Musings On Local Pop Culture
Although many of you know me as someone who has very strong opinions, I don't really have anything to say about today's "anniversary." Once again, I find myself a stranger in a strange land, just as I did five years ago at this time. And one of the strangest things I've discovered in this strange land is "X-Man," a hugely popular Korean game/variety show, which is the subject of this post.
"X-Man" has been described to me by a Korean friend-of-a-friend as a weaker version of MTV's "Jackass" (is that show even on the air anymore?). Since my understanding of Korean is basically nonexistent, I can't truly appreciate all the intricacies of the show, but the visuals seem to tell the story fairly well. Each episode usually involves Korean celebrities (along with a few regulars, as far as I can tell) competing in completely bizarre contests. As I understand it, one of the contestants has been designated the "X-Man" and is working to sabotage his team's chances of winning. Inevitably, hilarity (Korean-style) ensues. And there are sometimes scantily clad female dancers, too.
But none of that interests the media anthropologist in me so much as how "X-Man" exemplifies some of the generic specificities of Korean television (at least, the Korean television that I've been privy to thus far). There is almost always some text appearing briefly on the screen, not as dramatic as the "Biff"s and "Bam"s of Adam West's "Batman," but similar, in a way. Although I don't know what the messages mean as of yet, I can only assume that they comment directly on the action, thus enhancing it for the audience. Also, several times throughout the broadcast, the action will be stopped and a portion of the scene will be re-shown, usually from a different camera angle. Initially, this is sort of annoying for the unaccustomed viewer, but after a few episodes, one begins to understand how it works with the rythym of the show. At any rate, I haven't really given it enough thought to do it justice here, but I thought I should record my initial observations.
Also, some of you will be interested to know that my life has gotten considerably easier since my two biggest middle-school troublemakers switched to a different hagwon. That alone made this a good day.
"X-Man" has been described to me by a Korean friend-of-a-friend as a weaker version of MTV's "Jackass" (is that show even on the air anymore?). Since my understanding of Korean is basically nonexistent, I can't truly appreciate all the intricacies of the show, but the visuals seem to tell the story fairly well. Each episode usually involves Korean celebrities (along with a few regulars, as far as I can tell) competing in completely bizarre contests. As I understand it, one of the contestants has been designated the "X-Man" and is working to sabotage his team's chances of winning. Inevitably, hilarity (Korean-style) ensues. And there are sometimes scantily clad female dancers, too.
But none of that interests the media anthropologist in me so much as how "X-Man" exemplifies some of the generic specificities of Korean television (at least, the Korean television that I've been privy to thus far). There is almost always some text appearing briefly on the screen, not as dramatic as the "Biff"s and "Bam"s of Adam West's "Batman," but similar, in a way. Although I don't know what the messages mean as of yet, I can only assume that they comment directly on the action, thus enhancing it for the audience. Also, several times throughout the broadcast, the action will be stopped and a portion of the scene will be re-shown, usually from a different camera angle. Initially, this is sort of annoying for the unaccustomed viewer, but after a few episodes, one begins to understand how it works with the rythym of the show. At any rate, I haven't really given it enough thought to do it justice here, but I thought I should record my initial observations.
Also, some of you will be interested to know that my life has gotten considerably easier since my two biggest middle-school troublemakers switched to a different hagwon. That alone made this a good day.
posted by TSF in Ulsan | 12:13 AM
1 Comments:
It sounds like a cross between MXC and the Mole (remember that?)
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