Movie-Minari shows Korean feelings for grandparents

 

Minari is a movie about a Korean-American family. They move to an Arkansas farm in search of their own American Dream. Amidst the challenges of this new life in the strange and rugged Ozarks, they find the undeniable resilience of family and what really makes a home.

Youn Yuh-jung, who plays the grandmother in the movie, said in an interview.

Q: What personal experiences did you use to build her character?

Youn said:

“I’m sure it just comes from the heart with my experience, but I was not thinking I’m a grandmother or something like that. I thought about my great-grandmother. She passed away when I was 9 or 10, I’m not sure, and I didn’t like her. So, I really thought about her during that time. I felt really guilty and thought, Stupid me. I didn’t like her because she wasn’t hygienic. If I’m talking about my great-grandmother, it’s breaking my heart.”

What is Korean feelings for grandmothers?

Youn Yuh-jung (born in 1947) says that she actually has few memories of living with her grandmother. However, Youn Yuh-jung started acting in 1966, when Koreans formed modern feelings for grandmothers, so she understands Koreans’ feelings for grandparents better than anyone else.

Currently, Korean feelings for grandmothers and grandfathers mainly appeared when Korea achieved rapid economic growth after the Korean War (1950-1953).

As urbanization progressed rapidly due to economic development and agricultural technology developed, surplus human resources in rural areas moved to cities, searching for better jobs.

In this process, children of people who do not have a living base in the city lived with grandmothers and grandfathers in the countryside.

These children have grown up and are leading modern Korean society, and these people are shaping the modern Korean feelings for grandmothers and grandfathers.

In order to help you understand, here are two films that nicely capture the Korean feelings for grandmothers and grandfathers.

1. The Way Home

Seven-year-old Sang-woo is left with his grandmother in a remote village while his mother looks for work. Born and raised in the city, Sang-woo quickly comes into conflict with his old-fashioned grandmother and his new rural surroundings.

Disrespectful and selfish, Sang-woo lashes out in anger, perceiving that he has been abandoned.

He trades his grandmother’s only treasure for a video game; he throws his food and he throws tantrums. When Sang-woo’s mother finds work and finally returns for him, Sang-woo has become a different boy.

Through his grandmother’s boundless patience and devotion, he learns to embrace empathy, humility and the importance of family. (IMDB Summary)

2. Miss Granny

Comedy, Fantasy, Music

A 74-year-old widow realizes she is becoming a burden on her family. She mysteriously regains her physical appearance from the age of 20.

-The End-

Same Spam, Different flavors due to cultural differences

 There is a food ingredient treated like garbage in the United States but is considered a luxury food in Korea.

Spam History

Spam was made in 1937 and became widespread during World War II. Spam was supplied as food for the U.S. military during World War II and played a significant role in winning the war. But why is it treated as garbage food?
It is said that American soldiers initially liked Spam. Because they can store Spam for a long time, and it is easy to cook. However, the massive rush of Spam left the soldiers embarrassed. The soldiers ate Spam every day, and their tongues were paralyzed. Eventually, Spam was treated as junk food by soldiers. Spam became spam.

Spam landing in Korea.

But after a while, Spam was treated differently from the United States in South Korea on the other side of the globe. After the Korean War (1950-1953), Korea was in ruins. There wasn’t enough food to eat.

Seoul-ruined and refugees-September, 1950

Anyone would have seen a symbolic scene showing Korea’s state at that time in a movie or TV.

It was difficult to have meat in Korea at that time, so Spam provided through the US military PX was considered a luxury food.
At that time, there was a perception that all US military items were of high quality. The people who could get Spam were those who worked at US military bases or were privileged to make connections with the US military, so at the time, consuming Spam was considered a particular person.

The success of spam.

Spam became widespread in Korea in the late 1980s. The biggest traditional holidays in Korea are Lunar New Year and Chuseok(Thanksgiving Day) in autumn. At this time, Koreans have a custom to prepare a gift for their parents and return to their hometown. At this time, to prepare a gift for their hometowns.

In 1987, a Korean company produced Spam in Korea and made a gift set of a canned ham.

Spam was recognized as an inexpensive but luxurious gift set, as it reminded generations of parents of old memories of canned Spam.

For this reason alone, Spam is not popular in Korea. Spam goes well with Korean food that doesn’t have a main dish. If you eat one Spam, it is very salty. However, if you eat it as a side dish in Korean food, this saltiness is neutralized.

How to eat Spam

Here are two typical ways Koreans eat Spam.

1. Budae-jjigae (Army Stew)

It is a type of stew, made with ham, sausage, Spam, baked beans, kimchi and gochujang. This dish was created after the Korean War, using the scrounged or smuggled surplus foods from the U. S. army bases. Now, it is one of the nation’s favorite foods.

2. Eat Spam as a side dish for rice.

First, roast a slice of Spam in on a fry pan.
If you eat it with rice, the two flavors harmonize so that you can feel the sweet and moderately salty taste at the same time. If you add kimchi here, it blends with the meat’s taste and makes it more flavorful.

If you add seaweed to it, you can feel a more savory flavor.

Option 1: Rice+Spam

Option 2: Rice+Kimchi+Spam

Option 3: Seaweed+Rice+Kimch+Spam

-The End-

Korean Movie, Little Forest – Longing for mother, expressed with food

 How to say hello in Korea

I think Korea is probably the only country in the world that greets you with food.
In greeting, they ask if you have eaten a meal.

For example:

-To friends,
  밥 먹었니? (Bab meo-geok-nee?) → Did you eat rice?
  (Note: rice is Korean staple food)

-To superiors,
  식사하셨어요? (Sigsa hasyeoss-eoyo?) → Did you have a meal?

Hippocrates said...

It is probably due to the Koreans’ emotions about food.
In the past, Koreans regarded eating hot food and sleeping in a warm room as their greatest happiness. So, eating was an indicator of a person’s happiness, and this perception was reflected in the greeting.

In Korea’s idiom (aphorism), there is a saying-식약동원(sik-yak dong-won).
It means that food and medicine have the same principle.
In the past, Koreans thought that if you eat well, you can live healthy without getting sick. And they put it into practice in their life.

However, this was not unique to Korea. Hippocrates said something similar.
“Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.”
It seems that the thoughts of ancient Eastern and ancient Western food were not significantly different.

Movie, Little Forest

Original “Little Forest (Ritoru Foresuto)” is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Daisuke Igarashi.

It was first filmed in two Japanese films. First film (2014)is “Little Forest: Summer/Autumn”. Sequel(2015) was “Little Forest: Winter/Spring”.

After that, it was filmed in Korea and released in 2018.

Director: Yim Soon-Rye
Starring: Kim Tae-Ri, Ryu Jun-Yeol, Moon So-Ri

Comport Food

There are five tastes-Sweet, salty, sour, spicy and bitter.
And there is one more flavor-Mom’s magic touch-The mysterious taste that is completed only through the mother’s hands. The emotion of this movie has the Mom’s magic touch. It is similar to the comport food of the animation Ratatouille.

Since Yim Soon-rye, the director of the Korean version of Little Forest, is a vegetarian, only vegetarian food is served in the filming. If you are a vegetarian, you can watch a movie and make it along. But it’s not a perfect vegan, so take note of this.

The foods in the Korean version of the movie all used Korean cuisine, unlike the Japanese version except for boiled chestnuts. In addition to this, it will be fun to find different parts from the original Japanese work.

In all the cooking scenes in this movie, the leading actress Kim Tae-Ri all cooked herself. After watching this movie, your mouth will be watering just thinking about her hands.

Kim Tae-Ri

Actress Kim Tae-Ri, isn’t she lovely?
I recommend other works starring Kim Tae-ri. 

 Movie - 1987: When the Day Comes (2017)
 TV Shows - Mr. Sunshine (2018)

You can see another side of Kim Tae-ri in these works.

-The End-

Crash Landing on You - Materials that connect a hero and a heroine

 Crash Landing on You, Korean Title is “사랑의 불시착(Sa-rang-ui Bul-si-chak)”.

It is a South Korean television series featuring Hyun Bin(Ri Jeong-hyeok) and Son Ye-jin(Yoon Se-ri). It is about a South Korean chaebol heiress who made an emergency landing in North Korean portion of the DMZ(Demilitarized Zone) because of a paragliding accident and meets a North Korean special army officer. Over time, they fall in love, despite the divide and dispute between their respective countries.

Can you tell the difference between South and North Korea?

How much do you know about North Korea other than Kim Jong-un and nuclear missiles?
North Korea is still a country where the Iron Curtain still exists and is the only place in the world that cannot be freely accessed. Even more so for North Koreans.
Through the “Crash Landing on You”, you can get a glimpse into the lives of North Koreans.
North Korea, like any other country, is a place where people live, and it shows in detail how people live there.
Film staffs interviewed North Korean defectors and expressed their lives in North Korea realistically.North Korean defectors who watched the drama say that although there are some drama elements, they told them well similar to those of the current North Koreans.
This TV show is a story where two people who have lived in such a disconnected place meet and fall in love.
This drama is the 21st-century edition of Romeo and Juliet. As you know, Hyun bin played Romeo, and Son Ye-jin played Juliet.
It’s fun to see how these two fall in love, get frustrated and overcome.

6 Materials that connect a hero and a heroine

In this drama, the props that connect the two, Hyun bin and Son Ye-jin, appear.

1. Camera

The camera makes an opportunity for the two to have a conversation and then gives a strong hint in the story’s progress. Hyun Bin’s camera was Leica M-P 240 and Summicron-M 35mm f/2 ASPH lens.
However, It will be difficult for you to find that camera in the online market.

2. Candle

Captain Ri looks for Yoon Se-ri in a crowded market while holding up her favorite scented candle. The scene was really romantic, and it became an opportunity for Se-ri to trust Ri Jeong-hyeok.

3. Smartphone

The phone soothes the emptiness of Se-ri’s heart after Se-ri was forced to part with Ri Jeong-hyeok. The phone alleviates her feelings of emptiness and depression after Se-ri was forced to part with Ri Jeong-hyeok. 
The phone in drama was Samsung Note 10 looks stylish.

4. Piano Music - The Song for My Brother

This music reminds of the two who were latent in the unconscious, making the meeting of the two fate from chance. The melody of the piano binds two people together with the thread of fate before they even meet, and pulls the two apart so that they can meet again.

5. Swiss Travel

Switzerland is a place that gave Se-ri the hope of a life free from the feelings of death. And this is where the relationship between the two began.
The Swiss filming locations for this drama are Lindenhof, Interlaken, Sigriswil, Iseltwald and Kleine Scheidegg.

6. Chocolate

Chocolate gives an opportunity to the two heroine to meet. 
It is really ironic that two people who will later become rivals in love form a sympathy first through chocolate.

If you have someone who wants to connect with you, try using those.

-The End-

Two Perspective Views on the Squid Game-Episode 9

Warning: This post contains some spoilers for Squid Game Episode 9, so if you don’t want spoilers, please re-read it after you’ve finished Squid Game. 

 

Koreans will see the final episode of Squid Game with different emotions than non-Koreans. Koreans would have recognized the fate of the main character Gi-hun and his mother as soon as they saw the title of Episode 9-One Lucky Day. The reason is that the title of this episode is the same as that of a famous Korean short story.

The novel One Lucky Day (Unsu Joeun Nal 운수 좋은 날) is a work by Hyun Jin-geon written in 1924. The plot is as follows.

The main character is a rickshaw man and his wife has been ill for over a month.

One rainy day, the hero’s wife is not feeling well, so she asks her husband to take a day off today and stay by her side.
But her husband goes to work to earn even a penny more to overcome poverty.
The husband is lucky that day because he constantly has guests.

After work, he wants to go home quickly because he is worried about his sick wife, but on the other hand, it is hard for him to see his sick wife, so he drinks at a pub.
The drunken husband buys Seolleongtang, which his wife usually wants to eat, but can’t because of lack of money, and returns home.

The house is darker and quieter than usual. His wife is already dead.
The husband rubs his face against the face of his deceased wife and mutters.

“I bought Seolleongtang, but why can’t you eat it… Oddly enough, I was lucky today… ”

If you are a Korean, you must have come across this novel at least once in a textbook when you were a student. So, just by looking at the title, you know at once that “his mother must be dead when he returns with the prize money.”

And as you go through the play, you continue to agonize. If I were in the same situation as the hero, would I go back with my money and meet my dead mother? Will I go back empty-handed and spend my last time with my living mother?

The Squid Game has a similar theme to director Bong Joon-ho’s movie Parasite. The debt problem warns us about the growing inequality between the rich and the poor in Korea and the inequality of opportunity.

The number of participants shows this most symbolically. People at the top and bottom of society are represented by numbers 1 and 456, respectively.

In a slightly better situation than the actual situation of number 456, I chose to play the game to the end to receive the prize money.

Which one are you going to choose?

-The end-

Lie by BTS - Jimin -Lyrics

                     Lie  

                                   BTS-Jimin, Album WINGS

내게 말해 너의 달콤한 미소로 내게
Tell me with your sweet smile

내게 말해 속삭이듯 내 귓가에 말해
Tell me like you’re whispering into my ears

Don’t be like a prey
Be Smooth like a like a snake

벗어나고 싶은데
I want to escape but

Ah woo woo

내게서 떠나 떠나 떠나줘
Get away away away from me

내게서 떠나 떠나줘
Get away away from me

Ah woo woo

뭐라도 나를 나를 구해줘
Whatever it takes, save me, me

나를 구해줘
Save me

계속돼 도망쳐봐도 거짓 속에 빠져있어
It keeps happening even though I run away I’m caught in a lie.

Caught in a lie

순결했던 날 찾아줘, 이 거짓 속에 헤어날 수 없어
Find the me that was innocent, I can’t free myself from this lie.

내 웃음을 돌려놔줘
Give me back my laughter

Caught in a lie

이 지옥에서 날 꺼내줘 이 고통에서 헤어날 수 없어
Take me out of his hell I can’t free myself from this pain

벌받는 나를 구해줘
Save the me being punished

나를 원해, 길을 잃고 헤매이는 나를
Want me, the me who has lost the way

나를 원해, 매일 그랬듯 나
Want me, Like always, I

I feel so far away
You always come my way

또 다시 반복돼 난
I repeat again

Ah woo woo

내게서 떠나 떠나 떠나줘
Get away away away from me

내게서 떠나 떠나줘
Get away away from me

Ah woo woo

뭐라도 나를 나를 구해줘 나를 구해줘
Whatever it takes, save me, me. Save me.

계속돼 도망쳐봐도 거짓 속에 빠져있어
It keeps happening even though I run away I’m caught in a lie.

Caught in a lie

순결했던 날 찾아줘
Find the me that was innocent

이 거짓 속에 헤어날 수 없어
I can’t free myself from this lie

내 웃음을 돌려놔줘
Give me back my laughter

Caught in a lie

이 지옥에서 날 꺼내줘, 이 고통에서 헤어날 수 없어.
Take me out of his hell, I can’t free myself from this pain.

벌받는 나를 구해줘
Save the me being punished

아직 나는 여전히 똑같은 나인데
I’m still the same me

예전과 똑같은 나는 여기 있는데
The me from before is still here but

너무나 커져버린 거짓이 날 삼키려 해
The lie that’s gotten too big is trying to swallow me up

Caught in a lie

순결했던 날 찾아줘
Find the me that was innocent

이 거짓 속에 헤어날 수 없어
I can’t free myself from this lie

내 웃음을 돌려놔줘
Give me back my laughter

Caught in a lie

이 지옥에서 날 꺼내줘, 이 고통에서 헤어날 수 없어
Take me out of his hell, I can’t free myself from this pain.

벌받는 나를 구해줘
Save the me being punished

Source: https://bts-trans.tumblr.com/post/151568547685/lyrics-lie-by-bts-jimin
-end-

Contents

1. Secrets of Jungkook's hometown

2. Undiscovered Jimin's hometown

3. Beautiful Life Quotes(1/2)

4. Beautiful Life Quotes(2/2)

5. Lie Lyrics by Jimin

Beautiful Life Quotes (2/2)

"All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better." 

     -Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Nothins is more beautiful than honesty." 

     -Steven Aitchison.

"You’re only here for a short visit. Don’t hurry, don’t worry. 
  And be sure to smell the flowers along the way." 

     -Walter Hagen

"A man who dares to waste one hour of time 
   has not discovered the value of life." 

     -Charles Darwin

"The first step toward success is taken 
  when you refuse to be a captive of the environment in which 
  you first find yourself." 

     -Mark Caine

-The End-

<Contents>

1. Secrets of Jungkook's hometown

2. Undiscovered Jimin's hometown

3. Beautiful Life Quotes(1/2)

4. Beautiful Life Quotes(2/2)

5. Lie Lyrics by Jimin

Beautiful Life Quotes (1/2)

"You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough." 
     -Mae West

Mae West

"A plan without action is not a plan. 
  It's a speech." 
     -T. Boone Pickers.

"Small deeds done are better than great deeds planned." 

     -Peter Marshall

"Happiness is not something ready-made.

  It comes from your own actions." 

     -Dalai Lama

"We are all broken, that's how the light gets in." 

     -Ernest Hermingway

-The End-

<Contents>

1. Secrets of Jungkook's hometown

2. Undiscovered Jimin's hometown

3. Beautiful Life Quotes(1/2)
4. Beautiful Life Quotes(2/2)

5. Lie Lyrics by Jimin