"We have to fix the mindset of white people like that" he says in the first episode, in Korean, after a professor catches the two students trespassing in one of the buildings and says that the reason so many Asians get into top universities is because they donate a lot of money. Perhaps, but we have to also fix the mindset of Koreans who think one of the world's best universities would even remotely consider admitting someone with English as poor as his. I'll plagiarise what I wrote back in 2007 after being excited to find the episodes, subtitled in English, on Youtube:
I could barely make it through the first episode. Absolutely terrible, and not in the sobaditsgood way. The Caucasian actors are awful, but that's nothing new in an Asian movie or television program. The spoken English is, thankfully, subtitled. What bothers me, beyond the run of the mill bastardization of my native language, is that the show's producers felt that a guy who talks like that has what it takes to enroll and compete in one of the most prestigious universities in the world. It'd be one thing if you had, say, Daniel Henney in that role, although I'm sure some Koreans wouldn't want to listen to him for too long.
I haven't researched the show much, beyond looking it up on Wikipedia. Is the premise a rags-to-riches story? An after-hagwon special to encourage kids to study hard? Is it just a fluff piece that plays into the fascination with "Ivy League" here? Whatever, I just don't think it indicates a very respectful attitude toward the US or its universities when you imply that anyone can get in. It'd be like an American getting into the University of Tokyo on the strength of his tattoos and his Pokemon collection.
Oh, and here's what he said to the professor, in English, when the professor asked him to leave.
The original video I linked to has been removed, but it looks like part one of episode one is back up, for now:
10 comments:
As a law school grad, I'm going to have an especially critical eye. My favorite parts:
1. Guy walks into HLS and looks at sheet of paper stuck to wall, which announces "mimic trial" (as opposed to the more commonly used term, "mock trial"); and
2. He neatly quotes someone's text explaining Federal Rule of Evidence 702, but while the substance of the explanation was correct, that text was nonetheless written by a retard. No one would refer to it as "Federal Evidence Law Article 702". Also, I truly wonder where the hell he's digging up "104 of the Constitution." Who knows what that is.
3. Guy arrives at hotel, and pulls the Keynes book from a stack of law books...one of which is "What to Expect When You're Expecting."
While I have to admit that I haven't seen the series, after seeing the first subtitled screen capture and how he addresses his professor with (an assumed, in Korean) "난" it rather looks like he's lacking a bit in the manners department ...
(Or is it common to refer to oneself as "나" around one's professor? I always figured it would be "저".)
Instead of sending someone to Harvard Law school to protect Korea, I want to see a show about sending someone to Harvard Lampoon, to protect Korea carelessly slapped together "gag concerts," and "Infinity Challenges."
The could always remake it, and instead of the "protect Korea" part, just have some "Do you know Dokdo" stuff. :p
My best friend really really REALLY (no, really) hates Kim Rae-won. When this shite was first televised, she and I had a good time one afternoon ripping him and his stay at Harvard.
LOL, thanks for that holterbarbour.
In my post on this show back in 2007 I suggested getting somebody like Daniel Henney . . . or somebody who could actually speak English. But, as we know, impression is all that matters. So long as Kim Rae-won makes noises that Koreans don't understand, it sounds exotic and english-ish. I wonder how many Russians they got to play Harvard professors.
I haven't seen past this first ten minute clip, so I don't know about Russians... but hey did manage to get Frank Gorshin for the Prof. Keynes role, who some may recognize as having played The Riddler in the old Batman series.
And while that DOES give the show some cred, I don't know why they would waste money on a name-brand (if B-list) actor when no one in the target audience would know who he is.
This shows problems went way, waaaaaaaay beyond the crappy English - although that did in fact end up altering the storyline. The story was originally set to take place entirely at haaaaaaavahd, but the main actors' English was so universally awful that even the Korean audience couldn't stand it, and the characters graduate and return to Korea halfway through.
More annoyingly for some of us poor Americans, since the production company couldn't get permission to film on Harvard campus, except for a few establishing shots, the US bits were almost all filmed at USC and UCLA. Right. Because there's lots and lots of palm trees on Harvard Yard, and nobody has heard of those other schools anyway. I was actually at UCLA at the time of filming, and was perpetually annoyed to find some odd section of the campus blocked off for that piece of idiocy.
OMG that was priceless! I'm hooked.
You've got a bimbo who tells Our Hero within the first minute that she'll sleep with him as long as he's a law student. (I know Korean women are frankly materialistic, but are they really that mercenary?) You've got a guy who can't speak English yet was admitted to arguably the top school in the one subject that absolutely requires fluency in English. This was because his family "donated money" (and what an insult to Harvard, as if it can be bought! Wait a minute, I just remembered Bush the Lesser also got into Harvard; never mind.)
Anyway, you've got The Riddler channeling John Houseman in The Paper Chase AND Agent Smith from The Matrix. You've got Our Hero, a Korean national, whinging about racism (oh the irony; it stings!) and channeling George Costanza -- a genius, as long as he abstained from sex. And you've got a love triangle featuring two women who are both Korean nationals yet somehow had no trouble entering the U.S. to care for and fight over our hero. And that's just in the first ten minutes.
I can't wait till the first time Our Hero gets asked a question that requires him to think rather than recite something he memorized the night before.
Hallyu Wighting!
Post a Comment