Have you ever noticed how many bus scenes there are in kdramas? Whatever the significance of the bus scene is in the hearts and minds of kdrama writers, they do seem to play a role in moving the plot along.
Quite a few characters meet on a bus.
In "Big," Kang Gyung Joon, played by Shin Won Ho, is on a bus when he switches umbrellas with the teacher has a crush on. He and his teacher, Gil Da Ran, played by Lee Min Jung, resolve their story on another bus ride.
In "Personal Taste," Jeon Ji Hoo, played by Lee Min Ho, gets a very unfavorable first impression of Park Gae In, played by Son Ye Jin, when they interact on a bus. But a short while later, when the two become friends, he drops her off at the bus stop, and thinks her antics, waving from a bus window, are adorable.
Problems are also solved on a bus ride.
In "Coffee Prince," Go Eun Chan, played by Yoon Eun Hye, weighs the salary she will make pretending to be a boy, against the ethics of lying about her gender. Sums of money scroll across the bus windows.
In "You're Beautiful," Jeremy, played by Lee Hong Ki, takes Go Mi Nam pretender Park Shin Hye on his "magic bus." Ride on the bus for an hour and you will get some perspective on your problems, he tells her. Later on he has to take his own advice.
The bus can be the scene of a first stolen kiss, as it is for the teenaged characters in "I Miss You." Or it can be used to show a difference in background. A spoiled tycoon will refuse to ride the bus, while a plucky poor girl has been riding one all her life.
The bus is also a good way to express longing. You see that special someone from your car or on the sidewalk when you're riding the bus.
In "That Winter, The Wind Blows," Oh Soo is riding the bus when he sees Oh Young walking down the street, happy and smiling without him. Of course, she can't see him. It sums up the alienation between them.
And then there are the scenes where the male lead comes to his senses and has to chase the bus that his girlfriend is on. A good example is Goo Jyun Pyo chasing down Geum Jan Di in "Boys Over Flowers."
If you've every chased a bus in real life, you know they are hard to catch, but kdrama buses seem to move at a slower speed than real buses, so heroes can chase them and catch up to them and convince the drivers to stop. And move the plot along.
If you have a favorite bus scene, let us know.
