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K-Drama School - Ep 124: Queenmaker and Korean Air’s Nut Rage with Connor Hangsleben
K-Drama School – Ep 123: Mr Queen and Korean Food as Vice and Pleasure
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[Spoiler Alert] Grace discusses the show Queenmaker (2023, Netflix) written by Moon Ji-young. Queenmaker takes inspiration from Korean Air’s Cho family scandals related to staff abuse. Kim Hee-ae’s role as Do-hee is an exploration of how a person who tolerated and participated in corruption turns her life around through vengeance. Kim Hee-ae’s K-drama queendom also plays a meta role in crowning veteran indie and art house film actress Moon So-ri as a K-drama queen through this show. Grace’s guest is comedian Connor Hangsleben. They discuss restaurant work, white girl problems versus Black men problems, the validity of “twin cities,” Grace’s relationship to Minnesota, incest in Iceland and North Dakota, and farm life. Follow @KDramaSchool on Instagram, Twitter and TikTok. Visit https://www.kdramaschool.com/ to learn more.
[Spoiler Alert] Grace discusses the show Mr Queen (2020-2021, tvN) based on a Chinese web series called Go Princess Go. The show is written by Park Gye-ok and Choi Ah-il. Grace compares Mr Queen to Jewel in the Palace; whereas more classic hallyu K-dramas like Jewel in the Palace utilizes Korean food as a vehicle to promote wellness, healing and medicinal properties, Mr Queen appropriates aspects of that show to promote Korean food as pleasure and vice. Mr Queen also includes aspects of trans-queerness through the embodiment of a female and male soul in one cis-female body as well as the queering of time and history through camp storytelling devices. Mr Queen promotes feminist values by exhibiting patriarchal privilege through the Queen’s embodiment of a man’s 21st century soul, as well as law reform to protect women’s right to safety and happiness in the last episode. Follow @KDramaSchool on Instagram, Twitter and TikTok. Visit https://www.kdramaschool.com/ to learn more.
[Spoiler Alert] Grace discusses the show Divorce Attorney Shin (2023, JTBC) based on a webtoon by Kang Tae-kyung written by screenwriter Yoo Young-a. Grace praises the show’s writing and for exploring a public female figure’s experience as a victim of a digital sex crime. Grace also mentions how the people around her are starting to snap out of the matrix of their lives and entering a phase of self-realization. It is all very exciting to her. Grace’s guest is LA-based comedian Ruby Bockmeier (@bockit2me on Instagram). They discuss changing names, grandma Ruby, going to events, church, people who divorce then remarry the same spouse, and the nonsense that is Pepperdine University. Follow @KDramaSchool on Instagram, Twitter and TikTok. Visit https://www.kdramaschool.com/ to learn more.
[Spoiler Alert] Grace discusses the show Jirisan (2021, tvN) written by Kim Eun-hee starring Ju Ji-hoon and Jun Ji-hyun. Grace appreciates the chemistry between the two stars as well as Kim Eun-hee’s accomplished way of non-linear storytelling. Grace does question, however, the show’s expectation of disabled characters to reach a cure in the end, and without any explanation as to how they got there. Jirisan is chockful of gorgeous scenic views of mountains throughout. Grace’s guest is Korean American illustrator and author Deb JJ Lee (@jdebbiel on Instagram) who has a new book out entitled In Limbo recently published by First Second Books. They discuss cat gums, freelance life, microaggressive teachers who didn’t try to learn Korean names and confused Asian students in classrooms, processing childhood trauma, double-eyelid surgery, healthy boundaries from parents, overcoming fear of public speaking, angelic heroes and inspirations. Follow @KDramaSchool on Instagram, Twitter and TikTok. Visit https://www.kdramaschool.com/ to learn more.
[Spoiler Alert] This is the first ever K-Drama School podcast live recording at Anchorage, Alaska with the B4UDie Comedy Festival at E Street Theater. Grace’s first comedian guest is Leah Mansfield (@leahmansfield on Instagram) who always brings friendly wit and joy to her comedy. Grace and Leah have a round of flashcard questions based on The Glory (2023, Netflix). Grace’s second comedian guest is Chip Nicholson (@chipnicholson on Instagram) who won Best of Fest at B4UDie 2023, and always brings a fresh burst of energy to the stage. Grace and Chip play with flashcard questions based on Crash Course in Romance (2023, tvN). Grace’s last comedian guest is Josh Edelman (@theedelmeister on Instagram) who is a gifted storyteller and punchy joke writer. Grace and Josh get into flashcard questions based on The Interest of Love (2023, JTBC). This episode gets into topics like US Air Force secrets about aliens and weapons of mass destruction, an Uber pool ride turned into a car chase, and toxic dating habits to break into show biz. K-Drama School podcast is grateful to Kass and the B4UDie Comedy Festival for this production. Follow @KDramaSchool on Instagram, Twitter and TikTok. Visit https://www.kdramaschool.com/ to learn more.
[Spoiler Alert] Grace discusses the show Beef (Netflix, 2023) created by Lee Sung Jin starring Steve Yeun and Ali Wong. While Beef is a Netflix production made in Hollywood, Grace sees a lot of Korean influence on the show like how Danny tries to kill himself using hibachi grills similar to the way Koreans use charcoal briquettes, having a billionaire character, and the jang-nam (eldest Korean son) pressure that Danny puts on himself to buy his parents a house. What makes the show arguably a Korean American drama are the church scenes and an exploration of K-rage exhibited by characters like Danny, Issac (David Choe) and Edwin (Justin H. Min). Grace analyzes Ali Wong’s former marriage to Justin Hakuta whose great uncle was world-renowned Korean artist Paik Nam-june, and how this backdrop creates Amy Lau’s character. The best thing about Beef is that while it explores the lives of Asian American characters, it doesn’t insist on being an Asian American show. It deals with compelling characters and their human complexities. Follow @KDramaSchool on Instagram, Twitter and TikTok. Visit https://www.kdramaschool.com/ to learn more.
Grace is going to be in Anchorage, Alaska for the B4UDie Comedy Festival! On April 8th, she is recording a live episode of K-Drama School podcast at E Street Theater at 1PM. Please stop by! The show is free. [Spoiler Alert] Grace lost $650 because she made some booking mistakes for her trip to Alaska but she talks herself out of grief. Grace discusses a greatly underrated throwback show entitled City Hall (SBS, 2009) starring Kim Sun-ha and Cha Seung-won written by hit-maker Kim Eun-sook. Grace marvels at the heartfelt human story of City Hall and the epic comedic chemistry between Kim Sun-ah and Cha Seung-won. Follow @KDramaSchool on Instagram, Twitter and TikTok. Visit https://www.kdramaschool.com/ to learn more.
[Spoiler Alert] Grace calls season 1 of Big Bet (Disney+, 2022-2023) starring Choi Min-sik, Son Suk-ku and Lee Dong-hwi written and directed by Kang Yoon-sung “the worst K-drama” she’s ever seen in her entire life. Grace goes off about how much she hates Disney+ productions of K-dramas which hog all the good actors but put them in terrible shows made by inexperienced filmmakers who don’t have a sense of TV pacing. Disney+ and Kang Yoon-sung’s greatest offense when creating Big Bet is making a series that lacks heart. It lacks everything that makes a good K-drama like moving storytelling, romance, compelling characters, high emotional stakes, a TV rhythm, and a female K-drama screenwriter whose written at least fifty TV scripts already. Big Bet also lied to Grace by declaring Son Suk-ku a featured actor on the series but only shows up starting the very tail end of episode 5, and she has a few thoughts on that. Grace also discusses the importance of mourning community lives that get lost then buried without any loved ones or kin. Follow @KDramaSchool on Instagram, Twitter and TikTok. Visit https://www.kdramaschool.com/ to learn more.
[Spoiler Alert] Grace discusses Juvenile Justice (Netflix, 2022) starring Kim Hye-soo, Kim Mu-yeol and Lee Sung-min. Grace compares the success of Juvenile Justice to the failure of Extracurricular in that there’s a complete story arc following Judge Sim’s hero’s journey. Grace praises Kim Hye-soo’s controlled performance on this show, as well as the show’s conscious awareness in how a society’s perpetrators come into formation through systemic and structural problems. The show poignantly states that everyone in society is culpable when a juvenile offender is created thus questioning the black-and-white tendency to frame criminals. The show also offers a critique of the lenient sentencing of femicide and rape crimes in South Korea. Follow @KDramaSchool on Instagram, Twitter and TikTok. Visit https://www.kdramaschool.com/ to learn more.
[Spoiler Alert] Grace discusses part 2 of the show The Glory (2022, Netflix) written by hit-maker Kim Eun-sook in her second collaboration with Song Hye-kyo. Grace starts out by admitting how she cried while watching Ke Huy Quan’s and Michelle Yeoh’s Oscar acceptance speeches telling artists not to give up on their dreams. Grace questions the concept of a public apology, and questions the adults involved in the latest media scandal around director Ahn Gil-ho. Grace critiques The Glory’s backwards representation of addicts and the mentally ill. Grace further critiques the show’s imbalanced portrayal of perpetrators and digs through side characters’ storylines to find logic to the perpetrators’ backstories which might explain why they are so abusive. Follow @KDramaSchool on Instagram, Twitter and TikTok. Visit https://www.kdramaschool.com/ to learn more.