Dramaworld (2016)

Cringy but fun

Okay, I'll be the first to admit that the acting in this show was bad, but I would still recommend watching it, because it's just fun! You could actually make a drinking game out of this drama - every time you encounter a K-drama trope, take a drink! The concept of the show was interesting and somewhat original, and I had the best time watching it, because I think they were actually able to include every cliche known to man. Since it was pretty over the top, I didn't feel too invested in the characters, and really felt like I was on the outside looking in, but I was fine with that. I upped my rating slightly because of Woo Do Hwan - seriously, he would make watching paint dry fascinating.

I found the female lead very interesting. She was a pitiful, "invisible" person (to use her own phrase), but even apart from being a white woman in Korea, I think they chose the right person for the part. Not classically beautiful, pale with freckles, strange hair cut, interesting clothes choices, it all went to a package that worked. And I loved her excitement when she found out she had been sucked into K-drama world! Let's be honest, anyone that is a K-drama junkie can understand her reaction.

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Originally I was skeptical about the whole "Americans trying to make kdrama" idea, but after finding out my (new) favorite actor Woo Do Hwan played a semi-important character in it I decided to give this a try! Worst case scenario I get to watch 2 hours of Woo Do Hwan acting cute in glasses, amirite?

This turned out to be THE BEST THING EVER omg.
So it's a Korean drama making fun of Korean dramas.
You've seen dramas like this before -- "Extraordinary You" as a very similar example.
But the fact that this is a short web series with a complete (and reasonable) plot, with bad guys the main characters have to fight, appropriate comedic relief that pokes fun at the old kdrama tropes, AND a glamorous cameo cast list (while being written by non-Koreans) made this 100x more exciting. The writers really did their homework with this one.

Let's talk about those tropes.
In the in-drama drama series, "Taste of Love," you got the typical rich chaebol (with a terrible mother and a bitchy fiancee) falling in love with a poor hardworking girl. And then Dramaworld starts to make fun of these setups -- like male characters always save the female character from falling, or the random hit-and-runs and drunken piggybacks, weirdly positioned product placement, kimchi slaps... Yes, they somehow worked a friggin' kimchi slap in there and it was pure comedic gold.

And then the cameos. I love the cameos. Just counting the famous ones I recognize, we already got Han Jimin ("Familiar Wife"/"Rooftop Prince"/"One Spring Night"), Choi Siwon ("She Was Pretty"/"Skip Beat"), Park Jinjoo ("Her Private Life"), Kim Byungchul (the bad guy in "Goblin")... They each popped up in a way that makes sense with the story and they were hilarious.

This is a drama that will keep you excited until the ending credits start rolling. Plus, a short drama means it's easy to fit into your busy schedule.
Also, Woo Do Hwan <3

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Score breakdown
Story - 10/10 because of above-mentioned
Acting/Cast - 9/10 goes to the glamorous casting. Some major characters are relatively new in acting but it's bearable (and if anything -- is just yet another nod to the mainstream kdrama culture where some of the acting in rom coms is really........
Music - 8/10 not much "OST" per se to go on, but music is used in very interesting ways in Dramaworld (as comedic relief at times, see for yourself
Rewatch value - 9.5/10 because all those cameos!!! and Woo Do Hwan!

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The story was a bit lacking, it was full of great ideas e.g. facilitators, but the story didn't really manage to pull everything off successfully and felt very rushed. For a first in its sort of genre, being a collaboration between viki and kdrama, it was better than I expected. It definitely is cheesy but had me laughing at all the tropes.

I do think the story could be redeemed by having a season 2, they definitely left room for the possibility. Then I believe their characters could be fleshed out a bit more and have more backstory. I felt you never really got to get close to the characters except for Claire.

This was definitely very funny to see the identifiable tropes in Kdrama and laugh at them, other than that it was a bit mediocre.

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I liked it

I actually so the FL in the Santa Clarita Diet and I liked her. Her acting is GOOD, like you don't expect it when you first see her, but it is. She seems relatable, has an average face like most of us, and her life crisis/daydreaming is also sth many (me esp) can vibe with. I know most would be offended since she's not Asian but that's the whole concept of the show and it was a nice collaboration tbh imo. For me, this served as a nice introduction to Asian dramas (I'm more of an anime person and once had a Disney only phase), I started watching so much more after this.
If you don't like opinionated FL and like those quality in male leads than this drama might not be for you. I, for one, do. And that's why I liked it. Hated the second FL (Bae Noori), felt like slapping her across the face everytime I saw her.
Overall, nice visual fx, nice story, good plot twist, and anticipating the second season. Hope you guys enjoy it too.

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I love it! I love it! I love it! I WAS PUMPING MY FISTS AT THE END I WAS SO HAPPY!

Oh drama, how I love you. Let me count the ways.

You were fun and engaging. Your characters were bang on fabulous. Your story went in so many unexpected directions.

I love everything about you. (I'm totally glossing over the wooden acting that other reviewers have brought up, because everything else about this little show was so much fun.)

I even don't mind how you made me intensely anxious half the time cause the female lead kept doing things that seemed to be totally screwing everything up, and all I wanted was for her to make better life choices. You made up for it all in the end.

Dramaworld, you are perfection. Will you marry me?

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This is basically Lost In Austen with kdramas. The premise is almost exactly the same, the difference is that, here, the person being inserted in the story does not belong to the same culture as the story itself, that is to say, she's a white girl in an idealized version of South Korean culture, solely marked by what kdramas depict of it and what tropes they use. Therefore, they call it "DramaWorld" as if a) kdramas were the only dramas out there and b) by solely referencing dramas, they think they're allowed to take it lightly with how idealized the representation of South Korean culture actually is.

For what it is, I guess it's entertaining, they make fun of tropes and say some things a lot of us are thinking when watching dramas in general (my favorite quote being the male lead admitting to being a jerk) and they do twist things up a bit, which is rather interesting to some extent. It's short and ends with cliffhangers so you could end up watching it all in one sitting and be fairly entertained. I don't think they're aiming for it to be realistically depicted, since it's all more or less in an ironic tone, exaggerated acting and weird choices aren't too much out of place. It's not the best performed drama out there, not at all, but it's not taking itself seriously either, so it doesn't really bother that much that it isn't. For the most part, because Justin Chon can be too much for me sometimes in everything I've seen him in.

My main issue with the drama is linked to something I've noticed in the last 7 to 10 years in the kpop world and not so much (or almost at all) in the jpop world. When kpop became more exportable to English-speaking cultures, especially in USA, people who came into the world of Asian music and dramas then started sort of expecting it to be catered to them rather than seeing it as something made for other audiences, a foreign product of which they were guests to, something I believe jpop fans were always used to. For example, I started seeing kpop Youtubers criticize kpop bands for not using English grammar correctly in their videos, or seeing kpop fans question why the bands they liked had to "bother to go to Japanese shows and sing in Japanese at all" and things like that. Instead of adapting to these products, the new crowds started expecting the products to be adapted to them and their western views, and I found it particularly curious how kpop, contrary to jpop, started attempting to cater back to them.

Taking that into account (especially when I compare this to Lost In Austen, which was my first thought upon seeing it) I feel that this drama is more the North American view of what kdramas are rather than a kdrama in itself. This is taking what an American white girl idealizes from kdramas, as in tropes, cliches and plot devices, and romanticizing that in a fictional world where culture isn't even mentioned. When cultural stuff appears, it's rather as a "drama genre" or a "trope" rather than an actual cultural representation, separating this "DramaWorld" from South Korea as a whole. This makes me uneasy, because it reduces things that are a product of South Korean society and culture as "just kdrama things" under the view of the American white people who were in charge of creating this and, by extension, of the protagonist, who rather than trying to subvert the cliches or question the narrative, idealizes what is problematic of kdramas and overlooks what is culturally specific.

I understand this drama isn't meant to be serious, that it's meant to be a parody, but to me it represents the western view of South Korean media, pushing aside what it really is trying to be. If this had been about this white girl learning things from this culture and also influencing the female protagonist of the drama with some of her western ideas, to create a change of perspective for both (I hate to say this, I really do, but kind of what Teen Beach 2 was about) or if it had been about a South Korean girl getting into the world of dramas and questioning what she considers her idealizations and aspirations of her own culture, then it would have been much more interesting to me. Even as a parody.

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I’m in this drama, and I don’t like it

Have you ever dreamed about being magically transported to your favourite drama? To meet the most interesting characters and have a great adventures with them? Have you ever wondered how would it be to be a part of a great romance, see all of this emotions and fun up close? Dream no more, and watch Dramaworld, because I swear, we’re all a Claire here.

Let’s start off with one thing, Dramaworld is not exactly a drama. It’s a not so subtle tip of the hat towards all the drama fans. And I regret one thing, that I’ve discovered it so late. But maybe it’s better, I could catch all those traps that writers prepared for drama veterans.

The story seems like a fan fiction of a thirteen year old, in a good sense of the phrase. Claire is a massive fan of Korean dramas. To the level that her family doesn’t really want to hear about another role of her favourite actors (seems familiar, huh?). Suddenly, thanks to a magic portal in her phone, Claire is transferred straight into the middle of the drama she’s currently watching. Soon, thanks to Seth, another person who comes from the normal world, Claire learns that she has a special mission to complete. She needs to take care that the drama will end as it should. With a kiss and a happy ending of main couple. Everything seems to be going incredibly wrong so far. And Claire soon messes up by trying to help too much to get main leads together and it’s so relatable because how many times while watching a drama we wanted to speed things up to see the main couple together already?!

But the plot isn’t really important. It’s simple, first, because there’s no really much time to follow it, Dramaworld consist of 10 episodes that takes up around 15 minutes each. Second, the plot is really just a secondary character here. The most interesting here is dissecting the drama tropes that attack us right and left. We have the ones that are openly talked about, like main character’s steamy hot shower or him always catching female lead when she falls. And then we have a second tier with fake sponsorships at the credit scenes or legendary kimchi slap. This drama is just tail made for drama fans and it’s so amazing.

I’ll finish it here, no sense of convincing anyone, this show should be watched by anyone who likes dramas, because it’s just a cheeky wink towards a whole k-drama fandom! It doesn’t need a long review, let’s make it as brief as the show itself, I could write about acting that's not so perfect, rather cheap production or naive plot, but why should I bother. For me this show is about having fun and it done a great job with it. That's why my score for it is very subjective, I wasn't expecting from it the same thing I'd expect from a normal drama, because why should I? It's not a drama, it's just a meta show to treat with a grain of salt.

Go watch it and have fun!

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This drama is basically a story about a girl who is addicted to Kdrama who randomly got transferred to the show she is watching. Now, her purpose in the ’Dramaworld’ is to help the two main be together and have a happy ending and of course, you can't have happy ending without any obstacles between. I decided to watch this drama since its a really short film and I’m her..since I'm an addict as well HAHAH. The drama was very comedic and somewhat romantic. I was shock about the people that appeared as a cameo and... DO HWAN BEING part of it. I’ve been into him this past weeks cuz of the drama I recently watch ’Tempted’ n ’The King: Eternal MONARCH’ hehe.
Anyways, this drama is not that bad. It's okay as a short film. The ending shook me out...i find some scenes really cringe n such but overall. If u want to watch something short that is less than 2hrs. I recommend this to give u a funny and cringe..lovely..vibe?
It’s Okay. But yeah. Ehhehe.
20;06pm
4/19/20

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This review is exactly what the titles says...If you are a fan of Kdramas and watch a lot of them...You will enjoy this drama. If you aren't or if this is your first one, I would advise you to not watch this one, go watch others and come back to it. You will find this drama much more entertaining after that.

STORY: This mini drama actually has a pretty unique story! I was quite surprised by that because it is pretty creative. This drama is basically a BIG OL' PARODY of kdramas...So it has every trope UNDER THE SUN in it...between drunk girl carry to catching the falling female lead to evil woman trying to steal the male lead and so on and so forth. Which is why, as a AVID drama lover, I found this drama (parody) to be hilarious!

ACTING: The acting could have been better (very wooden) but I think that was the point. Since this drama is a parody, the over top acting fit the parody perfectly! I thought the acting added to the charm of the drama.

MUSIC: It was a good OST! Very memorable...again surprised that I paid attention to the music with this drama since it was a parody and all.

REWATCH VALUE: I would watch this again. Since this drama is super short and just makes fun of kdramas, I would have fun watching this again.

OVERALL: Watch this drama only if you have seen other good kdramas before or are an avid kdrama watcher...you will find the drama a lot more charming and hilarious. You basically watch this drama for a laugh and creative story but thats about it...Doesn't mean that this drama is bad in anyway just comparatively, it is unique and sort of has its own category...AND THEY ANNONCED THAT THERE PROBABLY WILL BE A 2ND SEASON!! So that will be fun

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Fresh and interesting, although a bit nonsensical

This is a fresh take on the genre, going full meta on it. I might have enjoyed it more had I seen more kdramas (working on that)

The lead was... okay I thought, definitely lacking in some charisma. But the storyline was intriguing and engaging, even though it's short. I like how they explained why some people spoke English, others Korean, and it made sense. The premise is good too.

The villain mostly worked I should say, although his plan seems to contradict the rules they set up in Dramaworld.

Either way, recommended for those who want something different, and will check out season 2.

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