I am sharing with you an article titled “American and Korean Dramas” that I wrote about 2.5 years ago. Because I kept deleting the site’s database, these articles were starting to get lost. Since I had also shared this article on other sites, I managed to access it. Enjoy reading.

Lately, since I started watching Korean dramas a lot, I said to myself that it’s time to write an article about this too, and I am starting to write. If you are asking why I titled it “Korean vs. American Dramas,” it’s because I needed to compare Korean dramas with something; I couldn’t compare them with our Turkish dramas because there aren’t any Turkish dramas I watch. Now, let me first talk about the American shows I watch and explain the differences of Korean dramas in contrast to them. The American shows I’ve watched: Chuck, Lost, How I Met Your Mother, The Vampire Diaries, Supernatural, House M.D., Alcatraz—I can say these are just a few of the American shows I’ve watched. I would write them all down now, but never mind, let’s not make the article too long. I have always loved most American shows; there are, of course, shows I still continue to watch, but I started watching Korean dramas more. If you ask why, it’s because they shoot a single season, and they also finish the ending with very beautiful happy endings. It’s true that because they end with a happy ending, I can easily forget these dramas, but it is nice. In American shows, they generally always create a weird ending and confuse people’s minds just to leave a mark on them.

To give an example, Lost—man, what kind of ending was that? After watching that final episode, I said, “Is this why I’ve been watching this show for so many seasons?” But, of course, the damage was done; they had tied the end of the show to the most absurd ending possible. But are Korean dramas like that? At the end of the show, everyone is happy, and they end it with a conclusion I want and will be happy with. I remember how much I cursed the screenwriters during that final episode of Lost. Also, lately, American television has started producing shows with fantastic, outlandish, and very weird plots. I started missing normal people. There’s also this: in American shows, it is very rare to find a show that generally shows people what is good and beautiful. Are Korean dramas like that? You can draw a lesson from every single one of them. There was this one Korean drama called 49 Days—I said kudos, they really nailed it. There is also this side of the matter: I can say that Koreans are just like our Turkish people. They are truly very good people, and I can also say they are very modest compared to American shows. Except for those tiny miniskirts, of course. There is this situation with Koreans: while they wear turtlenecks on the upper part of their body, they go for incredibly short skirts on their legs, as if there is a shortage of fabric. In Korean dramas, there is also the concept of modesty/shame among girls. Is it like that in American shows? The women in these American shows are worse than the men; sometimes you just want to say “jeez.” I can say that Koreans resemble Turks, even if just a little (Of course, this is my opinion; you can state your thoughts in the comments section).

Finally, let me also talk about the teen dramas between the two countries. In American teen dramas, the main topics are parties, romances, ………..s, a ton of below-the-belt jokes, the school’s beautiful girl and handsome boyfriend, and their empty lives. Why do I say empty? They know nothing but love/drama, who loves whom, who stabs whom in the back. Man, they make teen shows, but what they teach the youth is things like “how do I steal someone else’s man” or (I normally wouldn’t write this, but I have to explain it somehow) “how do I take a girl home”—honestly, I’m bored of these now. Let me give an example from Korea’s teen dramas: Dream High. The theme of the show is music, but in the show, there are elements like friendship, love, helping each other, compromise, a sense of modesty, and respect for parents, and most importantly, you won’t find expressions or actions containing sexuality like in American shows in such dramas.

I’ll say “finally” for the second time, but some of you will say, “What Korean drama, man? Are you crazy?” Look, when my sister first started watching them and said, “Come watch an episode, you’ll love it too,” I said, “Get outta here.” But lo and behold, now I really love it, and all joking aside, I have started learning some words in the Korean language. Just like “Comsammida” or “Comahoo”—I think both mean “Thank you.” I might have misspelled them. At first, when you start watching Korean dramas, the Korean language might seem a bit weird, but later, just like English, the words slowly start to become familiar, and you can learn words in that language too. So, Korean ceases to be a complex language. You just need to watch any few episodes.

Let me recommend a few shows to you:

49 Days, Beautiful Spy, Dream High, Dream High 2, God Of Study, Gumiho, My Girl, My Princess, That Fool, Protect the Boss, You Are Beautiful.

Here, I can recommend these. You can start with these as an initial introduction. All of the shows are a single season and generally have between 16 to 25 episodes. They feel just like a movie. You feel like finishing them in one sitting. You can find the shows on sites like Yeppudaa and KoreanTürk. I made the article a bit long; if you’ve read up to here, thank you very much. But if you say you skipped right to the end, well, God bless you, what can I say.

Alright, may Allah be with you! Hoping you will read our future articles, stay well…