Coffee Prince 1 &2

I guess I should state that Coffee Prince is my first Korean TV novela and I thoroughly enjoyed the first two episodes. At first, I was a bit skeptical, but by mid-way of the first episode I began to see that it was becoming a complex TV show with issues that touched on gender-roles, family relationships, power structures, love interests, and class. The two main characters, Eun Chan and Han Kyul are both modeled after what I would consider polarized stereotypes, with Eun Chan playing the working-class-rough-around-the-edges naive female juxtaposed to Han Kyul's character is is the typical playboy with no responsibilities who comes from a wealthy background.

As these two contrasting characters develop, we as an audience begin to see that Eun Chan is the pillar holding her single-parent family together by working a string of part-time jobs and therefore makes the situation of her willing to do anything that would help her pay her family's bills- even pose as a gay lover to a rich man like Han Kyul. In comparison we have Han Kyul who is enjoying his family's money by playing the role of the ruthless womanizer who does not want to settle down and get married as his family all wishes he would. However, we do begin to see Han Kyul lower his pretentious persona when he begins to observe Eun Chan's responsibilities and all that he (she) does for her family. Also, we begin to see Eun Chan's free-spirit breakdown Kyul's walls which allow him to laugh and this is the beginning of Kyul questioning his sexuality.

Another detail that I was not expecting was the sensual side of the novela. I guess after reading the article, "Love of Korean Soaps Spreads in the U.S." when Song mentioned that one of the reasons why Korean soaps where catching popularity was due to the more conservative angel they took on sexuality. Yet, there were a number of close ups and heated moments where characters were clearly expressing some sort of sexual desire. Personally, I think it made the show a bit more modern and that might help get the younger generations attention as sexuality is being acknowledged rather than ignored or stifled.

Lastly, I could not help in which the women were being portrayed in these two episodes. For me, many times the female characters were being depicted as annoying, loud, dependent, naive or too assertive, and nagging. This is problematic because instead of depicting women in numerous personalities we have the usual stereotype of women playing out the humorous role through her nagging or clinging role. This is a challenge I find TV shows and media face as they often rely on simple roles for women that either play the victim or predator.

Overall, I am looking forward to the rest of the season as the plot continues to thicken and I want to see what happens with the role of Choi Han as he to me is the character I am most drawn to with his Hamlet like sensitivity towards his ex-girlfriend. Oh and I guess the scene that touched me the most was when Eun Chan was on the city bus and she was looking at her book worrying how much money she had in the bank and what she had to pay off, for me this tugged at my heart as Eun Chan takes on the financial burden of supporting her family. It was a scene that was easily believable as I can relate to Eun Chan's frustration and anxieties concerning money. Finally, I thought this series would remind me of the movie, Yentl but its more along the lines of Pretty Women with Eun Chan being Julia Roberts role . Very interesting tv show and I can't wait to the next episode.