Hey there, wonderers,
It’s been an intense night as I’ve finished binging Her private life, and woke up with this subject in my head.
But first, an intermission:
My loved ones know that I love “love”. All puns intended. My bio might say I’m a Japanese popular culture researcher and hold a PhD in the realm of anime & manga studies. Yet, if we’re to be technical, my master thesis was on the question of romance and myth in anime, and my doctoral thesis analysed fan identity in relation to a specific genre, shoujo (girls’ stories & romcoms).
I grew up reading Harlequins along with the classics. I did a whole study in high school on Jose Ortega y Gasset and the inception of romantic love — courtly love, troubadours and Cathars.
I’m fully committed to my guilty pleasure as much as I try to understand the “mechanics” of formulaic romance. From its literary and religious beginnings all through its fanaticism and unrealism:
That’s how I first observed the obsession with matching outfits and colour design in K-dramas.
The colours of romantic love
Just like many other anime fans, it was only a “small” step until becoming invested in the Korean pop culture’s new wave: K-pop & K-drama galore. (About the Asian pop new waves battle some other time.)
So, as I’ve watched a significant number of Korean romantic series on Netflix (a prolific producer, ofc), I started questioning their use of costume design, set design, and the symbolism behind it for both plot and character relationships.
A first Google search turned up this piece of news: In South Korea, couples wear matching outfits to show the world that they’re in love. It made so much sense!
Now, apart from what I could see with my own eyes - as the love story progresses, the protagonists become more in tune with their outfits - there’s also the subtle communication that happens in high-context cultures with gestures, prolonged silences, eye movement and all that.
TL:DR in Asian cultures, traditionally, romantic love and passion are suggested through flower imagery, hand gestures, scenery. As the style of communication is never direct, so is its visual counterpart. The social rule is that you never express what you mean through direct language, but you use contextual cues to show your emotions:
Going back to where it all started, Her private life, it’s the use of pink and blue hues to suggest the two lovers complementing each other throughout the narrative.
Apparently, there’s a whole thing with analysing and recreating such looks. I found what I was looking for on Yesstyle.com:
I would love to deconstruct a series with this lens in mind, but for now, I’m happy to confirm that my empirical findings were accurate.
BONUS: if you reached the end, here’s an analysis of eye-candy cinematography in another K-drama Netflix original — Vincenzo (yep, seen this one as well):
Ah, I just love your personal notes, insights and perpetual wonder - especially when it comes to these topics <3 (I am also a sucker for the concepts of love, romance, connection and their manifestations ESPECIALLY in Japanese & Korean culture - and probably other Asian cultures haha). So thank you for sharing your experiences - will use them as recommendations as well :))
I actually tried to watch Vincenzo, but it didn't work for me. Oh well.