About 8 years ago, a friend told me "When you meet that special person, your life starts to feel like a Korean drama." That was 2003, back when I was in 8th grade and just about to head into high school. It left me curious as to what it felt like to meet that 'special' someone. After all, it was the period of time between middle school and high school. Most guys like myself didn't have a clue as to what to do to get a girl to go from 'just a friend' to 'girlfriend'. In fact, it's nearly the end of college and some of the guys I know still have no clue. In a way, I turned to Korean dramas for an answer. Certainly it was better than having no idea of what to do.
The first Korean drama I watched was 'Winter Sonata' back in 2005. I was drawn to the characters and the intricate plot. I knew it was just a fake story, but it employed so many real situations that I couldn't help but keep watching. It wasn't like any of the romantic comedies I've seen in movies (C'mon guys, don't lie. We've all seen some, with or without a girl next to us). Unlike those movies, Korean dramas employ a "double love triangle' where a guy and girl are meant to be together but two external characters try to split them for their own love interests. Of course, dramas didn't make me any more or less of an 'expert' on understanding girls since I had my share of ups and downs with the girls I liked. But dramas helped shape my perception of what love is and should be like.
It's now 2011 and since 'Winter Sonata', I've watched about 20+ Asian dramas. A lot of the types of situations in dramas repeated themselves, also known as the 'drama cliches'. Just another story where a guy falls in love with a girl, struggles with family and social acceptance and just when it finally clears up, someone gets terminal cancer or memory loss. True, it got so cliche that some people stopped watching. Others like myself, laughed it off and kept watching. It peaked my interest whenever I found unique story lines, most notably in 'IRIS'. Watching Asian dramas has become one of the most favorite things I like to do.
A number of my close friends have inspired me to start this blog (Haha, you know who you are) As a drama enthusiast, they've jokingly suggested I script my own drama with all the cliches I like to talk about so much. So here's where it will all begin. I plan on taking all the things I've learned from dramas, more importantly all the stories and experiences of my friends and myself and share it with the rest of world. At times, I plan on doing some critiques on the dramas I've watched. I hope you all can relate to the stories and hopefully answer some questions you may have about yourself. I particularly hope my close friends will enjoy themselves when they realize a particular plot is completely inspired by a past experience they went through and shared with me. I hope they can enjoy it in another light because after all, it's our past that makes our present so we make better decisions for our own future.
