Once on the way to teaching conversational English in Osaka, Japan I noticed something odd and shared it with my students. I told them how as I was coming to work I was playing a small key-chain Tetris game I’d purchased in Japan.
I said “Here I am – an American, in a Japanese subway on my way to work, playing a Russian designed video game that was manufactured in Taiwan.”
Welcome to the new global Pop Culture.
Do a search for “We Got Married” on Google and YouTube. You’ll find a really enjoyable reality show from Korea about young pop stars creating pretend marriages where they have to live together (part of the time) and work together on special missions. You’ll probably want to watch the subtitled ones unless you know Korean, and unless you know K-Pop (Korean Pop Music) you won’t recognize the celebrities anymore than the language. But you won’t care.
Imagine a dating show influenced by more old fashioned cultural norms – where a first kiss or a touch are a big deal – so big that two of the participants didn’t hold hands for seven weeks. Most of the couples have never kissed on the lips. It is hard to imagine a show like that being interesting, but trust me, it is. (And as a cultural note I should add that I have no idea how real or unreal the show or any part of it is. For all I know, the entire show could be scripted and called the “Let’s Make Gullible Foreigners Looks Silly” show.)
But in the end, if you like the show and the “characters”, then does it really matter?
Celebrity couples are matched up without their prior approval. They never know who they might meet. They come together, call each other “husband” and “wife”, though not all the time. They even buy an apartment or house to live in for one day a week, and are given missions like taking care of babies or going to a farm to do work. Most participant seems shy, but willing to give it a shot. Some seem thrilled, and others not so much by the producer’s choice of loved one.
Imagine a young woman who has become singing sensation getting to meet her favorite boy band member and actually wanting them to fall in love. What about an older woman (she’s….gasp…29!!!) meeting her new 23 year old husband for the first time, and slowly discovering that he’s everything she’s been looking for in a man all her life. Or how about a manipulative drama queen who wines and bitches about everything and nothing, and her Korean rapper “husband” who constantly breaks into American English loudly and proudly at the drop of a hat.
The show brings those things in a fun atmosphere of a studio watching the proceedings. The participants, audience and MC’s watch the week’s tapes together, often commenting on their own stories or the stories of the other couples. Sometimes the emotion can run deep. The question of how “real” everything is filters through everything. People often talk to the camera (they are interviewed after each “marriage day” to get their thoughts and reactions) about what they are feeling for their partners. Some see the show as a way to find out what they really want out of life and love, others seem to feel real emotions for their partners.
When 29 year old Shakra singer Hwangbo met her new 23 year old husband, SS501 member Kim Hyun Joong, she felt awkward over the age difference, and Hyun Joong felt awkward with any older person. But the two have grown closer. Hwangbo, a slender, deep voiced beauty, even flew to Japan to surprise Hyun Joong during a tour stop with his band. She got into his room and the cameras caught his reaction as he saw his new bride unexpectedly. Later, she makes a meal for the entire band, and he wonders why they didn’t seem to thank her. She says it’s fine, but he leaves the room. Moments later Hwangbo is on the floor laughing as he sends in his band mates one at a time to bow and make a formal thank you to her for the meal. The whole thing is done in fun, and still the moments of affection between the two feel strong and real.
In a later episode on the farm, Hyun Joong (the handsome young “freshboy” husband) excuses himself from his wife and calls her to come outside when he is ready. There is serenades her with a guitar, then askes her to open the guitar case. She opens it to find enough folded cranes to (according to legend) complete a set to 1000 so their love can be guaranteed for life. Sweet, simple gestures like this are what the program is about, but Hun Joong seems sincere when he explains in his “confessional’ that he wants to do better with his wife and not be so shy.
The show is an interesting meditation on love as seen through the eyes of another culture. How true it is to norms in that society, I’ve no idea. But sometimes what a society chooses to show of its self (no matter how true to its nature it is or is not) say more about the society than a simple, naked glimpse of it seen from a distance. Seeing what they fetishize and make important as oppose to what you do makes for an interesting study comparative culture.
And as with all things Pop Culture (caps intentional) it is fun. The show brings a lot of laughs, and a lot of drama. It may seem strange to take already famous people and divorce them even more from reality by taking something this personal and putting it under a microscope, but that is what the culture demands. New products must be ground out for the global machine, and we, the gluttenous consumers, must be satisfied. If it is true that we are what we eat/consume, then we must be careful not to take the fast-food of reality televison too seriously. But it does make for a nice change-of-pace meal from time to time.
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{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
well, hi admin adn people nice forum indeed. how’s life? hope it’s introduce branch
your words were beautiful!!!!! beautifully written, the best description of we got married I have read. i enjoyed reading every word ,thanks ^^
Thank you very much.
i love this show. ur description was on point. it really gives you a glimpse at Korean culture as opposed to my American one.
Thank you very much.
I’m glad you enjoyed the review.
i became interested in the drama since i watched BOF but i hate watching it through you tube id like it better if there is a compilation with perfect eng sub=)