Well if the Marmot sounds anything like Truman Capote then that just totally fucks with my impression of the Marmot.

I heartily disagree.

I believe Shelton MUST be played by Jeremy Davies, the actor who plays the role of the desk corporal translator who wets his pants holding a shitload of ammo while his buddies are being murdered by Wehrmacht soldiers in Saving Private Ryan

Now, having lived in Korea long enough — and given how I’m sure the low American dollar has caused more interested in teaching here — I feel there is a great opportunity for either a series of books or movies on the following subject. I think I’ve seen something kinda like this on Korean TV using kyopo (Dennis O, maybe?), but this would address the issue directly.

Saving Face This would open with a younger guy in the States or Canada. He’s in his mid 20s, a college graduate but his life seems to be going no where. He would be played by either Zach Braff or Topher Grace. Somehow, he ends up in Korea teaching English. Now, I think this movie needs to be co-produced by Koreans and an indy group somewhere in North America. The reason — this movie would be really popular in both Korea and the West if it were done right. The first act of this movie would be a lot — a lot — of gags about our protagonist having no clue what was going on around him. Everything would be in Korean except what he was saying, which would have subtitles. Korean audience would bust a gut laughing at the poor shlub walking around in confusion. At some point in the movie, he has his first Korean girlfriend and she’s very very traditional and sweet and drives our poor protagonist crazy because of all the cultural miscues and confusion. In fact her actual screen time may be only a few minutes. But whatever would happen would be really funny and memorable. On a par with Woody Allen sneezing into the cocaine in Annie Hall. Anyway, he finally has a stable relationship with a Korean girl. Very boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl kind of thing. Lots of running and professions of love. At the very end of the first movie (or book) they get married.

Saving Face II Face Value

The second movie would be about the actual marriage and having kids. It would still be light in tone and fun. It would be about our poor protagonist finding himself becoming more and more Korean. Eventually, however, he gets a divorce and finds himself wanting to return home.

Saving Face III About Face

In this last movie, our protagonist returns home. In this installment, our lead character has totally “gone native” — and this could be played up for comic effect. He wears a hanbuk all the time. Something happens, however, and he has to return home. So he heads back home and the first shot is of him in the middle of Times Square wearing a hanbuk. He is walking the streets of America in awe of the diversity and who sshould he stumble across but his sweet first Korean girlfriend — who looks totally nuts. She’s totally Americanized now and so he doesn’t know how to deal with her. Her English is flawless and she is wearing a short miniskirt. Her hair is a weird color. The movie’s plot would be about the reversed culture clash the two would have to encounter while falling in love. Awww, ain’t that sweet?

I feel like I’ve heard various aspects of that conversation 10 times already. good summary