Korean soap operas, with their attractive stars, competent writing, and defined storylines, have won a global fan base. They are in contrast to US and Mexican soap operas, which stretch storylines over months or years. The Korean wave has become popular worldwide, with fans exchanging information about subtitled DVDs and waiting for news of new series. Historical dramas, known as sa geuk, are among the most popular of the k-drama genre.
The Korean television industry’s unique approach to daytime drama has won it an international fan base. Korean soap operas are often romantic dramas or comedies with attractive stars, highly competent writing, and a defined storyline that usually ends within a maximum of 200 episodes. This is in contrast to soap operas from Mexico or the United States, which stretch storylines over months or years and are not known for the high quality of their acting or writing. The Korean soap opera’s unique qualities have impressed viewers across Asia, the Americas and the world, via subtitled releases on DVD or the Internet.
In many countries, the entertainment product is translated price imported from other nations, especially the United States. This is not always helpful to the importing country, as the highly sexual and violent content of US programming does not suit nations with different cultural standards. South Korea’s television industry has responded by creating its own dramas, with content designed to appeal to its citizens. The historical, cultural and linguistic components were created to give them broad appeal across the Korean population.
The Korean soap opera has proved to be quite popular in neighboring countries like Japan and China. Surprisingly, it was also popular in countries that didn’t share a culture and history with Korea, such as Egypt, India and Mexico. These Korean dramas, called k-dramas by fans, were soon imported to the United States, particularly in cities that had large Korean-American populations. The high production values of k-dramas soon won over fans who had no connection to the Pacific Rim. This universal appeal is itself one of the most unique things about Korean soap opera.
Historical dramas, known in Korean as sa geuk, are among the most popular of the k-drama genre, even though the history they deal with is almost exclusively Korean. Lavish costumes and elaborate martial arts sequences define this kind of Korean soap opera. It often conforms to Korea’s traditional values, such as Confucianism. Other k-dramas involve modern characters and situations, but maintain a distinctly Korean take on proceedings.
The growing popularity of Korean soap opera around the world has been dubbed the Korean wave. Fan clubs and websites are dedicated to individual k-dramas or the art form as a whole. Fans exchange information about subtitled DVDs and wait for the latest news of new series coming from Korea. Artists and production crews often use the genre’s popularity to further their careers on an international scale. Korean-American actress Yunjin Kim, for example, made her debut in Korean soap operas before landing a lead role in the hit American television series Lost.
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