Makjang! Makjang! Get your Revenge and Birth Secrets Here!

makjang :: a sylistic, tonal, or narrative element in dramas that chooses to play up outrageous storylines to keep viewers hooked despite how ridiculous the stories become (adultery, revenge, rape, birth secrets, fatal illnesses, and flirting with incest possibilities are some makjang favorites). Shows can be part of a makjang class of dramas (Wife?s Temptation is a makjang series), or they can have makjang tendencies (Mary Stayed Out All Night went makjang toward the end). Generally considered a negative thing (?Gah, how makjang can you get??), unless a drama intentionally embraces the style (such as Baker King Kim Tak-gu or Flames of Desire). Source: Dramabeans

Is your relationship to makjang dramas as strange as mine? Sometimes I love a good makjang drama: King Of Baking, Kim Tak Gu is a perfect example of a heavily makjang drama but one I feel was done well and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Another favorite drama of mine is I'm Sorry, I Love You. Hello Amazing Makjang! Can You Hear My Heart was another Makjang I loved. ...But sometimes a drama will come along, I start to watch and the makjang gets to me in a very negative way and I can't continue watching (Royal Family, Man of Honor)

What about you? This is the place to list the Makjang dramas you love or hate. You can discuss why you love them and seek them out or why avoid them like the plague. Let's air our dirty makjang laundry here!

that is exactly how I felt with Man of Honor. Oh man..I dropped that like it was hot! And I love the two leads. It was a sad, but very necessary.

tpm?.....

I don't know how others might view it but I feel like there is a big difference between makjang/melodramas and other dramas created to be more realistic or tonally different even if there is a certain element of makjang in almost every drama. I mean..they are called dramas after all. The description by Dramabeans above makes sense to me. Here is how I look at it but I am sure others might see it differently:

There are some dramas that seem to really go all out with the makjang bringing more than one of those overly dramatic elements into plot. Usually these are highly melodramatic; running longer than 16 episodes (but not always). They seem to me almost operatic like a soap opera and are heavy on the intensity and very sparing with humor. There usually isn't that much of a realistic feel to them.

To list a few:

Autumn In My Heart
Winter Sonata
Spring Waltz (Look out for the seasons! If it has a season in the title run away!)
I'm Sorry I Love You
Flames of Desire ...and so on
Thornbirds and lots more...

Other Dramas move away from makjang and have a more real, down to earth feel to them; I don't consider these makjang. Even if there is a birth secret or someone has a health issue or someone has a horrible mother/father or they are getting divorced. Dramas that handle issues and plot points like those in a more realistic way...again..I don't really see them as makjang.

Secret Garden (Crappy mother from hell) Not really makjang
Scent of a Woman (Cancer) Not quite handled as a melo/makjang
City Hall ~ (birth secret / evil father) I wouldn't consider this makjang
Kim Sam Soon ~ (Fatal Disease / Car Crash / Evil Mom) But this show isn't really about those things and has so much humor..not makjang

There are lots more I could list but I need to shut up now. Anyway this is just my view of makjang and what it means. Others might see it differently. (that's why I made this thread; because I'm a very nosy person and like to know what others think too!)

what drama is not makjang?

PinkDiamond wrote:
I couldn't stop watching it, but I didn't know why I was watching it. LOL

I had that feeling with Can You Hear My Heart.
And lol at that title Jeanie.

Haha I tend to like Makjang dramas. Well when it's done right. Haha I guess maybe since I started out as an anime fan. ( A lot of anime are makjang) I would add Kaew Tah Pee, Rak Leh Saneh Luang (VERY makjang), Pink Lipstick (still working on this series) and there are probably a few others. I just can't think of them right now.