Korean Job Discussion Forums

[PeterDragon]

So my middle school is putting out their quarterly school paper, and I've been pressed into service as the staff cartoonist. I have to come up with four strips relatively quickly. What do Koreans find funny? Will my usual humor here--- http://www.drunkduck.com/Murky_Waters --- work, or should I give them something entirely new? My main specialties are sarcasm and gallows humor. If that doesn't fly here, what would be better?

[Ilsanman]

That's all that flies here. Just show a guy sititng on a thumbtack or some other stupid slapstick crap. And be sure to praise some fallen Korean hero.

[minorthreat]

There are quite a few Western humor styles that don't really work in Korea, although I'm not sure if it's a cultural thing or simply due to the language barrier. Sarcasm, irony, and deadpan humor usually fail miserably.

[Sincinnatislink]

Do not get near sarcasm. Ever.

[Milwaukiedave]

It seems like Western humor isn't really understood by Koreans. Then again, if you really wanted to suck up, draw a cartoon with Koreans kicking Japanese off of Dokdo or something like that. At least it will appeal to their nationalist tendencies.

[Qinella]

[doggyji]

Davism, Davism. This is where you can comment with any degree of assertion only if you are mithridates-fluent in Korean. For a good example of popular Korean humorous cartoons, I suggest you to check out 츄리닝. I brought that up many times already. It was very big in the Korean internet a while ago. Those who have been singing "Koreans only get slapstick blah" for 50 years.. go to the corner, kneel down and keep your hands up for two hours! You see as much as you know. If you watch Gag Concert for example, how much do you understand? Do you get all that word play? If not, you might as well just burrow.

[PeterDragon]

Just edited the hyperlink in the first post, although my comic's in my signature too. I'm not surprised that the type of humor I generally use in my strips flops in Korea. One of my co-workers visited my webcomic and printed out several of them. She brought them to me very confused: "Artwork is nice, like animation, but what does it mean?" She's fluent in English, lived in Canada for 5 years, but there was something larger beyond the language that simply didn't make sense to her. Perhaps this is the same reason that NO Koreans seemed to understand Stephen Colbert's obviously tongue-in-cheek, obviously not-actually-spiteful skit about Rain.

I'd do wordplay if I had a betteer command of the Korean language, but I don't. Maybe I'll just draw a bunch of Jim Crow/Al Jolson blackface strips. It seems to be the one variety of Western Humor that has spread to Korea like embarrassing wildfire.

Another question I'll posit---- with their apparent inability to get satire/irony,etc., why is The Simpsons so popular here?

[Col.Brandon]

Here's one that should appeal to any Korean:

A Japanese man walks into a department store, then the department store collapses on his head and he is killed.

Oh, how they laughed when I told them that one!

[kiwigal]

Because the Simpson's appeals on multiple levels. It's got enough slapstick for the kids/second language learners or even people who don't get the irony. "Haha Homer's strangling Bart!"

Then it also appeals on another level for those who understand the level of intertextuality and satire.

[doggyji]

[cj1976]

There's still no excuse for that bearded blonde knob-end. That is never going to be funny.

[PeterDragon]

[jdog2050]

[PeterDragon]

God, I love the PBF. Wish that dude would update more often. It is an example of very dry/satiric and DARK humor though. The world ends or someone dies painfully in almost every episode. Maybe Koreans aren't as amused by violence as Westerners are. Hard to say though, a lot of my students like Happy Tree Friends, which is nothing but violence.