ParuMgrnii wrote: I mean, why Asian dramas are so prudish anyway? I don't mean to show it all the way American style but sex is part of a relationship and can be beautifully screen-romanced too, don't you think? =)
I can't speak for the other countries, and really I can barely speak for Korea, but it's my understanding that the major broadcasting companies that air these dramas (MBC, SBS, KBS) are government-funded stations, and as such they are under strict guidelines according to the government of what can and cannot be shown on television. This tends to be more of a controversy when it comes to Korean pop music with many songs that are banned from being performed on the music shows due to "inappropriate" lyrics. The big example that comes to mind is GD & TOP's song "Knock Out", which was banned because the Korean for "knock out", 뻑이가요, is a slang term, and the government judged that allowing such a song to be performed on television would be detrimental to the development of Korean youth. The heavy government censorship that goes on in the Korean entertainment industry is part of the reason why I'm a bit weary of using dramas as the foundation of my Korean cultural understanding (I'm thinking back to another thread about Korean drama's connection to Korean culture), since a lot of these dramas have to be sanitized to pass strict government regulations. You'll find that the dramas that air on the cable network TVN are bit more risque. But just a bit. I'm sure there's a vanguard of the older generation who prefer the government's hand in restraining the sexuality exhibited in dramas, but I bet there's a rising opinion among the younger generation that wants to push the envelope a bit more. (At least that's true among the Korean students I've spoken to at my university.)
I smiled a bit when you mentioned the "American style", since there's another example of a disconnect between media representation of sex and the general public's feelings towards it. Right now, if I had to describe America's general feelings towards sex, I would have to say that it's a pretty anti-sex climate. Hollywood is written off by many Americans as being controlled libidinous left-wingers who are out to raze the moral landscape of our country. (Other Americans, feel free to weigh in. I admit that I'm extremely liberal when it comes to the expression of sexuality, and I often find that people from one side will claim that the other outnumbers them, so I might need some balance in my perspective... But, seriously, I think female sexuality is under attack in the US... Argument for another day...)
I have to admit that the reason why the kiss sparked my interest is because the rest of the episode bored me to tears so that the kiss was like someone throwing a bucket of ice water on me: woke me up right quick.
