ENGL 388 - Reading K-Drama Notes

Course Introduction

Familiarity with K-dramas:
- Who has some familiarity?
- Who has no familiarity?
- Who is addicted or an avid fan?
Course discussion: Outline, assignments, etc.

Iain McGilchrist: The Master and His Emissary

Essential difference between right and left hemispheres:
- Right hemisphere: pays attention to the Other, sees itself in profound relation, attracted to the relationship.
- Left hemisphere: pays attention to the virtual world it created, self-consistent, disconnected from the Other, powerful but only able to operate on itself.

“I believe the essential difference between the right hemisphere and the left hemisphere is that the right hemisphere pays attention to the Other, whatever it is that exists apart from ourselves, with which it sees itself in profound relation. It is deeply attracted to, and given life by, the relationship, the betweenness, that exists with this other. By contrast, the left hemisphere pays attention to the virtual world that it has created, which is self-consistent, but self-contained, ultimately disconnected from the Other, making it powerful, but ultimately only able to operate on, and to know itself” (93).

Primary being lies in disposition towards the world.
- Right hemisphere: disposition of care rather than control, desire towards something beyond itself, towards the Other.

“Our primary being lies in a disposition towards the world […] The disposition of the right hemisphere, the nature of its attention to the world, is one of care, rather than control. Its will relates to a desire or longing towards something, something that lies beyond itself, towards the Other” (171).

Imitation as imagination's path to understanding the Other.
- Imitation is a human characteristic and arguably the most important human skill in brain evolution.
- Mimesis allows humans to escape their own experience and enter another being's experience, bridging the gap through human consciousness.
- Based on empathy and grounded in the body; empathetic people mimic facial expressions more.

“In fact imitation is imagination’s most powerful path into whatever is Other than ourselves. Imitation is a human characteristic, and is arguably the ultimately most important human skill, a critical development in the evolution of the human brain. The enormous strength of the human capacity for mimesis is that our brains let us escape from the confines of our own experience and enter directly into the experience of another being: this is the way in which, through human consciousness, we bridge the gap, share in what another feels and does, in what it is like to be that person. This comes about through our ability to transform what we perceive into something we directly experience.

Oriental Culture

Ideas are more intuitively understandable within Oriental culture.
Openness to non-Western cultures, but also prone to influencing them.
Psychological differences between Oriental people and Westerners suggest a different relationship between hemispheres.
Japanese language lacks abstract nouns, definite/indefinite articles.
Japanese have no Platonic Idea, no abstractions in general.
Emphasis on intuitive, sensible concrete events rather than universals.
Nakamura's view:
- Japanese accept the phenomenal world as Absolute.
- Emphasis on the fluid, arresting character of observed events.
- Rejection of anything existing over and above the phenomenal world.
Sharp dichotomy in Western culture between hemispheres does not exist in the same way in Oriental culture; experience is grounded in the right hemisphere.

Course Business

Secondary sources, textbook.
Watch and discuss "Extraordinary Attorney Woo" Episode 1.

Discussion of Engaging K-Drama

Motifs: Repeated image, phrase, action across texts (e.g., wise old wizard).
Leitmotif: Repeated image, phrase, action within a single text/series.
Subtitles and reading; centering of Asian/Korean experience.
Impact of length (often 16 episodes) on experience compared to a 90-minute film.
Aesthetic experience shares time relationship with a long novel.
*Emotional Affect:
*Ability for Dramas To Stimulate an Emotional Response in Viewers. Though Sometimes Devalued (Too Mushy or Melodramatic). This Is a Key Component of Popular Cultural texts

*Engagement With Otherness:
*Different Distances To Engage in it: Asian-Canadian, Korean-Canadian, or Korean International Student.
*Emotional affect in popular culture texts; can be a positive.
*Engagement with otherness; different distances to engage for different individuals.
*Question: What new horizons of understanding emerge from your engagement with otherness in these texts?
*Stereotypes
*Idea of the Stoic Asian Who Doesn't Show Emotion; What Happens To This Stereotype As You Move Further Along in Your Cultural Journey Into the Cultural Form of K- Drama?
*Social Context Includesto one Degree or Another Elements of Anti-Asian Actions and Attitudes. Does Immersion Challenge Aspects Such Attitudes?
*Constant perception of Asian faces/characters/experience may be primary for Canadian consumers whose environment centers whiteness.
*Question: How does it affect your previous perception of Asian/Korean Canadians and experience?
*Flat Representation
*Often minorities are marginalized/excluded; when they do appear, they are often reduced to stereotyped characteristics, lacking full human complexity.
*How do these representations challenge/deconstruct/subvert this pattern?

Thematic Commentary in Woo

Representation and exploration of autism.
Navigates a space of difference and otherness along neurodiversity/autism and neurotypicality. *Layers of Complexity
- Concerned To Reveal Layers of Complexity for Austistic Experience
  *Challenges
  *Challenges Stereotypical, Surface Level Constructions or Beliefs About Austistic People
  *Deals With The Integration of Autistic/Neurodivergent People Into Wider Society By The Workplace

Episode 1: "Extraordinary Attorney Woo"

*Challenges
*Opening scene contrasts bedroom vs. commute to work.
*Childhood learning to read scene introduces the 'autistic genius' trope.
*Bedroom Scene Introduces The Compulsion For Order, Obsessive Focus, Need To Restrict Sensory Input, Which is About To Be Challenged in The Move From Private to Public Space
*Train Ride Introduces Sensory Overload, Meeting the Challenge With Headphones/ Whale Sounds; Developing Strategies to Try to Navigate Social Environment
*Office Tower: Establishes scope of Woo's Challenges and The World of Work.
*Revolving Doors That Show How Neurotypical People and Neurodivergent People Face An Obstacle To Integration
*Doorways – Transitions Into New Experience and Consciousness; Contrast is in How Easily Others Pass Through But Woo Needs To Take Time.
*Introductory meetings establish Woo as a neurodivergent Other and the possibility of transformation of social attitudes toward neurodivergent others (by extension).
*The Space Between a Neurotypical Self and a Neurodivergent Other is Navigated by the Different Characters in Different Situations.

Thematic Commentary through Characters

*Characters
*Think of each of these characters being used to initiate a range of responses to the neurodivergent otherness.
*Different characters:
Joon-ho
Myeong-seok Mr. Jung
Soo-yeon Ms. Choi
Min-woo Mr. Kwon
Geu-ra-mi
Tae Su-mi
Woo Gwang-ho

(S1:E1:28) – Woo’s thinking process and senior manager’s response.
(S1:E1:34) – Revolving doors with Jun-ho: Communication.
(S1:E1:49) – Interaction reinforces commentary.
(S1:E1:54) – Setting reinforces commentary.
(S1:E1:1:08) – Leitmotif wind/whales reinforces commentary.
(S1:E1:1:14) - Interaction Reinforces Themes. Episode 2 – “The Wedding Dress That Slipped Off” – the sexual other
55 – “I withdraw the lawsuit”- How does this scene extend and expand a significant thematic commentary?

Further Episode Analyses and Themes

Episode 3 – “This is Peng-soo” – the autistic other
(15-25) – Peng-soo song - What significant thematic commentary is produced here?
(27) – Volunteer work scene –
(33) – reading diary scene – deleted text motif
39 – reading online comments
42-46 – mother is conflicted
50 – the fall motif and withdrawl from case and resignation
*Questions
Peng-soo song - What significant thematic commentary is produced here?

Episode 4 – “The Strife of the Three Brothers” – the family other
11 – friendship flashback/ bullying
24 – Geu-ra-mi enters revolving doors
39 – go to see sunset
45 – special treatment

Episode 5 – “Wild Card VS Tactician” – the work other
Opening-13 – meeting with clients
17:30 – courtroom chat – wild-card woo
20 cham – with Geum-ri – reading body language/implicit meaning
25 basketball
27:40-31:30 – on lying – and on stories
54 – friendship
60 – truth
104 – Tae Su-mi in office/career

Episode 6 – “If I Were a Whale” – the North Korean Other/ The female other
North Korean defector – opening

4- 8“whoa, whoa” – naming and negotiating otherness +14 (whale) and with team manager
28 cutting people off
32, 35 courtroom scene +to 44:10
47 seeding ideas/foreshadowing and flashbacks.

Episode 7 – “A Tale About Sodeok-dong 1” – the rural/class other
Opening meeting – city/urban/wealth vs country/rural/poor
12:40 road trip
20:10 – the hackberry tree
27 – “do you not know or are you pretending not to know…you are a good-looking woman but…”
31:40 playing with the big girls
38:20 researching the enemy
43 “why don’t we go the opposite way”
43:55 Father knows best?
50 Yangtze river dolphins - responsibility
51:30 showdown+55:53 bathroom meeting
57 car ride – can I touch you?
1:03 Nepotism?

Episode 8 – “A Tale About Sodeok-dong II” – the Mother other
Opening – Geu Ra-mi gimbap
6:20 boss lady speaks
9 Soo-yeon speaks
28:38 under the hackberry tree
33 ‘psyche!’

34 movin out and movin on
35:50 bedside confession to 44:40
50:15 ‘I like you’
56 not so fast
58:40 look in the mirror

Episode 9 – “The Pied Piper” – the child other
6:30 eyelash removal and meeting another other
Commander in Chief
14:50-18 Woo’s out there
19:20 the politics of play
30 walk this way
31:50 child labour
33 dinner time
37:50 Strange logic
40:50 fall on your knees
46 a whale of an objection
56:40 Woo confesses
58:20 Name changes
59:40 Kids in court
104:10 what comes next?

Episode 10 – “Holding Hands Can Wait” – the sexual other
Opening – “It was love at first sight”
7:50 “I want to believe it”
10:50 running away
14:30 play your cards
20:40 “do you still like me?”
24:30 “We all want to be loved” similar colors?
29:30 “Is this true?”
32:30 “I’m on a date”
37:40 “the freedom to fall for a bad guy”; it’s your call
44:30 tough case; “the whole truth and nothing but”
52 “who are you to talk about autism and disability?”
53 “someone like her”
57:30 guilty as charged?
101 “Loving me is hard…yes”
105 “win-win?”

Episode 11 – Mr. Salt, Pepper and Attorney Soy Sauce – the other woman
6 elevator chat
14:30 lawyer jokes
29 some face time
43:50 this means that
47 bend but don’t break
55 tinder swindler
101 Karma’s a …
108 a mother’s love?

Episode 12 – “Yangtze River Dolphin” - the working mother other
opening
9:05 divided duty
12:10 femme fatales
16:40 heart to heart
20 the female monster
22:40 the patriarchal woman
25 we got you sister
30 ethical dilemma
43 professional vs personal
46:30 the dating game
50 sisters are doin it for themselves
56:30 a rigged game
58 losers and winners
102.50 got your back
105 what doesn’t kill me…makes me recite poetry

Episode 13 – “The Blue Night of Jeju I” – the religious other
7 YOLO
10:30 relationship advice – meeting the in-laws
28;30 the spirit of the law
33:40 the other side
38:30 more than meets the eye
39 take a break
44:30 all work and no play
57 dinner party

Episode 14 – The Blue Night of Jeju II
22 Work/life imbalance
29 let’s break up
36 I can relate
41 a new man
50 “what’s gotten into you”
58 tasty lawyering

Episode 15 – “Saying and Doing Things Not Asked”
5 saying the wrong thing with the right intention
7 saying what we all feel
15:40 you have to give a reason
18:30 meet the new boss, not the same as the old boss
22:20 essay writing tips – get on with it
25 she was right
39 men are so rational
44 lookin out for number 1
48:30 you are off the case
50:40 we’re different and I need a hero

This Shows the Brother Other
52:30 It’s not you, it’s me
57:40 she told you so
104 family complications

Chapter References

Jeffrey Weinstock: Popular Culture for Beginners:
Chapter one on Popular Culture
Chapter two on Semiotics
Chapter three gives guidance on working with literary theory
Chapter 4 on Pop culture “pivot points”
Chapter 5 on television and film

On Extraordinary Attorney Woo

*https://www.dbpia.co.kr/journal/articleDetail?nodeId=NODE11166098
This Article Shows Representation of a Person with Disability

*https://www.dbpia.co.kr/journal/articleDetail?nodeId=NODE11219457&language=ko_KR&hasTopBanner=true Shows Media Conversion of Webtoons in Dramas.
A Study on Recognition Structure and Directing by Sound Adaptation of Drama and Webtoon –Focused on Extraordinary Attorney Woo

Moral Value in Korean Drama Extraordinary Attorney Woo

Values Shown (1) the relationship between humans and themselves which consists of independent, critical reasoning, creative thinking, never giving up, working hard, tolerant, not holding grudges, and (2) human-human relations consisting of stopping discrimination, working together, caring for others, admitting mistakes, equal opportunity, compassion, true friendship.

Diaspora, Ethnicity, and the Korean Wave

This chapter discusses the two most prominent but lesser-studied subjects in Hallyu studies— diaspora and ethnicity.
It addresses the ways in which diasporic Koreans have developed patterns of consumption of Korean popular culture through digital technologies, and whether this shifting consumption habit drives the growth of Hallyu worldwide.

On Plato’s rejection of popular culture/art

Plato's View Is To Refuse Admission Into Any Community Which Is Going to Respect Convention, Because Now We Know Which Part of the Mind He Wakes Up.

Aristotle differs from Plato in that he makes an argument for the importance of art or poetic/dramatic

representation in that it helps human beings to process emotions/passions in productive ways

Iain McGilchrist: The Master and his Emissary

THE WHOLE VERSUS THE PART
*“I have mentioned that the link between the right hemisphere and holistic or Gestalt perception is one of the most reliable and durable of the generalisations about hemisphere differences, and that it follows from the differences in the nature of attention. The right hemisphere sees the whole, before whatever it is gets broken up into parts in our attempt to ‘know’ it. Its holistic processing of visual form is not based on summation of parts. On the other hand, the left hemisphere sees part objects. The best-known example of this process of Gestalt perception is the way in which the Dalmatian dog, sniffing the ground in the shade of a tree, suddenly emerges from this mass of dots and splashes (Figure 2.4). The process is not a gradual putting together of bits of information, but an ‘aha!’ phenomenon – it comes all at once. The right hemisphere, with its greater integrative power, is constantly searching for patterns in things. In fact its understanding is based on complex pattern recognition” (46- 47).
CONTEXT VERSUS ABSTRACTION
For the same reason that the right hemisphere sees things as a whole, before they have been digested into parts, it also sees each thing in its context, as standing in a qualifying relationship with all that surrounds it, rather than taking it as a single isolated entity.
Anything that requires indirect interpretation, which is not explicit or literal, that in other words requires contextual understanding, depends on the right frontal lobe for its meaning to be conveyed or received. The right hemisphere understands from indirect contextual clues, not only from explicit statement, whereas the left hemisphere will identify by labels rather than context (e.g. identifies that it must be winter because it is ‘January’, not by looking at the trees).
It is also why the right hemisphere underpins the appreciation of humour, since humour depends vitally on being able to understand the context of what is said and done, and how context changes it.

“The left hemisphere is the hemisphere of abstraction, which, as the word itself tells us, is the process of wresting things from their context. This, and its related capacity to categorise things once they have been abstracted, are the foundations of its intellectual power“(50).

“The left hemisphere can only re-present; but the right hemisphere, for its part, can only give again what ‘presences’. This is close to the core of what differentiates the hemispheres” (50).

“At the same time it is the right hemisphere that has the capacity to distinguish specific examples within a category, rather than categories alone: it stores details to distinguish specific instances

“Not only does the right hemisphere have an affinity with whatever is living, but the left hemisphere has an equal affinity for what is mechanical. The left hemisphere’s principal concern is utility. It is interested in what it has made, and in the world as a resource to be used. It is therefore natural that it has a particular affinity for words and concepts for tools, man-made things, mechanisms and whatever is not alive. The left hemisphere codes for tools and machines” (55).

EMPATHY AND ‘THEORY OF MIND’

“Because of the right hemisphere’s openness to the interconnectedness of things, it is interested in others as individuals, and in how we relate to them. It is the mediator of empathic identification.
If I imagine myself in pain I use both hemispheres, but your pain is in my right hemisphere
‘Self-awareness, empathy, identification with others, and more generally inter- subjective processes, are largely dependent upon . . . right hemisphere resources.’

It is with the right hemisphere that we understand the moral of a story, as well as the point of a joke.
Crash Landing On You Context: Here are some different videos to give some context for the relationship between North and South Korea.
Ji-Yoon An – “K-Drama 2.0: updating tropes with intertextuality and cinematic visuals in Crash Landing on You”
Juliette Schwak and Sarah A. Son. “Screening the Inter-Korean Conflict: The Politics of Crash Landing on You”

The Glory On The Glory

Itaewon Class