What’s Wrong With Secretary Kim

Guest post: How well do kdrama CEOs stack up in real life?

| kfangurl

Surprise, everyone! We have another guest post today! 🥳

Today, we have Sean sharing with us his various insights into how well the CEOs in our beloved dramas stack up – when compared to real life.

As many of you might know, Sean’s had a lot of experience in both the CEO life, and the drama life (we have no idea how he’s managing such a full existence on both planes; he must be existing in multiple dimensions – but that’s another story for hopefully another day! 😁).

And therefore, Sean’s probably one of the best positioned people on the planet, to comment on such a comparison.

This post was first published on Sean’s own blog, where he regularly writes about leadership. You can check out his blog here, and the original post here.

Thank you phl1rxd, for suggesting this, and thank you so much Sean, for allowing me to share your fabulous post in this space!

I hope you all enjoy this very special post!

KFG ❤️

Continue reading →

Dear kfangurl: What are some good starter dramas to introduce to my friends?

| kfangurl

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?

Continue reading →

Dear kfangurl: Do you think the OTP from What’s Wrong With Secretary Kim will have a happy-ever-after? [Interview with VOGUE India!]

| kfangurl

This is another slightly different Dear kfangurl post, you guys.

After my last couple of interviews with VOGUE India (here and here!), Hasina Khatib (@thejoblessjourno on Instagram), who writes for VOGUE India, reached out to me again.

This time, she shared that VOGUE India’s been running a series that explores how fictional pairings would do, in the long run, and asked if I’d like to share my thoughts on the future of the OTP in What’s Wrong With Secretary Kim (my review here).

That sounded like fun, so I said yes, and you can check out the article, where she quotes me selectively, here!

At the same time, similar to the last interview, there was a lot that I said, that didn’t make it into the final article, so with Hasina’s permission, I’m sharing the actual interview questions and answers here with you guys.

The only difference is that I’ve added images to make this more reader-friendly. I hope you all enjoy! ❤️

Continue reading →

All About Love Stories: By Sean!

| kfangurl

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 our earlier posts in the series as follows: Uyen, Jaco_4950, Kate & Ele.

Today’s post is brought to you by Sean, who continues to bend time and space, to bring us his thoughts on this month’s love theme in dramas! I have no idea how Sean managed to keep living his very busy life, and keep watching all his dramas, and write this post on top of it all, but I’m sure glad he did, because it’s great. 🤩

You might also like to visit Sean’s blog, where he writes about management and leadership.

I hope you guys enjoy!

KFG ❤️

Continue reading →

All About Love Stories: By Kate!

| kfangurl

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 ❤️

Continue reading →

All About Love Stories: By Jaco_4950!

| kfangurl

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. Today’s post is brought to you by Jaco_4950, whom you may have seen around the blog, as well as on Patreon. Today is the first time Jaco_4950’s introducing herself to us properly, though, and I’m so glad that we have this chance, to get to know her better!

I hope you guys enjoy!

~ KFG ❤️

Continue reading →

Dear kfangurl: What are some archetypes in kdramas?

| kfangurl

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.

Continue reading →

Dear kfangurl: What are some iconic kdramas over the years?

| kfangurl

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.

Continue reading →

Dear kfangurl: Can you talk about the female gaze vs. the male gaze in dramas? [Interview with VOGUE India!]

| kfangurl
Screenshot of the VOGUE India article!

This is a slightly different Dear kfangurl post, you guys.

Technically, someone did ask the questions – what makes it different than usual, is that that someone was representing VOGUE India, and it was for a collab of sorts, where I answered a bunch of questions over email, for a VOGUE India article!

Hasina Khatib (@thejoblessjourno on Instagram), who writes for VOGUE India, reached out to me a couple of weeks ago, and asked if I’d be interested to participate in an article that she was writing for VOGUE India. I said yes, and you can check out the article, where she quotes me selectively, here!

At the same time, there was a lot that I said, that didn’t make it into the final article, so with Hasina’s permission, I’m sharing the actual interview questions and answers here with you guys – because my gut tells me that this is just the sort of topic that you guys would enjoy digging into.

The only difference is that I’ve added screenshots and linked my reviews where relevant, to make this more reader-friendly. I hope you all enjoy! ❤️

Continue reading →

Review: My Unfamiliar Family

| kfangurl

THE SHORT VERDICT:

My Unfamiliar Family is a drama that feels familiar and yet fresh at the same time, to my eyes.

It feels like a lot of the things I like in family dramas, condensed into a more efficient 16 episodes rather than a sprawling 54 episodes, presented with more polish, and sprinkled with a harder dash of reality, than the average family drama.

Show has more surprises up its sleeve than the average kdrama, which makes this almost (but not quite) feel like a soapy watch experience. Yet, at the same time, there is a solid amount to unpack with this show, which makes it feel meaty and serious.

Altogether, Show feels kind of spicy and interesting, while managing to remain raw, heart-hitting and thought-provoking, at the same time.

An unusual combination of drama flavors that makes for a refreshing watch.

Continue reading →