Korean TV series continues success of Asian dramas

Linda Boentaram, Contributor, Jakarta

On local television, 2002 really is the year of Asian dramas.

After several hugely successful Taiwanese teenage series, which helped break the Western dominance of local television, it's now the turn of Korean dramas to set rating records with their heartrending plots.

As Dao Ming Si-San Cai's roller-coaster love life on Meteor Garden was ending, local TV stations were preparing a string of soppy Korean dramas as their next big hits.

And in case you were wondering why the stations picked these dramas, you should know that these tear-jerking Korean dramas have broken viewer records all around Asia. Take Endless Love, aired by Indosiar. The tragic love story of two young people growing up as brother and sister has had millions of women crying buckets in Singapore, Taiwan, China, Hong Kong and Malaysia.

In Singapore, Endless Love drew an average of 161,000 viewers per episode, and in Taiwan the show moved some 100,000 Taiwanese to visit Korea in 2000. Other Korean series such as All About Eve and Doctor Love also have been top-rated shows in numerous Asian countries.

So what makes Korean dramas suddenly hot? It is hard to say, but apparently there is a new trend among Asian viewers. "(Girls just love to) cry and make their hearts ache," Kim Ng from Singapore's Diners World Travel, which arranged a Korean tour package to many of the locations from the series, told www.math.lsa.umich.edu.

Though most Korean dramas like Endless Love and Winter Sonata, with their tearful love-hate plots, are opposite of Meteor Garden, the sentimentality of the stories has successfully touched viewers' sensitive side, leaving a deep impression.

"I work in the planning department of a movie studio, so I'm picky about what I watch, but I got hooked after watching Endless Love," admitted Mr. Chang from Taiwan, as quoted by taiwanheadlines.gov.tw.

Supported by excellent cinematography, romantic soundtracks and picture-perfect casts, plus Japan-like promotions, the Korean dramas of today have broken the low quality and sensationalist stereotypes created by their predecessors.

A Korean drama observer in Taiwan said perfectly chosen backdrops, such as the autumn sceneries and blooming chrysanthemums in Endless Love, add to this romanticism.

These scenes, said the observer as reported online in local tabloid Citra, might be what viewers want for an unforgettable show. Indeed, who would not be fascinated by, say, the snowy scenes and lovely piano compositions that provide the background to Winter Sonata? The astounding settings alone are sometimes enough to attract people's attention.

Besides their romantic nature, the new Korean drama series also have other advantages over their Japanese and Chinese counterparts.

Unlike youth-oriented Japanese dramas (manga-based Meteor Garden can be included in this category) or male-oriented Hong Kong dramas (which are full of blood and gore), Korean dramas have simpler, more down-to-earth stories. The classic tales of tangled relationships, status differences, envy and eternal first loves can satisfy audiences' longing for stories that reflect their daily lives.

Though many Taiwanese dramas have the same characteristics, they are often shoddily produced, with the exception of Meteor Garden. Most Korean drama fans are "those who already have their own share of life experiences", such as working women and housewives. The characters are also earthier than the characters in Japanese dramas.

"If my husband had Won Bin's qualities, then even if he threw things around and fought with me all the time, I wouldn't mind," said Tsai, who likes Endless Love star Won Bin because he is the kind of person she could encounter in her daily life, as reported in taiwanheadlines.gov.tw.

In China, people prefer Korean music and dramas due to lingering anti-Japanese sentiments and a growing fatigue for all things Western.

"We Chinese cannot directly adopt culture from the West due to cultural differences," Prof. Yun Hong of Qinghua University in Beijing told koreantimes.co.kr. "But we can easily embrace Korean pop culture, as it combines Asia and the West."

Lui Xiao-fei, a 32-year-old doctor from Beijing, was quoted by the website as saying that she often watched Korean dramas, as "I feel comfortable with them and I don't have a feeling of rejection, since Korean and Chinese cultures are similar".

Yet according to Prof. Cho Han-Haejoang from Yonsei University in Korea, the sudden recognition of all things Korean is the result of a newfound interest in Asian cultural products by Asian people who share a similar process of modernization.

It seems like the saturation effect of Westernization has propelled the rise of Asian culture in general. Korea is not the only country that has successfully revitalized its cultural industry. Since 2000, actors and filmmakers from Hong Kong, China and other Asian countries have gained international attention by winning prestigious cinematography prizes and box office spots.

And Korean dramas, which are as simple and sweet as Korean- made stationery sold in Jakarta, will only need a while to gain universal success in their own right.