DAY 29: ECQ

When I posted my Twitter survey three days ago asking what makes KDramas the favorite of Filipinos and what makes them different there were two who gave unique  answers from the rest.

One said that Koreanovelas are not any different from their Filipino counterparts.  They are both one and the same.

But another pointed out that Pinoys only like Koreanovelas better because they are imported.  

The second respondent pointed out that Filipinos by nature will always find something from a foreign culture much better than their own.  This is not because it is necessarily true.  Rather our brains are wired in such a way to think that anything made outside our country is unquestionably better.  That includes these foreign soap operas which are only better in the eyes of Pinoys because they are imported.

I believe a whole squad will disagree with these two respondents.

Yes, Korean culture is far different from ours --- in the same manner that our adoration for Taiwanese telenovelas also reflect a disparity between our traditions with that of the Chinese.  Instead, what is remarkable to point out that both Taiwanese and Korean ( with now Thai and even Turkish soap operas) are being placed in the same menu as that of Mexican and Spanish continuing series.

Remember the time when Marimar first landed on our TV sets?

What started out as a minor ripple --- about a Mexican show starring a hip swinging Latina spitfire named Thalia aired on local television in a non-prime time slot --- would eventually change the entire landscape of Pinoy TV programming.  

The significance of Marimar and what happened when it was brought to prime time slots in order to lock in more viewers in the network war changed our entire perspective of what shows to watch and how to watch them.

I will elaborate on this in the final entry of my this series for my blog.

In the meantime, an understanding of the appeal of KDramas reveal not only about how they do things in Seoul but what is it about ourselves --- as Filipinos --- that we give great importance. Passionate for us is pushing scenes to the brink of nervous breakdowns.

Then comes the observation of my Twitter friends about what they think about Koreanovelas and how these offer specific and better alternatives than what they get in mainstream Filipino counterparts.

(4) The scripts are so well-written.  More important, the plots vary.  There is an assortment of genres to choose from and even if they are dealing with things we have heard and seen before, Koreans make them sound and look new.

Whoa! I said to myself In what way do these Koreanovelas differ from the kind of meals Filipinos offer in their menus?

Yes, we are not Koreans.  We are closer to the Taiwanese because of the strong influence of Chinoy culture in the Filipino way of life.  But to a certain extent and because of the four hundred years of Spanish influence, we have imbibed that mutant Asian Latino taste in highly passionate dramatic scenes that require eyes nearly popping out of the heads of the angered characters, screaming, hair pulling, over-the-top, kitschy and campy (even tacky) dramatization scenes.  

Like Mexican telenovelas with these big-haired, over made-up senoritas screaming their throats off until the veins in their necks are about to bust, Filipinos have equated that as a traditional of drama because for us it is not enough to be involved ... we have to be passionate.  

This has become an embedded tradition of drama, whether in the language of the zarzuelas or their eventual evolution into the radio soap operas of the post-War era and then the pioneer Filipino drama series on TV.  We have always equated good drama with hagulgulan to the max, sigawan to the heavens with matching sabunutan, sampalan, suntukan and even tulakan sa hagdanan hanggang mabagok the ulo then dead.

As compared to our local temperament, there is a certain distance, reserve and coolness in the ways scripts are written and played out in Koreanovelas which also has got to do with their religion and  disposition as a culture.  No, I am not saying that there is no major hagulgulan scenes in their narration  ( the breakdown scene of the male lead in the second episode  Itaewon Class is an example) but by nature they are much more subdued, held back and packaged with beautiful cinematography so that it is the emotion rather than the sheer intensity or even volume of screaming that is given focus.

KDramas are what they are meant to be: materials that are meant to make you cry but never in your face to the extent of going over the top or squeezing a scene dry in order to bring about emotional impact.  There is still a certain restraint in the way scenes are written --- so that (here is the clincher) the impact of a sequence is achieved not through words alone but what is visualized in its execution.  And that makes great writing.  

For it is often mistaken that a good film or television script is measured by the brilliance and crispness or wit embedded in lines.  Rather, what makes KDramas so good is that those fleeting looks, those quietly drooping eyes with tears falling or even those looks of longing say so much more than a proliferation of quotable quotes and hugot lines meant for trailers and after a while really turn out to be so artificial.

Thus even scenes that you have watched before in other dramas look new again because they are now treated with subtlety and sometimes even punctuated with a hint of humor.

That is also why --- in their own way --- the Koreans are so good in generating kilig without resorting to the predictable pagpapakyut or the gasgas na pagpapa-corny.

This leads to another important point which so directly linked to their art of writing.

(5) KDramas may use the same stereotypes or templates in the way they create and design characters but they are never diminished to the two-dimensional or the cliche.

After a while you begin to realize that KDramas also use templates in the way they design their lead characters.   Simply put (at the risk of oversimplification), their female leads are spunky, ballsy, gutsy doers/fighters/movers while their male leads are strong, quiet, reserved but equally principled/focused/perceptive types.

Unlike Filipino teleserye heroines whose greatness is measured by her ability to suffer, the KDrama heroine is a fighter.  She has her own mind, she knows what she wants --- and though she may stumble along the way, confronted by her adversaries, she will keep on fighting.

In contrast to the male lead, she is glib, hyperactive and sometimes a bit clumsy and too talkative for comfort.  But she is focused, she knows what is right from wrong and she will fight for it.  Yes, she may succumb to the compromises demanded by love but she is aware of what she is doing and not merely being bulldozed to a situation.  She is not pre-conditioned to be a martyr because this is not what she aspires to become.

Even if the KDrama heroine falls in love, she is not about to surrender all of her being or suppress what she believes is right just to prove how much she loves her man.  On the contrary, she is aware of the limitations of her emotions and relationships but conscious of her dignity and disposition.

The male lead complements the feisty character of the heroine.

If the heroine is palaban, then it is the stoic calmness and strength of her hero that make the perfect match.

Here the male lead is never flamboyant.  He is not out there flaunting his packa-macho.  For him, strength is his quietness. Strength is his ability to embody principle,  a very strong belief in justice, an almost extraordinary dedication to duty and a guiding principle for standing for what is right regardless of obstacles or consequences.  In the two KDramas I accomplished and especially in the third that I am engrossed in, this is becoming a repetitive motif as far as the heroic characterization is concerned.

The male lead will fight to the very end for what he thinks is right.  He will fight to defend his love --- but romance is never the be all and end all of his existence.  Romantic love is only a reward and not the core of his duty to the world --- much unlike what is embodied in Filipino teleseryes.

What is also quite ingenious about the Korean series is that by the end of the pilot episode (the first installment of the entire series), you know the problem in the entire narrative.  You know the core and crux of the material.  Although the plot may diversify or branch out into subplots you know the journey that is to be undertaken by your lead. 

Added to this, the characters integral to the journey of the leads.  Even the supporting characters are well-shaped, well-drawn and well integrated into the blueprint of the plot serving purposes to support or negate the wants and needs of the leads or even provide lighthearted comic relief when the plot gets too weighty with its emotional content.

And since the writers know from the start how, when and where the story will finish, you do not have that tedious pasikot-sikot, paikot-ikot subplots which are evidently added to stretch the story rather than to enrich or embellish with something substantial.

(6) There is an entire array of genres in the KDrama.  They are not obsessed with just love stories per se but innovative ways of creating engrossing narratives.

This is where most of the Twitter respondents echoed in unison.

What makes KDrama so interesting is because they are iba-iba,  You do not get trapped with more of the same kinds of stories because the Korean producers uproot all kinds of possible genres in order to provide entertainment.  

They can be your romantic comedies --- but they can also be your historical dramas.  What about historical romances?  Or even crime thrillers, medical series and funky romantic comedies?  

You are not stuck with the same kinds of narratives that seem to have caused massive havoc in the minds of Filipino viewers who are (as they say) overdosed with stories about:

1. Brazen or sympathetic mistresses ruining ideal/miserable marriage.  ("Puros na lang kuwento ng mga kabit!")
2. Lost children
3. Switched babies
( To which one of my Twitter friends said, "Napakaburara naman ng mga Pinoy na magulang para magkapalit ang kanilang mga anak, di ba?")
4. Victims of amnesia  (Utang na loob, ha?  1960's pa lamang usung-uso na yan, no? 2020 na may na-a-amnesia pa para lang magkakuwento?)
5. Incidences of convenient or dramatic kidnapping 
6. Delayed arrival of agents of the law to respond to emergencies ( Bakit ba laging bano ang pagpoportray sa mga pulis? Laging late silang dumarating!)
7. Kontrabidas who are so evil that you would think they are all version of the Anti-Christ. ( For some reason or another, Pinoy kontrabidas enjoy evil. Wala lang. Kasi they are bad. There is no humanity in them except living a life of spreading evil like a virus.)
8. Kontrabidas who will not die. (Ano ba yan?  May anting-anting ba yan at hindi mamamatay-matay?)
9, Evil rich people.  They are evil because they are rich because they are rich because they are evil.  Gets mo?
10. Heroes who are not noble or ennobling because they seem to enjoy suffering (especially the leading ladies) to the point of romantic masochism.  (Hindi na sila mabait. Mga tanga na sila.)

KDramas, because they are divorced from our cultural roots of deifying romantic agony provide alternatives that do not only amuse but challenge our audiences.  In other words, they offer something new.

For those who have stayed long on a tired and beaten path, no wonder they are now taking another road all together to satisfy their craving for entertainment.

To be continued.

The question of production value and why Filipinos are mesmerized by the technical quality of the KDramas.