, and good life. And they say that high school is the major determination of your adult life: You live in a box or you don’t live in a box, some people may jokingly (yet terrifyingly) say. With such amount of pressure and anxiety, it is not so surprising that many students choose to cheat to succeed.
Although I am Korean, I feel particularily ashamed of my own home country. The original usage of private institutes or hagwons is now being abused; what originally was merely a test-preparer now became a test-taker. I remember groaning at one certain incident at our school when a man attempted to steal a PSAT or SAT test booklet. Nowadays, there are even issues about teachers at hagwons writing college admission essays for students. What I find shocking is how despite these negative impressions, parents still continuously send their child to an endless line of hagwons with long-hour lessons. Another problem with hagwons is that they disable students from developing independent and creative minds. I recall how much I disliked attending art hagwons drawing nothing but fruits and objects with a simple graphite pencil for countless hours and days.
Cheating is not a major problem in only Korea; this is a major problem at an international scale. What is wrong with the world? we wonder. Perhaps is the innately inevitable for students to lie, steal or cheat. Or maybe it is an instinct they follow as everybody desires to be successful by attending a prestigious college for money, degree, and fame.
Young & Restless in China is a documentary film that focuses on the lives of nine young Chinese who struggle and adapt to live in a generation in which China quickly becomes a booming society.
1. Why do you think Miranda Hong describes her generation of Chinese as “confused”?
As China develops and changes, so does the lives of the current generation of Chinese. Hong recalls how in the past people had to obtain ration tickets to buy fabric; by the 90s, China became a totally different world for certain people, a world where they could get rich at a fast pace and have a good life. It was interesting to note how there were two other people who mentioned to be “confused.” Wei Zhanyan, a migrant worker, was “confused” of her engagement to a total stranger, as she favored to be free and independent – making her own choices and decisions without parental rules and reputations – and pondered over her life after marriage. Ben Wu, an Internet café entrepreneur and a consultant was also “confused” as how he missed his family back in China while he was studying in a whole different region, the U.S.
2. In what ways do you think Ben Wu, the entrepreneur launching the Internet café, is representative of the “new China”?
Ben Wu is a “returning turtle,” someone returning to his home country after studying and/or working abroad. While developing his Internet café, he decides to launch his new franchise using his studies from New York. He stands as one of the representative of the “new China” by influencing the China economy and society with influences from the West. This can be referred to as globalization.
7. To what extent are the struggles of the rapper, Wang Xiaolei, unique as a Chinese artist? Do you think that his life is typical of artists elsewhere? Explain your position.
Wang Xiaolei is a rapper, but not a typical rapper or celebrity one would imagine; he lives in poverty with his grandfather, making just enough money just to eat. The lyrics of his songs are very satirically explicit, expressing dark viewing on the booming China. He relates to “returning turtles” by being influenced by the culture of hip hop. He also seems to be spiritual, as he has a tattoo of the name of an ancient singing goddess.
Popularily in the media, there exists a gap between the warrior elements of the West and Asia. While the West depicts warriors as masculine and savage-like, the warriors of Asia are frequently portrayed with agile moves. Even their warrior attires are visibly different. Warriors from Western media are often clad with heavy armory while warriors from Asian media are dressed in simple silk-materialized cloth. Compare the fierceness of Achilles and Hector (Troy) to the gracefulness of Jin and Leo (House of Flying Daggers):
Women warriors, on the other hand, are occasionally viewed inferior to men warriors yet are still popular in media. In fact the aspects of men and women warrior, both Western and Asian are hardly different. Compare the fighting styles of Xena (Xena the Warrior Princess) to Jen and Yu Shu-lien (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon):
In The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston, tells us the story of Hua Mulan (not Fa Mulan from the Disney film) who was trained for years in the wilderness and disguised herself as a man to fight her enemies and protect her village. Warriors of the Asian media tend to connect with nature; the poses and moves the fighters use in combat represent animals (which is played on in the animated film Kung Fu Panda) and the fights usually involve with a natural enviroment. One good example is this scene from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon:
The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts is a memoir by Maxine Hong Kingston and a unique one too. Jess Row from the SlateMagazine called it “a book without a genre.” While memoirs are usually autobiographical, The Woman Warrior is more precisely semi-autobiographical, as it incorporates a largely noticeable numbers of fictional elements within the writing.
I was actually looking forward to reading this book as memoirs are one of my favorite genres in literature. As I did begin reading, I came to realize that I was reading a very odd yet unique text. The first chapter (or story), “No Name Woman”, was very frank and easy to follow, regarding the narrator’s fictional and nonfictional history of her late “no name” aunt. However the second chapter, “White Tigers”, was a puzzler. Compared to the prior story, this story was much more fictional, even fantasy-like, and the fact that the narrator suddenly identifies herself as the well-known heroine Hua Mulan threw me off at first. Although it is very predictable that the rest of this book will still have the turbulent balance of fictional and nonfictional elements, that is perhaps why this book was widely praised and became one of the most commonly taught text in educational fields. In a way, this book serves as a freedom of imaginations and thoughts of one girl who is a captive under her traditionally authoritarian parents. With this memoir, Kingston “fights” against this cultural aspect; she is the “woman warrior.”
Now before I begin my response, I would like to first mention that I am Korean and to those other than my teacher and my classmates and my friends, if you find any content of my writing particularly degrading to the Korean culture, I apologize but please don’t bash me. I am only expressing my views on this article.
“First and Second Generation Conflict in Education of the Asian American Community” by Samuel S. Kim records the drop out rate of Korean Ivy League students as 44%, which is much higher than 34% of America, 25% of Chinese, and 21% of Indian students. What could possibly have convinced the Koreans to choose to drop out? Is it the amount of work and/or pressure? That can’t be true as the majority of Korean students’ lives are affected by the cultural values of education and competition. From his research, Kim theorizes that the main reason Korean students choose to quit their college courses halfway is because of how the Korean mindset is very much focused on education and success. In turn, students are unable to spend time or even enjoy extracurricular activities and then become isolated from the American mainstream and community.
According to the thesis, Korean students consume 75 percent of their time available for studying, while they allocate only 25 percent to extracurricular activities such as community service.
In contrast, American students and those from other countries tend to equally share their time for both study and other activities.
I cannot help but agree to this article. When I see my cousins here in Korea, I cannot help but feel sorry for how they never get to spend even five minutes to go out and play. Although they are both very hard-working students and may not even attend an Ivy League school, they will unable to actually experience “fun” outside the education boundaries.
As this is my last year in high school, I have been thinking a lot about my future life in college. Most of those times, I worry whether or not I am able to make new friends especially because I think of myself as a quiet introvert on first impressions. Although I have made huge improvements and efforts on my social skills, I must practice speaking more comfortably with others outside my family and circle of friends and acquaintances before I head to my new world.
