台灣電視媒體大未來Media on the Move
Dae Jang Gum:
An Exploration into the Wave of Popularity of
Korean Dramas in Asia
Song Weon Geun
Korean TV series, movies, and songs have created a wave of interest in Korea among the Asian countries. The most recent Korean Wave is driven by the TV drama series, which are gaining popularity in Vietnam, mainland China, and Taiwan among other Southeast Asian countries. The Korean Wave likewise invaded Japan. Korean food, learning of the Korean language, and visits to film locations in Korea have become the trend in major parts in Asia.
The drama series Dae Jang Gum, currently aired on GTV in Taiwan, has recorded a 5.46 percent viewership rating, the highest ever for a Korean drama series. The series will air on NHK come October, and is likewise expected to be aired throughout Asia. We look forward to Dae Jang Gum becoming the first historical drama from Korea that is welcomed by audiences throughout Asia.
Due to this Korean Wave, export of Korean programs in 2003 increased by 46 percent to US$43 million, while import increased by 11.8 percent to US$28 million. Drama series accounted for 86 percent of the exports. The reasons for the popularity of the Korean drama series are many. We can explore than from the perspectives of the program contents and their production system and structure.
Drama Contents and Characteristics
Handsome leading men and beautiful leading ladies, exquisite acting, and intriguing plots are the common elements in Korean drama series. To be sure, production, script writing, and acting are essential for the success of the TV dramas. For instance, each episode of Dae Jang Gum features close-up shots of lead actress Lee Young-ae in her every trial and tribulation. Viewer attention and interest are attracted by the evolving storyline, crescending climax, and conflicts, in addition to the delicate recipes of royal cuisine and sub-plots of revenge and love.
The TV dramas balances Western concept and culture with Asian sentiments such as the deep-rooted Confucianism, family values, and love.
Compared with Hollywood or Japanese films that sometimes bombard the senses, Korean dramas are relatively more intimate and realistic for Asian viewers.
The MBC drama What is Love, whichaired on CCTV during the 1990s, revolved around issues of family and love, and depicted the conflicts between traditional and modern culture. The series conjured memories of the past from the Chinese audience. The KBS drama Winter Sonatalikewise captured the hearts of Japanese audiences when it aired in Japan with its exploration on the role of family members in an evolving and realistic love story.
The TV dramas narrate the conflict between good and evil in a simple, surreal manner that allows the viewers to fully vent their emotions. The dramas use the love story between stark contrasts, such as that between good and evil or between rich and poor, to satisfy viewers.
In Dae Jang Gum, audiences are thrilled by the well-written plot of this drama that describes the lead character Jang Gumwho, through her abilities and will-power, overcame adversities in the form of conservative, corrupt, and immoral evil imperial officials who would do whatever it takes to maintain power.
Viewers are invited into a dreamland through the heart-warming dialogs, melancholic music, and beautiful cinematography.
In Winter Sonata, viewers in Japan were moved by the directness in the delivery of dialogs, which were albeit sometimes boring and irrelevant. Of course, the handsome leading men and beautiful leading ladies in the drama series also conjured up the foreign audiences’fascination toward love and the possibility for true love.
The exquisite scenes in Winter Sonata likewise attracted Japanese tourists who were anxious to visit the set locations; related paraphernaliabecame hot selling as well. These were direct results of the exquisitecinematography of the Korean drama series.
Dae Jang Gum features delicate recipes of royal cuisine and exotic traditional costumes, accentuated by the beautiful landscape of Cheju Island.
Production
TV series are produced in accordance with stringent social norms.
Korean TV dramas produced by public TV stations focus on the values of social responsibilities, and their contents are consistent with social values. For this reason, the drama series are popular in Asia.
Contents that contain extreme violence, and sensationalism are often deleted during the production process.
Dae Jang Gum has a lively script, which portrays a positive outlook on events and love. The depiction of hard work and dedication to overcome obstacles provides a positive outlook in life and is likewise highly educational.
The Korean TV market is a competition among three stations, namely, MBC, KBS, and SBS. The TV stations are allowed to invest heavily in TV dramas and are given assistance to produce high quality drama series.
With a stable source of finance under such an environment, TV stations thus are able to attempt diverse and innovative experiments, and at the same time nurture quality scriptwriters, actors, and producers through venture capital and joint ventures. In other words, the creation of too many TV stations would result in low production quality and cheap TV drama series. On the other hand, there exist the possibility of complacency and self-satisfaction in an environment monopolized by one or two TV stations. However, Korean television uses appropriate and adequate competition to achieve harmony and balance.
Dae Jang Gum is a historical drama series with elaborate sets, costumes, and a strong cast, each episode costing more than US$100,000 to produce. Program production of such magnitude is only possible in a market with economies of scale. Dae Jang GumdirectorLee Byung-Hun himself is an expert at historical drama and was producer of the MBC drama Hur Jun. The finely produced Dae Jang Gum is the embodiment of his experience and specialization.
Korea dramas are planned for overseasdistribution prior to production. Cast selection, dialogs, and set designs are likewise pre-planned. Since Korea has a small market for TV dramas, we can say that no effort is spared in TV drama production due to the good reviews generated by Korean films in the overseas markets.
Finally, Korean drama series have recently ventured into the Middle East, such as Egypt, and the South American markets. We pay close attention to market changes, and are encouraged that Dae Jang Gum has been warmly received by viewers in the U.S. KBC Channel 28 (WOCH-LP) in Chicago, which caters to the Korean audience, recently aired Dae Jang Gum with English sub-titles and received enthusiastic e-mails from more than 500 American viewers. This is testimony to the program’s popularity with the U.S. audience. For this reason, the leading daily Chicago Tribune, in an article entitled Korean Soaps Lure Unlikely Audience, reported the mass appeal of Korean drama series on American audiences. The report said that the Korean TV series appealed to audiences due to their focus on family, absence of violence, fast-paced story telling, and high production quality.
(The content is subject to a bit of change)
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