I think it's time for another post, this time related to pop culture. I will be specifically talking about things which I have knowledge about. That means no Korean drama or K-pop, because I have absolutely no interest in them. Anyway, I am quite sure with the popularity of Korean pop culture, it is not difficult to come across bubblegum pop playing on Youtube performed by Korean men who wear makeup and Korean women who dress sexily. As I am no expert in the history of filmography or pop music, I will only highlight certain interesting events that I have experienced while living in Singapore. Yes, it is the country featured in Crazy Rich Asians and no, I have yet to seen the movie.
Moving onwards.
Taiwan TV and Film
We shall not debate what is Taiwan, because technically it is not a country recognised by the UN but yet it is a sovereign nation who holds onto the name of "Republic of China". For simplicity sake, we shall use Taiwan to refer to a state that is being governed by the Taiwanese parties and not part of China. There are two types of TV series produced by Taiwan, idol based dramas that feature popular Taiwanese idols speaking standard chinese or Mandarin and Taiwan soap dramas featuring episodes that can last to the hundreds. Here's one of the most popular idol dramas ever made in Taiwan called Meteor Garden, loosely based on a Japanese shojo manga called Hana Yori Dango.
Yup, put some cool looking dudes together to shoot a drama
On the other hand, the soap dramas featured the Taiwan dialect, also known as Hokkien. The pronunciation of the dialect is totally different from the standard chinese or Mandarin, even though the written language is the same. I remembered vividly that one of the soap dramas was shown in my country on a weekly basis before my nephew was born and did not end until he was born and turned four. The soap drama had a total of 787 episodes. What was so strange was that my country had a policy of not allowing any dialects to be spoken, so they dubbed the TV series but could not dub the opening and ending theme songs. So lots of people who knew Hokkien ended up watching a dubbed version of the TV series while the opening theme song became a hit.
[media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsFK3MvwxpU&list=PLjOhhtEuH36fpx_xCCDg7TQrOJOmyQrIG[/media]
Moving onwards.
Taiwan TV and Film
We shall not debate what is Taiwan, because technically it is not a country recognised by the UN but yet it is a sovereign nation who holds onto the name of "Republic of China". For simplicity sake, we shall use Taiwan to refer to a state that is being governed by the Taiwanese parties and not part of China. There are two types of TV series produced by Taiwan, idol based dramas that feature popular Taiwanese idols speaking standard chinese or Mandarin and Taiwan soap dramas featuring episodes that can last to the hundreds. Here's one of the most popular idol dramas ever made in Taiwan called Meteor Garden, loosely based on a Japanese shojo manga called Hana Yori Dango.
Yup, put some cool looking dudes together to shoot a drama
On the other hand, the soap dramas featured the Taiwan dialect, also known as Hokkien. The pronunciation of the dialect is totally different from the standard chinese or Mandarin, even though the written language is the same. I remembered vividly that one of the soap dramas was shown in my country on a weekly basis before my nephew was born and did not end until he was born and turned four. The soap drama had a total of 787 episodes. What was so strange was that my country had a policy of not allowing any dialects to be spoken, so they dubbed the TV series but could not dub the opening and ending theme songs. So lots of people who knew Hokkien ended up watching a dubbed version of the TV series while the opening theme song became a hit.
[media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsFK3MvwxpU&list=PLjOhhtEuH36fpx_xCCDg7TQrOJOmyQrIG[/media]
