How important is the setting of a drama to your liking it?

I think most straight up/full on soap opera makjangs turn me off. I just can't keep with them. Some examples: Temptation of an Angel Thornbirds Flames of Desire Tales of Gisaeng Royal Family ....I have started a few makjangs and just could not keep with them...dropped them like they were hot. I think the two exceptions are King of Baking, Kim Tak Gu and Can You Hear My Heart. But granted they were only 30 episodes and one did have Yoon Si Yoon so... I'm being silly about him but in all seriousness, I am not sure how I stuck it out with them and LOVE THEM!! Also, very long Sauguks that go on for EVER and episode after episode are just a bunch of sauguk ahjussi's sitting around a table plotting against the king. UGH!

for me it's more about how well the setting fits the story. in paradise farm for example, the setting is beautiful, but they REALLY had to work hard to make the story and the setting gel, so much so that sometimes the story and characters were drowned in their efforts to make the setting work.

amrita828 wrote: I am not a lover of makjang either, they feel so incredibly theatrical to me and they usually depict out of reality characters, like scheming cousins, super evil relatives, saint heroines who withstand hell and come out as innocent as babies, slapstick side characters who are totally useless to the plot. I can't identify with them neither with the brain nor with the heart.
Makjang are successful because they create such convoluted plots, once started the majority wants to know what happens next, but in so doing they forget cohesion, credibility and characterization. Not my thing, definitely.



You raise an interesting issue, which I hadn't considered before. I thought Paradise Farm was a mediocre drama because it had a lame plot and lame deliveries. But the setting IS beautiful and it could have been a very nice change from the average Seoul-based stories.

for me it's b/c instead of having a story that happened in a place they had a place that the story happened in. they started with a pretty standard drama, we've all seen that drama before, but instead of changing the story structure to make it interesting, they just changed the setting. they spent all thier creative energy on making the setting work, so the already pretty "meh" story was relegated to tired but easy plt devices.

amrita828 wrote: I am not a lover of makjang either, they feel so incredibly theatrical to me and they usually depict out of reality characters, like scheming cousins, super evil relatives, saint heroines who withstand hell and come out as innocent as babies, slapstick side characters who are totally useless to the plot. I can't identify with them neither with the brain nor with the heart.
Makjang are successful because they create such convoluted plots, once started the majority wants to know what happens next, but in so doing they forget cohesion, credibility and characterization. Not my thing, definitely.



You raise an interesting issue, which I hadn't considered before. I thought Paradise Farm was a mediocre drama because it had a lame plot and lame deliveries. But the setting IS beautiful and it could have been a very nice change from the average Seoul-based stories.

I am trying to think of pure "settings" in dramas that turn me off other than makjang/melodramas which I guess is more of a genre than a setting. I would say cop dramas but then I have really liked a few. I would say medical/hospital settings but then again, I've liked a lot of those as well. But then I read Cityhunter's post and I think I agree with her. For me there is no one setting that seems to turn me off. It is about a well executed story/plot and well acted/directed drama within that setting. If those things don't gel then neither will the story. (I reserve the right to come back to this thread and add to this if I end up watching a drama and the setting makes me turn it off! LOL)

WirePaladin wrote: best setting = trains/subways! but sadly not common enough in dramas! the narrow space makes it very suspenseful/dramatic(Strangers on a Train, High and Low, The Taking of Pelham One Two Three(original), etc)

Two dramas I can think of with really good subway scenes:

Soulmates
I'm Sorry, I Love You.

I suppose self-made rules are meant to be broken, lol.
I had always avoided everything related to royalty - even titles with princesses, princes and the likes used to turn me off. Until I saw King 2 hearts, which blew me away.
And it even had politics, another issue which I usually find boring.
So, the more I read you and think about it, the less I care for the setting.
LOL
If I'm allowed to use an Italian expression, with this thread I've hit my foot with a hoe... :p

amrita828 wrote: I suppose self-made rules are meant to be broken, lol.
If I'm allowed to use an Italian expression, with this thread I've hit my foot with a hoe... :p

or in pirate-speak.......Hoist by your own petard :p