Dramaland

DramalandDramaland is a virtual space where dramacrazies
automatically arrive while watching a drama,
specifically an Asian drama (others are not
subject of discussion here). Here, dreams are
reality, and realities are mere nightmares,
though it might be considered as Solipsism
syndrome if you constantly find yourself in this
land from a real world perspective.

Hypothetically, Dramaland is part influenced by
Korea, part influenced by Japan, part influenced
by Taiwan/China, and part influenced by other
various places. The population of Dramaland is
approximately a lot and growing rapidly.

The inhabitants of Dramaland are hypothetically
called “Dramacrazy”.

That’s what “outsiders” think about Dramaland.

Coordinates:

"In your heart, gate number 2."

                                             -Daniel Henny, SUJU-M

Native Name:

Korean: Dramaland (soft D)
Japanese: Doramaland
Chinese: How the Heck should I know!

History

Since Dramaland is still an imaginary place, we have to take account of personal experience to figure out its history as it might change from person to person. So for this study, we take the writer’s life story to define her take on Dramaland.

Prehistoric Dramaland

The early exposure to Dramaland occurs when you get in contact with a TV set and experience a regular drama that’s made in your country. Since one has limited experience at that age, it might be enough to give you a glimpse of serene Dramaland.

○Sample Study: Writer

My early exposure was via Bangladeshi dramas, those used to be good at some point. Then there came too many channels, there was no rise in quality, and the producers figured they should cover it up with CF’s.  Now to watch a 45min drama, one may have to endure a 45-min or longer CF (usually longer).

But as I said, there were some good ones. One of my favorites was Aj Robybar or Today is Sunday. That Family’s house once became my first Dramaland.

Example: Aj Robybar (sit-com)

No. of Episodes: 7

Synopsis:

The sitcom revolves around the day to day life of an eccentric household consisting of a grandfather, his three socially inept sons, two granddaughters, a boarder, the male-servant and the maid. From the eldest brother, who remains a bachelor and plays chess with himself, to the servant who tries to peek in through a keyhole and gets squirted with ink on a daily basis this show is thoroughly entertaining. (Wikipedia) Unfortunately, it was never subbed. But fortunately, you can find the episodes unsubbed in youtube.

Emergence of Neighboring Influence

After the early exposure to Dramaland, you might get out of it with little or less damage. In worst-case scenarios, you are still heavily influenced by your domestic dramas and visit subsequent Dramaland till these days. But in most cases, one recovers and advances to the next phase where they get influenced by neighboring country’s dramas.

Absence of influential neighboring countries might shorten your history and one might have skipped this phase of history.

○Sample Study: Writer

We have India as our neighbor, and our visual media are heavily influenced by it. So I got exposed to Indian Dramaland when I was in standard 8, and it was my least anticipated and enjoyable stay so far. During my stay there, I ashamedly confess that I didn’t finish a single drama there.

I have nothing against Hindi dramas; I guess they are just not for me.

Example:Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi (Daily soap)

No. of Episodes: 1833! (I hope now you understand why I wasn’t able to finish this)

Synopsis:

Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi revolves around the life of the fictitious Virani family.  There are two “twenty year” time jumps in this drama (as far as I can remember).

And this drama is also the source of world’s biggest mystery: Is Baa in KSBKBT immortal(the grandmother, later she becomes a great-great grandmother)?

English Invasions

If the person at hand is not a native English speaker, then this phase is due to occur at some point in their life. Uncle Sam will call you, and you will most definitely give a heartfelt response back. Sometimes you might get an invitation from the British Empire and have a stay there.

Most crazies leave permanent membership of this space for Asian Dramaland, but frequent this land every now and then. English Dramaland is not a subject we should study here. Enough already, we should get going forward.

The Kingdom of Asian Dramaland

Finally, as the last step of our journey, we reach the holy land of Asian Dramaland. As discussed in my previous hypothesis, a person can be introduced here by several methods, but once you are here, you can  never leave.

Places of Interest

○Schools

You can find various types of schools here; some are mere realistic (GAH!). But there are those which are exclusive, only for Dramaland. Realistic ones couldn’t make their way in to this discussion; go to a real school and check your heart out. Drama schools are mostly like common schools plus some random facts.
Fun Facts: Students are super good looking! And sometimes--hold your breath--THEY SHINE!

○Work Life

You will most commonly see these people around during your stay: Architects, musicians, doctors, detectives, po-pos, bakers, cooks, lawyers, and some more. Absentees: Social workers, never encountered them!
Fun Facts: The work life seems much more relaxing than your everyday life. And no matter what they pay you, your outfit will forever remain branded.

If you ever give this sort of presentation in front of clients, they will definitely clap, bang the table I say! And they will laugh; they will literally Roll On The Floor Laughing! The best comment you might expect is, “Igge Boya?"

○Eateries

In every corner, there is a place to eat in Dramaland. One will never go hungry here, and one shall never worry about the bill either as they often remain absent.
Fun Facts: Soju = Water and your waist size has nothing to do with your amount of food.
[About foods, you should check out the article Drama Food I Crave: Korean Edition by SeRose.

○Health Care

Health care is not the problem here; Dramaland has plenty of it. The major issue are the diseases. Once you get admitted here you have little to no chance of leaving. Even when you do, you might have lost something very important to you: any organ or more commonly your memories or, sanity!

Demography

People have lived in Dramaland for many years, although only a limited amount is known about the 90’s and previous inhabitants, 2000’s and 2010’s inhabitants are the most well-known. Early historical and genealogical records note the existence of dozens of different crazies that may or may not be mythological. There is a huge complete list as proof here on MDL. (HAVA-RAVA, ano….are you human? And if you believe so, are you SURE?)

The population of Dramaland rose rapidly from a global perspective from the 2nd Hallyu wave. Over the following decade, the population has increased many folds.

Languages

Two main languages are spoken in Dramaland: Japanese and Korean, with Mandarin being the third common language. Both languages have widely contributed to Drama culture.

Sport

Baseball is the most popular sport in Dramaland in terms of featuring in dramas and community involvement. Soccer is a close second with basketball in third place. Other popular sports include Gymnastics, athletics, swimming, martial arts, tennis, ice hockey etc...

Fun Facts: Even though people in dramas may appear to hate or, neglect sports or any sort of work out, they will ‘sport’ a sporty figure nonetheless but sadly same thing cannot be said for the Dramacrazies.