I finally got around to watching “My Sassy Girl”. Yes, I watched a Korean drama. Is your mind blown? No? Because it should be. I’m not the kind of guy who dabbles into foreign films about feeling good and loving yourself while finding love around the corner, and if you’ve met me you can probably tell. So what’s the deal? I got friend carded into watching it. (Also, I couldn’t find a better excuse for wanting to watch a romantic comedy, but in a foreign language.)

You gotta admit, she's pretty god damn cute.

Well, that’s not the whole story. I’ve been interested in Korean dramas as a medium in which i can poke fun at my portly friend, Martin. Yes, I know exploring a new genre of film just to make fun of a friend sounds kind of pathetic, but that’s just the kind of friendship we have. Back in the day, doughy Martin used to try to give me tips in love for no apparent reason. And I mean really sporadic bursts of his wisdom just kind of always interjected into our conversations.

Me: Man, I’m pretty fucking tired.

Martin: You know, you should be nicer to girls. It makes it easier for them to love you.

Me: SHUT. THE. FUCK. UP.

You can only imagine me putting up with this for awhile. So I finally decided to question the source of his fountain of infinite knowledge and tried to find out what the fuck made his advice so viable compared to the millions of other dating articles/websites out there.

And Korean dramas were the answer.

Holy shit, I remembered wondering if I had just struck oil or just been dropped off in the middle of a mine field. And after getting the recommendation, I figured why not?

First of all, it’s not a fucking drama. It’s a romantic comedy. If I can laugh at the expense of the characters, I think it’s safe to assume it’s a romantic comedy. Again, this is Martin’s fault, not mine.

Secondly, it struck an emotional cord with me. Or more likely, it made me feel like that everyone was falling in love except me. Now what’s the deal there? I can watch Western romantic comedies or romantic dramas all night and I wouldn’t even break my stride. I have multiple thoughts on this, but keep in mind these are all bewildered hearsay.

It might be because of the how I can relate to the appearance of the cast. Yes, call it racist, but they are Asian. And I’m Asian. A lot of the friends I’ve grown up with and fell for are Asian. So it kind of makes sense that a romantic comedy built around Asian people with an Asian cast can seem to hit more at home with me than a movie about a white couple in New York. It doesn’t help that the guy seems oafishly familiar to a few of the boys back in high school. Or that the female lead is the epitome of wacky cuteness that seems to resonate with every description of the “ideal love” that I keep hearing about.

Or maybe I felt that it wasn’t so much about the drama as it was about the romance. In the essence of the film there was affection, not conflict. Yeah, there was a little conflict to keep it going, but mostly the scenes were day to day stories about the couple and how they felt for each other. If I watch a western romantic comedy, they’re always trying to find ways to overcome the obstacles between the two of them. After awhile, I get sick of it and I just say to myself (and to a lesser extent, the characters in the movie) “Shit, if you want to be with them…just be with them.” But with “My Sassy Girl”, they did just that. And it was affectionate and sweet, but not sickeningly sweet. I never found myself thinking “This is completely unrealistic, couples NEVER do that.”

But most likely, I think I got lonely just when the movie started. Yeah, it happens. People get lonely, and being lonely is the worst part of the human condition. It reminds us that we have to strive to have healthy relationships with other people. I still don’t believe in learning from Korean dramas, but I’ll have to prepare next time for when I watch one.

Signed,

A Pessimistic Romantic