Korean Television Drama Research Articles

Hanryu no Shakaigaku: Fandamu, Kazoku, Ibunka Koryu (Sociology of the Korean Boom: Fandom, The Family, and Intercultural Exchange)

The subject of this volume is the boom in popularity of Korean pop culture known as hanryū in Japan. Author Lee Hyangjin, a cultural sociologist, holds hanryū up as a mirror to Japanese society, and treats it as a trans-national cultural current that promises revealing insights into Asia's social and cultural makeup. Lee presents findings on many different aspects of the hanryū phenomenon. Her approaches include an analysis of the stories told by the female Japanese fans—the principal driving force behind the boom; an examination of the features of hanryū cultural consumption and the historical and social contexts in which the phenomenon is situated; a review and critique of the existing literature on the subject; and an analysis of hanryū-related texts. The book's arguments are based on both literature and primary data from a survey of female Japanese fans of Korean star Bae Yongjoon. The survey was conducted by Lee in 2005 and 2006, yielding 324 questionnaire responses and more than 80 interview transcripts. In the first chapter of the book, these survey data are presented and analyzed, conveying to readers the extent to which Bae Yongjoon has become part of the fans’ everyday lives. In Chapter 2, the author uses nine stories from her interviews—three with Japanese nationals, three with Korean citizens residing permanently in Japan, and three with Koreans recently arrived in Japan—as axes for a discussion of the divergent effects of hanryū on women from different backgrounds and in different living circumstances. Patterns of hanryū fandom in Japan, and the personal social interactions surrounding fandom, are examined in Chapter 3. This chapter also includes a discussion of Korean celebrity culture. In Chapter 4, Lee adopts the standpoint of homo ludens (the human at play) to explore the historical and social backdrop of hanryū fandom and its specificity in terms of cultural consumption. The fifth chapter introduces readers to the major existing modes of scholarly inquiry on this topic, particularly those employing theories of cultural diplomacy, culture industries and gender. Lee mounts some new arguments of her own, and critiques aspects of the anti-hanryū discourse. Finally, in Chapter 6, she presents a comparative textual analysis of popular Korean television drama and the wave of New Korean Cinema and points to the increasing multiplicity of the hanryū phenomenon.

Television Drama, Narrative Engagement and Audience Buying Behavior

In the past few years, the popularity of Korean television dramas, songs and movies has skyrocketed in countries of North and Southeast Asia. This huge wave of Korean pop culture is referred to as the Hanryu (the Korean wave). One of the most significant trendsetters of the Hanryu was the Korean television drama Winter Sonata, which was remarkably popular in every Asian country where it was broadcast. The present article investigates the perception of Japanese audience members toward Winter Sonata’s narrative and how this perception influenced their buying behavior of Winter Sonata memorabilia, such as clothing, cosmetics, DVDs/CDs of the program, trips to Korea and the like. Employing both qualitative and quantitative methods, this study finds that the popularity of the drama was generated by Japanese audiences’ engagement with its narrative. Further, the audience perception of the narrative’s quality was found to predict whether or not they purchased a Winter Sonata product.

Small Screen, Big Tourism: The Role of Popular Korean Television Dramas in South Korean Tourism

This paper examines a popular cultural phenomenon originating in Korea which has assumed significance across Asia and beyond. This ‘Korean wave’ or Hallyu includes the circulation and consumption of Korean popular television dramas. An exploratory case study approach is presented to provide insights on the relationships between this phenomenon and patterns of tourism in Korea related to the wider concept of screen-tourism. The paper addresses the relative lack of attention to television programming within the film tourism literature, particularly in non-Western and non-English language settings. Some common assumptions in the film tourism literature are challenged here, including: the inter-changeability of large-screen films and programmes produced for the television; and the inter-cultural circulation of film and television programmes as catalysts for tourism. Our findings illustrate that the inter-cultural circulation of Hallyu television dramas, particularly in neighbouring countries in Asia, may be interpreted in relation to theories of cultural proximity. A need to understand the complex patterns and political economy of distribution, circulation and reception of television programmes is also identified. The paper argues for more research that links visitor flows with television audience research and which recognizes the organizational infrastructures that allow media productions to go beyond circulation in domestic TV markets. Professional expertise and networks, transnational business relationships, ownership and national media regulatory regimes are highlighted, as is the extent to which media professionals and organizations connect with the domestic and international tourism sector.

An Analysis of the Korean television drama 'Mom's Angry' - focused on Korean Family's Issues in Life Course

An Analysis of the Korean television drama 'Mom's Angry' - focused on Korean Family's Issues in Life Course

Daejanggeum as ‘affective mobilization’: lessons for (transnational) popular culture and civil society

(Transnationalized) popular culture and (global) social movement are often seen as unrelated, if not mutually exclusive. Popular culture is entertaining, consensual but trivial; social movement is serious, idealized and oppositional. Yet the WTO Ministerial Conference, held in Hong Kong in December 2005, saw the Korean protesters' adoption of the theme‐song of a popular Korean television drama, Daejanggeum, as their protest strategy. The Korean protesters had been framed by mainstream Hong Kong media as ‘violent rioters’, but the inclusion of the drama elements helped the protesters advance their cause by gaining instant rapport with the local Hong Kong news media and public/fans (of Korean wave). The impact of celebrity involvement in the WTO was also about an immediate transferal of fan affect, from celebrities to the movement, and to the Korean protesters. This ‘affect mobilization’, becomes important as movement capital, as the effective manipulation of emotions is a key to ‘getting the message across’ as movement strategies. The case of WTO Hong Kong reveals the possibility of a symbiotic relationship between transnational popular culture and globalized social movements. The ‘use’ of (Korean) popular cultural products enriches and complicates the affect subjectivities within the social movement, and arranges fan affect into multiple layers of emotion hierarchies/spheres. It remains to be seen, however, if this would set a precedence to protesters in future WTO rounds as they are keen to mobilize their causes in different locales. More research is needed, too, to demonstrate if the success of the Korean wave fosters the emergence of a transnational Asian ‘public’ or civil society. Yet, for now, the success of Korean protesters in the mobilization of Hong Kong public's affect epitomizes the hegemonic flow, or soft power, of Korean TV dramas in the Asian popular.

ALLOCENTRISM AND CONSUMER ETHNOCENTRISM: THE EFFECTS OF SOCIAL IDENTITY ON PURCHASE INTENTION

In this article the authors examine the effects of allocentrism and consumer ethnocentrism (CET) on intentions to purchase domestic versus imported products, focusing on the current phenomenon of the “Korean Wave” in Taiwan. Results based on data collected from 433 mall intercept interviews in Taiwan indicate that there is a strong positive relationship between allocentrism toward parents and CET. However, a significantly negative relationship between allocentrism toward friends and CET was also found. It was also found that friends' in-group attitude toward Korean television dramas has a mediating effect of allocentrism toward friends on CET and CET on intention to buy Korean products. In this study, it was found that CET played a mediating role between allocentrism toward parents and friends and purchase intention. This ethnocentric effect was attributed to parental and friends' in-groups which significantly enhanced and reduced, respectively, the impact of intergroup discrimination, making national identification a less obvious and important social category. These findings have significant implications for domestic and foreign marketers.

Film-Induced Tourism in Asia: A Case Study of Korean Television Drama and Female Viewers' Motivation to Visit Korea

Film-induced tourism refers to visits to a destination or attraction as a result of it being featured on television, film, or video. An important part of tourism marketing in Korea is the promotion of filming locations of Korean television soap operas as tourist attractions, because Korean television dramas enjoy immense popularity in Asia. Based on focus group interviews with Singaporean women who are avid viewers of Korean TV dramas, this article examines how emotions and experiences in watching Korean TV dramas motivate viewers to visit Korea. It also explores the mediatized gaze of female viewers-turned-tourists and how their actual tourist experiences in Korea influence their subsequent consumption of Korean TV dramas. Responses from the focus group participants were divided between those who were motivated by the TV dramas and those who were interested in visiting Korea for other reasons. For the former, the primary pull factor of beautiful scenery in the settings of the various Korean dramas was usually combined with the push factor of seeking to validate or confirm the landscapes and architecture that one had seen in the TV dramas. It was found that visiting Korea did not necessarily lead to interest in viewing Korean TV dramas, but participants who had a positive tour experience in Korea were more likely to be interested in Korean TV dramas upon returning home. As the participants indicated a preference for natural scenery (used as a backdrop for scenes in the TV dramas) over film sets, the author cautions against the overcommercialization and artificiality in the packaging of filming locations.

한류와 한국 드라마, 그리고 여성의 팬덤

This paper aims to find the reasons for Korean television drama being popular in Asia. In particular, the author argues that the role of women`s Korean drama fandom is important in the popularity of Korean television drama. What is the role of fandom? How is the gender identity related to women`s television viewing? What is the communicative process between the Korean drama producers and fans? What problems does the Korean Wave face recently? These are the questions dealt with in the paper.

Effects of Korean television dramas on the flow of Japanese tourists

This study investigated the effects of the Korean television (TV) drama series titled, Winter Sonata, on the potential or actual Japanese tourist flow to Korea. More specifically, this research explored the reasons for the popularity of the Korean TV drama series, the change of perceived image as an impact of the melodrama, and the preferred products of soap opera-induced tourism. The objectives of this study were achieved through two ways: (1) review of articles in newspapers, magazines, and reports; (2) analyses of a survey of Japanese tourists visiting featured locations of the Winter Sonata TV drama series. The results of this study indicated that this Korean TV series had a variety of impacts in relation to Korea and Japan. Interestingly, Japanese respondents in their 40s and over-preferred Korean TV dramas and indicated a stronger desire to take a Hallyu trip. Additionally, a high level of interest and empathy for leading actors and actresses were the key reasons for their preference for Korean dramas. Results of the canonical analysis indicated that respondents preferred the Korean TV dramas due to all five reason dimensions which demonstrated higher levels and agreement for the development of five out of the eight product types from this study.

Korean Wave and Korean Women Television Viewers in Singapore

Against the backdrop of cultural globalization and regionalization, this study theorizes on transnational television consumption and cultural flows within Asia by examining the ways in which women of the Korean diaspora enjoy homeland television drama while living in Singapore. It was found that Korean drama viewing provides these women with cultural resources to resist male dominance. In a word, they acquire semiotic power to produce resistive reading from the resources of the text. The Korean Wave phenomenon plays an interesting role in this. Moving the cultural industries' position upward in the Korean economy has allowed the expertise about Korean television drama to function as means of empowering women in familial power relations. It has also heightened their ethnic pride in their relations with other Asians. Articulated in these contexts, the Korean Wave produces new meanings and serves new cultural interests for women.

Chinese and Vietnamese Youth in the 1990s

Previous articleNext article No AccessChinese and Vietnamese Youth in the 1990sDavid Marr and Stanley RosenDavid Marr Search for more articles by this author and Stanley Rosen Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by The China Journal Volume 40Jul., 1998Special Issue: Transforming Asian Socialism. China and Vietnam Compared Published on behalf of the Australian Centre on China in the World at the Australian National University Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.2307/2667457 Views: 57Total views on this site Citations: 13Citations are reported from Crossref Copyright The China JournalPDF download Crossref reports the following articles citing this article:Thi Gammon Your Bodies are Our Future: Vietnamese Men’s Engagement with Korean Television Dramas as a Technology of the Self, Asian Studies Review 28 (Aug 2022): 1–19.https://doi.org/10.1080/10357823.2022.2098924Harry H. Kuoshu Discourses: Crazy Stone Dropped in a Postmodern Pond, (Apr 2021): 61–83.https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-73081-9_3Nguyen Thu Trang, Marie Jauffret-Roustide, Le Minh Giang, Laurent Visier How to be self-reliant in a stigmatising context? Challenges facing people who inject drugs in Vietnam, International Journal of Drug Policy 87 (Jan 2021): 102913.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugpo.2020.102913Arve Hansen Consumer Socialism: Consumption, Development and the New Middle Classes in China and Vietnam, (Oct 2020): 221–243.https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-6248-8_8Stephanie Geertman, Julie-Anne Boudreau “Life as Art”: Emerging Youth Networks in Hanoi and the Tree Hug Movement, City & Society 30, no.22 (May 2018): 210–236.https://doi.org/10.1111/ciso.12162Roy Huijsmans, Trần Thị Hà Lan Enacting nationalism through youthful mobilities? Youth, mobile phones and digital capitalism in a Lao-Vietnamese borderland, Nations and Nationalism 21, no.22 (Mar 2015): 209–229.https://doi.org/10.1111/nana.12095Ruohui Zhao, Hongwei Zhang, Jianhong Liu China’s Juvenile Justice: A System in Transition, (Oct 2014): 137–162.https://doi.org/10.1201/b17528-7Xiaojun Yan Engineering Stability: Authoritarian Political Control over University Students in Post-Deng China, The China Quarterly 218 (Mar 2014): 493–513.https://doi.org/10.1017/S0305741014000332Trần Thị Hà Lan, Roy Huijsmans Experiencing the State and Negotiating Belonging in Zomia: Pa Koh and Bru-Van Kieu Ethnic Minority Youth in a Lao-Vietnamese Borderland, (Jan 2014): 27–46.https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137326317_2Huong Nguyen When development means political maturation: adolescents as miniature communists in post-war and pre-reform Vietnam, 1975–1986, The History of the Family 17, no.22 (Jun 2012): 256–278.https://doi.org/10.1080/1081602X.2012.715244Karen Valentin Mass mobilization and the struggle over the youth, YOUNG 15, no.33 (Aug 2016): 299–315.https://doi.org/10.1177/110330880701500305William Hurst The City as the Focus, China Information 20, no.33 (Jul 2016): 457–479.https://doi.org/10.1177/0920203X06070035Nick Knight Understanding Australia's Neighbours, 30 (Jun 2012).https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139168397