LaurenSophie writes:
Hello,
I’m a longtime lurker and have never posted, but I love your “Dear kfangurl” column and think I finally have a question you haven’t already covered.
My question is: what makes a kdrama “cracky?”
Not just good or fun to watch or a classic, but really, truly so addictive that you either binge watch it in just a day or two if it’s an older drama or feel like you’re suffering from withdrawal if you have to wait for new episodes to air?
T writes:
I have a number of friends I want to introduce the joy of kdramas to.
Recommendations are always tricky, so I’m looking for shows that would be easy for them to get into and ‘catch the vision’.
What are some kdramas that are easy for anyone to enjoy?
When Show is at its best, it’s light, fun, slurpable and really quite cracktastic, in the best way.
The good news is, Show is at its best, for most of its run.
Both romantic pairings are cute, entertaining and swoony in their own ways, and the chemistry between both couples is excellent as well. On top of that, Show manages to feel fresh and fun, even as it serves up and plays with rom-com tropes.
The not-so-good news is, Show isn’t quite at its best, in its final stretch. Everything feels less cracky and absorbing, and coming off a cracktastic high, this can feel disappointing and underwhelming.
Show still works out to be fun and watchable on the whole, however, so I’d still recommend this one.
So, full disclosure, you guys. This wasn’t actually submitted as a Dear kfangurl question.
What happened was, I had written very enthusiastic episode notes for episode 1 of Twenty Five, Twenty One, over on Patreon, and Natalia had commented in response:
“Oh no. Such a great recap but it only makes even clearer what I have suspected for a while: I suffer from KDrama fatigue! I don’t feel like watching anything? Is it serious, doctor??”
..Which made me think, Hey, that would make a pretty good topic for a Dear kfangurl post!
And so, here we are. If you, or people you know, are suffering from drama fatigue, I hope this post will be at least a little bit helpful. ❤️
In case you missed it, we have yet another guest post series to enjoy, this month!
Unlike our previous guest post series, this one was kind of an accident, almost. I have Ele to thank for this one, because it was her innocent question about something, that made me casually talk about the off-the-top-of-my-head, hypothetical possibility of a guest post series on love, in the month of February, in honor of Valentine’s Day.
So many folks on Patreon responded enthusiastically to this idea, that I felt that it would be remiss of me, not to actually make it happen, come February.
And so, here we are. This month, we will enjoy a total of nine guest posts from patrons on Patreon, on the topic of love stories. The brief is pretty flexible, in that, each writer is free to go deep, or go wide, on anything around the topic of love stories in Dramaland.
You can check out our earlier posts in the series as follows: Uyen, Jaco_4950, Kate, Ele, Sean & JJ.
Today’s post (our seventh!) is brought to you by Martina! Martina’s observations of characters and relationships are consistently tinged with deeper understanding and appreciation of nuances than most, because of her professional background in psychology. What a treat, then, that Martina turns her lens on my gateway drama, Goong, for this post! Thank you, Martina! ❤️
I hope you guys enjoy!
KFG ❤️
So, full disclosure, this wasn’t submitted as an actual Dear kfangurl question. Rather, on my post on scene stealers, J3ffc left a comment which included this following paragraph:
“For CLOY, I would have pegged scenes stolen by second leads Seo Ji-hye and Kim Jung-hyun, but then it occurred to me that that might be a category unto itself – second leads that outshine the main leads. A discussion with the good and bad examples of second leads – ones we love and then ones that we hate – would be fun.”
..And I thought, why not?
So here I am, with a list of my favorite and least favorite second leads. I hope you guys enjoy. ❤️
In case you missed it, we have yet another guest post series to enjoy, this month!
Unlike our previous guest post series, this one was kind of an accident, almost. I have Ele to thank for this one, because it was her innocent question about something, that made me casually talk about the off-the-top-of-my-head, hypothetical possibility of a guest post series on love, in the month of February, in honor of Valentine’s Day.
So many folks on Patreon responded enthusiastically to this idea, that I felt that it would be remiss of me, not to actually make it happen, come February.
And so, here we are. This month, we will enjoy a total of nine guest posts from patrons on Patreon, on the topic of love stories. The brief is pretty flexible, in that, each writer is free to go deep, or go wide, on anything around the topic of love stories in Dramaland. I feel like we have a lot to look forward to, this month! 🥰
You can check out Uyen’s inaugural post here, and Jaco_4950’s post here.
Today’s post is brought to you by Kate, whom you may have seen around the blog, as well as on Patreon. Like Jaco_4950 did in her post, today is the first time Kate’s introducing herself to us properly (YAY for proper introductions! 🤩). I’m so glad that we have this chance, to get to know her better!
I hope you guys enjoy!
~ KFG ❤️
If you didn’t already know, we’ve got an unexpected special series to kick off the new year! Guests posts, by patrons on Patreon, sharing their personal drama stories, mostly around the topic of “How did you get into dramas?” and “What does your first drama mean to you?” – with flexibility to go off on personal tangents, of course. 😁 Feel free to share your stories too, in the comments!
This guest series is MC‘s brainchild (thanks MC! 😘), and you can read more details, and check out her inaugural post, here.
After today’s post, there will be seven more guest posts by mystery guest writers, whose identities will be revealed when their various posts go live. Woot! 🥳
Today’s post is brought to you by Sean, whom, as you might remember from his year-end post, manages to watch an absolutely incredible number of dramas – particularly for someone who manages to live as full a life, outside of drama-watching, as he does. Sean is a true time-bending marvel. 🤩
You might also like to check out Sean’s blog, where he writes about management and leadership!
I hope you guys enjoy!
~ KFG ❤️
T writes:
Hi kfangurl,
What are some of the archetypes you see in Kdrama characters? Could you recommend other dramas with those types of characters?
For example:
Romance is A Bonus Book’s Kang Dan-i is strong, sensitive, but oblivious to Eun-ho’s love for her. Eun-ho is petty, cocky, but really protective and compassionate toward his loved ones.
Another example:
Strong Girl Bong Soon’s rich heir Ahn Min-hyuk is the hardcore, serious, charming type, but completely caught off-guard and smitten with Do Bong-soon, which makes him fall to pieces. Bong-soon is the epitome of aegyo, but hesitant to embrace her full potential (another type).
What other dramas use these archetypes in similar ways or mix and match them in surprising or refreshing ways?
Thanks.
Today’s Dear kfangurl post is inspired by j3ffc‘s and Trent‘s comments on my recent VOGUE India collab post, where I talk about the male gaze vs. the female gaze in kdramas over the years.
In response, j3ffc basically wanted to know which classic dramas I think drama fans should check out (which would demonstrate the shift in gaze over the years), and Trent heartily seconded the idea and expanded on it:
“The question I’ve been thinking about is along the lines of how do you think kdramas have evolved over the last couple decades? Do you see discernible or important trends in that time?
(Broadly considered: thematically, in treatment of tropes, genre or sub-genre expansion (or contraction), production values, stylistic changes, acting and\or casting type trends: it’s all fair game).
You touched on a bit of this in this Vogue interview, but I’d be very interested in a broader look, and I just don’t have the range of experience to even attempt a synthesis. You do, though. 😁”
So today I thought I’d talk about kdramas which I would consider iconic, over the years, and how kdramas have been evolving, in broad strokes.