K-DRAMA: THOUGHTS AFTER REWATCHING 'DESCENDANTS OF THE SUN'

Well, we didn’t know what will happen in the future. As surprising as their marriage, their divorce news was incredibly a huge shock for their fans, including me. I almost forgot about this issue completely, but then KBS World was replaying “Descendants of the Sun” and then, I want to do some experimental study if the fact that Song-Song couple divorced changed my view about this drama or not.

Some of my friends kinda dislike this drama, but on the other hand, I loved it since the first time I watched it. At first, it's because of Song Joong-ki's first comeback after his military service. But after watching it few episodes, I liked all the casts inside this drama. It's a mega project and there is a little Korean drama that took an army troop and doctor relationship as the setting. So, I wanted to know what is the reason I liked this drama. Is it purely because of Song Joong-ki? Or because of the story itself? So, here it is viewpoints that I got after rewatching the drama.

1. I got to focus more on the chemistry of Yoon Myeongju and Seo Daeyoung.

Source: KBS via Pinterest

At first, I didn’t really pay attention to this couple, because all of my focus is toward Song Joongki’s comeback drama. But, on the second time, I watched it, this couple should receive more love! They are not just a sidekick. Here are a few moments of the couple that I love.

When Yoon Myeongju helped Seo Daeyoung gave revenge for his ex-girlfriend on her wedding day. The “angel” act is quite memorable, for me.

Source: KBS via Google Images

"For lieutenant Yoon, I chose to lose”. 

Seo Daeyoung’s feeling is real for Yoon Myeongju, but he is not really good at expressing it. The typical "I leave you because I love you" scene. But, Seo Daeyoung made it cool. If I am her, I’ll definitely clueless about his feeling. I think it is because of his sense of duty is pretty strong which, and Yoon Myeongjoo doesn't have the same concept of dating means. Also, Seo Daeyoung is a part of the Alpha Team, which has many dangerous tasks. He is afraid that Myeongjoo will get hurt often seeing him doing those dangerous tasks.

Source: Netflix

The walkie-talkie scene when Yoon Myeongju was confirmed infected the virus. It was so heartwarming. Maybe, it is quite relatable these days. As many friends and family members of the infected COVID-19 might experience this stressful situation. When you are sick, the most painful part is your mind, not your body. It’s the battle of yourself. 

Source: descendant-of-the-sun.tumblr.com

2. Onew’s acting was remarkable

Source: KBS2 via Pinterest

As a SHAWOL (SHINee’s fan name) for 10 years, I’ve always attracted to what SHINee members do. I knew Onew has participated in a few musicals and dramas. But I guess, this is the first real, important, noticeable role that Onew has. It’s not easy to act crying, but he really nailed it.

3. My favorite scenes are always my favorite.

I probably have more than 10 favorite and memorable scenes of this drama. Even after rewatching the drama, the scenes are still vividly reminisced in my head and heart. I still feel the same emotion for the scenes I love. Here are some of my favorite scenes:

WINE SCENE (Ep. 4 - 5) 

Source: as tagged via Pinterest
You probably know which exact scene I’m talking about. Yeah, the last scene on ep. 4 and the opening of ep. 5. I love this kissing scene because it’s just not a kissing scene. It’s the start of their romantic-comedy-thriller relationship. The awkwardness, butterflies, and many emotions in one scene. I like how Yoo Sijin’s expression in this scene and how he said the lines, “It’s not like there is no other way.” I believe the wine taste sweeter than it supposes. Since the previous episodes have a brighter mood, this scene is the opening of what is coming in the “unknown” land.

Yoo Sijin speaks English.

I don’t know why, but it seems like this shows how capable Captain Yoo is. The scene looks cool. Mostly he spoke English in his uniform and like what Kang Moyeon said, “Woman have fantasies about a man in uniform”. I can relate to this so much.

The “what is your blood type?” (ep. 11) scene.

Source: KBS via Pinterest

I cannot leave this scene out. Maybe some of you didn’t get the joke behind this scene, because sometimes there is a mistranslation. But I really like this scene. I even make dubbing for this scene on an app a few years ago. Can’t imagine that Song Hye Kyo can act that cute (since she acted mellow character most of the time). I couldn't say anything else for this scene. Hands up! with thumbs up!

Yoo Sijin requested a chopper to the Arab League.

Source: Netflix

It is not a really important scene in the drama, but I just kinda like it. He said, “I have a date to keep”. He looks cool here. How come he can be that sweet even in an intense situation. Good moves, Writer Kim!

The “forget this” (ep. 12) scene. 

Source: KBS2 via Greenteaafrappe (Tumblr)

It was such a dilemma for Kang Moyeon since she is a doctor to see someone died right in front of her eyes, but she's also in danger. To make it less frightening, Yoo Sijin covered Kang Moyeon’s eyes before shooting Agus. I loved this scene because I wish I can have someone who can protect me like that, without the shooting and killing part of course.

All scenes of Yoo Sijin and Seo Daeyeong’s bromance. 

Source: descendants-of-the-sun.tumblr.com

 Their bromance is love. This is how a bro-hood should be, I think. They know how to support and tease each other. To be there by their side in joy or sorrow. Their bromance is so cute to me.

"He is my friend"

Source: KBS via Google Images

It is not a realistic scene, but helping the North Korean personnel is also looks awesome for me. I didn’t know much about the army and action stuff, but the director captures the scene pretty great and it looks awesome for me. The choco pie thing is a brilliant idea. Hope the South and North can get their peace as soon as possible.

Red Velvet as a cameo (last episode). 

Source: KBS via Google Images

This scene is just a sidekick, but I just love how the troopers acted in front of a girl group. They are legit fanboys. And who can resist Red Velvet, anyways? 

4. It’s not about romance, but it’s about relationships.

The genre of this drama is a romance, but it’s not a hardcore romance like we used to know. It’s emphasizing the relationship. Either it is with family, friends, and colleagues, even the unfortunate neighbors. The drama is like a donut covered with sugar. The sugar is the romance and the donut is the relationship.

5. Ahn Bohyun’s charm rediscovered

Source: KBS via Google Images

Ahn Bohyun who acted in ‘Her Private Life’ and ‘Itaewon Class’ actually acted in this drama. At first, I didn’t recognize him but after the rise of ‘Itaewon Class’ and his name got more popular, this drama was mentioned. So, after rewatching the drama, I finally got to recognize him. He barely had lines inside the drama, but he shows that he got the potential and great visual. The Alpha Team looks great, aren't they?

Alpha Team in action!
Source: KBS2 via oketekno.com

The drama reminds us of it’s not about ourselves, but also others. There are a few scenes where we can see how the other part of the world is still suffering and need our attention. There are few touching scenes (like when Kang Moyeon and Yoo Sijin have to choose who to save between the two survivors inside the ruins) and it’s relatable with our daily lives. The drama teaches us that there are types of people in this world and how we act toward them might change their life. Someone greedy and ignorant, the troublemaker, the mood-maker, the savior, and many more types of character that we might encounter at least once in our lives. And it applies to every part of the world.

Inside the drama, there was once a virus outbreak, which the situation is as suspense as today. Rewatching that scene reminds me of how hard medical teams work. If you are part of the medical team and also a survivor, stay strong! My prayers are with you, guys. I can get it if you are frustrated and feels stuffy, but please hang in on and pray all the time.

The only unrealistic thing about this drama is there is 0.0000001% probability that someone like Yoo Sijin in real life, I guess. But the main storyline works pretty real to me.

It turns out that the fact that the Song-Song couple got divorced didn’t really affect my views about the drama. But in some scenes, I got to think about them. Maybe, they were like this or that before they chose to part ways. It is only my assumptions and how I empathize with them.

“I think you are not the man I can handle” - Kang Moyeon

This line stroke me right into my heart. I didn’t know that this line can be that hurt and didn't know their feelings actually. I hope both of them are happy now and get through the painful past. Please don't be harsh to them. 

Surprisingly, I remember a few lines of the drama. Sometimes, when I remember the lines or scenes of a drama, I feel proud of myself. For some people, it might be useless stuff, but it makes me happy. Anyways, this is purely based on my opinion, so if you don’t agree with me, it’s okay. I just want to share and who knows we might share a similar opinion. And by the way, I really worked hard finding those archives. I searched Tumblr for hours..... and had to redo it because some didn't work.

Thank you for reading this post. Maybe you are interested to watch or rewatch 'Descendants of the Sun' after seeing a few pieces of it. I wanted to have a break from writing JCP Features for a while (though I’ve been late for 2 months already), so I post this instead. See you real soon on my next post. 

Bye~ 

Stay safe people!

xoxo,

JCP FEATURES: WALL-E

“It is happening and it's happening fast”

I think it was when I was in my 12^th grade, that I realized that I have lots of interest in the environment. I remembered that we had to do a speech for the speaking test and I chose global warming for the topic. One thing I remembered from my speech is “it is happening and it's happening fast”.

As I grew up, I got to face the various experiences of the outside world and realized that I had the tendency to choose to be a more eco-friendly person. I’ve been on this mission for a few years, but I haven’t succeeded. It took a lot of effort than you thought. It doesn’t work solely because of yourself, but a whole bunch of people. I’ve mentioned it on one of my “Monthly Rewind” videos, that my dad drink from the bottled water only. And apparently, in my neighborhood, the waste management system is not that good. We don’t have the separating system. We throw away all kinds of waste in one place. That’s why it was a huge challenge for me. Because it’s not only I had to challenge my family, but also the government.

This features’ goal is to raise awareness about being sustainable. As we know, crazy things will happen in the nearest future if we didn’t take action. I read a great piece of article on Medium about the result of an interview of the writer and her friend regarding live plastic-free. In that piece of article, the writer said “small changes that add up to a not-so-small impact”. This reminds me every change starts from small action. It changes by starting.

Taken in 2013 at somewhere near Anyer Beach, Banten.
This kind of scenery really breaks my heart.

I think I know why I always failed in being more sustainable. I didn’t constantly do a sustainable act. I just give a try, but never constantly doing it. Also, I still lack information and how to apply it in real life. Mostly, I read articles about this from a foreigner, which might not suitable in my country. By doing a lot of research and read more articles about being sustainable, I finally got to reflect on myself. There are also lots of wrong perceptions that I had before. To have a sustainable lifestyle, it’s not about buying “eco-friendly” or “green” products. It is way beyond that. I think I’ve been manipulated by what we called “green marketing”. It is true that lots of company and people are considering to be more sustainable, but lots of them also have the wrong concept. I’m not saying that green marketing is totally wrong, but lots of us still lack of understanding the concept. What Starbucks, The Body Shop, and many other “sustainable-in-progress” companies did was a good deed, but what we need to underline is, are those companies choose to be environmentally responsible because of they can make a greater profit (because by putting “green” label on the products, they can actually put higher price) or they really want more consumers to participate actively in this sustainable campaign?

My life in Korea for 8 months, has taught me how recycling and separating waste are making a huge difference. There was a project during my class in Korea that I have to present an invention I wanted to make. Can you guess? I wanted to make a waste bin that can separate itself according to its material. I really wish my dream invention realized. As I’m writing this, I really wish my government had a huge reformation about waste management. Honestly, this matter still has a long journey until it can be realizable. They are still occupied with coronavirus thing. But, since we cannot wait until the coronavirus disappears completely, we need a tangible action right now. It should start as soon as possible. So what we can do simple yet effective?

After reading a few articles, I came up to this:

Save water

Households used up 80-100 gallons per day according to USGS (U.S Geological Survey). Especially, with the hygiene issue raising during the pandemic, I believe the usage per day might increase drastically. I’m not saying to not wash your hands or took shower regularly, but just let’s be wise using the water and check-up regularly if there is any leak. It’s not common in my country to have a bath in the tub, but I think cutting down your bath time per week might help a lot. Cutting down your shower time might help too!

Save electricity

There is a reason why The WWF held Earth Hour every year. Electricity is formed from energy (water, gas, air, etc), which led to energy consumption. We tend to not care things we couldn’t see and rarely acknowledge the importance of it. Since Benjamin Franklin discovered electricity, our lives changes. It changes in a good way at first, but sometimes we tend to do the bad habits which resulted in huge problems in the long run. I don’t know how we came to this point, but one thing for sure, we tend to choose the easy way out. There are lots of energy-saving light bulbs in the market, so changing your light bulb to the energy-saving one is a good start. If you are afraid of the dark during bedtime, an energy-saving mood lamp might help. Again, be wise to use electricity.

Finish your food

This is might be the hardest thing to do out of this list. But, really I tried my best in finishing up my plate on every meal I have. I got a “vacuum cleaner” nickname since I really hate to see leftovers. There are a few reasons why I hate seeing leftover foods. One, because I know how hard it is to cook a meal. Two, I don’t know how to deal with food waste, so I took the easy way to clear the food waste by eating it all. I might look piggish, but I really want to be responsible for it. I used to pick food and did some leftovers on my plate before, but these habits changed as I grew up. Especially when I had my job-training in Lombok for 6 months and I have to live alone in a shared-house. I tend to clear my plate and these habits still occurring up until now. I have an idea to do my own composting food waste, but I don’t think I can do it now. I’m not ready to deal with all the possibilities of rats, flies, and smells. So, the best thing I can do for now is to finish my food.

Reduce single-use products

This is also another challenge! Though there are lots of new alternatives for this, if it is a mass product, it will still fill in the landfill. With the rising popularity of bubble milk tea and milk coffee in Indonesia, it’s getting pretty hard to give up single-use plastic cups. There aren’t many shops that allowed to use any tumbler. It is one of the reasons why I really hesitate to buy milk tea or not. I feel guilty every time. Not only the cups, but it’s also about the lid, straw, and straw wrapper (because of hygiene issues). Well, The Alley has made a reusable cup for their menus, but unfortunately, they are not available in Indonesia.

Don’t forget to use a reusable shopping bag when you run for your next errand. This simple act is a game-changing to be more environmentally-conscious. I kind of forced my dad to bring reusable shopping bag for the past few months and now my dad (sometimes) remember to bring it. Well, as time passed by, I hope that he will always remember to bring it.

With the concern of COVID-19 and its connection to hygiene, I think using your own cutleries is a good idea. I’ve ever brought my own spoon for a froyo run. My dad kind of laugh at me and said that I should be an ambassador for the environment (oh, it’s not that I’m not thinking for that, dad. But, I’m not qualified enough, yet). I’m also thinking to bring my own empty lunch box if I ever going to have some take-away. It is killing two birds with one stone. You can save the environment and stay hygiene.

The picture I took above is just a teaser of what will happen if we stay still and do nothing. I hope you wish the same wish as I do, to not let our children and grandchildren see this kind of view in the future.

Support Local Products

To reduce carbon footprints, buy things locally is advised. Especially food ingredients. Well, you can start from that point. It is not necessarily an organic product, but if it is locally produced and organic, it would be great.

The rule of thumb in living an eco-friendly lifestyle is to be as kind as possible to the earth and start acting. It’s okay if you failed, you can always try again. I didn’t write this post, because I’m already an eco-friendly person, but I made this as guidance, mission, and reminder for myself to be more caring to the mother earth. I haven’t succeeded in doing all of this. I failed a lot, but writing this helped me to be more of it. I hope we could be friendlier to the earth after what we’ve been through the past few months. Not only COVID-19 that we need to fight but ourselves. We need to fight foolishness and get away from our comfort zone to have a more comfortable home. But please remember, just focus on what you can do.

Don’t be so hard on yourself, but always try your best. It’s like doing a diet. Diet is a long-live challenge and not every diet is suitable for everyone. You’ve got to find which one is suitable for you. There will be a trial and error, but just remember to start it. It should not be happening tomorrow, but today. I believe this time is a good time to start since everything is practically canceled and you’ve got plenty of time to try. So, I hope after reading this post, you gotta get up and start doing the few things I’ve mentioned above. 

Good luck, everyone!

P.S: 

Following environmental-focused organizations or accounts might help to raise your awareness and knowledge too. I’ve been following Greenpeace and WWF for a year now and it kinda helps. Greenpeace has its own account for each country, so you can follow Greenpeace in your country. 

If you want to challenge yourself for 52 weeks of plastic-free life, you can read this woman’s journey. She is such an inspiring person and I would like to share it with you all.

I wanted to share a few movies that are highlighting environmental issues, such as Wall- E and Happy Feet. Both of them are animation movies so it will be more fun to watch. I haven't watched many other environmental movies such as, 'Chasing Corals', 'Free Willy' (even though I've heard this movie a lot before), 'Mr. Lorax', and many more. Watching this kind of movie might help to raise awareness and got to reflect on yourself. Since we've got plenty of time nowadays, why not use it to educate ourselves? Most of the movies you can watch it on Netflix! (how comfortable the world has changed!)

JCP FEATURES: LOVE LETTER

“I hope these tears will stop running someday. 
Someday after this darkness clear up. 
I hope the warm sunshine dries these tears.” 
- Someday by IU

March oh march. The least favorite month of the year. And again, this year something dreadful happened in March. Finally, the COVID-19 has reached Indonesia apparently. The virus epidemic has changed to a pandemic and at first, Indonesia took it lightly. As a developing country, we always look up to developed countries (read the USA) and I guess it was a wrong move. Apparently with Trump as the President of the USA. We were “educated” to not use a mask if we are not sick (to prevent mask shortage), as what WHO published. While in South Korea, everyone must use a mask. Whether you are sick or not. Turns out, South Korean’s move was the right one.

When the first outbreak in Wuhan happened, we were still having a good time spending Chinese New Year with family. Then the next month, we were still freely moving around and ditching the “use mask whenever you go out” rules and the next month sanitizer all around the buildings, not only in the hospital, and body temperature checking before heading inside a building. Then more death cases occurred and then the government took an action to limit moving on a large scale (called PSBB). That’s a relief that we took the action faster than the USA to semi-lockdown the city, especially the big cities in Indonesia. The more work-from-home policy applied and limiting operational hours. What’s more, is, fortunately, our President is saner, for not instructing to inject disinfectant.

It’s a stressful period both for the government and medical teams everywhere in the world. And what’s more, is there are lots of stubborn people that don’t care about all of these issues (and there is one in my house). Even though I can’t relate to those stubborn people, but I know it feels suffocating to stay inside the house when you are used to doing your activities outside. I missed the sea and the excitement of traveling. But, since I’m also a home-buddy person, so I don’t really have a problem with staying inside the house. All I can do is praying to let this pass as soon as possible.

We are the World

A few weeks ago, I watched a Korean variety show called “77 Million Love”. They were discussing COVID-19 and this program’s panels came from different countries. You can see it as a mini global summit format. It is a fun and fascinating variety show. Anyways, there are a few highlights that I got from the show, which are:

1. People around the world are the same. 
No matter where you came from, which nationality you have, all are the same. The good example is the panic-buying. There are lots of cases in every part of the country that did this action. Indonesia also has few cases, but it was under control now, because the mart has made quantity limitations. There is one Italian elder, that has been through World War II and this time is more severe than WW II. He couldn’t buy anything since people were panic-buying. When I watched this, I laughed finding it outrageous and no matter your race, skin color, and nationality, a human is human.

2. We should ask “why it could happen”, not “who is to blame”. 
There is a good comment from Tyler Rasch, a representative from the USA, he has been living in South Korea for around 8 years (and his Korean skill is amazing). They were debating whether the virus came from the USA or China before. He said, “I think we have to straighten things out. What we should be asking is why they made the virus in the first place?”. I think this is a good question to be solved. We have been busy blaming this country and that country that makes this happened, without thinking about how we can revive from this pandemic as soon as possible. I think that is also human nature. We tend to blame others first, without thinking what is the root problem and find a way to fix it first.

Hibernating

There are lots of news about the virus and more thorough articles out there. But, I wanted you to stop reading about that and took time to reflect. Reflect on what have you done for the last time? And what are you going to do after the pandemic period ends? So, let’s look on the brighter side of this period and change it as an opportunity to change. I wanted to share the bright side of this period.

Cleaner air
This is one of the best positive impacts of the virus outbreak. Since people are forced to WFH and most of the factories in the world are forced to stop, the air visibility is improving. We can see the drastic change in China since that is where factories mostly located. Well, you can say China is the center of the world economy activities that took place in the 21^st century. China has a lot of environmental problems before, but since the outbreak happened and they had to lock down the country, they finally got a real clean air. Not only that, but we were also "forced" to buy local products since no exported goods are available. It means less carbon footprint. Hopefully, when the economic activities are back to normal, this achievement stays this way. I wish all companies in the world took this time to look back about how they run business and the impact on the environment. Please.

Got more downtime
Since technology advancement, the human race is forced to work hard, nonstop. Just with an internet connection, we can work anywhere, anytime, 24/7. Some people might not feel this, but actually, we are working 24/7 all this time. I think most people are experiencing the same way toward the quarantine. At first, we feel happy and joyful. Because we can stay at home all the time. Then in the next two weeks, we are starting to run out of ideas to fill in the day. Especially, when there is no school, meeting schedule, or work. But, I saw a few positive habits in my social media that families form during this hard situation, such as more bonding times with their kids, creativity activities at home, etc. Also, we got the time to organize things, maybe cleaning the house, rearranging the plans, and many more activities that we used to ignore. For me, this period made me be more organized since I had to watch TV at the designated time. I know it’s weird, but it was a good habit, so I don't mind. I hope you have a good downtime for yourself and form new good habits too.

Self-development and rediscovering you 
During this period, we’ve got lots of time to spent and many people use to self-develop themselves. Either it's, cooking, baking, learning music, art, and many more. We are given the chance to use and train our creativity skills. Well, TikTok is part of it. With #passthebrushchallenge or #dalgonacoffeemaking and many more things to upload on TikTok, I believe it is part of self-development. I didn’t jump on that wagon though, but I started a new hobby. I started to strum my dusty old guitar again. I started to watch guitar lesson videos online and learn how to change the C and G chords on time every day. Not only about having a new hobby or train your interest more, but this time also allows you to reflect on what kind of person are you. The fast tempo of our past days sometimes made us forget who we are. What kind of person we are? We tend to choose other’s thoughts rather than our values. I finally understand what I’m good at and not, what is my dream, and what I cherish the most in life.

Dreaming
All-day and night. There is a countless dream that came across to my mind since I got more time to watch TV and scrolling down my social media page. Mostly I daydream about traveling the world as soon as this ended. Because I feel like that there is a limited time left to achieve it. Also, I daydream to meet my favorite screen friends (read my heart-robs; Park Seojun, Park Bogum, Yoo Yeonseok, Ong Seongwoo, Lee Jaewook, and many more). I also daydream to be more like IU. HAHA. That’s the reason why I started the guitar. I came across a guitar lesson of IU’s song and then it brought my memories of her when I saw her on ‘Saebakwi’ show performing her guitar skill and also the time she sang ‘Someday’ with a guitar in ‘Dream High’. It’s been a long time since I have this push factor to achieve something. While learning guitar, I had a huge regret why I didn’t learn guitar properly at school back then. Maybe if I did I can be like IU? Lol. Just kidding. The aftereffect of watching too much K-drama and music shows made me having lots of fantasy on my head. But, that’s a good one though. It’s better to be happy about your crazy fantasies rather than feel mourn and depressed.

Sharing
In hard times, people tend to be more caring for others. Which is good, because it means there is humanity inside of us. It means love does exist. Thankfully, the delivery system is getting better nowadays, so, we can easily order food for our loved one in exchange we cannot see them in the time being. I hope this kind of affection does not stop until the pandemic over, but continuously happen in the future.

See, we can always find positive things in every situation.

I don’t know exactly why, but lately, I always post seriously long posts both here (it’s 7 pages long in MS Word! I even didn’t write this much for my school report) and on my Instagram. But, I hope it gives you enlightenment during the hardships and I need to put out things I have inside my head anyway before it gets rot. Also, the muscles on my brain didn’t work as hard as before, so I need to exercise it, at least.

BONUS!
I love to add some bonus features inside these features. So, I found this interesting post on Instagram and thought it would be nice to share it here. It's from Greenpeace Southeast Asia's page and the post they shared is about the new normal way of thinking we should have after the pandemic ended. We shall reflect our actions and choose what is right for the nearest future. Let's not make the same mistake, okay?

View this post on Instagram

"There is a lot of talk about returning to normal. We need to remind people that we were in a crisis before this crisis. Normal is a crisis." This is a time of much grief and also many opportunities for climate activists to reconnect, care, and strategise. In such crises, it uncovers social injustices that existed in "normal" times that we have the chance to fix. We need to come out of this crisis in better shape than we were before. Via @theweirdandwild

A post shared by Greenpeace Southeast Asia (@greenpeacesea) on Apr 26, 2020 at 11:00pm PDT

(I couldn't find a way to make this embed Instagram post to center, so pardon for the inconsistent layout)

Thank you for joining me again on these features. 
I hope we can all save the world together hand-in-hand. 
See you soon!

JCP FEATURES: BOMBASTIC

“And the Oscars goes to …”

February is kind of a special month, especially this year. Despite the news of the new coronavirus from Wuhan, China is spreading, I want to highlight the winning of four Academy awards that was taken away by the ‘Parasite’ team. Let’s forget about the COVID-19 for a while and look back at this rare winning story.

A few weeks ago, I watched the awarding night of ‘The 40^th Blue Dragon Film Awards’. They were celebrating the 40^th years of the award and the 100^th years of the Korean movie industry. This year marked the tenth years I followed the Korean movie industry, which means I’ve only watched just 10% of it.

Snippets of 'The 40th Blue Dragon Film Awards'
'Parasite' Team
Courtesy of Sports Chosun via Hellokpop.com

The Roar

Dating back to 1919, ‘The Righteous Revenge’ was to be believed the first Korean movie to be released. That year, Korea (South and North Korea were one) was still under the occupation of Japan. So, it was not the era to be creative and appreciate it. Surviving the day was hard enough, how come they have time to enjoy a movie, but it turned out that it received warm attention. The first movie was in kinodrama (play with motion picture inserts) format. A few years later, the format changed. They started to have silent film, sound film, colored film, and then the film format we enjoy now.

The underlying background of the early days is mostly about the occupation of Japan or Korean folktales. The most famous folktale in Korea is called Chunhyang-jeon (which means ‘the legend of Chunhyang’). This folktale can be found in any storytelling form such as song, poem, drama, book, and many more. The most famous format is song and drama. Most of the Korean traditional performances are inspired by this folktale. Jang Geun-suk and Ha Jiwon’s were able to have a turning point in their acting career thanks to the drama ‘Chunhyang’ (this drama is one of the legendary drama, which every Hallyu fans have to watch).

Lee Mongryong (acted by Jo Seung-woo) and Chunhyang (acted by Lee Hyo-Jung)
from the movie 'Chunhyang' (2000) produced by Im Kwon-taek
Courtesy of CJ Entertainment via Dramabeans

For Koreans, the occupation of Japan was the most painful and longest memory they ever have. No wonder there were lots of visual-art forms that took the settings from this period. They were occupied for 35 years and then for 5 years later another war broke out. They were barely revived the mess that was made during the Japanese occupation. The Korean War is also an interesting underlying theme. Viewers today were curious about those days, which making the filmmakers pushed their creativity to recreate the situation.

As the world is now shifting and more people are open-minded, the storyline of a movie became more diverse and unique, especially when cultures came in.

Turning Point

Hollywood is will always be associated with the word ‘film’. There is where all actors and filmmakers in the world are dreaming to be. There were few Korean actors that have opened the way in the Hollywood scene, like Rain, Lee Byung-hun, Daniel Henney, and Bae Doona. Not only on screen but behind the screen too. I found few Korean named editors and other crews on Hollywood movies, and of them is Marvel Studios' movie. But, who would know that a Korean film will be the one who took home 4 Oscars trophy away that night? I never really care about that award before, even though I personally love watching a film. Since the winner is a Korean film, which is the first non-English film that won the award, I got curious about it. Not specifically about the award, but about the director and Korean film industry itself.

Ninja Assassin Movie Poster
Rain's first Hollywood debut movie on 2009
Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures via Petelagi.com

Bong Joon-ho is a veteran in the Korean film industry and he had good relationships with other phenomenal directors around the world. His acceptance speech leaves a great impression both for the Koreans and invitees that night. It was in simple English, “Thank you. I will drink until (the) next morning, thank you”. But this snippet of his acceptance speech became a stir in the Korean society (there are some parodies of him) and he showed the true Korean culture that night. Well, he is a true Korean to the bone, anyway. His speech is witty and simple enough and brightens up the theater right away. What ‘Parasite’ team did was truly an achievement for Koreans and a gate-opener for other Asian countries. Through this event, the world knows that Asian countries are able to keep up the Western countries, which notable for their advanced technologies and ideas.

The Blue Dragon Film Awards were given before The Academy Awards and of course, ‘Parasite’ also won the heart of the local industry, as well. They won five awards and one of them is the ‘Best Film’ awards. Most of the other contenders who won the other awards, open their speech with, “I thought ‘Parasite’ team who will win this award, or I/We didn’t expect to receive this award…” this shows how strong ‘Parasite’ is.

Bong Joon-Ho's Acceptance Speech Parody
"Parodysite"
Courtesy of Yoon Seyoon's Youtube Channel (Awesome YoonSeyoonie)

Well, actually, superstar actor, Song Kang-ho's other movie called ‘Taxi Driver’ also received lots of love from the overseas movie enthusiasts, but the impact and messages ‘Parasite’ showed were relatable to all nationalities and every citizen in the world. So, it is not an understatement to say the turning point of the Korean movie industry is ‘Parasite’.

Korean Movies Values

Citing from Statista (2020), the Korean movie export value from 2013 to 2019 shows some ups and downs, but it worth more than 25 million dollars each year. The highest value is 43.89 million dollars in 2016. That year is when ‘Train to Busan’ was released. Regardless of the Oscar-winning movie, ‘Parasite’ was released last year, the export values were placed 4^th out of 6^th. I believe because of the other contender movies in 2019 were pretty strong such as The Avengers, live-action Aladdin, as well as Lion King, and many more, it became the reason for lower export value. But nevertheless, in Korea itself, last year marked the highest cinema admission according to Statista. This means that Koreans are more appreciating in the movie industry (both Korean and other countries movies as well) nowadays.

Daddy Seok-woo (acted by Gong Yoo) in Train to Busan (2016)
Courtesy of Next Entertainment World via Detik.co.id

There are 1.1 thousand Korean movies that were released in South Korea and few of the remarkable movies that were released are, ‘Extreme Jobs’, ‘Parasite’, ‘Born 1982: Kim Jiyoung’, ‘Exit’, ‘The Gangster, The Cop, The Devil’, and ‘Innocent Witness’. I haven’t got the chance to watched all the movies that were released last year, but ‘Extreme Jobs’, ‘Parasite’, ‘Born 1982: Kim Jiyoung’, and ‘Exit’ are truly remarkable movies. It was entertaining, touching, and they had the best castings too. I realized that these three elements are the things that made Korean movies attractive. Korea is known to have a diverse historical value. From the Kingdom era to Japanese occupation to the Korean war to fighting from poverty until the modern-day. Through those ups and downs, making their storyline unique and rich.

'Exit' (2019) Movie Poster
Courtesy of CJ E&M via IMDb

Notable Movies I’ve Ever Watched

Well, as far as I remember, I started to follow the Korean film industry since I watched ‘Train to Busan’. Thanks to the handsome daddy, Gong Yoo, I watched the movie. If it was not acted by him, I probably wouldn’t dare to watch it, even though so many people talked about it, even from the non-Korean-fans. Even the movie got a special studio in my neighborhood cinema.

The first Korean movie I watched is ‘The Man from Nowhere’. The film was released in 2010, which is the second year I got hooked in the Korean wave. The film was too dark for me to watch at that time, but the film itself received lots of love from the viewers, especially the Koreans. The Won Bin effect was pretty huge that time, well up until now actually. Another good Korean movie I’ve watched is ‘Miracle in Cell No. 7’. Oh, I cried a lot. Both Korean movies and dramas could make me a crybaby and are really good at delivering the same emotions. The classic ‘My Sassy Girl’ and ‘200 Pounds of Beauty’ should not be missed out from the list.

A snippet of 'My Sassy Girl' (2001)
Featuring Gianna Jun and Cha Tae-hyun
Courtesy of Cinema Service via Tumblr

One of my favorite films about the Japanese occupation is ‘The Battleship’. Indonesia and Korea had the same year of Independence, which is in 1945. This film’s setting is when Koreans were brought to China to be a slave. With the help of a “spy”, they were able to plan an escape route. When they were able to exit the slavery, the Alliance bombed Hiroshima (on the 6^th of August) and Nagasaki (on the 9^th of August), which brought down Japanese power greatly. It was an intense movie, where there are lots of scenes of poverty, blood, and cursing. The hidden patriotic of me came out when I watched the movie.

Lately, I’ve been watching some old Korean movies like, ‘Taxi Driver’, ‘A Day’, ‘The Chronicle of Blood Merchant’, ‘The Undercover Spy’, ‘Sunflower’, ‘Love Forecast’, ‘Scarlet Innocence’, ‘Luck Key’, ‘Beauty Inside’, and many more. Since it was premiered in different years, I could see it clearly that the industry was progressing. And that’s why I chose to write a post about this topic on my feature this time.

A movie is not only about telling stories and entertain the viewers, but it's about passion and hard work. A single movie is not complete without a writer, director, music director, editor, actor, and more other crews that need to hold in hand creating a wonderful story and entertain the viewer. No wonder why a movie ending screen-roll is long. It's all because so many people needed to make a movie. Let's appreciate every movie, even though you don't like the story or the actor or other things, but let's remember that it is a piece of someone's hard work.

It was pretty unfortunate, that the industry had to stop for a while this month because of the COVID-19, but I hope you can catch up to watch Korean movies in this hard situation. Wishing you to stay healthy and happy all the time. This too shall pass. I will pray for all of you wherever you are. If you are able to read this post, you are doing well and fortunate. Let’s save the world together. See you in my upcoming post.

BONUS!
I wanted to share some of my experience watching the preview or premiere of the Korean movies while I'm in Korea. I pretty often going to the cinema while I'm living in Korea because first, I got to see the actors in real life cheaper than going to a fan-meeting, second, there were lots of good movie in 2018, third, their popcorn was tasty, and lastly, it's good to spend time with friends and learn Korean in the same time. So, here it is.

Source:

https://www.koreanfilm.org/history.html 
(Very recommended site to get the insight of Korean film industry through expertise eyes)

https://www.cinemaescapist.com/2019/12/best-korean-movies-2019/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/40th_Blue_Dragon_Film_Awards#Nominations_and_winners

JCP FEATURES: SURVIVING

“Human in nature is profit-oriented, while animals live just to survive the harsh wild”

My recent trip to Balikpapan, East Kalimantan was a life-changing trip ever. Not only because I went there with my best friends (and we had a blast bonding time after 18 years of friendship), but also because of what I found out after the trip. I’ve mentioned it sometimes on my blog or videos that I’m not an animal buddy and hates mountains, but those didn’t make me dislike this trip at all, even though mostly we were visiting forests and encounter with wildlife. My friend is doing research about why Joko Widodo, the President of Indonesia choose this island to be the next capital city. The three of us flew to Balikpapan, East Kalimantan to find out the answer. Well, we couldn’t really find out the answers, but we found out a sad truth about this island.

2020 did not start pretty well in Indonesia, especially, Jakarta, the capital city of Indonesia. Flood every part of Jakarta on the first day of 2020. It was the first massive flood after 3 years. Probably, you have heard about this, that Indonesia is moving its capital city to Kalimantan island, the second largest island in the Indonesian archipelago. Kalimantan is gifted to have 40.8 million hectares (well, not sure if this number still valid) of tropical forest, becoming the world’s lungs. But, deforestation (which includes illegal loggings and greedy palm oil companies) and modernization play a huge role in reducing the tropical forest. But, this doesn’t make Mr. President take back his plan on moving Indonesia’s capital city to this wide island. 

A view from the resort. This is what a forest should look like.
Well, with higher and denser trees it will be great. 

We visited a wildlife survival center where we can encounter the endemic residents of Kalimantan or Borneo island’s forest, orangutan and the least known endangered sun bear. I knew sun bear as a honey bear ( beruang madu in Indonesian) before, thanks to this visit, I finally knew the official name of this bear species. There are lots of new information that I got after this visit and I’m so grateful for this unforgettable encounter.

Sun bear in training their hunting skills.
Photo credits to my friend. 

Extremely closer look of a sun bear. I trembled and worried that my phone will be their lunch, so this is the best photo I could get.

Blessed with fertile soil is not always a good thing. Borneo island may not have a volcano, but they have everything else. Palm oil, coal, woods, tasty tropical fruits, and much more. Those natural products made this island a profitable target to be explored. Well, human in nature is profit-oriented, while animals live just to survive the harsh wild. Humans will take chances and will do anything for their needs. This is human nature because that’s how we survived and be different from other creatures. And because this same reason, orangutan habitats were gone and eventually they became an endangered species.

Many of the orangutans in the conservation center were the victim of deforestation and illegally-owned. Deforestation made orangutans puzzled when their home was gone and changed to housing. I just knew that orangutans live in semi-nomad, they build their homes then leave it and build other houses, going around and around like that, then they might come back to their first home. Unfortunately, not many people know about this and thought it’s an open and free space, they burned orangutans’ hardly made houses and changed it to their house or a commercial area. Some people raise orangutan as a pet when their nature is in the wild. It was so devastating that many people in rural areas didn’t know about this.

The conservation is working hand-in-hand with the locals, raising awareness that orangutan is not a pet. The awareness program seems to bear some result, there were no more orangutan get into the conservation for the last 2-3 years with the reason found as a pet. It’s a good sign that the locals are aware of this endangered species and participate actively in the rescuing program.

Well, the 3 hours trail at the survival center brought so much insight for me. I got to realized that Indonesia has so many potentials but sucks at managing it. There are a few facts that I didn’t know about orangutans before. It’s the endemic animals of Indonesia, but not much information that I knew about this animal. A human can transfer illness to orangutans and also the other way around. That’s why we couldn’t interact with the orangutans directly, even though we want to.

Our DNA and their DNA is only 3% different, which is a huge difference in physical form, but psychologically we are practically the same. They can get angry, stressful, crazy, depressed, etc. The ones in the survival center many of them have trauma and will be very hard to live directly in the wild. But not all orangutans can go back to the wild even after joining the program. There are few orangutans that could not go back to the wild because they are severely hurt mentally and physically. The most common cause is baby orangutans were taken away from their mother to be raised as a pet. Just imagine, if your child was taken away from you, how do you feel? Baby orangutans naturally are really protective toward their mother, so taking the baby away as a pet is awful and stressful for both the mother and the baby.

The survival center serves as a training center for the orangutans before they go back to the wild. Because of that, visitors could not interact with them at all. Only authorized personalities and volunteers are the only human being that able to interact with them.I’m really sure when you heard the stories of the orangutans there, you will be very heartbroken. But, on the other side, there are a few bright and lively orangutans that will make you smile.

A few days ago, I got an update on one of the orangutans named Romeo. He seems very normal despite his old age. He could have to go back to the wild, but he is too old, it might be hard for him. The survival center is still watching him, whether if he can go back to the wild or not. The update I got was not a good one. Romeo is started to change in a weird way. Orangutan doesn’t like water. In the wild, they will find a shelter when it’s raining. But, Romeo suddenly splashing water to himself. This is not a good sign, because there is a change in behavior. I couldn’t think what we can do about this, but I hope no more changing behavior anymore.

This is Romeo. The oldest orangutan in the survival center.

Let’s be a smart human being. Less wasting, less greedy, and more caring. We only have one earth and it's getting old. Let’s do not do something we will regret later just for the sake of convenience and benefit. That’s how we will survive this life. We are way far from the Eden garden, but let’s work for it because all of these things are not ours.

I found some useful and interesting articles that might help you to know more about orangutan. You may check them out here.

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/2019/04/extreme-animals-that-live-in-jungles/

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2016/12/orangutans-behaviors-borneo-sumatra/

Let’s reflect on our lifestyle and be more attentive to our surroundings.
Thank you for joining this first JCP Feature.
See you at the next one.

Source:

https://www.profauna.net/en/forest-campaign/kalimantan-forest/about-forests-in-kalimantan#.XlSyOKeB2Rs

Special thanks to Bornean Orangutan Survival Foundation (BOSF), Balikpapan for the effort in caring for the Bornean Orangutan and the sun bears that need help. If you happened to visit Balikpapan, surely visit BOSF and get some insights about these orangutans.