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How South Korean TV took over the world

124 points by mizzao 5y ago

deyan 5y ago
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).
manojlds 5y ago
The Silen Sea was fun as well (article was written before its release)
- jahnu 5y ago
  Fun but also infuriating at times for me. Without spoiling, when the characters were being presented with evidence as strong as possible that X occurred because of Y and not Z they kept scratching their heads wondering if Z wasn't the cause of X after all. They were at times more stupid than a gang of drunken teenagers in an 80s horror movie, not top class scientists, astronauts and soldiers. What I kept wondering is, what am I missing? Is this a cultural difference? Is the translation difficult? Simplest explanation, it's just not great writing/directing.
  - thaumasiotes 5y ago
    > when the characters were being presented with evidence as strong as possible that X occurred because of Y and not Z they kept scratching their heads wondering if Z wasn't the cause of X after all. They were at times more stupid than a gang of drunken teenagers in an 80s horror movie, not top class scientists, astronauts and soldiers. What I kept wondering is, what am I missing? Is this a cultural difference? This is pretty common in cases where an existing ideology specifies that Z causes X. I assume that's true in all cultures.
    - bee_rider 5y ago
      Most of the characters aren't written as hardcore ideologues.
      - thaumasiotes 5y ago
        And you haven't described them that way. If they were hardcore ideologues, they wouldn't be saying "are we sure it isn't Z?". They'd be saying "but it's Z".
  - wrp 5y ago
    >...what am I missing? Nothing. The Silent Sea was brutally criticized in Korea for its writing/directing. I thought the visuals were great, but only that aspect of it.
    - bee_rider 5y ago
      The visuals may have been too good. I was expecting some Expanse level space stuff when I saw their ship. Instead, their lander detached from their rocket while in orbit and... began to fall?
      - ragazzina 5y ago
        This criticism is funny because this is exactly what happens in the Expanse book. I have never watched the series but in the book they kept referring to kinetic bombardment as "release bombs and let them just fall to the ground", and other glaring scientific errors.
    - jahnu 5y ago
      Aha! Thanks for the info. The visuals were really good and I suspect the actors are not bad either. They just had bad lines.
- greatpatton 5y ago
  The representation of the gravity on the moon was so off that it completely killed the show for me.
  - mikestew 5y ago
    One thing that is easy to miss in the first episode: the moon base has “artificial gravity”. How does it work? Why, it works by making the filming easier. :-) Alright, I’ll give them that one, as we all have to work within a budget. But the rest of things you’re thinking of, yeah, suspending my disbelief was really difficult. I mean, how much more would guy wires have added to the budget?
- mikestew 5y ago
  …if you like a S. Korean version of Alien (right down to the string-filled theme music). If someone pulled out a flamethrower in those air ducts, I would have likely thrown the remote at the TV. That said, we’re still watching it with two episodes left. If there is a second season, it’s debatable if we will watch it. I went in prejudiced to like it, too, as I like Bae Doona in everyone thing we’ve watched her in. The contradiction I can’t get around is that the set work is good for the most part, but the writing is either losing a lot in translation (we watch English audio/subtitles) or it’s just plain poor. And if you were complaining about the science in Gravity, stay well away from this one.
sebow 5y ago
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.
justicezyx 5y ago
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.
- nrp 5y ago
  I don’t think that is a fair characterization of k-drama. If anything, the closer analogy would be what the Japanese automotive industry did in the 80’s. They took a massive, bloated, stagnant industry, reinvented and perfected it, and then exported back to America.
- thweryo234 5y ago
  Hardly surprising. The world is turning American, in culture, in religion, and worldviews, despite supposed political rivalry and "traditional heritage". There is no Japan, no China, no India, no Europe. We have US with varying flavors around the world in essence - atleast if not for the plebs, certainly in the elites (who tend to be self-replicating).
  - herbst 5y ago
    I am glad this is still kinda wrong and afraid that there is more truth to it than I can see. However in central Europe the US influence to TV and culture did only get less in the recent, troublesome, years. At least from my POV
    - deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]
  - kvgr 5y ago
    If you ever tried to watch central europe tv, for example Czech and Slovak TV shows, then you would understand why people prefer American production. It is pure trash. With exception of couple Czech movies.
wdutch 5y ago
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.
- tomcooks 5y ago
  South Korea and Japan are a bastion of American influence in Asia, much like Israel in the Levantine region and Italy in the central Mediterranean. Noticing a parallel between which countries become very popular and American military and economic strategies is left as an exercise to the paranoid.
  - ginko 5y ago
    Italy has been a cultural power for several times longer than the US exists.
    - tomcooks 5y ago
      I'm talking about CIA funds to get Italy out of the soviet area of influence (aka the Italian Economic Boom of the 50s), why would you pull the Roman Empire or the Renaissance out of your hat.
      - darkerside 5y ago
        ... Because you were unclear?
    - nabla9 5y ago
      Italy is much younger than the US. Risorgimento (movement to see Italian Peninsula as a unified political and cultural entity, a nation) started after 1815. Before that Italy didn't exist even as a clear concept. Old cultural power of separate cities and regions included in the modern Italy is older, of course.
  - herbst 5y ago
    How is Italy an American bastion?
dairylee 5y ago
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. 1: https://www.benoakley.co.uk/tartan-asia-extreme https://www.benoakley.co.uk/tartan-asia-extreme
- CiuB 5y ago
  This brought memories back for me, years ago there was a small VHS store that stocked a lot of these. Looking at there catalog is like a trip down memory lane. List of there titles I saw many years ago. (Pretty much all great movies) A Tale of Two Sisters Audition Battle Royale 1 + 2 Chaos Dead Or Alive 1 + 2 Gozu Happiness of the Katakuris, The Hard Boiled Infernal Affairs: The Trilogy Lady Vengeance Oldboy R-Point Ring Trilogy Save the Green Planet Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance Tetsuo: The Iron Man Visitor Q
sidm83 5y ago
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/ 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.
- ethbr0 5y ago
  IMHO, one of the reasons Korean media internationalizes well is the relevance of its main themes. Personal vs family vs extended family vs social responsibility. The relation between self and modern mega-corps. Alienation. Gender issues from individuals' perspectives. These are things almost every country is grappling with.
- pempem 5y ago
  IMO the reason it does well in the diaspora is that it does play to an older cultural sensibility. - Romance is slower, often less focused on sex than say an HBO show - Class divisions are stark, and visible much like they are in India, Thailand, Japan and other countries. - Gendered roles are very marked and clear, with women falling into tropes that Hollywood still espouses but also attempts to disrupt (ingenue, career minded, ice queens, sassy side kick) - Fable/Parable approaches to morality. There's often an overarching focus on 'the lesson' and usually a secondary lesson that is collectivist and family-focused in nature. The questions I'm left with are: - will the independent s. korean scene also get exported - how will s. korean celebrity culture change as it interacts more with a wider audience? currently it is regularly locked down by those who hold the money in ways that make Britney Spears' unfortunate experiences look like a walk in the park
bprasanna 5y ago
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.
- creakingstairs 5y ago
  I’m Korean and the answer is a bit complicated. Historically, women definitely were not given respect. My mother was had to fight to go to a university while taking care of all the younger siblings. She was not given any support while her brothers were given everything. My aunt lived her entire life in servitude for her in-laws family. I remember that my grandfather got angry at her because she wanted to take THREE days off to go travel. Stories like these aren’t uncommon for older women in Korea. This is depicted In short stories written by Han Kang where women become ‘plants’, a decor in one’s home, stripped of their personalities. Thankfully, women’s rights have come a long way now. Most girls will be able to go to university if they want to and pursue a professional career without much judgment. That being said, Korea is still behind in many aspects of gender equality, compared to places like NZ. It’s not all roses either. Very fast changes in society is resulting in conflicts. Gender conflict in Korea is at all times high now. To give an example, 20s men are more likely to be right wing as left wing parties in Korea usually includes women’s right activists.
  - pessimizer 5y ago
    Bedevilled was an interesting film irt women's status in Korea. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bedevilled_(2010_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bedevilled_(2010_film)
  - southerntofu 5y ago
    > My mother was had to fight to go to a university (...) She was not given any support while her brothers were given everything. My aunt lived her entire life in servitude for her in-laws family. I don't have any reference point for South Korea, but i know of such stories in western Europe (like France) although it was much more common one or two generations ago. Not to say everything is so bad around here, but just don't trust State propaganda that all is good :) > 20s men are more likely to be right wing as left wing parties in Korea usually includes women’s right activists That's a worrying development, although the same kind of political reaction can be found in many places across history. Do you know of good english/french resources to follow Korean politics from an intersectional perspective?
suction 5y ago
- RyEgswuCsn 5y ago
  > to be more presentable business partners to the West It's interesting how you expect Korea and Japan to be "presentable" to the West, as if there exists a power relationship between the East and the West. Perhaps they could just be themselves and the West should accept different cultures uphold different values?
  - suction 5y ago
    You are describing multi-ethical cultural relativism, which is a feel-good idea indeed, but if you think about it, you'll quite quickly arrive at the realisation that the worst atrocities imaginable could be excused with it: "But if it's their culture / tradition...?" In the real world, all cultures constantly judge other cultures by their own morals and values. There is still a lot of stuff in modern Japanese and Korean culture that must not be brought to international attention, or the meticulously built image would be shattered, with consequences for political and economical relations. Not many people know that in Japan for example, organised crime syndicates have official, legal business addresses and office buildings. Imagine any Western country allowing that - it would be shunned by its partners in an instant.
    - helij 5y ago
      "Not many people know that in Japan for example, organised crime syndicates have official, legal business addresses and office buildings. Imagine any Western country allowing that - it would be shunned by its partners in an instant." Can you please recommend any good books to get to know the subject. This to me sounds so out of place that it would be interesting to know more.
      - suction 5y ago
        If you're looking for books on the subject of organised crime in Japan, it's hard to recommend anything. Maybe this one: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/762585.Yakuza https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/762585.Yakuza To get a grasp of the darker sides of modern Japan, I wholly recommend these two books: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/254259.Japan https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/254259.Japan and https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/93803.Dogs_and_Demons https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/93803.Dogs_and_Demons Both are real eye openers. The first is a must-read and very good overview. The latter concentrates on post-WW2's construction state but don't be repelled by that, because the construction sector is what is at the base of Japan's current problems. For a more scholarly but dryer take, the end-all book for people who want to know what's behind the curtain in Japanese society is this (I really enjoyed it but it's a long read): https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/274912.The_Enigma_of_Japanese_Power?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=ggHRwPOfqJ&rank=1 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/274912.The_Enigma_of_Jap...
nurgasemetey 5y ago
I can't stand over-masculinity in korean dramas. Scenes where man screams and all women suddenly become silenced.
FarhadG 5y ago
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.
- cinntaile 5y ago
  They also animate quite a bit of anime, I guess Japan is more expensive nowadays.
  - jinto36 5y ago
    In-between animation has been outsourced for a long time, Dr Movie (founded in 1990) in particular has long show up in anime credits https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DR_Movie https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DR_Movie
  - FarhadG 5y ago
    Yeah, that's exactly what I was thinking. Cheap labor allows to build out the infrastructure and as prosperity kicks in, the standard of living increases—hence the need to transition from an outsourced partner to a larger contributing/strategic player to continue to compete.
- thrower123 5y ago
  Did a ctrl-f for Rough Draft Korea, zero hits. Curious, they animate a large percentage of western cartoons https://kids.kiddle.co/Rough_Draft_Korea https://kids.kiddle.co/Rough_Draft_Korea
_8j50 5y ago
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.
saberience 5y ago
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).
- nabla9 5y ago
  It's a trend that is still rising very rapidly. If you want to follow TV- and movie trends from their leading edge, you should look what is popular in torrent and free streaming sites (subtitles, including fan subbed, are indication of international interest). Trends are visible there before Netflix and others catch up. The surge of Korean movies and TV- started few years ago.
- redanddead 5y ago
  I think the part about JP anime is true. Anime culture seems widespread among young people, globally. I'm certain that anyone reading this has heard of someone that watched or watches anime and then became a tourist in Japan, or outright moved to Japan. That's some pretty powerful stuff. I think the effect is larger than just Japan, or even Korea, and more of an Asian thing.. that is where most of the population growth is happening after all. Chinese anime is usually piss poor, but their industry has been getting massive and concerted injections of funding as of late, to the point where CN regular anime production quality exceeds JP anime movies. Crazy growth in those industries.
  - riskable 5y ago
    There's nothing inherently poor about the production/animation quality of Chinese animations (donghua). The animation/art can be just as good as most anime. In fact, a lot of high-quality animes outsource much of their production to Chinese animation studios. The real problem with donghua (IMHO) is the stories. Ugh. Even when a donghua is about someone getting reincarnated in another world (like a Japanese isekai) it's all the same old stuff about spirits, martial arts, and cultivation (aka xianxia). So rather than answer the question, "what if?" the Chinese isekai equivalent is more like, "what if we told the same old story but changed the scenery?" It annoys me for the same reason that certain scifi/fantasy shows/movies annoy me: They're just drama, "in space" or drama, "in the future" or drama, "in another world" with basically zero plot elements relating to the differences in technology, science, magic, etc. No one is exploring the possibilities or problems that certain differences could entail. They're not even weird! Which is another common appealing point of anime--even when the basic plot is the same as many other shows (e.g. "the hero has a shield permanently stuck to their arm that they can't remove? haha; what‽"). As soon as I see that cultivation is a major element of the show it's akin to watching an anime and being like, "Oh a demon lord? How creative." =)
tomhunters 5y ago
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.
asciimov 5y ago
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.
- lelag 5y ago
  > 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. I agree 100% with that. That's probably one of the reason that I've been watching more Korean series lately. They seem to be very standardised to tell a complete story in exactly 16 episodes. Starting and finishing a series is a known 16 to 20 hours time commitment. In comparison, starting any new US series is a scary proposition. If it's successful, it might get 10 seasons and 2 spin-off. If it's not, it might stop abruptly at anytime with no resolution to the story.
  - SV_BubbleTime 5y ago
    > If it's successful, it might get 10 seasons and 2 spin-off. If it's not, it might stop abruptly at anytime with no resolution to the story. This is something I really appreciated about Dark (German). They wrote the story as three seasons, it was complete for three seasons, they found and released all three seasons. There won’t be a fourth. It was refreshing. Where in American shows even if they have some idea where they are going (anti-Lost) they almost never completely shut the door.
everdrive 5y ago
“Took over the world” vs. “Became popular” It’s a minor quibble, but this sort of hyperbole always comes of as unnecessarily disingenuous.

124 points by mizzao 5y ago

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).

manojlds 5y ago

The Silen Sea was fun as well (article was written before its release)

jahnu 5y ago
Fun but also infuriating at times for me. Without spoiling, when the characters were being presented with evidence as strong as possible that X occurred because of Y and not Z they kept scratching their heads wondering if Z wasn't the cause of X after all. They were at times more stupid than a gang of drunken teenagers in an 80s horror movie, not top class scientists, astronauts and soldiers. What I kept wondering is, what am I missing? Is this a cultural difference? Is the translation difficult? Simplest explanation, it's just not great writing/directing.
- thaumasiotes 5y ago
  > when the characters were being presented with evidence as strong as possible that X occurred because of Y and not Z they kept scratching their heads wondering if Z wasn't the cause of X after all. They were at times more stupid than a gang of drunken teenagers in an 80s horror movie, not top class scientists, astronauts and soldiers. What I kept wondering is, what am I missing? Is this a cultural difference? This is pretty common in cases where an existing ideology specifies that Z causes X. I assume that's true in all cultures.
  - bee_rider 5y ago
    Most of the characters aren't written as hardcore ideologues.
    - thaumasiotes 5y ago
      And you haven't described them that way. If they were hardcore ideologues, they wouldn't be saying "are we sure it isn't Z?". They'd be saying "but it's Z".
- wrp 5y ago
  >...what am I missing? Nothing. The Silent Sea was brutally criticized in Korea for its writing/directing. I thought the visuals were great, but only that aspect of it.
  - bee_rider 5y ago
    The visuals may have been too good. I was expecting some Expanse level space stuff when I saw their ship. Instead, their lander detached from their rocket while in orbit and... began to fall?
    - ragazzina 5y ago
      This criticism is funny because this is exactly what happens in the Expanse book. I have never watched the series but in the book they kept referring to kinetic bombardment as "release bombs and let them just fall to the ground", and other glaring scientific errors.
  - jahnu 5y ago
    Aha! Thanks for the info. The visuals were really good and I suspect the actors are not bad either. They just had bad lines.
greatpatton 5y ago
The representation of the gravity on the moon was so off that it completely killed the show for me.
- mikestew 5y ago
  One thing that is easy to miss in the first episode: the moon base has “artificial gravity”. How does it work? Why, it works by making the filming easier. :-) Alright, I’ll give them that one, as we all have to work within a budget. But the rest of things you’re thinking of, yeah, suspending my disbelief was really difficult. I mean, how much more would guy wires have added to the budget?
mikestew 5y ago
…if you like a S. Korean version of Alien (right down to the string-filled theme music). If someone pulled out a flamethrower in those air ducts, I would have likely thrown the remote at the TV. That said, we’re still watching it with two episodes left. If there is a second season, it’s debatable if we will watch it. I went in prejudiced to like it, too, as I like Bae Doona in everyone thing we’ve watched her in. The contradiction I can’t get around is that the set work is good for the most part, but the writing is either losing a lot in translation (we watch English audio/subtitles) or it’s just plain poor. And if you were complaining about the science in Gravity, stay well away from this one.

sebow 5y ago

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.

justicezyx 5y ago

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.

nrp 5y ago
I don’t think that is a fair characterization of k-drama. If anything, the closer analogy would be what the Japanese automotive industry did in the 80’s. They took a massive, bloated, stagnant industry, reinvented and perfected it, and then exported back to America.
thweryo234 5y ago
Hardly surprising. The world is turning American, in culture, in religion, and worldviews, despite supposed political rivalry and "traditional heritage". There is no Japan, no China, no India, no Europe. We have US with varying flavors around the world in essence - atleast if not for the plebs, certainly in the elites (who tend to be self-replicating).
- herbst 5y ago
  I am glad this is still kinda wrong and afraid that there is more truth to it than I can see. However in central Europe the US influence to TV and culture did only get less in the recent, troublesome, years. At least from my POV
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
- kvgr 5y ago
  If you ever tried to watch central europe tv, for example Czech and Slovak TV shows, then you would understand why people prefer American production. It is pure trash. With exception of couple Czech movies.

wdutch 5y ago

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.

tomcooks 5y ago
South Korea and Japan are a bastion of American influence in Asia, much like Israel in the Levantine region and Italy in the central Mediterranean. Noticing a parallel between which countries become very popular and American military and economic strategies is left as an exercise to the paranoid.
- ginko 5y ago
  Italy has been a cultural power for several times longer than the US exists.
  - tomcooks 5y ago
    I'm talking about CIA funds to get Italy out of the soviet area of influence (aka the Italian Economic Boom of the 50s), why would you pull the Roman Empire or the Renaissance out of your hat.
    - darkerside 5y ago
      ... Because you were unclear?
  - nabla9 5y ago
    Italy is much younger than the US. Risorgimento (movement to see Italian Peninsula as a unified political and cultural entity, a nation) started after 1815. Before that Italy didn't exist even as a clear concept. Old cultural power of separate cities and regions included in the modern Italy is older, of course.
- herbst 5y ago
  How is Italy an American bastion?

dairylee 5y ago

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. 1: https://www.benoakley.co.uk/tartan-asia-extreme https://www.benoakley.co.uk/tartan-asia-extreme

CiuB 5y ago
This brought memories back for me, years ago there was a small VHS store that stocked a lot of these. Looking at there catalog is like a trip down memory lane. List of there titles I saw many years ago. (Pretty much all great movies) A Tale of Two Sisters Audition Battle Royale 1 + 2 Chaos Dead Or Alive 1 + 2 Gozu Happiness of the Katakuris, The Hard Boiled Infernal Affairs: The Trilogy Lady Vengeance Oldboy R-Point Ring Trilogy Save the Green Planet Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance Tetsuo: The Iron Man Visitor Q

sidm83 5y ago

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/ 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.

ethbr0 5y ago
IMHO, one of the reasons Korean media internationalizes well is the relevance of its main themes. Personal vs family vs extended family vs social responsibility. The relation between self and modern mega-corps. Alienation. Gender issues from individuals' perspectives. These are things almost every country is grappling with.
pempem 5y ago
IMO the reason it does well in the diaspora is that it does play to an older cultural sensibility. - Romance is slower, often less focused on sex than say an HBO show - Class divisions are stark, and visible much like they are in India, Thailand, Japan and other countries. - Gendered roles are very marked and clear, with women falling into tropes that Hollywood still espouses but also attempts to disrupt (ingenue, career minded, ice queens, sassy side kick) - Fable/Parable approaches to morality. There's often an overarching focus on 'the lesson' and usually a secondary lesson that is collectivist and family-focused in nature. The questions I'm left with are: - will the independent s. korean scene also get exported - how will s. korean celebrity culture change as it interacts more with a wider audience? currently it is regularly locked down by those who hold the money in ways that make Britney Spears' unfortunate experiences look like a walk in the park

bprasanna 5y ago

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.

creakingstairs 5y ago
I’m Korean and the answer is a bit complicated. Historically, women definitely were not given respect. My mother was had to fight to go to a university while taking care of all the younger siblings. She was not given any support while her brothers were given everything. My aunt lived her entire life in servitude for her in-laws family. I remember that my grandfather got angry at her because she wanted to take THREE days off to go travel. Stories like these aren’t uncommon for older women in Korea. This is depicted In short stories written by Han Kang where women become ‘plants’, a decor in one’s home, stripped of their personalities. Thankfully, women’s rights have come a long way now. Most girls will be able to go to university if they want to and pursue a professional career without much judgment. That being said, Korea is still behind in many aspects of gender equality, compared to places like NZ. It’s not all roses either. Very fast changes in society is resulting in conflicts. Gender conflict in Korea is at all times high now. To give an example, 20s men are more likely to be right wing as left wing parties in Korea usually includes women’s right activists.
- pessimizer 5y ago
  Bedevilled was an interesting film irt women's status in Korea. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bedevilled_(2010_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bedevilled_(2010_film)
- southerntofu 5y ago
  > My mother was had to fight to go to a university (...) She was not given any support while her brothers were given everything. My aunt lived her entire life in servitude for her in-laws family. I don't have any reference point for South Korea, but i know of such stories in western Europe (like France) although it was much more common one or two generations ago. Not to say everything is so bad around here, but just don't trust State propaganda that all is good :) > 20s men are more likely to be right wing as left wing parties in Korea usually includes women’s right activists That's a worrying development, although the same kind of political reaction can be found in many places across history. Do you know of good english/french resources to follow Korean politics from an intersectional perspective?

suction 5y ago

RyEgswuCsn 5y ago
> to be more presentable business partners to the West It's interesting how you expect Korea and Japan to be "presentable" to the West, as if there exists a power relationship between the East and the West. Perhaps they could just be themselves and the West should accept different cultures uphold different values?
- suction 5y ago
  You are describing multi-ethical cultural relativism, which is a feel-good idea indeed, but if you think about it, you'll quite quickly arrive at the realisation that the worst atrocities imaginable could be excused with it: "But if it's their culture / tradition...?" In the real world, all cultures constantly judge other cultures by their own morals and values. There is still a lot of stuff in modern Japanese and Korean culture that must not be brought to international attention, or the meticulously built image would be shattered, with consequences for political and economical relations. Not many people know that in Japan for example, organised crime syndicates have official, legal business addresses and office buildings. Imagine any Western country allowing that - it would be shunned by its partners in an instant.
  - helij 5y ago
    "Not many people know that in Japan for example, organised crime syndicates have official, legal business addresses and office buildings. Imagine any Western country allowing that - it would be shunned by its partners in an instant." Can you please recommend any good books to get to know the subject. This to me sounds so out of place that it would be interesting to know more.
    - suction 5y ago
      If you're looking for books on the subject of organised crime in Japan, it's hard to recommend anything. Maybe this one: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/762585.Yakuza https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/762585.Yakuza To get a grasp of the darker sides of modern Japan, I wholly recommend these two books: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/254259.Japan https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/254259.Japan and https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/93803.Dogs_and_Demons https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/93803.Dogs_and_Demons Both are real eye openers. The first is a must-read and very good overview. The latter concentrates on post-WW2's construction state but don't be repelled by that, because the construction sector is what is at the base of Japan's current problems. For a more scholarly but dryer take, the end-all book for people who want to know what's behind the curtain in Japanese society is this (I really enjoyed it but it's a long read): https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/274912.The_Enigma_of_Japanese_Power?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=ggHRwPOfqJ&rank=1 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/274912.The_Enigma_of_Jap...

nurgasemetey 5y ago

I can't stand over-masculinity in korean dramas. Scenes where man screams and all women suddenly become silenced.

FarhadG 5y ago

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.

cinntaile 5y ago
They also animate quite a bit of anime, I guess Japan is more expensive nowadays.
- jinto36 5y ago
  In-between animation has been outsourced for a long time, Dr Movie (founded in 1990) in particular has long show up in anime credits https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DR_Movie https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DR_Movie
- FarhadG 5y ago
  Yeah, that's exactly what I was thinking. Cheap labor allows to build out the infrastructure and as prosperity kicks in, the standard of living increases—hence the need to transition from an outsourced partner to a larger contributing/strategic player to continue to compete.
thrower123 5y ago
Did a ctrl-f for Rough Draft Korea, zero hits. Curious, they animate a large percentage of western cartoons https://kids.kiddle.co/Rough_Draft_Korea https://kids.kiddle.co/Rough_Draft_Korea

_8j50 5y ago

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.

saberience 5y ago

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).

nabla9 5y ago
It's a trend that is still rising very rapidly. If you want to follow TV- and movie trends from their leading edge, you should look what is popular in torrent and free streaming sites (subtitles, including fan subbed, are indication of international interest). Trends are visible there before Netflix and others catch up. The surge of Korean movies and TV- started few years ago.
redanddead 5y ago
I think the part about JP anime is true. Anime culture seems widespread among young people, globally. I'm certain that anyone reading this has heard of someone that watched or watches anime and then became a tourist in Japan, or outright moved to Japan. That's some pretty powerful stuff. I think the effect is larger than just Japan, or even Korea, and more of an Asian thing.. that is where most of the population growth is happening after all. Chinese anime is usually piss poor, but their industry has been getting massive and concerted injections of funding as of late, to the point where CN regular anime production quality exceeds JP anime movies. Crazy growth in those industries.
- riskable 5y ago
  There's nothing inherently poor about the production/animation quality of Chinese animations (donghua). The animation/art can be just as good as most anime. In fact, a lot of high-quality animes outsource much of their production to Chinese animation studios. The real problem with donghua (IMHO) is the stories. Ugh. Even when a donghua is about someone getting reincarnated in another world (like a Japanese isekai) it's all the same old stuff about spirits, martial arts, and cultivation (aka xianxia). So rather than answer the question, "what if?" the Chinese isekai equivalent is more like, "what if we told the same old story but changed the scenery?" It annoys me for the same reason that certain scifi/fantasy shows/movies annoy me: They're just drama, "in space" or drama, "in the future" or drama, "in another world" with basically zero plot elements relating to the differences in technology, science, magic, etc. No one is exploring the possibilities or problems that certain differences could entail. They're not even weird! Which is another common appealing point of anime--even when the basic plot is the same as many other shows (e.g. "the hero has a shield permanently stuck to their arm that they can't remove? haha; what‽"). As soon as I see that cultivation is a major element of the show it's akin to watching an anime and being like, "Oh a demon lord? How creative." =)

tomhunters 5y ago

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.

asciimov 5y ago

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.

lelag 5y ago
> 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. I agree 100% with that. That's probably one of the reason that I've been watching more Korean series lately. They seem to be very standardised to tell a complete story in exactly 16 episodes. Starting and finishing a series is a known 16 to 20 hours time commitment. In comparison, starting any new US series is a scary proposition. If it's successful, it might get 10 seasons and 2 spin-off. If it's not, it might stop abruptly at anytime with no resolution to the story.
- SV_BubbleTime 5y ago
  > If it's successful, it might get 10 seasons and 2 spin-off. If it's not, it might stop abruptly at anytime with no resolution to the story. This is something I really appreciated about Dark (German). They wrote the story as three seasons, it was complete for three seasons, they found and released all three seasons. There won’t be a fourth. It was refreshing. Where in American shows even if they have some idea where they are going (anti-Lost) they almost never completely shut the door.

everdrive 5y ago

“Took over the world” vs. “Became popular” It’s a minor quibble, but this sort of hyperbole always comes of as unnecessarily disingenuous.