Are choco abs a thing of the past? Probably not, but there does seem to be a new wave of heroes making a comeback, and sweeping the ‘Beast Men’ under the rug.

For a while now, the so-called Beast Men have cropped up and taken center stage, as a reaction against the ‘Flower Pretty Boy’ trend that piqued with dramas like Coffee Prince and made metrosexual pretty boys a pan-Asian phenomenon.

But it looks like the pretty boys are making a comeback, this time in the guise of ‘Candy Men,’ as in the cartoon, Candy. To be more specific, they’re being described as ‘Terius Men,’ named for Candy‘s leading male character, the ever-so-pretty boy of flowing locks and perfect complexion.

(...)
Read the rest of Goodbye beast men, hello candy men? (269 words)

© girlfriday for Dramabeans, 2010. | Permalink | 217 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Boys Before Flowers, Kim Hyun-joong, Micky Yoochun, Playful Kiss, Song Joong-ki, Sungkyunkwan Scandal

In honor of My Girlfriend is a Gumiho premiering this week, we thought it would be a good time to define what a gumiho is, and discuss this mythical creature’s cultural implications on gender, film, and tv. This isn’t a comprehensive definition, by any means, because there are endless number of myths, folktales, films, and dramas that feature gumihos in them. But I’ll cover the basics and discuss what’s interesting about this figure from a cultural point of view.

(...)
Read the rest of Pop Culture: Gumiho (1,011 words)

© girlfriday for Dramabeans, 2010. | Permalink | 83 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: featured, Gumiho: Tale of the Fox's Child, My Girlfriend Is a Gumiho

One of the reasons girlfriday and I wanted to open up the blog to this Pop Culture series is because we’d sometimes like to depart from the norm and muse about stuff. It allows us to take something from pop culture or society at large and run with it. Girlfriday took on the piggyback ride in her first entry, and I thought this would be the perfect occasion to bring up something that’s always struck me as odd and fascinating and disturbing: a particular fairy tale.

The catalyst for this post was a song by FT Island called “The Angel and the Woodcutter.” I had been listening to a lot of FT Island last year (blame You’re Beautiful) and one of their songs caught my attention because it was catchy and fun. But then I checked the title, and all of a sudden I felt conflicted.

You see, The Fairy and the Woodcutter is an old Korean fairy tale that many/most Korean kids grow up hearing, and even back as a child it had bothered me. I didn’t realize back then why, I only knew that it seemed really… wrong. But listening to FT Island’s song brought back all those early memories, and when I played the song back and listened to the lyrics closely, I remembered all those reasons I’d been so unsettled by the original fairy tale.

SONG OF THE DAY

FT Island – “천사와 나무꾼” (The Angel and the Woodcutter) [ Download ]

(...)
Read the rest of Pop Culture: The Fairy and the Woodcutter (1,695 words)

© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2010. | Permalink | 134 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: song lyrics

Hey, girlfriday here to kick off a new series that we’re doing, to call attention to some of the recurring motifs in kdramaland, by way of pop culture. Topics will range from cultural bits of Koreanness, to drama tropes, folktales, to things we simply find amusing or interesting, in tv/film/music. It’s intentionally broad, so that we can keep it free and loose, and we invite you to ask questions about things you’ve always wondered about, like why people in dramas always take out their cell phone batteries. (Answer: It’s a more dramatic action onscreen than pressing the OFF button, which is visually ambiguous.)

We thought long and hard about the inaugural post, and realized, of course, that it had to start with the mother of all drama tropes: The Piggyback Ride.

(...)
Read the rest of Pop Culture: Piggyback Rides (755 words)

© girlfriday for Dramabeans, 2010. | Permalink | 207 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Coffee Prince, My Name Is Kim Samsoon, Personal Taste

Here’s an article that takes a look at the growing trend of non-Korean actors being featured on television, which caught my eye because it talks about one of the leads in the new weekend comic drama Tamra the Island, which I’m enjoying.

“Foreigners on television are no longer unfamiliar”

On the 8th, viewers watching MBC’s new weekend drama Tamra the Island [탐나는도다] may have cocked their heads. That was because of the appearance of the lead French actor with the golden hair and blue eyes in the role of William. Hwang Chan-bin, birth name Pierre Deporte, is a Frenchman who attended high school in Korea. He couldn’t forget his home country and after graduating from university he returned to Korea and first met the public on the program Global Talk Show [aka Misuda, 미녀들의 수다], and now has even appeared in a television drama.

(...)
Read the rest of Western actors becoming more visible on Korean TV (673 words)

© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2009. | Permalink | 76 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Hwang Chan-bin, Misuda, Tamra the Island, variety shows

The new Miss Korea has been crowned, and she is Kim Ju-ri, a 21-year-old studying at the Bolshoi Ballet school in Russia.

The Miss Korea Pageant took place on the evening of July 8 at Seoul’s Sejong Center for the Performing Arts, and was hosted by former Miss Korea finalist and now actress-mother-wife Sohn Tae-young. Kim Ju-ri takes over from last year’s winner, Na Ri (whom you may recall suffered criticism for not being “pretty enough” for the win). Preceding her was Lee Ji-sun, who won in 2007, and before her was Honey Lee in 2006.

(...)
Read the rest of A new Miss Korea is crowned (267 words)

© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2009. | Permalink | 62 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Miss Korea

In last week’s Open Thread, a back-and-forth developed between two commenters that caught my eye, because it dealt with a point that had been at the back of my mind for a while. Ever since I first saw the smash 2006 romantic comedy 200 Pound Beauty [미녀는 괴로워], in fact.

The comments dealt with 200 Pound Beauty‘s plastic-surgery themes, and echoed some of my own reservations with the movie. Don’t get me wrong; I totally enjoyed watching it — it was light, funny, nicely acted — but something just didn’t sit right with me at the end. And the conversation that emerged last week captured that debate very well, I thought.

So, I asked both Sere and Samsooki if they would be okay with furthering the discussion in a sort of point-counterpoint conversation (similar to how Dahee and I discussed a particular drama character previously). They’ve both graciously agreed to go with it, and here’s the result.

Hope you enjoy!

SONG OF THE DAY

200 Pound Beauty OST – “Beautiful Girl” by Kim Ah-joong. [ Download ]

(...)
Read the rest of Point-counterpoint: Pursuing beauty in 200 Pound Beauty (4,021 words)

© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2009. | Permalink | 164 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: 200 Pound Beauty, Kim Ah-joong

Mea culpa.

I admit I’ve looked upon celebrity involvement in charity promotion and public campaigns with a skeptical eye, as I did in the original post featuring Lee Wan, above, who participated (along with Kim Rae-won and Lee Junki) in a campaign to raise awareness for the adoption of disabled children.

Well, I got an email this morning informing me that Soo-hoon, aka Sonny, pictured above with Lee Wan, was recently adopted into a loving family last month. The 13-year-old Sonny has Down Syndrome and grew up under the care of Holt International, and is now a happy resident in Iowa. Jake Krob, Sonny’s proud adoptive father, wrote up his adoption experience for an Iowa paper, which gives a moving account of the way Sonny came to be a member of the family. (If you don’t tear up, you can’t have a heart!)

When we’re talking stars who promote charitable organizations, you’ll inevitably get a segment of people scoffing that it’s all for self-promotion and image-conscious career calculation — like netizens backlashing against “donation angel” Moon Geun-young, or criticizing Choi Kang-hee‘s bone marrow donation as a PR stunt. But you know what? If a raised profile — no matter the motive — in any way helps to complete a happy family as in Sonny’s case, well, the rest of the bad stuff just falls away.

So, yes: snark reflex has been duly checked and noted.

Also: Anyone have a shortcut to Lee Wan’s management or PR team? I was able to pass along the general contact info for his management company (Logos Film), but if anyone’s got a better way to get in touch, please let me (and Jake) know!

Via Mt. Vernon Lisbon Sun

RELATED POSTS

• Speaking up for adoption
• Stars raise awareness (about selves)
• No celebrity good deed goes unpunished
• What’s with all the babies?

© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2009. | Permalink | 30 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: good deeds, Lee Wan

Jo has taken a public battering after he expressed his desires for a place in his children’s lives when their mother and primary caregiver committed suicide in October. He read a statement explaining that he had been accused of making a shameless grab for Choi’s money, which was never his intent. However, he recognizes that as a result of all the fighting between his side and Choi’s family’s side, many people were hurt.

Jo’s withdrawal from the matter now, he feels, is the best way to set things on the right path for Choi’s family and his children.

He’ll still be their father in name, but only in name: Jo has agreed to legally transfer the children’s guardianship to their grandmother, in accordance with the Choi family’s wishes. He’ll also withdraw any claims to power of attorney or the handling of Choi’s property.

Well. Behold the power of public opinion.

Via Star News

RELATED POSTS

• Jo Sung-min tells his side of the story
• Jo Sung-min faces opposition from a citizens’ campaign
• More on Choi Jin-shil’s suicide
• Choi Jin-shil found dead, indicators point to suiicde

© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2008. | Permalink | 23 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Choi Jin-shil, Jo Sung-min, lawsuits

I hadn’t intended on posting about actress Ok So-ri‘s current adultery case, because South Korean law is one subject that I freely admit is beyond me. But the news has hit the international newswire, so here we go:

The 39-year-old Ok, who enjoyed most of her popularity in the ’90s (her last film was 1996′s Karuna), admitted to having an affair. That alone was scandalous enough, but in Korea, adultery is still a criminal offense. Korea’s adultery rate is high, but rarely is it actually prosecuted. (Imagine the overcrowding of prisons were that true!) However, a 55-year-old adultery law has enabled Ok’s husband to press charges. Ok has attempted to overturn the law, but the prosecution is now looking to send her to jail. TO JAIL. FOR ADULTERY.

Reuters says:

“South Korean enacted its adultery law more than 50 years ago to protect women who had few rights in the male-dominated society but critics say now it is a draconian measure no longer fit for a country with an advanced civil and family court system. …Last month, the Constitutional Court said adultery damaged the social order and therefore was a criminal offence.”

Now, I’m not condoning cheating, but the problem is that this is an archaic law and is being misapplied here as a revenge tactic more than a protection of rights. It’s also pretty damn hypocritical given that Korea’s got a booming sex trade (with the vast majority of johns being men, married and otherwise) and an extremely high (and ever-increasing) divorce rate.

Way to punish one person for the “crimes” of an entire nation, Korea. This here is some fecking messed-up shiz, people.

Via Arts News, Chosun Ilbo, Reuters

© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2008. | Permalink | 58 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: lawsuits, ranty/ravey