Ye Olde Chosun (Korean) reports that Korean netizens are bewildered about the rather poor representation of the Hangang Bridge in episode 18 of season 3 of the ABC series “Lost.”
Hey, at least they spelt it right.
Nobody’s sure where the scene was shot, but netizens say it looks too much like Southeast Asia.
Netizens who saw the episode complained that the show producers obviously don’t know much about Korea. Some even though the show was disparaging Korea. Others, meanwhile, thought it wasn’t such a big deal.
In case you don’t know what the Hangang Bridge really looks like, see below:
Kim Yun-jin must have been found it quite amusing.
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Hahahaha that is funny, though. The Han is pretty impressive- no matter how much ink I spill in it, I can never manage to dilute it. I find it bizarre that they’d go to the trouble of making a lil’ sign for it, but they won’t even, say, confirm that it’s a hulking behemoth of a river and not an irrigation ditch.
Ignorance lolol. It would’ve been at least slightly less ‘embarrassing’ for Koreans if it had been filmed at the Cheonggyecheon.
I actually like the bridge in the show, rather then the real one. It has architectural form that’s lacking in the real bridge. That scene was shot in Hawaii, I think.
Isawthatwhenitwasfirstbroadcastaweekago.Ididadoubletake.Theweirdthingis,someonewenttothetroubleofdesigningandmakingthisrathernicelycrafted(forasetdecoration)signwiththenameofthegranddaddyofalltheHanRiverbridges,butbecauseit’sinHan’gŭl,theonlypeoplewhocanreaditarethoseKoreansandnon-Koreanswhowouldknowonfirstglancethatit’sacrock!
looks like that scene was shot at nuuanu stream in chinatown, honolulu, hawaii. i should know, that’s just a block away from where i am.
D’oh! Sorry, half the keys on our notebook computer don’t work right now, so I have to copy and paste some characters, including the space character. I forgot to insert the spaces before posting! Please feel free to delete my last comment. What I meant to write:
I saw that when it was first broadcast a week ago. I did a double take. The weird thing is, someone went to the trouble of designing and making this rather nicely crafted (for a set decoration) sign with the name of the granddaddy of all the Han River bridges, but because it’s in Han’gŭl, the only people who can read it are those Koreans and non-Koreans who would know on first glance that it’s a crock!
Disparaging Korea? I would want an explanation for that one. I hope it’s not an expression of their bigotry because the scene was shot in Hong Kong (or so I heard). Besides, anyone who has lived in the provinces will tell you that Seoul is not accurately representative of Korea. You can see far shabbier bridges than the one in the TV show down in the provinces.
It’s just like when the nutizens got upset over the farmer in that James Bond movie, said it made Korea look backwards (if you follow closely, you’ll see that the farmer is actually north of the DMZ, but that’s besides the point). Obviously, those Seoul-raised kids (and you know that’s what they were) don’t visit their grandparent’s villages very often. Some farmers still use cows to plow their fields, probably because they like it better that way (and tractors don’t give you fresh milk for your coffee in the morning). What Korean tractors lack in size they make it up in noisiness, so I can totally understand the few who prefer to use cows in the fields.
This just in…those pointy ears that Leonard Nimoy had to wear were a lot bigger than his real ears.
What next? Complaints that the cast of Lost aren’t really lost?
there are inaccuracies like this in pretty much all series / movies, and it’s not very important, excepted if the director is insisting on the rightness of his rendition of a place. in the end, nobody really cares about the bridge, but people care about the fact that the scene is supposed to be in korea. don’t forget, to western eyes, all east asians are chinese (and to asian eyes, all whities are americans).
I think I recall seeing typical kyoto geishas wandering in 19th century yokohama harbor in “the last samurai”… quite sure that’s complete historical bullshit, but it definitely must have helped set the atmosphere right for a lot of people in the world (and japanese were too busy discussing wether or not it was a good idea to have a chinese lady in the leading role)
I’m with Megook on this one- I went by that bridge this morning. It is right here in Honolulu. How dare they disparage Korea by setting that scene in America. The show used to be believable, but I just don’t think I can watch it if they continue to take liberties such as this…
Robert said:
“Others, meanwhile, thought it wasn’t such a big deal.”
As in… “THE” Others? Of COURSE they didn’t think it was a big deal! They’re too busy planning their raid on the beach!
(Sorry for the spoiler! ep. 319 kicked ass!)
“…netizens say it looks too much like Southeast Asia.”
The bridge in the show isn’t very ‘Sparkling’! Dammit!
“ep. 319 kicked ass!” — I’ll f**king say!
“there are inaccuracies like this in pretty much all series / movies, and it’s not very important, excepted if the director is insisting on the rightness of his rendition of a place.”
Yes, just like in Korean movies where all the USFK soldiers are white. And, apparently, yellow colored linoleum was invented in Korea during the Choson dynasty.
Considering that most Korean TV dramas are made on the cheap, you’d think that Korean netizens would understand that accuracy isn’t a priority when you’re on a budget.
“Hey, at least they spelt it right.”
I thought you were a United Statesian.
‘where all the USFK soldiers are white.’ someguyinkorea in reference to korean movies
the lead american soldier in ‘r-point’ was black. he’s the only one of the group who actually speaks. obviously, you allowed your stereotypes to get the best of you. have a good day.
As an in-joke with the audience who gets the Korean, they should have made the sign read, 한강소교. That would have been cute.
I didn’t see it as an insult, but it was just really inauthentic. Then again, every time I see some flashy computer program on CSI, I just know it’s mocked-up BS.
Seth Gecko (11): The bigger spoiler would be trying to answer vonjackass’s question in #8. It’s just begging to be answered and I’m doing everything I can to not answer…especially since the writers are probably having one on on us anyhow, and the truth will end up not being like it’s beginning to look like. Man, oh man!
“Yes, just like in Korean movies where all the USFK soldiers are white. ”
Oh don’t worry.
I’m sure there’d be, as the marmot would say, a melanin-challenged USFK soldier in an upcoming Korean movie. Mostly likely in some scene involving a taxi cab driver.
Someguy (13): Yes, the floor coverings in those historical dramas look suspiciously like just plain-old modern yellow linoleum, but traditionally, ondol floors were covered with oil paper, which could have had a yellowish hue (though maybe or maybe not so yellow as linoleum). (Check out this article on the reconstructed Korean house that’s been touring US museums; search for “oil paper” (without the qoutes, natch).)
megook and Firstout appear to have it right. Here’s a photo of the bridge, right here.
Gave up on the show in season 2. Does this Hangang Bridge figure prominently? Over wowed foreigners ooohing and aaahing? Is one of the buildings in the background the 63 Building? And the rickshaws? Where are the rickshaws?
Is it disparaging in the same way the Statute of Liberty morphs into Admiral Yi Sun Shin so that he lords over Manhattan? Or is it ridiculous like the taeguki-lovin’ overseas people rushing into the streets to Be the Reds?
WGAF
More overreaction by overzealous nationalistic Korean netizens.
If those netizens have done their homework before firing off their tirades, they would have found out that not all TV show producers have the lavish budgets to go overseas and shoot a few scenes that may or may not be important to the overall plot, and thus are forced to find locales, that are within the budget,to stand in for those supposed locations.
Case in point, during the late 80s, the Mission Impossible TV series producers used Melbourne(or was it Brisbane?) to portray East Europeans cities, such as Prague, because of the European architecture there. It was during the Cold War and I doubt that many Czechs has seen the above series, but still I don’t see any Czechs complaining about the inaccuracies involved.
Another point, Korean TV producers at most times use Russians to stand in for American or British characters in TV dramas.
A typical scene, will involve the Korean character introduces a certain businessman from New York and when the guy opens his mouth, the Engilsh is broken and has a very heavy Russian accent. And my wife usually comments “That person doesn’t sound American”
With this in mind, I don’t think Korean netizens should be demanding better treatment from American TV producers.
Some of these Russians working on Korean TV are really very good with English. There’s one guy on some ghost-stories show (sorry, can’t get his name because I can’t stand to see more than a few minutes of the program), on EBS, I think, whose English is really quite amazing. Nearly a perfect North American accent — I had to strain to figure out that he was a non-native speaker.
If that level of talent is available, why not?
So does this mean that we Americans can start a netizen-nutizen war because the Korean drama “Love Story of Harvard” was actually filmed at USC(southern California)?
Wow! Koreans getting miffed over innacuracies and a little budget cutting in TV shows:
Hello pot, this is kettle. You’re black!
I just don’t get why they bothered to put up a sign in Han’gŭl giving the name of the bridge, when anyone who could read it would know that that ain’t the Hangang Daegyo. They should have just not put up a sign at all, or gone with something fictitious, or gone with an inside joke (my favourite option), like Hangang Sogyo.
But without a doubt, Lost has done more for giving decent, sympathetic, non-stereotypical exposure and serious storylines to Korean characters on American TV than Margaret Cho or—heaven forbid—M*A*S*H (and don’t get me started on Grey’s Anatomy, which is just a stupid show). So to say that the writers were disparaging Korea is pretty silly.
Correction: I don’t even know if Sandra Oh’s character is supposed to be Korean…that show just makes medical interns in general look bad, not any one ethnic group.
“the lead american soldier in ‘r-point’ was black. he’s the only one of the group who actually speaks. obviously, you allowed your stereotypes to get the best of you. have a good day.”
One movie…What about the countless other movies where the soldiers were white only? (The Host, Welcome to Dongmakgol, and many more whose title escape me). Obviously, Koreans associate white skin with being American. I guess I must have imagined that the majority of Koreans think that every white guy they see is American.
“ondol floors were covered with oil paper, which could have had a yellowish hue (though maybe or maybe not so yellow as linoleum)”
Yes, I know. It looks nothing like vinyl flooring.
It’s not that only white U.S. soldiers are depicted. It’s just funny that the black U.S. soldiers speak with heavy West African accents and the white soldiers all sound like Boris Badenov.
What, is this a newsflash? Hollywood is now inaccurate all of a sudden to spite Korea? Hollywood has been inaccurate since the day it started existence. Complaining about this says a lot about the complainers, but nothing about Hollywood.
I recently saw an American friend of mine portraying a Russian soldier on Sunday Surprise.
yeah, someguyinkorea, many americans assume an asian face means chinese or japanese. what’s the difference between that and koreans assumming a white face means american?
koreans know white folk by way of states. that’s why their first assumption of a white person is that s/he is an american.
and that’s probably why americans assume an asian face means chinese or japanese. americans know asia through china and japan. these kinds of things got nothing to do with racism, someguy.
I agree with pawikirogi.
Yeah, Pawi gets it right this time. This is definitely not a case of racism…
“yeah, someguyinkorea, many americans assume an asian face means chinese or japanese. what’s the difference between that and koreans assumming a white face means american?”
The difference? The topic of discussion. This is about the TV show Lost and how some people are complaining about the bridge…that is until you tried to turn this into something else.
I was referring to the fact that Korean netizens should recognize that inaccuracies will exist in American TV shows and movies by pointing out some pretty obvious inaccuracies that exist in their own.
“Yeah, Pawi gets it right this time. This is definitely not a case of racism…”
Acutally, this is the case of Pawi crying wolf once again.
I hate to say it, and I’m tired of thinking it, but it does seem that Korean’s are only comfortable in the ‘victim’ role. Korea is made to look bad, Korea is not represented properly, Koreans are shamed, Koreans are ….
Enough already.
Yes!
As someone stated on their blog:
“Koreans love to play the victim like a fat kid loves cake!”
‘The difference? The topic of discussion. This is about the TV show Lost…’ someguyinkorea post #36
‘Koreans associate white skin with being American. I guess I must have imagined that the majority of Koreans think that every white guy they see is American.’ someguyinkorea post #28
my post addressed your statement in post #28.
‘Acutally, this is the case of Pawi crying wolf once again…’someguyinkorea
or maybe this is a case of you not knowing what you actually write.
And mine addressed yours. Face it, you’re the little boy who cried wolf.
“I just don’t get why they bothered to put up a sign in Han’gŭl giving the name of the bridge, when anyone who could read it would know that that ain’t the Hangang Daegyo.”
They made a mistake.
Well, okay, that’s probably the truth, but I was hoping for a more interesting answer
For “Lost” fans, megook is correct. The bridge is called the Kila Kalikimaka bridge that spans Nu`uanu River near the Chinese Cultural Plaza (shown in the background), just west of River Street.
Which of the four bridges in the photo is the Hangang Bridge?
Pyotr: The second one from the front. The view is looking east towards Gangnam (which is on the right); Yongsan is on the left. The bridge (actually, set of four bridges) in the foreground is the Hangang Cheolgyo, the main railway bridge across the river.
Thanks
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