Topic: Korean Culture
I don’t usually post this sort of thing, but this is just so bizarre and fascinating that I have to: a couple of blog entries (1, 2), with lots of pictures, about Loveland, an erotic theme park on the Korean resort island of Jeju-do, which is a popular honeymoon spot. (Via Fleshbot. Loveland has an official site, in Korean, and their gallery is astonishing.)
Korea, unlike Japan, is not a country where pornography is ubiquitous. In fact, it’s a relatively prudish society. Though one can find plenty of porn in video rental shops, and we even knew of one actual porn theater that was across the street from the E-Mart megastore, it was all rather tame: nothing much kinky, and certainly no hint of homosexuality, male or female. Korea has no equivalent to Japanese octopus smut.
On the other hand, the Koreans seemed to have a sense of humor about sexuality. Their romantic comedies often feel less like When Harry Met Sally and more like The Three Stooges, and the pornographic movies all have to have plots, presumably to get past some censorship law, so many of them are pretty funny (on purpose). (I didn’t watch a lot, but I did watch a few. For cultural research, of course.) And then there was the banned ad, which is also pretty funny.
Still, I’m startled to learn of Loveland, and all those pics of statue-love may be the kinkiest thing I’ve ever seen out of Korea.