The drama of life! Lately I’ve been caught up in watching Korean period dramas. Watching drama set in Korea in the 1st through the 15th Centuries produced in Korea by Koreans is a very interesting method of learning about segments of this amazing Asian culture. I never imagined getting this involved in watching multiple series of dramatic programs in a language that I don’t understand verbally and must depend on the subtitles for verbal content. And I’m not always confident the translations are accurate, but I’ll just have to take the translators words for it – seems to be pretty close, but I get the feeling some of the nuance is lost in translation. The emotional content expressed by the Korean actors is clear enough, and that combined with the translation in the subtitles is enough to drag my emotions through the entire gambit – I find myself with tears welling up in my eyes more often than not. I do so relate to the drama and situations played out in this culture’s stories it is not funny! Family conflict seems to always be at the core of societal drama. And the scenery is beyond compare with anything we are accustomed to in the United States. Korean and Asian architecture in general go back thousands of years and the sets used for the production of the programs I’ve seen so far are truly amazing. And the scenery of the mountains, forests, lakes, oceans and streams in Korea remind me so much of the scenery I’ve grown up with in the Southeastern United States. I’m learning that today’s societal problems we face in western culture are nothing new by any stretch of the imagination.
The Korean caste system is an interesting study in humanity. Being brought up in America the caste system is so much more subdued but nonetheless it is here. America is the land of opportunity where you can buy or cheat your way into higher levels of the system, but much still depends on when, where and to whom you are born just as in Korean or any other culture that’s survived for any length of time on the face of this planet. Watching drama set in Korea and produced by Korean people is a truly educational and inspirational event for this uninformed uncultured westerner, but I’m willing and happy to learn. In America we try to break it all down into three classes – upper, middle and lower. Most Americans have always been guilty of oversimplification – after all most of us have been taught to be that way from birth. Decide what you want and go after it – simple, huh? If only it were that simple! But in ancient Korean culture the lines were most clearly defined and much more complicated. From the top of the chain of Korean Royalty down to the bottom of the chain most lowly Peasants covers many, many links and side-chains – all of which theoretically go together to support the state and the wishes of the privileged minority at the top. And like in American culture the rich and powerful use the ‘looking out for the people’s best interests’ card as one of their major excuses to maintain dominance and control over the less fortunate and less privileged majority of people. Power, greed, control, dominance and subservience are all played out in a society built on rules handed down from the top. And Korea, now basically two countries at odds with each other philosophically since prior to the Korean War (it was a war, not a conflict as our historians tried to glaze over it) sprung out of multiple Kingdoms and numerous tribes all vying for land and power under the guidance and direction of the most powerful people occupying and fighting and scheming to hold on to the highest ruling positions in their societies. And they believed the only way to hold on to that power was to extend it by invading their neighbors and making them subservient to the needs and desires of the most powerful -the ancient ‘Last Man Standing’ rule. It was a society where transgressions were often punished with death, torture or dismemberment – powerful motivators to get the defeated, weak and poor to serve the rich and powerful. In many instances when an individual in a family screwed up the entire family ended up paying the ultimate penalty for that single family member’s transgression – that is some pretty stiff punishment for one screw-up in the group. In some cases they would either kill and/or enslave entire populaces to gain and maintain their power and control. Your rank and position in society meant everything when it came to the level of comfort you would experience as you made your way through life on planet earth. Just like it does for the majority of folks in the good old U.S. of A. Plots and schemes abound in a system where gaining wealth, prestige and the King’s favor were the ultimate goals. Some things never seem to change!
Western culture is very young compared to most on this planet but still has so many similarities they can’t go unnoticed. We’ve only been at it in the United States of a bit over two-hundred years so far. ‘The rich get richer and the poor get poorer’ is a concept as old as humanity itself. Our forefathers founded this county on the land, blood and backs of it’s native inhabitants. The United States of America became the melting pot of the world after our diverse range of ancestors pushed their way across the continent converting the land and the original cultures into the so called ‘land of the free.’ I hear it said we came to this country to escape religious persecution, yet we started persecuting the native Indians as soon as we got here. Our current society seems to persecute any religion or idea that does not meet the standards or current belief systems of the incumbent powers that be. Yes, we are free to elect the people we authorize to tell us how to live and how to behave. We are told we have freedom of religion, but religious freedom sometime boils down to the freedom to select which religion we prefer to support financially and voluntarily as long as we at least pick one to publicly bow to. Some folks are born into specific cults or religions and are raised to accept a dogma without question so they might not ever know the precept of religious freedom even though they were born and raised on American soil. Freedom to travel anywhere within the continental USA as long as we can afford to travel or don’t mind sticking our thumbs out and chancing rides with total strangers (a prospect that seems a bit scarier now than it did in the 60′s and 70′s). Freedom to blame anybody but ourselves for our problems. Freedom to criticize even when we know next to nothing about the areas or peoples we choose to criticize. Freedom to be just as smart or just as ignorant as we want to be. Freedom to be dishonest, hurtful, disrespectful, rude, crude, socially unacceptable, narcissistic – lots and lots of freedoms to choose from. But as Kris Kristofferson so succinctly put it in his song “Me and Bobby McGee” – “Freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose.”
I appreciate hulu including Korean drama as part of their content. It is really giving me the opportunity to look at another culture, an ancient culture as seen and defined by itself through it’s very own self-produced dramatic programming for the first time. The communication age – where will it all go now that we just about have the whole planet talking and streaming data?
Ah yes – and so it goes – the drama of life! Now back to some tidying up some licensing details and pitching some music for a couple of hours before getting back to my latest mental and educational adventure in Korean culture – ‘Jewel in the Palace’… I’m up to episode 33…only 21 more to go on this one… I’m really digging Jang Geum – she’s one really determined in the face of all odds fine lady! Makes my load seem extremely light by comparison! The drama continues…
