Korean Dramas and Their InfluenceS

Assalammualaikum.

I'm not proud of it but I have to admit that I am a fan of Korean dramas.
I must say, it has taken my free time away. I used to use them to read books.
This Halyu wave first came to Malaysia in 2004 I think.
I was form 3 at that time. The first few K-dramas were Full House, Stairways to Heaven and Winter Sonata.
I remembered SIGNING a contract with Mama - I get 3 hours of TV time per day but if I don't do well in my PMR trial, I will be left with only 1 hour.

Those 3 hours were for:
2 -3 pm Korean Drama at 8TV. Jewel in The Palace was aired at this time.
6 - 7pm Cantonese Drama on TV3
7 - 8pm Cantonese Drama on either TV2 or TV3; whichever more interesting. Later on, 8TV started airing Korean drama during this slot.

I did manage to keep my 3 hour TV time that year ✌

Korean dramas have their own attractions - those good looking actors and actresses are definitely their biggest magnet but they also have good scripts and storyline.
The plot - although sometimes predictable, is good and always some form of lessons in it.

The Theme

Each drama has its own theme and the story is made up revolving around this theme.
Descendants of The Sun - soldiers
Goblin -  supernatural world within our world
Jewel in The Palace - herbs, medicine and the kitchen of the palace

And each theme has substance.
Although they sometimes don't make sense eg the drama Emergency Couple where they made intern doctors working in the ED as the theme (I can assure you we don't have time to brawl over petty things in the hospital cafe if we're in our ED shift) but they are not vague either.
They showed the hours spent in the kitchen / military training / lectures and stuff.

The Script and Acting

Efforts are also put in to make the scripts real
The dialogues were carefully strung together.
And the actors actresses were convincing when they said it (of course, not ALL of them).

The Cons?

But let's face it.
The story itself is unreal.
How can they have so much time, to always hang out in a cafe (each drama will have its own cafe sponsor hence ALL the cafe scenes will be in that cafe, dal.komm cafe for instance - it appears million times in Goblin / DOTS )

The actresses don't do dieting - they eat everything from fried chicken delivery in the middle of the night to soju and BBQ chicken in the middle of the day - yet they are all so slim and thin and some were even muscular.

They are always doing exciting things. They are not even glued to the screen, watching K-dramas.
I always think, is this how life is in Korea?
They have time to go grab coffee en route to work?
They ride buses and tubes to work - only the rich has cars.
They walk around the beautiful parks.
They cry at the Han River banks at night when they are sad?

But how come I don't get to do that?
How come I am just so lazy to go out of the house to have a nice and peaceful tea time at the nearest cafe?
I rather stay at home - and watch Korean dramas, and watch them do all the things I wish I can do. The irony 😒

Anyway, I think I have to reduce my TV time now.
I have more than 3 hours per day of TV time nowadays, on my off days - which is really not good.

But then, with the increasing price of everything won't it be cheaper to just stay at home?
I pay a certain amount for my internet bills, no matter how many hours I stream every day.

Oh well
Til then,

-Because life is a test-

 -AkMaR- http://nur-akmar.blogspot.com