The Problematic of the Unproblematic

It's been a while since my last Top 5 post. Yes, I was busy with other stuff! With Lee Jun-ki, for example. But now, it's become quiet in KDramaland - and I will have to wait for new episodes of my two current shows. Time to do some deep thinking about ... things. After trees, permed hair, and snow, I want to tackle something serious for a change: Female Characters. Me, myself, and I are totally in agreement with this selection. Yes, it was super easy and very harmonious: We knew within 10 seconds who would go on this list. It's quite obvious what all of these characters have in common: they are atypical, independent, strong, sometimes rebellious women that go against the grain of society. If you want to use the term 'feminist' in relation to KDrama, these characters are as feminist as they come. Though they do not openly fight for a bigger feminist cause, they fight their own micro-battles against men, against women, against conventions that want to shackle them...

This is the last of the Arang vs. Faith comparisons. It is a bit late, since both shows have ended - but the Internets are still abuzz with people getting over this very fact. One of the Faith pages on Facebook has actually started to dedicate each day to a Faith episode: That's some laudable coping strategy! Heck, it was an intense drama summer and not least because of these two shows, which kept us company for so many weeks and made Monday to Thursday drama-expectation days. And if you like the romance aspects of KDramas, both Faith and Arang and the Magistrate made you get your money's worth.   Faith The Imja-couple doesn't exactly start off on the right foot. He kidnaps her from modern Seoul and she is terrified of him for the first few episodes. Well, at least until she stabs him with his sword and almost kills him - not because of the stabbing, but because she operates on him, which causes sepsis. Choi Young has great healing abilities and a strong inner ki...

Inspired by the currently falling snow hereabouts (why, why, why??), I've decided to pick five memorable snow scenes from KDramaland. I made this myself today. A true beauty! This time round, the "Top 5" also include horribly sad scenes, so it's not Top 5 wonderful Snow Scenes, but just 5 Snow Scenes that I can remember. If there happens to be KDrama-snow-experts among you, my choices may seem odd, because some of the obvious snow dramas are not represented (like Winter Sonata or Will it Snow for Xmas ). Yeah, that's because I haven't seen those... Also, at least two out of the five are snow scenes filmed in Japan. Does Japan have the nicer snow than Korea? 1: Love Rain Let me admit right away that I haven't fully watched Love Rain . In fact, I skipped through about half of it and that's it (despite of Jang Keun-suk). The Diamond Snow scene in Episode 5, however, was truly beautiful. If this is how director Yoon Suk-ho and screenwriter Oh S...

I have recently noticed that there is not enough Lee Jun-ki-(pretty)ness on this blog. Just because Arang is over doesn't mean it (and thereby, he) shouldn't receive equal treatment. Meaning: if Lee Min-ho gets to show off his clothes in Faith on here, then Lee Jun-ki must get the same chance for his drama .   * I am sorry, but I really can't do a Jun-ki hair thread ... if there is one thing (and it's the only thing) I don't like about Jun-ki, then it's his hair in most of his dramas and movies.   Arang and the Magistrate was visually beautiful also or probably even mostly because of the colorful Hanbok that they used for costumes. As this is one of the best planned and most tightly written shows I've seen in a long time, I'm pretty sure some or even a lot of thought also went into the colors of the costumes. Let me try and second-guess the costume designers. And because this show cannot be reduced to Lee Jun-ki, I will look at the Hanbok worn ...