Meteor Garden is a Chinese television series that is on Netflix. The series is about an eighteen-year-old girl, Dong Shancai, who just got into a top university in the country, but she encounters an elite clique of popular students and finds love.
It was interesting to notice the differences of a romantic comedy series that is traditionally American versus this Chinese series. The emphasis on academics is evident from the beginning, which demonstrate the value of academics and academic performance within the Chinese culture. Shancai getting into the premier university is the first important point in the episode. There is a lot of pressure put on her to get into the university and the appropriate department. There is a great celebration for Shancai when she does get accepted into her program. Once at school, Shancai quickly encounters the popular group of boys called F4. In an American series, these male students would likely be portrayed as handsome, athletic, and stereotypically good with the ladies. However, in Meteor Garden, F4 is portrayed as students who are very smart within their respective departments and are talented at the game Bridge. There is still a commonality between Shancai’s love story and one that would be presented in an American series. In the romantic comedy Mean Girls, the elite clique of girls is portrayed as dumb and beautiful. This is a popular American romantic comedy and demonstrates the difference in what Chinese and American viewers want to see and value in their own lives.
Another difference that stood out to me is the difference in how family life was portrayed within Meteor Garden and other American romantic comedy series. Many American families are unconventional in that American society has strayed significantly from the nuclear family household. American series typically portray this trend in family life by mirroring that with the families in the series. In Meteor Garden, Shancai has two parents that are married. She is an only child. Her father provides for the family by working as a logistics manager and her mother stays home and cooks for the family and other friends. Typically, these details would not be shared as explicitly in an American series so soon in the episode. These details were revealed within the first couple minutes of the first episode in Meteor Garden. Shancai still lives with her family while she is at university, which is not traditional for American schooling. In the show Modern Family, this demonstrates the unconventional family structure that is popular in American society today. This draws a stark contrast to the way family life is portrayed in Meteor Garden.
I found the first episode of Meteor Garden interesting and analyzing the differences between an American series and a Chinese series demonstrates some cultural differences between China and America. Many of these differences were drawn from differences in cultural values, many of which we have discussed in class. If you would like to watch Meteor Garden for yourself, you can stream it on Netflix.