Have you heard of K-drama? I had not. Since starting this blog I’ve made a Twitter friend of Angela Thompson, who lives in the UK. She frequently sends me tips for programs that she knows I’ll like. And she’s usually right. We exchange ideas on what to watch. Angela loves K-drama.

For the last few months I noticed her tweets and retweets about South Korean cinema and actors become more and more frequent. Here’s a tweet.

https://twitter.com/angelathompson5/status/1283373104652324865

And many retweets such as this one.

https://twitter.com/intoyejinhand/status/1281808569180884992

After watching her Twitter feed for a while, I asked her to explain her love for Korean cinema to me. She calls it K-drama, and here’s her Tweeted list of reasons to love it.

Why I’ve become addicted to Korean K-dramas !

You get a great insight & appreciation for the Korean culture. Whatever genre you choose to watch be it a comedy, romance, thriller, historical, etc, the focus is on how relationships are built. You get to see the backstories of the characters. How they develop makes you feel included. You can really relate to all the trials & tribulations they go through.

The majority of K-dramas are quite chaste. There is a lead up to a kiss & proclaiming one’s love . There aren’t any risqué sex scenes. I love the Korean sense of humour, their mannerisms & their facial expressions. They are very different from other country’s dramas .

It doesn’t take long to learn key words & the way they react in certain scenes.

The historical dramas have the most opulent costumes with stunning cinematography. The modern series have the most up-to-date costume departments. Most of their clothes come straight off the fashion runways. So does the beautiful jewellery. They love big earrings or dangling earrings, which l am a fan of.

I am in awe of the amount of glorious food that is shown in many scenes. They are always eating copious amounts of hot food which they stuff in their mouths. I am at a loss to understand how they remain so slender.

The format is between 16 to 20 episodes & only a few get renewed for a second series. The soundtrack on light dramas feature K-Pop music which is very popular & is catchy & fun.

Finally the actors are so very attractive. It doesn’t take long to recognise not only the young actors but the veteran actors that turn up time & time again in a wide range of dramas

These dramas truly show the difference in the wealthy & poor. Education & money are very important, as is status. For example, I don’t know if you’ve seen Parasite, but it’s a brilliant film, well worth the awards it got.

Want to start watching K-drama?

I have seen Parasite, and agree that it was wonderful. Now I’m looking for something else I’ll like.

I suggest you follow Angela on Twitter if you’re interested and want some ideas on where to start. Remember she’s in the UK, so the same films and series may not be available everywhere.

If you find something that looks interesting, let me share my favorite Google search string: “where to watch name of film or series.” You’ll get back a list of every place the particular film or series can be seen.

Here are a few trailers of current K-dramas. These were not specifically mentioned by Angela. They are just examples I found quickly on Google.

My thanks to Angela for sharing this. I honor her current obsession with K-drama. Perhaps it will spark interest in others.