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I will writ about how I wrote a script. First of all, production company CJ Entertainment and Media Miss Granny changed its strategy to One Source Multi Territory (OSMT) which is using one source co-production, not just selling copyrights. I selected five scenes and divided them into macro-localisation and micro-localisation. Macro-localisation is the factor that influences narrative such as historical background, cultural acceptance, and concept of elderly, and micro-localisation is not affected narrative like customs.
To summarise the plot briefly, it is a time-lapse story about a grandmother magically transformed into a 20-year-old appearance in the same era. She wanted to be a singer in her twenties, but she raised her child by herself when her husband died from a historical event. That's why she cares about her so badly, is in high conflict with her daughter-in-law, is indifferent to her granddaughter, and only likes her grandchildren. However, as the daughter-in-law collapsed due to the stress of the conflict, grandmother was heartbroken to hear the news that the family wanted to send her to a nursing home. She took a picture at the photo studio, and her appearance changed into the 20s magically. She makes her dream come true by decorating her appearance like the star she usually admired and taking on the vocals in her grandson's music band. Although she knows that when she bleeds, she returns to the old lady, but she transfuses blood to save her grandson who is in a life-threatening condition and returns to her 70s. Among them, the numbered parts were modified the same or different depending on the version of each country.
Micro-localisation
When the grandson's musical band heard good news from the music producer, grandmother praised him. Although she looks 20 years old, she still has maternal love for her grandson, and the way she praises him is described differently in each country. On the surface, it seems to show intimacy between members, but as seen in members' reactions, it is an unexpected physical contact. The most interesting case was adopting Korean culture without localisation, but the intention was changed. In the original Korean version, the grandmother petted her grandchild's butt gently, which is considered a sign of praise and friendliness, but in the Indian, Vietnamese, and Filipino version that adopted the scene, participants answered that it is very uncommon behaviours in their country, and they thought as a humorous scene. Considering the meaning of physical contact in Asian countries, it was changed to a light kiss on the cheek in China and Thailand and a light hug in Indonesia, but people said that it is still an excessive expression in their cultures even between families. Also, in Thailand, it is considered as lovely affection, but it is only for children. In the case of Japan, which changed the most, it was replaced by a scene where the grandmother expressed gratitude to the music producer. When it comes to the Japanese cultural background, a participant guessed the reason they changed the scene is that the relationship of grandmother and grandson is more subtle. As a result, it has been confirmed that the same behaviour can indicate different intentions and micro-adaptation of culture according to each culture.
Macro- localisation
The historical background & Cultural acceptance
Depending on the country, some countries changed the era of the background around in 1940 or choose to not explain details about the specific case. The historical event that caused her husband to pass away is a narrative justification to grandmother’s life. She sacrificed her personal life and raised a child alone. In the original version, the background was the 1960s to 70s when she was in her twenties, and the event was her husband working as a minor in west Germany to earn money, and it was Korea Government national policy from 1955 to 1973. India showed the Sino-China war in 1965 with a newspaper, and Vietnam showed that her husband died in the war in Vietnam from 1955 to 1975. On the other hand, Japan, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Chinese versions do not clearly show what kind of incident it is. In the Chinese and Vietnamese versions, scenes that do not exist in the original version were added, reminding the younger generation that the elderly sacrificed to protect the country, expressing respect for them, and promoting patriotism.
The scene shows the cultural acceptance of the country in the past through the famous star that she has admired. Inspired by the Roman holiday(1953), in Korea, Japan, Thailand, and the Philippine versions the grandmother adopted Audrey Hepburn's style, which shows the reflection of Western culture in the '60s to 70s. In India, China, Vietnam, and Indonesia, Audrey Hepburn has been changed. Vietnamese version was Thanh Nga who popular singer in the 1960s, in the Chinese version, it featured Teresa Teng (鄧麗君 or 邓丽君) who was popular from 1970 to 80, and India has changed to actress, and Indonesian has borrowed the style from the 1960s, but participants explained cultural acceptance was low at that time.
Social life of Elderly
A first comparison item is a place where grandmothers work or usually spend time, and in Korea, Japan, India, the Philippines, and Thailand versions, grandmothers work even though they are over 70 years old. In Korea and Japan, she does part-time jobs, respectively, at silver cafes and local baths for the elderly, and it proved that both countries are ageing-society. On the other hand, the rest of the countries are focusing on showing her personality through conversations with customers rather than contributing to society by showing that she works in a place she owns. In Contrast to China, Indonesia, and Vietnam show the social life of the elderly through senior social clubs. She enjoys the traditional Chinese game of mahjong in China, while Vietnam and Indonesia show spaces to drink tea or dance. From the participants' responses, these are a very common cultural phenomenon. Indonesia participants addressed that it is more accurate to invite and spend time with others instead of a separate space for seniors.
After a grandmother transformed into her 20s, she stayed over the night outside because there was nowhere else to go. The place where she wakes up varies in different countries. The Korean and Indian versions are the only ones that wake up indoors, and the Korean version is a traditional Korean sauna called a jjimjilbang, which is also a social place for women aged the 40s to 70s. In the Indian version, she wakes up in the hospital's physical therapy room, and Japan wakes up in the playground. All versions show the contrast between young children and the elderly. The prominent scene is that the Philippines, China, Thailand, Vietnam, and Indonesia all wake up in parks or squares which are public spaces, and then the elderly dance or exercise with others in the street. However, in the case of Indonesia, there are scenes of dancing with strangers, but Indonesian applicants answered that this is a cinematic device and is not common.
Videos taken with people from 8 countries were combined into one so that people were able to compare with. To compare a scene by culture, I combined videos taken with people from different countries into one. I used TikTok for easy filming, and it was shared on social media like YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok under the account not_for_sale_culture.