It was a nice day last spring when some friends and I were walking back from one of our weekly Walgreens runs. We had decided to go because we needed snacks before returning back to the house to watch a movie. We were around a block from home when I started relaying to my friend Kaitlyn that I had watched an interesting Chinese drama on Netflix called, Accidentally in Love. My friend Lauren, who was walking behind us, overheard this and yelled, “Did you say you watched Accidentally in Love? I love that drama!” As we excitedly started talking about the show, Lauren asked if I had watched any other dramas, and offered to give a list of recommendations. Lauren’s love and excitement for Korean dramas, Chinese dramas, etc., made me want to watch more shows and started my obsession over K-dramas.
In this defense, I am defending the work of Korean dramas, also known as K-dramas. Above I did state that I watch more than just k-dramas, but I am only doing a defense of K-dramas since this defense could become too expansive and cover too many topics if I write this essay including Chinese, Taiwanese, and Japanese dramas. Mainly, I am defending this work because of my love for Korean dramas. In any free time, I gravitate towards watching various Korean dramas and find that they help in reducing my stress. I also know that these type of dramas tend to receive a lot of criticism and a lot of people tend to bring it down. With this defense, I am here to prove that Korean dramas are a worthwhile genre that more people should take more seriously and should not just scold or criticize without giving the genre a chance. I would say I have the authority to write about K-dramas due to the time spent watching and analyzing them. Since I was first introduced to the genre, I have watched more than 20 dramas and am very familiar with the basic algorithm that makes up a Korean drama. I have also been an avid movie and television show viewer for many years and would be able to make comparisons or give examples from growing up analyzing various movie and television programs.
Many are drawn to k-dramas due to the light-heartedness that is associated with most dramas. Even though Korean dramas do often contain serious subject matter, at the same time, the dramas usually brings in humor and a certain ease that most American television shows or dramas do not contain. A good example is the drama, Strong Woman Do Bong Soon. This drama deals with heavy subject matter such as multiple kidnapping incidents, murder, and serious issues of self-image. With these issues, the drama also contains many hilarious characters and scenes where it suddenly switches the mood of the drama. Strong Woman Do Bong Soon combines heavy subject matter with light-hearted, which makes it easier for people to digest. If you get heavy subject after heavy subject, it can become too much and too overwhelming. With Korean dramas, they have a nice balance so that your brain does not become numb from all the serious content.
K-dramas are also deemed to be more wholesome and less sex oriented than Western television and movies. In Hyunji Lee’s journal article, the author states that, “one of the biggest differences between Korean and Western dramas that fans consistently discussed is the amount of sexuality and violence depicted in dramas. Interviewees agreed and appreciated that K-dramas portray storylines that are, compared to Western counterparts, safer, more conservative, and relationship-based.” Most often in a Korean drama, the only thing you would witness would be kissing or the suggestion of sexual activities. I have never seen one that fully displays any character visibly having sexual relations and have never witnessed any nudity in a drama.
On the other hand, Western dramas often visibly show very sexual scenes and quite a bit of nudity. The Western show Outlander displays a lot of sexual encounters in Jamie and Claire’s relationship and often displays full body nudity. Another show that is known to show a lot of sexual encounters is Game of Thrones. With Korean dramas, you do not have to witness a lot of sexual displays, which many, find comforting if they are not in the mood for something really sexual. Korean dramas are also safe to watch in front of your children and I would happily let my future children (age 12-13+) watch k-dramas. I would not have to worry about the content they are watching and know that they are not going to see anything too rated for their age. Korean dramas are also good for the family to watch due to them not containing drastic amounts of violence. I became so attached to k-dramas because I was always tired of watching a lot of violence and gore in television shows, which I do not like. It is a comfort to know that I can watch something that will also bring me more joy and laughter instead of horrifying me or making me depressed.
Hyunji Lee also pointed out that a lot of people watch K-dramas due to the relationships. I would say all the dramas I have watched contain good relationships to viewers and have never thought that a relationship of the two main characters was ever really toxic. In some dramas, there is the moodier main guy character who, at first, you do not think is great for the main woman. That usually tends to be due to some misinterpretations from the audience not getting to yet witness some future scenes. By the end, the main guy usually grows into a better person to where the two main characters have a really loving relationship. A lot of Western shows or movies I have seen have often contained relationships that you wonder why you ever encouraged.
When Twilight was very popular, most people rooted for Edward and Bella’s relationship and did not notice the many problems and issues within their relationship. For example, Bella had no personality and just obsessed over being with Edward. She could not even cope living without him and fell apart. While the actions of Edward seeing Bella at night and following her around once seemed romantic, they now seem to be the actions of a stalker. The relationships in k-dramas often make you wish that (if you are single) you have a man or woman that loves you as purely as the main characters do in the drama and are actually relationships based on pure love to the extent that one is willing to give up anything for the other.
Lee (2017 cited Jung, 2010) states that many dramas appeal to audiences due to, “The strong emphasis on the love storylines and romances in K-dramas that develop rather slowly, regardless of its subgenre, may also be a significant part of these texts’ appeal, which also highlights the caring and sensitive aspects of this new form of Asian masculinity.” Another bonus about Korean dramas is that you get time to witness the two main character’s relationship from when they first have a crush on one another to sometimes even marriage and raising a family. In Western shows or movies, such as, Twilight, Titanic, Les Miserables, Hallmark shows, etc., they do not show as extensive a relationship as in k-dramas. Some American television shows do show relatively extensive relationships, but they still do not have the same depth as Korean shows. Korean dramas show a relationship through many, many struggles and many breakups. They show the couple when they are not together, through when they are starting to get to know each other, and then how their love lasts through a couple of breakups later. Lee also states that,
By portraying heterosexual romantic relationships in a more reserved and innocent way with beautiful, tender, and exotic male characters, these dramas create a fantasy that Western viewers, who may be less familiar with such representations through their local media, may find more attractive. Thus, Danielle (48, White) described K-dramas as ‘an escape, a fantasy known for taking you away from your own life … to have you participate in another world. … The beautiful people, the clothing, and the stories’. It can be said that in K-dramas, Western fans find escape from the demanding and tiresome routines of their ‘real’ lives through a sweet romantic relationship with a pretty Asian male in a world they perceive to be more respectful.
With Korean dramas offering a more carefree, light-hearted world and getting you involved in the world created, it often takes you away from your own life and transports you to another world. That is one thing k-dramas do that I do not find in a lot of Western dramas. For me, I start binge watching Korean dramas when I am really stressed and I specifically find dramas that are labelled as romantic, comedy, or fantasy in order to escape, laugh, and cry along with the characters. As Lee said, I often do find the world of Korean dramas more respectful than Western shows and often characters themselves are more respectful in ways that Americans are not.
Another good thing about K-dramas is that they often only have one season, two at the most. There is no worry of the television show going on and on without an end or the writers droning on with the story to where you begin to hate the show for becoming either repetitive or going in a very odd direction. Instead, the plot is always well thought out and well written to where you can tell by just watching the story and the words said by characters that a lot of time was taken into creating the drama. The writers always wrap up a story (with an ending that is easily understandable and often decent) and make sure to wrap it up in one season. The story lines always make sense and also never branch off into an unknown and pointless direction. Even with multiple story lines in a k-drama, all those stories always have an important connection to each other. This also makes Korean shows easier to binge watch, since they do not have 13 seasons.
Often people criticize Korean dramas for “being too cheesy” or being “so unbelievable” or they contain “too many clichés and often contain repeated themes.” Starting with the idea of a drama being “too cheesy,” people do not seem to get that they are meant to be more light-hearted and often the “cheesiness” makes them more hilarious and makes what the characters are doing really funny. What Western viewers would deem as “cheesy” is often just light-hearted fun and often unexpected jokes or incidences. The “cheesiness” of the love plot makes the relationship really heartwarming, pure, and enviable.
The “cheesiness” of the comedy often makes the drama more humorous. In the drama, You’re Beautiful, one of the main band members often cannot see that he is being duped and that the new band member is actually a female, instead of a male. People might exclaim that that is “so cheesy” and “why can’t he easily see that the band member is a girl when we all would have already realized it!” Those people usually do not understand that the “cheesiness” is a trait of Korean dramas that adds to the amusing aspect of the character and scene and that the character is on purpose supposed to come off as overly oblivious, which is used as a character trait.
Moving on to the believability of K-dramas, they are supposed to be unbelievable. The shows are fiction and even often contain fantasy elements. They usually do contain elements that can be believable, but then branch off into an overly dramatic plot or a fantastical setting where the main character, for example, actually comes from a comic book and becomes self-aware of this. Those aspects is what pulls viewers in and makes them want to watch. If the viewers wanted something more believable, they would look for something that either reflects their life or current situations in the world. Often these dramas are meant to be an escape from reality and help to get your mind off of the world you currently live in. Also most books contain unbelievable content, but are not criticized for that. They are usually proclaimed as “great fantasy novels.”
Also, a lot of Western television shows are unrealistic too. Outlander contains time travel and Game of Thrones contain dragons which are both unrealistic. Even Hallmark movies contain unrealistic events, such as, the guy and girl getting trapped together and the guy has to take this stranger on a trip with him. Who takes a stranger they just met and carpools them across the country and lets them stay at their family’s house for Christmas? That is definitely not realistic in this untrusting world. Often I think people get too wrapped up in wanting to only find faults in something and say that the content where they come from is a lot better. I think people forget that Korean dramas is not only based on relationships and life stories but can also contain a more fantastical story plot. When people who do not really know the genre start discussing it, it seems they only think about them as being in real life circumstances or representing a more romantic real life. But K-dramas have a ton of different genres that embodies it and is not just made of one. Also the unrealistic side to K-dramas also make the plot more exciting and can also move the plot along.
Moving on to address the criticism about too many clichés and repeated themes, K-dramas do contain a lot of clichés and often have similar themes, but those dramas are still not the same. The K-dramas are still different in their own ways and come up with new ways of displaying or adding to those clichés. In one drama, the clichéd love story is always going to be different than in another, even with similar plots or ideas. Even in remakes of a drama, there are still differences to the same content. It can also be nice to have content where it is a bit more predictable.
Tropes and clichés could be thought as the same because they are both based in reoccurring media or stories. Even in Western society, some of our media contains tropes or clichés. In Western culture, we see more media repeating the trope of the Cinderella story and still love every version we encounter. Some tropes that are fun in K-dramas are the hate to love cliché, the destined connection of the two main leads, and the cross-dressing cliché. Sometimes I want something that is not confusing and just to relax and be able to easily understand where a drama is going and to be able to predict where the story could be headed. Sometimes you just want that nostalgia of something familiar, which a Korean drama often gives you with these tropes.
Once you watch so many dramas, you notice that there is an algorithm to the romance, but each romance is still not the same and often branches a bit from the algorithm. To people complaining about the predictability of dramas, they seem to forget that America also contains predictable algorithms in their shows and movies. In To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, we can sense by the two guy characters trying to be beside Lara Jean that there is going to be a major love triangle. We also know which guy Lara will choose in the end. A lot of western viewers criticize Korean dramas for its predictability yet seem to forget that a lot of our media contains similar content.
Some of the things Westerners find too unrealistic or too ridiculous often come from Korean culture and is more probable of an idea in Korea than it is in America. Often people exclaim that nobody would take or stand the harsh mother in law or often people say that the family dynamics are too unrealistic. That is often due to Korean culture being different than in America. Once you watch more dramas, you understand that family values are different in Korea than in America. As web user name xyzlady2 Zavannah states, “Writers as you know, write about what they know and incorporate their experiences into their writing. And so you get the Korean family dynamics and it makes for a great drama” (Amino).
Korean Dramas are a way for others outside of Korea to experience and learn about a new culture. Even with all the fantastical or fictional components, all the dramas still contain elements that are very different culturally to America and displays some of those values from that culture. People often exclaim that after they get stuck on watching Korean dramas, they want to start learning the language, especially so that they would be able to rely less on the English translation and more by ear. When I was beginning to try to learn Korean, my friend told me to just keep paying attention to words from dramas and how the characters were pronouncing the language.
Whenever I have watched a k-drama, it has made me want to go to Korea and explore the different food, clothing stores, cities, etc. Web username xyzlady2 Zavannah also states that, “Dramas make me want to visit Korea, eat their food and drink beer and soju (don't even drink too young) and just enjoy their life style for a little while. There is an innocence and naivety in them that you can't find anywhere else” (Amino). It is great that a television show can make a person want to learn about and explore the world around them, which K-dramas do. People get to spread out from their own culture and get to experience what it is like somewhere different from where they grew up. That is part of the magic of K-dramas, that they let you explore more of the world, even if you cannot physically travel there yet.
Works Cited
Lee, Hyunji. “A ‘Real’ Fantasy: Hybridity, Korean Drama, and Pop Cosmopolitans.” Media, Culture & Society, vol. 40, no. 3, 2018, pp. 365–380.[1]
Zavannah, xyzlady2. “Answers in Defense of K-Dramas: K-Drama Amino.” K-Drama | Aminoapps.com, AminoApps, 6 July 2017, aminoapps.com/c/k-drama/page/blog/answers-in-defense-of-k-dramas/o3Gt_dulDV8nLRzvj5qdWMZ14Jb8W.