드라마 속에 재현된 외국인과 한국의 다문화주의

Abstract

This study examines the ethnoscape of TV dramas on three Korean nationwide television channels from 2005 to 2012 by breaking down how many non-Koreans appear and how they are represented. Among all TV dramas, 6.4% show non-Korean characters of which are generally supportive or small roles. These characters are categorized into four groups: adoration, sympathy, proximity, and other. The adoration group consists mostly of white males from USA or Europe that have professional careers such as medical doctors or lawyers and are positively represented with attractive appearance and nice character. On the other hand, the sympathy group is made up of Southeast, Central Asians and blacks. They are mainly represented as an underprivileged group: females and low-paid workers. In the proximity group are the Japanese and Chinese characters. The Japanese are often represented as rich people that are highly competent or are able to easily cooperate with Koreans. This result shows that Korean TV dramas provide racial and ethnic stereotypes. Though rarely, some dramas represent various lives of foreigners and racial others in Korea. This study contributes to the establishment of sound multiculturalism by analyzing representation of racial others in TV dramas and internalized stereotypes of foreigners in the diverse and multicultural Korean society.