Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Hallyu has struck me

When I talk to a Korean in the evening it's not unusual for him/her to have been watching a drama. Well! I found out about those dramas! Here is the one I've been watching:

http://www.koreanmovie.com/Lovers_in_Paris_video101_1_1_6121/


I'm in the 12th episode. What a time-waster. What a GREAT time-waster!!

And hallyu?
To understand the phenomenon-termed Hallyu (The Korean Wave)-one has to go back to the 1980s says Frances Gateward, assistant professor of Cinema Studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. During the 1980s, South Korea relaxed its film-censorship laws allowing a new generation of young actors, directors and writers to draw heavily on current events and themes of urban alienation, making for more dynamic narratives. In the 1990s, increased investment improved in the industry's production values. Today, a host of Korean directors and producers who came of age during the 1980s are creating big-budget, outside-the-box entertainment. They're young: 70% of films in Korea are directed by people just out of film school, and major Korean directors are, on average, a dozen years younger than their American counterparts. According to Gateward, this gives Korean films a different sensibility than Hollywood releases-and an edge with Asian audiences.
http://www.koreasociety.org/contemporary_issues/contemporary_issues/hallyu_korean_pop_culture_sweeps_across_asia.html

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