Coming Soon . . . Walt Korisney: The Muse of All Drama in Korea

Haven't had much time, energy, or inclination to blog over the last six days or so . . .

But tonight I had to go and adjudicate an "English Contest" at my university . . .

I watched four storytellers/students perform their pieces, and then also watched two different mini-plays/musicals. One was based on "Momma Mia" (yes, apparently we've all been spelling it wrong, sigh) where I got to see Disney's "Lady and the Tramp" appropriated . . .

. . . Korea style for the flashback when Donna and Sam got romantic: the two lovers share a 'fish' and begin eating it from either end towards each other and just as they're about to kiss the umbrella they are holding falls down to block the 'moment' . . .

Whoa . . . I need to backtrack a bit and explain it more . . .

In one scene that re-enacts Sam and Donna falling in love Sam walks up to Donna in the rain with an umbrella. He joins her under the umbrella and then pulls out a large yellow fish. The following lines . . . wait a second Jason--did you say "A LARGE YELLOW FISH"? Why yes I did indeed. Sam reaches behind himself and pulls a large yellow fish out of the back of his pants and presents it like a rose to Donna. He then says . . .

Sam: "This is my part (or did he say "heart"? Sam's English pronunciation had some 'issues.'). What part do you like?"

Donna: "Tail . . . I love it!" (She did say this . . . lol)

Sam: "Whoa--let's eat!"

And then later the second performance was of "Romeo and Juliette" (I never knew that Juliette killed Romeo for his insurance policy) . . .. . . at this point my blogging urge began to manifest itself . . . I won't be the first to blog about Disney in Korean drama performances at public schools in Korea . . . but I don't think I've seen anyone write about it at the university level . . . let alone describe how Aladdin, Little Mermaid, Lady and The Tramp, etc, are integrated into other narratives and/or replace in large part the story many of us are familiar with. For example, Cinderella's wicked stepmother gets worked into Romeo and Juliette . . . yeah . . .

So . . .

Coming Soon,

Walt Korisney: The Muse of All Drama in Korea

J