In this blog post, I’ll examine the conflict, character development, endings, and use of supporting characters and settings in ‘The Zoo Next to the Art Museum’, ‘He Was So Cool’, and ‘Notting Hill’, and consider what structure and elements a Korean romantic comedy should have. The Beloved Genre: The Potential of the Romantic Comedy What is the most...
How Have Korean Melodramas Chronicled the Times?
In this blog post, I’ll revisit Korean melodramas to explore the genre’s history and definition, as well as major works from the 2000s onward, from my personal perspective. Why I Chose Melodrama During my teenage years, I dismissed melodramas as trivial, finding love songs in pop music and love stories in dramas and movies to be clichéd. However, as I grew older and confronted questions...
Why does ‘Art Museum by the Zoo’ make our hearts flutter even more in the fall?
In this blog post, we’ll analyze how director Lee Jeong-hyang’s ‘Art Museum by the Zoo’ (1998) uses its characters, narrative, and cinematic frames and devices to depict a love that blossoms gradually. Film Overview Title: ‘Art Museum by the Zoo’ (1998) Director/Screenplay: Lee Jeong-hyang Starring: Ahn Sung-ki, Shim Eun-ha, Lee Sung-jae, Song Sun-mi Runtime: 108...
Why does the humor in Korean romantic comedies function as a device reinforcing the ideology of purity?
This blog post examines how the humor in Korean romantic comedies has combined with the ideology of purity to operate as a device that reinforces patriarchal order rather than satirizing it, using film examples. Introduction Frank Capra’s “It Happened One Night” is a film that depicts the journey from adversaries to marriage between the only daughter of a wealthy family and a...