Photo by shiranai

“O be careful little eyes what you see, for the Father up above is looking down in love, so be careful little eyes what you see.”

As a child, Grandma reminded me of my parents when I lamented how she instead let me watch endless amounts of Saturday morning television.

My parents (both were educators) taught us the value to know when is too much. After 2-3 shows, the longing to play the piano with Grandma or to be outside with siblings/cousins called us away. The above quote reminds me of the eyes of God in I Chronicles 16:9, that “watch to strengthen those committed to Him.”

For the first two months in this pandemic, I fought to manage the stress of anticipating Zoom times and sharing my office life in the complexity of the comforts of home. I used to look forward to walking around Disney parks with my annual pass, but no more. Then my fitness club closed, leaving me with no option for recreation but to walk or jog in the neighborhood.

The invitation to comfort seemed a safe question — how to power down to regain sanity? Two months later, I am confessing that the subtle draw of streaming platforms opened a new distraction. It began with binge-ing historical dramas I missed liked Downton Abbey and The Crown. But once finished, and still sheltered, what next? That same friend offered to join in her love for Korean dramas, aka Kdramas. Since May was Asian American history month, could it hurt to watch one? Quickly I learned it is not just one show, but at minimum 16 episodes that each averaged 70 minutes. I had yielded to the power of media, but why?

There are many reasons. As a leader, I provide resources as proof of my study at the end of this blog to validate time away from hubby and helped me have enough info to persuade him to join me. Biola professor Nancy Wang Yuen and her colleagues in their 2017 study found American TV left Asian American Pacific Islanders (AAPI) viewers unsatisfied. Their statistics note 70% of American TV actors that are white, while 4% are AAPI. Moreover, in 68% of the shows with a regular AAPI actor, that actor is the token one. The best American TV offered with AAPI actors for six seasons was 116 episodes of Fresh Off the Boat, recently canceled, and the ten season 2010 reboot of Hawaii 5-0 complete with its AAPI actors transitioned from starring roles to bit parts. Kdramas provided a way to view Asian faces, while exploring the reclaiming of emotion, balancing the tension of tradition and modernity, even embracing and representing a sense of religion and devotion to family. Candace Bacon highlights these reasons and more for Kdramas. See https://reelrundown.com/movies/Korean-Wave-Why-Are-Korean-Dramas-Popular

Keeping in mind the warnings of the power of media, I began my Kdrama journey with the highly recommended Crash Landing on You drama about a wealthy modern woman CEO of a clothing and cosmetics company and heiress to the Queen company. While sensing change ahead, she accidentally is transported to North Korea. She is then found by a high-ranking military captain who agreed to help return her safely to life in Seoul, amidst twists and turns of coincidental meetings, thwarted attempts by others to detain her return for gain for her half-brothers, and family troubles of death delaying an arranged marriage. The highlight is contrasting values of rural simplicity to the complexity of wealth in families most reflected in community life and devoted work as well as traditional social decorum balanced with the challenges of modern life interspersed with power struggles in relationships. Spoiler alert. There is an unexpected happy ending, just different than the traditional American dramas.

Though not wanting to be sucked into the power of a good rom-com alone, I found this particular Kdrama provided insights for powerful spiritual conversations with my women friends, for example:

• What does it look like to be separated from and the willingness to wait for love
• How prayer vigils and bible study are places to garner support but warnings against gossip or personal gain
• Talking to plants to encourage growth can be an analogy of discipleship and enjoyment of nature
• Seeing love as a gift given unexpectedly from the heart, taking time to learn how to provide refuge to a stranger, cook a meal, or make pour-over coffee.
• Being an orphan and the importance of having love demonstrated by having someone remember them when they die
• The role of music in life as comfort, expression of giftedness and freedom

Considering the power of media, the danger of its influences can draw us further away from what God intended. Be warned Kdramas also have subtle vices of smoking, alcoholism, marginalizing the poor, violence, all presented at minimum to meet an American audience G-rating, at most PG. Watch too many and you might lose the ability to discern that these are highly paid actors portraying ordinary people. What cured me was I chose to watch only the highly-rated Kdramas, so after exhausting the referral list, my ability to stop might have only been by grace from the Spirit.

My prayer is to empower heart checks. Reflecting on the prayer of Apostle Paul for the Ephesians Church brings reminders that God gives us the power of thanks and prayers, as well as a spirit of wisdom and revelation when we meet God. Paul notes enlightened hearts can be hopeful. God’s power frees us instead of us being overpowered by distractions to embrace the abundant greatness of his power for Jesus to stay connected to Him.

I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. (Ephesians 1:16-21 NIV)

Rev. Melanie Mar Chow serves God through Asian American Christian Fellowship, the campus ministry division of the Japanese Evangelical Missionary Society (JEMS). She has been an ordained American Baptist minister since 2004. A Pacific Northwest native, she currently lives with her husband and daughter in Southern California.

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Resources for this article:

2017 study on American TV

https://www.aapisontv.com/uploads/3/8/1/3/38136681/aapisontv.2017.pdf

Power of Kdramas

https://ymi.today/2020/03/confessions-of-a-first-time-k-drama-male-viewer-i-was-hooked-on-cloy/

https://reelrundown.com/movies/Korean-Wave-Why-Are-Korean-Dramas-Popular

https://www.crossway.org/articles/christian-what-are-you-watching/

https://ransomfellowship.org/article/korean-dramas-as-spiritual-soul-therapy/