#i think this is the first drama to feature extraordinary cinematography skills

[szeminimalist]

It's the title that caught me in the net

I think wiki falls short when it came to writing sypnosis for this drama. I guess, it's not easy to write one for a deep story like this, let alone it didn't want to let out too many spoilers else it'll ruin the fun and adventure. But something about its title and the little story it revealed captivated me. And episode 1 really did bring colors to my eyes once again. I got bored writing about the other dramas.. but this one got me awakening again... haha and somewhat.. it was able to quench the thirst and alleviate my boredom and lacklusterness. I just hope i don't get bored over time.

Indeed, i love gruesome tales that bring forth legends and mysteries. And this one does not fail. It tells of a story of a cursed man who was born out of a hanging dead mother. (But after finishing episode 1, we know we can call it a man. "It" was born into a man, a probable reincarnation of an immortal monster closely related to the original Bulgasal.)

Super gross but yea, that was the baby that fell out from the mother and did not die from the drop lol. And it's super hard to capture a shot of the drop lol.

Somehow, I don't know how the mother knew what she was carrying was not human but it might seem her act of committing suicide to prevent his birth was meaningless as it did not stop him from popping out alive anyway.. but in the end, to me, it did look like her death was necessary as he had a curse to bear after all- that mark in his hand was a cut given by her.

And, again, in the end, she gave him another bigger cut..

And it probably backfired on her as he took her powers and life instead... (I'm guessing from the change in his eyes color as I havent watched episode 2 and it sounds like she would die from this encounter anyway).

The cinematography here is amazing... I don't think I get to see this often in a kdrama so it's rather spectacular.

Well, all the people around him died -- it's a short life but they have many better future cycles of life ahead, that is without him.

Save his dead wife.. I think she would appear again in the future.. but i may be wrong

Sad :(

[prettymysticfalls]

SKAM: When Ordinary Becomes Extraordinary

SKAM, the hit Norwegian web TV series, didn’t only become a massive success in Norway, but it also became insanely popular worldwide. How did I discover the show though? Well, almost half of my dashboard was filled with SKAM gifs. At first, I didn’t feel like checking it out because I thought, it was being overrated. “Why would I, a young adult in mid 20s, bother with a teen drama?”, I said to myself. A few days/weeks later, almost my entire dasboard was filled with SKAM gifs. However, the more I saw it on my dash, the more I felt intrigued. Seeings gifs of wide variety of characters [interacting with and getting along all together] such as feminist, Muslim and LGBT characters made me rethink of my decision and made me feel myself drawn to the show. I couldn’t help my curiosity any longer. Hence, I ended up giving it a shot. I watched the first episode and then the second episode. I wasn’t able to help myself but keep watching the show ‘till late in night. Although the series’ language is Norwegian, I still enjoyed watching the series with English subtitles. The characters speaking Norwegian sounded cute and appealing to me, -since I’m someone who is interested in languages, especially Germanic languages, such as English, German, Dutch and I’m also curious about Swedish, Norwegian and Danish because they sound similar to those Germanic languages-. [Do I have to mention that I started learning Norwegian after Skam? Meanwhile, I’m also learning Swedish and Danish besides Norwegian after realizing how easily Scandinavian people could understand the show’s language. I also found out Skam means shame in all those 3 languages. Anyway, let’s go back to the topic.] Somehow, the show managed to get me hooked. As a result, I binge-watched it. What was it that got me addicted to the show? It was how real the characters felt. The characters are like someone from daily life. They are like us. Their stories aren’t so different from ours. They are real people. 

The thing, I love about Skam, is how ordinary the characters are and how compelling they are even though they are not extraordinary. The show also feels relatable because it’s like anything from daily life. I mean, the characters use social media just like us, they dress up and go to school and parties like us without being oversexualized. For instance, the actors don’t wear tons of make-up. They don’t bother covering zits on the actors’ face. Their foundations don’t look cakey. Their make-up doesn’t look professional. Their pores and pimples are visible. They don’t try to perfect their imperfections which makes them look perfect because they are real human beings. They wear the same clothes over and over. They combine their clothes with the ones they have. They don’t go to high school wearing high heels. Their hair isn’t styled all the time. They are like one of us. They do look natural. They do look normal. The real life topics are also mentioned and explained well such as first time, birth control, sexual orientation, sexual harrasment, mental disorders, feminism, religion, refugee, etc. They don’t actually fantasize subjects, they just play them out. I think, that’s really important and that does bring awareness. It’s good that there’s finally a show that is not a cliché, doesn’t doll up females glamorously, doesn’t make females and males look perfect or look like a covergirl or a coverboy featured in magazines, and doesn’t sexualize females and males by focusing on making body parts looking uber attractive. The characters use social media like do we. They imessage each other. They befriend each other on Facebook. They communicate with the ones whom they don’t have mobile numbers of through Facebook messenger. They check out Instagram, post pics there and like their friends’ pictures. They deal with real life struggles. They have their insecurities about the way they look, the way they fit in, etc. They make mistakes and they learn from their mistakes. They don’t judge each other. They defend and support each other. They help each other improve themselves. They make sure to bring out the best in each other. They bring down the barriers regarding Islamophobia and homophobia. They wipe away mental health stigma and discrimination.

The way the teenagers live on their own and take care of themselves might be the only thing which can feel sort of unrealistic. However, it’s not something very uncommon in Norway. As far as I know, parents travel a lot because of their work and some students live away from their parents to be closer to school and to get a better education. So, the teenagers learn to be independent at early age. Also, the writers of Skam mainly wanted to focus on the teenage characters, they didn’t consider including their parents in each episode.   

The cinematography and the lightning are actually amazing, even though the low budget of Skam. The slow motion is also so soft. The length of a certain scene doesn’t bore you, even though they make it too long because it feels like it’s one of moments that you’re living. They also have an excellent taste in music. The songs featured are like a key to a specific scene. They carry hidden meanings about storyline.

I really love how they wrote, portrayed and shot ‘love’, ‘make-out’ & ‘sex’ scenes on SKAM. Those scenes look so real and natural. It doesn’t look forced and fake at all. It doesn’t look like characters were only driven by lust and desire. It looks like characters were actually driven by love, romance and passion. The way characters interact with each other in those scenes also look so beautiful. The characters don’t only kiss and have sex, but they also stroke each other’s cheeks and hair gently, give each other an eskimo kiss, stare at each other so nicely and smile with their eyes. It all looks so pure, so soft and so genuine. 

The actors & actresses are actually young. They are at their 15s-20s. Their real ages match so well with their characters’ ages which makes the show credible. So, the casting is well done. You don’t get surprised by actors’ real age and you don’t get confused and distracted with the question “how a 30-year-old can play a 15-year-old?”. 

The cast isn’t experienced but they all act so successfully. Their acting skills are actually mindblowing. They really live the moment. They experience all those emotions. They are all so talented. There’s not a single character that makes you think “this one can not act”. The cast didn’t do anything to publicize the show. Most of them weren’t even popular or well known before the show aired. Some of them have day jobs such as telemarketer and barista, besides acting. So, their recognition couldn’t have been used for promoting the show. The crew also didn’t jump in marketing. They stayed away from advertisement. They kind of kept the show and the actors private from the press and media. They only used social media. They didn’t even consider airing the show with English subtitles because they had no idea how big the show was going to be. They thought it would only be watched in Norway and in Scandinavian countries such as Sweden and Denmark. After the show became popular all over the world, they still couldn’t air the show with english subtitles because of copyright issues with music. So this is where Skam fans united together and helped each other watch the show by translating and uploading it. Skam fandom is so nice and helpful and continue to grow more and more each day.

To cut a long story short, SKAM is a honest show with raw and pure characters dealing with personal and social problems living in a real world. It ain’t like any high school series that aired or you watched before. It focuses on the characters’ struggles, attractions, interactions and friendships. It is quite relatable. No wonder, it’s what made the show so compelling and so promising.