Learning from Korean movies

In February 2014, I binge-watched ‘Boys over Flower’ continuously for days. A girl in her early teens got lost in the imagination of a filthy rich guy like Gu Jun-pyo falling in love with her, and traveling to a private island in a private jet. In the following months, I watched Playful Kiss, Heirs, and City Hunter. I stopped watching Korean dramas in the mid of 2015 because I had to come out of a euphoric bubble to get some intellectual stimulation. Opulence isn’t healthy without working for it.

Lockdown 1.0 in April 2020 got me back into Korean movies. I was no longer an immature person then, and I contemplated the role of series and movies in promoting Korean culture. I also observed the status quo of the Nepalese movie industry and felt sad for our phase. This article is an effort to compare the two industries. Though both have different levels of capital, we cannot become stagnant moss with excuses.

Let me begin with “Poetry”, a movie that justifiably portrayed the enthusiasm of many poem lovers. One can wonder how the director managed to combine crime such as rape and beauty of words into the same piece of work. No embellishment while showing the suspense, I suppose this works in “Parasite” too.

After watching Poetry, I feel personally connected to the grandmother and wish to help her improve the grandson (Would suggest you watch this). I am in the movie. I am the character that constantly looks for motivation to write poems, and I am the character that is in the dilemma between justice and love. The irony is that I cannot relate to stories in Nepali movies.

Memories of Murder, besides its extraordinary suspense and thriller, the movie has held my hands and guided me alongside the fields of Gyeonggi province.

While many are appreciating Minari for immigrants’ story, it has also added excitement in me to try Minari and other food items the grandmother brought to Arkansas. The struggle of Jacob to sell Korean vegetables in the state subtly gains sympathy from the audience into buying Korean vegetables next time they go for grocery.

Again, Miracle in cell number 7 will never ever let me forget the wrongfully accused man in Chuncheon and Korean prison. Unlike our movies which have mandatory heroism of cops, unrealistic actions, and no depth story of characters.

Boys over Flower will poke me constantly to travel Korea and look for the characters in stranger’s faces.

Right now I am thinking of my classmates who used to have countless K-Pop accessories. I was never crazy about K-Pop, to be honest. It simply didn’t quench my thirst for philosophy in lyrics, hence proving that I do not know the Korean language yet (except Kamsahamnida, Gomawo, and Saranghae). Despite little exposure to few movies, I have been etched onto the richness of this country. It’s called “Hallyu” (saying it in the style of unagi of Ross Gellar.)

Photo by Sava Bobov on Unsplash

Hallyu is a Chinese word literally meaning “Korean wave”. It refers to the spread of Korean music, TV, fashion, games, cuisines, comics, literature, dance, alcohol, and cosmetics. It was in 1997, the term appeared when a Korean TV drama titled What is Love was aired at China Central Television (CCTV) which marked second place in China’s ever imported video content.

In the 1990s, Korea was looking for a way to rise from the Asian financial crisis. President Kim Dae Jung supported the entertainment industry as equivalent to industries of manufacturing. The first minister of the Ministry of Culture was Lee O-young, a novelist. South Korea’s Ministry of Culture established 300 culture-based departments all over universities in Korea with the mission of building talents. Cultural exports have increased at an annual rate of 10 percent since 2013 after the Ministry allocated US$280 million dollars for developing soft power and Hallyu. The official website of the Ministry has more information for anyone interested to know more.

Now, let me talk about Nepali movies.

With this ongoing bourgeois mindset,

we are not only losing our culture,

we look more like a clown in front of

western standards.

Photo by Sonuj Giri on Unsplash

Kohalpur Express came with a mountain of disappointment by failing to include the culture of the place despite having the title associated with the place. Many other movies which are shot in the Terai region come with a mocking accent of Madhesi people, due to which the social problems like child marriage, dowry system, women violence, etc. are overshadowed. Had I been the director, I would have shown the evolution of Terai by also showing the beauty of the ethnic groups.

The Nepali movie Prasad has justified lower-middle-class struggle in our case. With good casting, it becomes a better movie than many.

Kabbadi series can be appreciated too as a fine entertainment package. It has brought out Gurung culture to the least to some extent. The team should consider adding elements to make this internationally recognized.

The movie Saili is not talked about much, but it has tried to show realistic stories of hilly villages in Nepal. Brain drain and patriarchal mindset are observed here. Had I been the director, I would have made adversities more convincing in the story.

In the movie hall, I was awed for a short period of time to see the grandeur set up of the movie ‘Intu Mintu London maa’. It was momentary though. Appreciation went with the blink of an eye. With advancements in cameras and few other technologies, the focus has been limited to natural sceneries, drone shots, and expensive decoration. Mentioning only one movie is not my intention. With the growing craze for new generations’ handsome hunks and popular actresses, this could be used as an opportunity to produce movies that aesthetically reveal neglected sides of our society. Love stories are not the only way to show the class struggle in society. Stale food in a gold plate still makes one sick, doesn’t it?

“Real stories” this term is ambiguous to many. What is a real story? Elites whose lifestyle is not relatable to the major population, or the other extreme end of poverty shown with humiliating lifestyles of characters? As a new generation, it must come to the attention of the star kids (since they have the capital to invest) to mull over the films they sign for. If only powerful people in the movie industry had a bit of sense of what a qualitative movie should be, they would have put their voice against cringe scenes. As long as these commercial movie makers don’t get a sense of art, we are bound to slowly lose our real stories in reel. A very bad association is that those who cannot speak fluent Nepali are rich in default, which is seen in accents of characters. With this ongoing bourgeois mindset, we are not only losing our culture, we look more like a clown in front of western standards.

Where is the space in Nepali movies to blend our culture with the smooth flowing of the storyline? A mere glimpse of tourist spots in a song doesn’t help much. Youths in this country attend K-Pop festivals wholeheartedly but show reluctance to sing and dance in Lok Dohori. Many spend money on Korean cuisines but have not tried the local cuisines of rural Nepal. This is not a matter of not commending foreign culture, but to preserve ours too by learning from them.

The latest “Chhakka Panja 3” has done a good job in issue selection, and can be considered entertaining for many audiences. But I’ve often questioned why scenes are exaggerated and made look abnormal in Nepali movies. Non-convincing humor to force out laughter from the audience, sexist jokes even though the character development has no link to it, so-called family movies with adult jokes at inappropriate timing, mandatory happy ending, and direct preaching of morals deteriorate movies. Even as a high school senior I am capable of seeing what’s wrong, and it will take a few years for me to get to the vantage and work. For now, it becomes my duty to address what I’ve observed.

Stories in our houses are waiting to be heard.