How South Korean TV took over the world
I recently had a conversation with an older friend who, in his teens, moved to the US from Thailand. After graduating from college, he found his passion in animations and, ultimately, led one of the animation divisions for The Simpsons by moving to S. Korea.
I was surprised to hear that he lived much of his professional life in S. Korea building out The Simpsons (decades ago) and why/how the work was outsourced there. He told me that labor and talent was abundant and affordable.
This made me think of a possible reason as to how S. Korea's entertainment industry has become successful worldwide. That is, just as outsourced manufacturing/operations helps countries build out the infrastructure and gradually transform into a country for developing quality products/services, something similar happened where the grunt work of entertainment was outsourced helping S. Korea build out the underlying infrastructure until it had enough talent and capabilities to enable a larger ownership over the product/vision and become a major player itself.
Did it take over the world? I've heard of one popular movie "Parasite" and one TV show "Squid Game." I saw Parasite and didn't see Squid Game. I've lived in Paris, Berlin, New York, LA, London, and Dubai... I see US TV taking over all those places... but I've seen WAY more people watching Japanese anime shows than people watching South Korean TV. On the other hand, SK music seems more popular than their TV, but even in that sense I wouldn't say SK music is "taking over the world." (note: my gf is Korean and even she doesn't watch SK TV or movies).
Haven't really watched any Korean TV series yet except of course Squid Games, but I've been hooked to their movies since I first saw My Sassy Girl ( https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0293715/ ) nearly 2 decades ago. Having not been exposed to any Asian cinema except the typical Jackie Chan / Bruce Lee Kung Fu movies, this was quite a revelation as it really appealed to typical Indian sensibilities. Remember re-watching it with family members who were one generation older and they loved it too.
Since then I have been exposed to far more quality Asian cinema especially from Japan but haven't experienced the kind of connect one gets from a Korean film, be it a crime thriller, romance or typical drama. Not sure whether those brought up in the West have the same level of connect though.
On a further note, its great to get exposed to such variety of International entertainment via Netflix et al, who have really leveled the playing field when it comes to distribution.
As mentioned in the article a lot of people in the UK were introduced to a certain brand of Asian cinema via 'Tartan Asia Extreme'.
I was no different. As a student I'd venture into the tiny world cinema section of HMV and flick through the titles looking for anything that had the 'TARTAN ASIA EXTREME' branding on it.
So many fantastic movies in the collection [1]. Oldboy, Battle Royale, Dark Water, Hard Boiled, Ring, Infernal Affairs, Audition, etc.
Im a big fan of South Korean series and movies. One thing that always keep lingering in my back of the mind about them is: Does South Korean culture respect woman and their choices with so much open mindedness in real? Not only leading female character even the supporting female characters are shown with so much respect and shown like they have their own personal space and choices. Society accepts their choices.
Whether intentional or not this was a great move by Korea for soft power. Where I live people are obsessed with everything Korean; learning the language, buying the fashion and idolizing the idols.
My partner has been watching a ton of foreign dramas and romcom series the past few years. It started with Midnight Diner and Samurai Gourmet on Netflix, then to K-Dramas, and now we have a few Asian Languages streaming services.
My partner enjoys the fact that these aren't meant to appeal to everybody. They have tons of genres and settings that you can pick and choose. She also enjoys that these shows aren't designed to appeal to the general American audience and tastes and give a taste of other cultures. For example, sex is less overt due to many of these countries having decency laws. (Think Hays Code for older American movies, some things have to be implied instead of shown)
I enjoy the fact that these show get a limited run of 10 - 30 episodes. The stories are focused and have less unresolved threads in the show. Compare this to modern Doctor Who, ST: Discovery, or Lost, where you have story details that don't get resolved for seasons, if ever.
If you have Netflix and want to try some more lighter shows I can recommend: Strong Girl Bong-soon, Love O2O (series or movie), and My Holo Love.
Not seeing this in any of the comments so far so logged in to say:
Hellbound was an awesome show and it is worth a watch!
It’s being advertised as a mixture between horror and action but it is neither. Instead, it’s a commentary on modern society mixed in with with mystery. And it’s excellently done (minus one-two scenes perhaps).
It's mainly due to the fact that streaming took over the world almost completely,and ktv attached very well to this phenomenon.Korean drama has always been good(it's very similar and reminiscent of eastern european drama, which is very dark[arguably from the post-war,ex-eastern-bloc mentality which in SK somewhat doesn't wash away due to NK] but realistic ,often inspired from truth; which makes it attractive), and compared to 5-10 years ago where you'd have a lot of fantastic and (sometimes overly-)romantic series, somewhat similar to chinese or even indian pictures, they detached from that and instead adopted a more western/US style, though still remaining different.This is a cultural shift in general so it was to be expected.
The subjects have changed, the transition from other streaming platforms to netflix (k-tv was big in the streaming world before netflix took over the planet) was very easy for the ktv audience, and why not let's mention the uncomfortable obvious here: it did not go woke, due to which they have a lot of success amongst western audience.
The Silen Sea was fun as well (article was written before its release)
I can't stand over-masculinity in korean dramas. Scenes where man screams and all women suddenly become silenced.
I agree with this one; I think that SK TV is slowly making waves internationally, not just with the squid game series but also with other shows. SK has a great show in their arsenal, having no surprise why this is on the headlines right now.
“Took over the world”
vs.
“Became popular”
It’s a minor quibble, but this sort of hyperbole always comes of as unnecessarily disingenuous.
SK Government takes their support of entertainment industry very seriously. It is a national brand thing, improves SK's reputation which means better economy long term.
I am not sure SK TV taking over the world signals much:
SK TV are essentially Hollywood TV casted with SK people. If you watch Squid Game, and you think that SK people would think and behave like what the TV shows, then you would be wrong.
This essentially is hollywood transfers its manufacturing capacity to SK, just like American industry transfers its manufacturing capacity to China.
It's not SK tv took over the world. It's SK tv production get integrated into Hollywood entertainment market.
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