Sword Art Online (that is a link to watch the first episode for free from crunchy-roll) is a Japanese Anime where video game players are trapped in Virtual Reality game. I was recommended this show by a friend sometime ago but never thought I would want to read the subtitles. Reading the subtitles was not as bad I had thought it was going to be. While the second half of the show takes place within the video game, the first half gives deep insight into Japanese culture.

The first thing I noticed was how similar their buildings and streets are to those around the U.S. and how similar the video game cultures are. SAO starts off with shots of homes, businesses and crowds of people. The houses were those that would have looked at home in many neighborhoods across the nation with windows and doors similar to our own. These were urban homes, not rural or suburban ones, similar to row homes in cities here in the U.S. The crowds of people that were excited for the release of SAO looked like video-game crowds that swarm stores here for the new Madden.

While the exterior of these homes are not too different from those around Philly or Boston, the interiors have a number of differences. Many of the homes in SAO had wooden floors that were walked with bare feet. All of the characters took off their shoes at the front door before entering the rest of the house. The interior doors were also very different, unlike the hinged doors here they have sliding doors for bedroom doors that remain exposed instead of sliding into the wall. The doors were often times made of what looked like framed paper of frosted glass.

One very specific detail that was different was how they read in the show. One character was reading a magazine and the pages appeared to be read right to left and up to down instead of left to right and across. This actually threw me off guard. I did not realize that was how Japanese was written down and read.

In my show that I observed in regards to subtitles & cultural differences, I watched “ The Pit” (Çukur). The show was about a Turkish mob family who is about to lose control of their territory. The culture overseas where the show was created had large differences but also similarities to culture back in the states. One thing that was significantly different would be the landscape and areas where everything took place. The buildings were all concrete, all very close to each other, and no roads were paved just pavers/brick. All of the vehicles were small passenger vehicles that were standard transmissions. In contrast to our culture. Most of our buildings are multi-construction buildings using different materials, Our vehicles range in size from larger SUVs all the way to two-door coupes that are usually automatic transmission. The social cues that differed were everyone in the show had a very uptight attitude and was not willing to lend a hand to those in need. The main characters held a serious more stone-faced personality just wanting to get their business taken care of no matter what they had to accomplish. Most people in the show traveled along the short sidewalks that were crowded with carts or food stands. The setting was more of a colder environment with not a lot of natural light. The foods that were served consisted of danishes, fruits, and smaller glasses of tea/coffee. In our culture, there is more of an array of different types of food that are served and enjoyed eating schedules that are different from the ones portrayed in the show. For the most part, the characters shared a common character value of family and taking care of business much as we do in our culture in my opinion. The economic situation that was shown was to be on the poorer side and the government heavily controlled the public. If you were not mob-related or had significant money to assist your say in the government pestering you then therefore you were living in poverty and dictatorship. The culture that we have, the government is not very similar to that dictatorship, and class does not depend on what you do in your daily life. In conclusion, the tv show differed much more than our own culture in many significant ways. 

For this week’s blog post, I chose to watch the Russian TV Show “Wind in the Face.” It follows a Russian girl who has to recover from her Grandfather’s death and wade through manipulation of her boss while maintaining a relationship with her fiancé.

The first thing I noticed was that the weather was very similar to the weather in New Jersey. It was autumn and the clothing of the characters and surrounding landscape had a very similar to this area. The surrounding buildings had a grandiose but worn down look. The architecture was not completely familiar, but there were large semi-abandoned industrial areas that were reminiscent of many urban areas in the U.S.

Outside of the language, the characters did not seem to be much different than people in the U.S. The relationship between the protagonist and her grandfather was no different than you would see in an American movie or TV show. Her boyfriends mother, while not seeming any different in personality, was the only character with more traditional Russian clothing, but aside from that, was not much different. The dynamic between her and her boss was also familiar. Unfortunately, we see people with money and power treating those under them poorly.

All in all, I found very few cultural differences outside of the language. It is interesting to see how similar we can be while being so far apart geographically.

Thanks for reading! If you like what you read (or don’t like what you read) let me know! @PatrickWCrowell

This week when looking for an episode or movie to watch, I searched Netflix for shows that were not in English, but included English subtitles so that I could understand the cultural differences. I watched the first episode of a Korean show called Boys over Flowers. This show is “The story of Geum Jan-di, a normal girl who finds herself attending a prestigious private school after saving a student’s life.”

Within this show I noticed immediately differences between our culture and the culture of the show. In the first scenes, students were on campus riding horses ad golf carts to get around. This is not a normal experience for most school in the United States of America.

Something that I found interesting was that they talked about how once students were registered at this certain school, they followed it all the way up to university.

Something similar to our culture that was spoken about in this episode was taking the SAT. Students who didnt go to this school were concerned with getting into college. The people in this episode traveled by train often which is common in large cities with a high population.

A difference in this culture was the food that they ate. The main character ate foods like rice and some type of meat and so e other foods that I did not recognize. The other characters ate fancier, more expensive Korean foods.

This show touches a lot on the subject of economic situations as the main character comes from a family with no money and the other characters in the school seem to be wealthy. This difference is brought to light throughout the episode.

Thanks for reading!!

-Carly Thompson

I chose the show Young Royals on Netflix to watch for this week’s blog post. It’s a teen drama romance about the relationship between two boys at Hillerska, a prestigious boarding school. The story follows Wilhem, a young Swedish prince recently exiled to Hillerska after a video of him fighting at a nightclub surfaces online. There he meets a cast of wealthy characters with complex personal lives but most notable among them is Simon, a Latino scholarship student who is openly gay.

The exact location where the story happens isn’t specified, as the school itself is fictional, but I imagine it takes place on the outskirts of some large, picturesque European city. I enjoy watching foreign content that focuses on LGBT characters because I’m interested in seeing the ways that race, sexuality, and gender are treated in countries outside of the US. Concerning economics and the general quality of life depicted in the show, the setting didn’t seem all that different from any rich area in America, but the way the boys’ relationship was handled was different than the way events would unfold in America. (Spoilers ahead!)

Simon and Wilhem start seeing each other after a few episodes but they eventually get caught by another student with a vendetta against Simon who leaks a video of them together online. In an American show, there would probably be some sort of happy resolution after a small moment of conflict but the writers of Young Royals took the more realistic approach and had Wilhem do the wrong thing and throw Simon under the by claiming he wasn’t in the video.

What I appreciated most about the show was how realistic and subtle it was and how the characters had clear flaws. It was refreshing to see that all of the actors looked their age, versus American shows where high schoolers are played by thirty years olds with perfect skin and mature features. The homophobia was real and present throughout the series but it wasn’t something the watcher was beaten over the head with, which I think made it even more impactful. Overall, I enjoyed the show and my only complaint is that there aren’t more seasons for me to watch yet.

This week we were asked to watch an entire episode of a show with English subtitles on. When I went on YouTube, a Turkish series stood out to me. It looked interesting and easy to follow along with. The series is called Children of Sisters. I uploaded the trailer below.

I watched the first episode on YouTube and was able to follow along well. It’s a show full of drama and thrill. One of the settings is in a small Turkish village. There are 55 houses in the village, an elementary school, and a medical center. This stood out for me because I assumed the village would be a small development with houses in it. Except this village had its own school and medical center. A similarity I saw between cultures was the relationships between people. There was a mother and daughter relationship. One of the scenes shows the mother and daughter bickering about something little. It reminded me of something my mom and I would bicker about. Another similarity would be some of the technology. One of the scenes shows a show playing on a laptop. Overall, I was surprised on how similar the show was to an American show. There was lots of similarities and a few big cultural differences.

Heres the link to episode one if you’d like to watch it. It was a really interesting show and I was really into it. I might even watch episode two!

Jane The Virgin

Jane the virgin is a show on Netflix that is about a girl who got artificially inseminated at the OBGYN. This completely turned her life around because she was waiting until she was married. She met the father of the child and tried colliding the two worlds together for the child. This show is in English and in Spanish with English Subtitles.

Jane’s family is a Spanish speaking family. At home she mostly speaks Spanish to her Abuela (Grandma). Jane’s boyfriend at the time does not speak Spanish but tries to learn to communicate more with her Abuela. Throughout the show, Jane’s Abuela makes a food dish called Arepa’s, Jane and her mom loves when Abuela makes her famous arepa dish. In this show, Jane and her family are very religious Catholics and her Abuela is an old school traditions. Abuela left Venezuela with her husband and moved to Miami Florida to be free and start a family in the United States and start new traditions.

Jane and her family have some differences with my family and culture. Jane and her family speak Spanish and a lot of traditions in their family. They pray before every meal and have a tradition around Christmas time that they hang up an angel that is Abuela’s late husband.