Why I am Obsessed With LMH and Other Justifications

In the last month I have found myself harboring a bit of an obsession with Korean dramas. On the expert recommendation of another adoptive mama, I started watching a very popular drama (subtitled, of course) and 25 hours over the span of 4 sick days later, I was hooked. I'm almost finished with my second one, have a list of dramas to chose from next, and am anxiously waiting (along with the rest of Korea) a new drama that will premiere next week....no idea when it will actually get subbed and put online for me though.

Appa thinks, among other things, that I am being a "poser;" essentially trying to like something Korean for the sake of it being Korean.

That is both true and untrue.

I've always loved foreign films; I own subtitled movies in Spanish and French. So in that respect, no, it's not out of the norm for me to enjoy this sort of thing.

However, would I have sought out dramas from other cultures on a whim in the first place? Probably not. I've got plenty of the OTH and LU and GG here to keep me entertained. I sought out Korean dramas because my son was born in Korea, and the dramas are a great way to see the minutia of his birth culture; the food, the slang, the way they hang out, the family dynamics. (Although I do understand that most families dynamics do not consist of ultra wealthy families with villainous mothers and sons who wear fur-trimmed trench coats and zip off for vacations on private jets with their perfectly permed hair, which is sort of a shame.)

The thing is, I might have sought the first one out because it was Korean, but now I am hooked because they are entertaining. I like hearing Korean and seeing all the different cultural nuances, but most importantly, I like the stories. Just like my American dramas, I am hooked on the characters and the plot. The way they use the lid of the pot to eat ramen or yelling "fighting" with fists raised when they are pumping someone up is not what keeps me up until the wee hours of the morning watching.....

As I watch more and more dramas, I'm starting to get to know some of the actors and actresses. I'm fans of some (like LMH) and not fans of others. I read some recap blogs that inadvertently provide valuable insight into what is reality and what is pretty outlandish and overdone in the dramas. I'm getting to know the different types of Korean shows and how they are cast, filmed, and viewed. It's opened up another facet of Korean culture I might never have known about.

How will this help my son? Oh, it probably won't. When Little Bug starts to learn about Korean culture, we probably won't lead with the shooting schedule of a 25 episode Korean drama.

This is all for me, and I won't even attempt to pretend this is for my son or for my exploration of Korean culture anymore. I'm just a fan girl who gets some side benefits out of her newest guilty pleasure.

But if Little Bug ever wants a hair style suggestion, I'm one click away from providing him with a most excellent and swoon-worthy hair style that looks great on a Korean man.....