International Entertainment

I remember last year, when I heard that Erin watched Korean Dramas and Bollywood, I laughed out loud. I thought that was sooooo weird. Then, one day, Zobe and I walked in on her starting a new Korean Drama. We ended up getting sucked in, and that particular show has become very dear to our hearts (Boys Over Flowers. I highly recommend it). I should have learned from this experience, but instead I adopted the attitude of "Well, at least I don't like Bollywood. THAT would be weird. I still have my dignity there."

Of course, this changed when we were coerced into going to a Bollywood film at International Cinema on campus at the end of last year. The film they played was Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi. I was only able to see the first half, but I bought the soundtrack like right away and then rented the movie from Netflix over Christmas Break and watched it about five times. Dignity gone. Happiness here. I'm ok with that.

I bring this up right now in particular because I just finished watching my second Bollywood movie, Dilwale Dulhania le Jayenge, last night. I didn't love it quite as much as Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi, but it was still awesome! Part of it was that I had issues connecting with the characters because they were all dressed like people from the 80's. This is just an issue I have. But I had started watching it because my friend, Mary, who just got back from India, recommended it to me. That's the thing about international forms of entertainment: when you say that you like them, you realize that there are lots of people who come out of the woodwork who like them, too. With Korean Dramas, I posted on Facebook that I was watching one, and my cousins commented, and recommended some others that I should watch. It is still something that we discuss, and I now have posters of the lovely Lee Min Ho as a result of this connection (<3). With Bollywood, I posted that I was watching Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi, and some girls that I went to church with Freshman year commented that they loved this movie too. And this is just a sampling of my experiences. I'm telling ya, you know people who like these things. It's ok. It's actually great. You are allowed to like these things.

But, seriously. International Entertainments is amazing. It's something that people bond over. Take my new connection and bond to my cousins, who I don't really know that well, but who I now have this awesome connection to. Take Doctor Who (boy, do I love British television). Brie, Erin, Sierra, Zobe and I all love Doctor Who, and watching it and referencing it are two things that we, varied as we are, can all appreciate. Plus, when you see someone with a shirt that says "The angels have the phone box" or "Your first Doctor is your only Doctor" or something like that, you immediately have a connection with that person. You Doctor Who fans, you know what I'm talking about.

International Entertainment is also really cool because it gives you a new view on life. Especially with the Korean Dramas or Bollywood, because they live in similar but different worlds than we do. Take, for example, the importance of family, especially in marriage. People are honor bound to their family, and marriage is far more of a family affair. Especially with Bollywood, because there are arranged marriages, or at least they are more common. Also, in Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi, there's such an emphasis on religion! I think that's what blew me away most about it. I don't think I've ever seen such a God-based love story in my life. I loved the merging of those two worlds. I want to be like Surinder and Taani. I want to see God in the person that I marry. That's such a cool concept! Actually, Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi is on my list of movies that I will watch with my fiancee when I'm engaged (in 5,6,10 years?). The other is The Lion King, and during the scene where Mufasa dies, I'm going to very seriously, but kind of jokingly, but very seriously ask if he would brave a stampeding herd of antelope to save his child. But anyway.

On the other hand, certain things are the same in each of these cultures. For example, Korean Dramas and the few Bollywood movies that I have watched give you that same strange, fuzzy, yearning, happy feeling that a good chick flick gives you. When describing what a Korean Drama is to others, I tell them that it is basically a chick flick on steroids. Because that's pretty much what it is: a 16 - 24 hour long, action-packed chick flick, divided into episodes. Maybe not "action" packed, but the stuff, and the amount of stuff, that happens in these is ridiculous. Sentimentality is common across all cultures. Or, at least, in the ones whose media I've sampled, this appears to be the case.

So, don't mock me. :D Just try it out before yourself before you make fun of anyone. Or you'll be sorry later when you find out that you actually love it.