Jackie the Penguin

Lmh'd newest drama is also getting attention for all the wrong reasons. Not sure why ksh isn't rating higher viewer wise, its great!

Yeah ljs, ksh and psj are my favs for this age range of actors. I just finish watching midnight runners, him and ha neuls bromance is great!

BR rookie script is just too immature, and nor a good showing for jcw versatility. He should follow in psj or ksm footsteps than lmh footsteps.

I notice also jcw and lmh seems to have the most super fans.

In terms of international popularity, i'd rank it like this.

LMH
KSH
PSJ
JCW
LJS

In terms of looks I would rank like this. LMH just has the more exotic look that is gaining in popularity in Korea and internationally. Look at Somi for example.

LMH
JCW
PSJ
LJS
KSH

I honestly think LMH is doing thing's right. He knows his appeal as a Rich something, and his fans want to see him as a Rich something. Plus he's played a Rich something in almost all his roles, that for him to move out of it, with his stale acting, isn't going to get him more fans, and may backfire. Why change what isn't broken? Yeah sure his acting is horrible, but a lot of kdrama watchers, at least the casual ones, will watch just based on the fact that he is there, and the richer the clothes he wears, the nicer the cars he drives, the better. Since LMH is so bad, no one would believe that he is a poor person who has a hard life or even a salary man, he would not be able to sell it. What works with him is privileged, rich, and nobility.

As for JCW, he needs to be better at reassessing scripts, his last few dramas are not the best. JCW has more acting range compared to LMH, so going for dramas like it's ok not to be ok will be the right career move for him, more deeper roles. I don't know what his rationale on signing on to this pretty immature drama is, I mean look at PSJ latest drama itaewon class, that drama had more depth, and at this age, JCW should really consider these type of roles instead. For KYJ, yeah it's fine since she's literally 20.

This is annoying old style writing for Kdramas. Where they wait like 14/16 episodes for the first kiss, or to profess love for each other, and in the case of DH, it will take him as long to finally grow a spine and mature.

Viewers taste has change since the old times, and people prefer to see character development much earlier, and not watch 14-15 episodes of subtle character development. Such a style will make a lot of people lose interest in the first 5 episodes.

Local rating success doesn't mean much in the MDL community since we are international fans. BR is already rating higher than a recently panned show TKEM, but the international community loved that one, because in the end, star power is what mostly matters to the international community, more so than the local one. TKEM has far more fans than BR, and that is mostly because of the names associated with the script, and not it's overall quality.

And since LMH is a bigger star than JCW, his dramas, no matter how poor the quality gets views, both internationally and locally, except for his latest one.

I personally don't know what formula makes actors popular, but i'm guessing looks make up like 80% of it, and good acting makes up 20% of it. So in LMH's case it's like 80/20. In KSH case it's like 50/50, JCW is probably closer to 60/40. But in the end, most drama watchers are shallow and prefer looks, and can't discriminate between good and bad acting, that is why LMH is top in the pantheon of his colleagues.

Can't blame people though, with so many many actor/actresses there, people will just gravitate towards the name they know. And since Kpop is more popular than Kdrama in general, people will also tend to watch/like dramas with Idols in it. Like Suzy for example, who can't act to save her life, keeps getting high profile dramas.

what? I just got confused, not sure what your trying to explain here.

I try not to think about the plot too much, it will just give you a headache.

I think what your seeing from viewers, is that result of an increase of viewers sophistication.

Use to be, bad production, overacting, bad stories, and cheesy lines was all part of the Kdrama experience, and most people, providing they love a certain actor/actress, can easily ignore all these things. But times have changed. As more and more kdrama start pushing the envelope on the content, and start focusing on smarter plots, dramas like king start falling by the wayside. There are just too many dramas, western and eastern that does more with the plot/writing than the king does, and that is where most of the disappointment is coming from.

If you transported the king to like maybe early 2010's era, maybe this kind of drama would be warmly accepted. But in 2020? no way, people are too smart, and ask too many questions now, so a plot with too many holes, and a plot that disappoints with the way they patch up said plot holes isn't going to be amazing in most people's mind.

But sure, you still have your viewers who subscribe to the old ways of Kdrama, and will accept a drama and ignore plot problems, and story issues due to their favorites being on screen, but more and more people are starting to care about the writing, as much as they care about the acting.

I mean look at kim soo hyun, arguable as big of a star as lee min ho, if not bigger, with a better range of acting skill shown in his movies/dramas, his new drama It's ok not to be ok is highly liked by mdl, but not so much the local audience. Peoples taste are changing, so it's harder to pinpoint what the exact formula is needed to get a larger audience share.

If they made a drama that target the older audiences, maybe the older formulas will work, but for the newer younger audience, it's hard to say what is needed to get more of their attention when the old formulas are not as effective.

One thing is clear though, rehashing her old drama, ie. goblin, isn't working, so she should probably remember not to plagiarize her own work in her next drama.

This is great marketing, now even more people will be watching this, hoping to see more lewd things. The inner pervert of people will pop out.

I had no idea Korea was so conservative, like half of these complaints don't seem so bad.

that's nice to hear.

Ahh interesting. You and dtown ate very informative i learned a lot today.

Wow. Thank you for all this education. Very informative.

You must have travelled a lot around Asia.

I've always been fascinated in seeing 4th and 5th generation indians retaining a big part of their culture. Same can't be said for koreans, chinese and etc... they lose their cultural heritage around 3rd or 4th generation.

I didn't know you can pay people from 3rd world less money. Is this even legal, or do you mean under the table?

Interesting. And noted.

Yeah, but not every country in Asia is a follower of Confucianism, or have heard of it. And let's not forget,there is a lot of western influence in Asia, as quite a few of them have been conquered by western nations, so ideologies like democracy has also been infused.

I have to say you've impressed me with your knowledge of Asian history, and the different historical and financial events surrounding it. Asian Studies major? I myself have a pretty basic knowledge of Asia in general. But I love to discuss it. You make good points. Those three counties you mention have hyper nationalism. I remember there being a call to boycott goods from China being sold in the US. Pretty sure nobody took that call.

I'm curious as to how Korea was able to turn the table so fast, you mentioned Chaebols,what did they do?

I mean to me it's not just black people in general, it's also white people. Not to be mean, but in my experience, white teenagers doing minimum wage job in North America, are some of the least driven workers i've seen, and you see some sort of smugness in their stance. While whenever i've seen an Asian or Latino working at Mcdonalds, they work so fast, and you can tell the mental focus is just much different. But like you said, it may just be centuries of mental brainwashing at work.

I do think so.

Because the % of the population for these Asian countries are so low, it is easy to ignore their needs, and it's easy to be racist against them. But when that % increases to the teens, it's not so easy to ignore, their voice will be larger.

You are right, racism in east Asian countries are not often physical compared to western countries, but in a lot of ways are actually much worse.

The systemic racism BLM argues about in America is much worse in other countries. The racism in some asian countries are so bad, that foreigners won't be able to get any other job but English teacher.

There is no intention at all to allow assimilation from foreigners. And having a more open immigration policy will not immediately change people's views, but as more and more of a another culture enters the society, we will see more and more assimilation, and eventual acceptance of the entering culture.

Take for example Thailand, the Chinese have assimilated so well, that some pundits worry about the eradication of the chinese culture in Thailand. But that needs to happen so that these entering culture will spread great diversity to the point that foreigners will be able to compete with local jobs, the same way its suppose to technically work in America. At the moment for most Asian countries, Locals have much greater priority than foreigners for a lot of things. Some countries even refuse service to foreigners. This may change with loose immigration laws.

Also after 1 or 2 generations, Asians also begin to lose their identity, it depends on the community and the parents,how well they retain their asian identitiy. Indians I find are quite good at this, other Asians, not as much.

If i'm not mistaken, the issue with Uighurs and Tibetans is a religious one, rather than a skin tone one.

Asians in other countries are seen as the bottom of the totem pole as compare to black and white people.

The only reason we don't see this happening more often is because a lot of Asians work hard, and earn a good job. Like there is the stereotypes with a lot of Indians becoming doctors/engineers. Chinese/Koreans being lawyer/accountants and etc...

Plus in something like law for example, the company will more likely hire a black candidate, than an asian candidate. I have a friend who works in a predominantly white law firm, and she fits the diversity bill, being the only Chinese and Female lawyer in the firm.

And now, with the rise of China, discrimination against Asians is at all time high. You just don't see it in newspaper, because Asians, for whatever reason, don't complain about racism as much.

I understand the concept yes. The thing is you make it sound like Africa is a poor country as compared to China. In 1995 Chinas GDP was approx 784 Billion US dollar, Africa on the other hand is valued at 587 Billion Us Dollar. Per capita, Africa was at $617 per capita, while China was $613 per capita. Of course now in 2020 it's drastically different with China being closer to $10,000 per capita and Africa being $1,800 per capita. So it's misleading to think that China has always been this huge economic powerhouse, when it's rise really started after 2004.

You could argue, Chinese people are just more business minded, and more entrepreneurial than black people, and thus were able to create these bamboo networks much quicker and efficiently. But that is not the Chinese fault they have this type of mentality. Since they come from a population of more 1.3 Billion, competitiveness was a part of life for Chinese people, there are thousand of stories of Chinese people going to a brand new country, not knowing the language and selling some cheap thing for minimal profits. These same opportunities are available to black people, and with the advent of online selling, even more so, but the lack of business mentality is what is keeping them experiencing the same success as Asian people? Maybe, many have become complacent, because they don't have to compete with 1.3 billion people, that they lack this drive? You tell me. Guanxi as you mentioned, can exist with black culture as well, it's not like there is a secret to Guanxi, it's a matter of trust.

Those leadership in production,IT and etc... didn't exist back in the 1990's they came later in the early 2000's, so it's a moot point, since blacks have been in the US since 1800's at least, if anything I can argue,they were in the US earlier, so they have advantage since they know the country better,the cultures, customs and etc... better.

Another country is South Korea, right after the Korean War, SK GDP was one of the lowest in the world. It was lower than Ghana. let that sink in for a second, that is how low it was. Now? Where is it now, and it's not due to some bamboo network that SK succeeded, it's how the people banded together to elevate the nation together. Now SK is top 10 economy in the world. And Ghana,is pretty much in the same place.

With the rise of labor cost in China, and a lot of countries in Asia, Africa is actually an emerging market and will probably be on the rise in the next 20 years. But do you think black people in America will take advantage of this? For some it's their home country, so technically they should have advantage. But I doubt it, this emerging market will be gobbled up by either China or other western countries, and you can't blame Guanxi for this.

In the end it's mentality. Asian people in general, believe in capitalism. That is why you see such an emphasis on material things, and luxury goods. People in Asia believe money is very important. Black people, have gotten complacent, rather than thinking and sacrificing everything to keep making money, the way the Chinese do, they opt to value things like freedom, rights, morality and etc... look at China, there are husbands who do illegal things, and sacrifice their lives so their families can be wealthy.

I'm not advocating doing illegal things of course, but i'm saying, Asian people have the mentality to make money, because they are business minded people. In the end, it's not a gene, or something hereditary, it's a mindset. And being a minority, they should know this from the start, that you have to try harder to get the same thing as white people, yet somewhere along the way, they forgot this.

Do you see many Asians in high positions in the company? No, there isn't much. So Asians work harder, find other ways to make money, they don't just blame the system that is keeping them from getting promoted, they find other means. Even people from Latin countries, get paid way under the minimum wage, under the table. Rather than protest, they work 2-3 jobs instead.

One of the problem I see is that there is this over glamorization of hip hop culture that encourage black youths to go into rap music, sports, entertainment business and what not, dropping out of college or HS to do so. Magnify this with the youths of today looking for easy money, you start a downward slide. They make it look cool. Look at Indian and Chinese culture, they encourage their children to go either be a Doctor, Lawyer or Engineer. In Asian household, rap star, athlete, or celebrity are not considered real jobs.

It has to do with history mostly.

I believe black people were freed form slavery at around 1865's or something, and they started importing chinese laborers areound 1870's. So at the time, White people and black people looked down on these so called "Chinaman". In fact the racism towards Chinese people was at all time high during these times.

And to make matters worst, since white and black people can't tell the difference between the different asian cultures, they just assume, koreans, indo, japanese, and etc.. are all Chinese, which just adds to the racist overtones.

It is only because these asian communities, were able to create wealth for themselves, and thus seize powers that they are not as discriminated against. In addition, having strong communities of their own is very helpful in creating a world within a world, where even if the outside world is racist against them, they have their own "China Towns", "Little India" and etc... where they can be with people of their own, and just ignore the racism of the world.

The problem with strict immigration laws is that it promotes xenophobia, and is a major reason for the ignorance of SK people of other cultures. By limiting the number of outsiders able to live in SK, it ensures that SK will never experience the diversity many western, and some eastern countries enjoy.

It ensures genetic homogeneity. China's immigration policy is even more strangling, which stamps out any foreign company wanting to establish a business in China, can only do so thru partnerships.