Get 'Yer Popcorn!

There have been a lot of movies coming out in Korea lately that I had to go and see in the theatre. Going to the movies in Korea is a real treat and I realized the other day after a viewing of the new Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz film (don't know how new it is at home, probably been out for a while), Knight and Day, that I haven't mentioned it yet. First of all, you must reserve your seats in the theatre beforehand. You are actually given assigned seats, but you get to choose them. It's very practical and efficient really, there are no people sitting with one empty seat between them that could potentially be used in a sold out show. (So frustrating when that happens and you can't find a seat except the front row!) The concession stand serves caramel popcorn as well as regular and they even have fun treats like dried squid available. The American movies are all subtitled with Korean characters at the bottom. My first movie in Korea was strange and I kept being distracted by the subtitles, but now I am used to seeing them and I don't think twice about it. Watching an American movie as an American in a theatre full of Koreans can be quite the experience. There are lots of things such as humor, expression, and even some phrases that cannot really be translated into Korean, so when you are the only American (or one in a handful of them) watching the movie there are lots of times when you might laugh out loud or crack up while the Korean people around you are silent as mice. Pretty hilarious really.

I went to see the Blindside in theatres with my co-workers a while back and it actually made me feel a little strange. That movie is so American in every sense of the word- the southern families, football, high school, "ghetto" neighborhoods, racism, etc. I completely understood everything in the film because I am familiar with all of those aspects of American life, but Koreans on the other hand, have no idea what any of those things are about. There are no Friday night high school football games in Korea, no teen shootings, no ghettos, no Taco Bells (yet!), no college football scholarships. My co-workers must have been left feeling a little disoriented and maybe not quite sure of the entire story or message of the movie. Seeing that movie here in Korea definitely made me look at our American lives a little differently, but it also gave me a touch of nostalgia and really made me miss the U.S.

Bought tickets for the opening of Twilight Eclipse in Korea tomorrow! I know, I know, you all got to see it the other week, but I cannot wait to finally watch it!

Namaste