by Wiam Najjar, May 6, 2016
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It's been so long for this series. Masters and two jobs are eating me up. But I never stay away for long. I tend to keep my promises. Here I am with another group of Korean school works that deserve your attention. I hope you enjoy them.

Land of Rain

(Drama Special)

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Grief brings people together. When it’s too painful, it’s hard to open up to other people. But if you’re lucky enough to find that one person who’d understand your despair because they’re suffering the same and with whom you can smile, nothing else matters. Who cares about society and rumors if a teacher and a student find condolence in one another?

The drama special -which is sufficiently a full drama material- touches, also, on the role of a teacher and the bullying of fellow teachers. The idea that you don’t quit because of the students but actually because of other teachers is valid. I’ve been there so I know. I’m still there. If a teacher does their job well or is loved by students, they’re doomed. Other teachers would make it so.


Adolescence Medley

(Drama Special)

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This was adorable! Great acting. Hilarious. Famous OSTs and drama parodies.

So the 4-episode drama special centers on the love and friendship of adolescents. A cute love story with no exaggerations which covers the characteristics of the age; jealousy, doubt and attachment. The drama discusses school transferring and its negative effects on students. We see bullying, the search for dreams, the desperate attempt at finding their own identity, the pressure of parents, etc…

The question the drama asks and leaves unanswered; how is a student supposed to spend their school years when they know they might leave at any moment? Is being invisible, having no friends and pretending not to hear or see the best way?


Yalkae, A Joker in High School

(Film)

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I hesitantly started this 1970s film but surprisingly ended up liking it.

It was a new experience watching a film on the 70s that’s actually shot IN the 70s. High schools then were single-sex and strictly disciplined. Not sure if it was applied to all schools but the school presented in the film was a Christian school with a priest as its head. We see the fashion of the age, the slang, a taste of the music, traditions, how the country used to look and the reaction to technology –then-. As for students’ issues, troublemakers are the basis of the story. Bullying and making fun of fellow students and of teachers because students have no motivations for studying. Romance, friendship and the sacred relationship between a teacher and their disciples are emphasised. The film takes a hopeful and optimistic approach. A grand happy ending with all happy ever after. For an old film, it’s excellent. Didn’t get bored at all.


I Am Sam

 (Drama)

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Through lovely love stories, the drama presents the complicated and eternal relationship between teachers and students. It centers on the role of the teacher and what makes a teacher a good one. Students problems are tackled, not as heavily as the other two main issues. We see poverty, problematic backgrounds, delinquents and the troubles of the age; the importance of grades, blurry future, vague dreams and plans, disappointments, hope, love and friendship. The drama balances humour with serious issues and presents them beautifully.


Sang Doo, Let’s Go to School

(Drama)

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Life is merciless for those who haven’t pursued their studies. When Sang Doo (Rain) meets the lost love of his life (Gong Hyo Jin) again and finds that she’s become a teacher, he decides to climb to where she is. The drama is about society’s prejudice against the uneducated and the obstacles facing those who quit then come back to school. Well, I’m focusing on the school part of the drama not the drama as a whole, don’t forget. A heartbreaking story and one hateful ending but is worth every single minute.


Make a Woman Cry

(Drama)

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This drama provides the perfect combination of the best and worst. The first half is a perfect realistic account of how complicated and painful life is for each one of us; portraying different kinds of people. But as the second half starts, the drama goes downhill with every episode.

Why am I adding it here then? Because what concerns this article is a central issue in the first half. Bullying in its rawest form and an attempt at finding the real reason behind the horrendous actions of some teenagers. When you’d be dying to curse one teenager for ruining the lives of many others and you simply can’t because you know it was life that drove him to such acts. You cannot fully blame him but you cannot sympathise either. Schools become the place for revenge. Teenagers seek to avenge themselves on their broken families and miserable lives by taking it on other weaker kids.

The first 20 episodes of Make a Woman Cry truly sent me to the endless path to misery; where questions have no answers and tears never stop.


Marrying School Girl

(Film)

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This film is fun. Real fun. Behind the comic presentation, the film discusses the issues of teenage love, sex and marriage. Where teenagers still officially marry in many countries around the world, at least a funny portrayal of the issue is required. Love is not all pure and innocent and marriage is not always the perfect solution. Despite my disagreement with almost all the ideas presented positively in the film and my awareness of the gravity of them, I enjoyed watching the film. I hope the film can leave you criticising the situation as well. I’m not imposing anything!!


Nightmare Teacher

(Naver Drama)

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In the confined space of school, one’s need blocks everything else out and turns to a kind of obsession. We all understand what that means. And in the 21st century where everything is judged materially and people just care about appearances; the task becomes harder. Every teenager wants to stress out the one thing they’re confident about. Every one of them wants to be acknowledged and seen, to be recognised, loved and cared for. But it’s not as easy as it sounds. What if there’s a way to get what you want, would you follow it? Even if it causes selling your soul to some dark force –let’s not say the devil (I love Uhm Ki Joon too well for that)-. Underlining the consequences of one’s decisions in that dark manner is intentional in the drama to convey a moral lesson. That one shouldn’t rush things on the expense of their emotional and spiritual welfare. But the thing is, if I were in the students’ place I would choose the same, even at the expense of other valuable aspects. Because when we need something desperately we don’t tend to think rationally and look far in the future. It’s what humans do. The painful part is that the students’ worries and their ways to ease their agony is so real, and it was the world that made beauty, grades and physical strength the most important. Not to be forgotten, is everyone’s ultimate wish. Nightmare Teacher stripes reality naked and asks us bluntly to reflect.


Page Turner

(Drama)

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Due to the absurdity of life, it excels at gathering all sorts of obstacles to block our way when we feel that it finally opened its arms for us. At the darkest spot of the tunnel, when giving up is much easier than moving on, life gives us one tiny chance to look around. That glance might save us and introduce us to a new route; where there’s a light at the end. Page Turner is a sentimental story of 3 teenagers meeting at the darkest moment of their lives and how they, hand in hand, overcome the absurdity of life. Absolutely perfect.


Ma Boy

(Drama)

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I pondered for a long time on where to add this. Many people love it. but

For someone who’s been researching and writing about Korean school dramas and films for a pretty long time, this drama comes as rather confusing. Not a problem with acting or with subject matter. I mean, it is a first when it comes to a boy disguising as a girl. And I acclaim it for not portraying the boy as feminine or gay like the world usually does. But the presentation was rather childish and immature. They didn’t manage to penetrate the heart of the issue. I expected more honestly from a pioneering drama. Though it was cute at moments; it was more shallow and superficial than I thought it would be. Still, its genuineness got it here.


See you in a new part.. I can't promise it'd be soon though .. Be well until ^^