Korean wave

The Korean wave spreads to the world

Kim Tae-hee, who starred in the hit show Iris (Photo: Taewon Entertainment)

In its home country, hallyu — the “Korean Wave” of TV series, movies and pop singers that swept across Asia — was once considered no more than a fad.While its biggest hits, such as Winter Sonata and Dae Jang Geum (aired in the U.S. as Jewel in the Palace), were sensations overseas, the resulting glut of hallyu-prefixed output was often of a vastly inferior quality, leading many to think that its days were numbered. But recently, hallyu has emerged stronger than ever, with its hits sweeping through Asia and onto the world stage.

Turning on the television in his hotel room on a recent business trip to Vietnam, K. from Korea was astonished. Though he had certainly glimpsed the posters of Korean celebrities adorning the shops en route from the airport, he hadn’t expected to see them all again on his TV in a seemingly endless procession of Korean drama shows. Seeing the actors dubbed in Vietnamese was also a source of amusement. On one show, he could swear that one person’s voice was dubbing every single character. Later asking a guide, who confirmed his suspicion, whether it wasn’t offputting to have one actor do all the voices, he was told no it wasn’t, because the dramas are just so addictive.

Actor Lee Jun-ko, heroine Nam Sang-mi and Jung Kyung-ho star in Time between Dog and Wolf

And situations like this aren’t limited to Vietnam. At 9pm, the “golden hour” for viewing figures, Korean dramas are a common sight on Hong Kong’s TV stations. ATV, one of the largest outlets, currently shows Korean programming from 8 to 10:30pm, Monday to Friday. Just a few years ago, Korean dramas were a marginal concern, with only two or three aired per year. Then Dae Jang Geum, a historical tale about a female physician in the Joseon Dynasty, seized a massive 50 percent audience share, taking Korean TV shows into the big time.

China has proved just as susceptible to the Korean wave. Again, the catalyst for success was Dae Jang Geum, which gained an audience share of at least 15 percent in 31 major cities across the country, followed by other big hits such as Full House and Stairway to Heaven. Such has been the success of Korean stars in the country, some are now appearing in homegrown Chinese productions. After gaining popularity in Successful Story of a Bright Girl, about a country girl falling for a big-city business type, Jang Na-ra co-starred in the Chinese drama My Bratty Princess with Taiwanese actor Alec Su. Its sequel, My Bratty Princess 2, featured another Korean actress, Chae Rim, who hit it big in All About Eve, in which two news reporters vie for a top spot in the network they both work for. Alongside Jang Hyuk, who gained popularity with Introducing My Girlfriend, Chae Rim is scheduled to star in the upcoming Chinese remake of All About Eve.

Stills from the drama Iris (Photo: Taewon Entertainment)

From Hong Kong, hallyu has also spread throughout Southeast Asia. Even Myanmar, a country not known for its cultural openness, has fallen for the charms of Korean entertainment, first with Winter Sonata and now Dae Jang Geum and a comedy gangster flick Marrying the Mafia. In cracking Southeast Asian markets, Hong Kong has proved a crucial conduit. Full House, to take one example, garnered a 52 percent rating in Hong Kong with 63 percent in Thailand, 42.3 percent in the Philippines and an astonishing 78 percent rating in Indonesia.

A scene from the drama Boys Over Flowers (Photo: Creative Leaders Group Eight)

Today, proving their remarkably adaptable appeal, hallyu shows have started creeping into Central Asia, Africa and even the Muslim world. Slushy hit Winter Sonata aired in Egypt in 2004, while Tunisia has developed a taste for Korean historical dramas such as Jamyeonggo. In 2007, after joining the long list of countries to fall for Dae Jang Geum, Iran became hooked on Jumong, which recorded a 60 percent audience share. Uzbek viewers saw Painter of the Wind; Mongolians watched Temptation of a Wife. And the recently finished Personal Preference, in which a straight man pretends to be gay in order to room with the female lead, is being exported to Central and South America, Africa, and the Middle East.

By Jeong Deok-hyeon

The international wave

Protagonist Lee Seung-gi from Brilliant Legacy (Photo: Pan Entertainment)

So how is the original market for hallyu, Japan, faring now? Though many believe the Korean wave petered out after Winter Sonata and Dae Jang Geum, the reality is that, though not on the phenomenal scale of those two shows, a string of Korean shows continue to do well there today. Having failed to lure audiences with dramas that mimicked the formula of the big hits, Korean TV producers are finding that homegrown successes are continuing to pull in Japanese viewers. Romantic comedy My Lovely Sam Soon, a huge success in Korea, took a 5.2 percent share in the highly fragmented Japanese market (where even 6 percent is rare), and historical dramas Yi San and Dae Jo Yeong also struck a big chord with Japanese viewers.

At home, the number of Korean dramas is rising steadily. From November 2008 to June 2009, the number of such shows increased from 27 to 42, with each channel raising its own quota of dramas from two to six. And with greater volume has come greater diversity. After Winter Sonata inspired a cult-like following among women throughout Asia, Korean producers saturated the market with sentimental romances with increasingly unfeasible plots. Now, however, subject matter includes noir (Time Between Dog and Wolf), family (Brilliant Legacy), history (Jumong) and even private educational institutes (Boys Over Flowers). By diversifying their output into fast-paced, more action-oriented historical series, producers have managed to lure male viewers into what was once an almost entirely female preserve — and now, viewers are getting younger, too.

Iris's stars Lee So-hyeon, Kim Tae-hee (Photo: Taewon Entertainment)

Iris is a prime example of how hallyu dramas have changed. On April 21, the espionage thriller was the first Korean drama to be aired on Japanese TV in the 9pm golden hour, with the first two episodes (broadcast consecutively) receiving a 10.1 percent overall audience share, a huge number by Japanese standards.

Nor were ratings the sole triumph for Iris. With much of the production and marketing duties shared with TBS, Iris starred Lee Byung-hun, one of Korea’s biggest stars, and TOP, a singer with popular K-pop group Big Bang, and featured a soundtrack by Shin Seung-hun, a fast-rising Korean star in Japan. By bringing such big and varied stars on board, Iris aimed for, and got, not just viewers in their 30s and older, but a younger demographic as well.

As a joint production with Japan, Iris also symbolized hallyu’s growing role as a truly pan-Asian phenomenon. From being made entirely in Korea, and then viewed in Japan and China, newer productions are often harnessing the strengths of all three countries. Kim Hyoo-jong, dean of the Graduate School of Arts Management at Chugye University for the Arts, defines the first phase of hallyu as the “made in” era, the next phase as the “made by” era (when the focus will be on the production company), and the current phase as the “made for” era, where the emphasis is on targeting groups that can receive the most value and enjoyment.

A still from Boys Over Flowers (top), A scene from Personal Preference (bottom) (Photo: Creative Leaders Group Eight, Victory Production)

Hallyu has become an industry where content is no longer restricted by national boundaries. China’s vast market, Japan’s marketing skills and Korea’s excellence in production are now combined to produce a single product. Having expanded its boundaries within Asia, the next stepping stone for hallyu has become the global market. Korean actors and actresses are starring in Chinese and Japanese dramas, and Korean directors and authors are working with Chinese and Japanese actors and actresses. Capital is no longer limited by national boundaries, and TV and movie moguls are searching for new investments throughout the region.

As hallyu aims to consolidate its success in Asia, producers recognize that they, too, have to change. Though not created specifically with the international market in mind, Dae Jang Geum is perhaps the best example of how Korean dramas can succeed across borders: by identifying universal themes that can appeal to viewers everywhere, and can be tweaked to speak to their own lives.


TODAY EUROPE, TOMORROW HOLLYWOOD

Jeon Do-yeon, who previously won the best female actress award at Cannes Film Festival in 2007, recently starred the film The Housemaid (Photo: Mirovision)

The internationalization of Korean TV dramas is every bit as evident in movies. In China, the list of Korean stars appearing in local productions includes Song Hye-kyo in Wong Kar-wai’s The Grand Master, Jun Ji-hyun in Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, and Kim Heesun in the historical movie Civil Wars. And while the focus for hallyu in Southeast Asia undoubtedly remains TV dramas, in other markets, notably Europe, it is the movies that are catching the critics’ eyes.

Among the films on show at this year’s Cannes Film Festival was Im Sang-soo’s The Housemaid, a remake of a cult Korean classic from the 1960s. Meanwhile, Lee Chang-dong’s Poetry received great acclaim and went on to win the award for best screenplay. Another Korean movie Hong Sang-soo’s Ha Ha Ha received the top prize in the Un Certain Regard category.

A scene from the movie HAHAHA, which starred Moon So-ri and Kim Sang-gyeong - the film received the top prize at this year's Cannes Film Festival (Photo: Sponge Entertainment)

While Cannes itself was, because of Europe’s ongoing economic problems, a somewhat dampened affair, Korean films enjoyed their most successful showing yet. Besides The Housemaid’s tally of 15 countries, Poetry and Lee Joon-ik’s Blades of Blood (which was not officially on show) were sold to four countries apiece. In addition, Kim Ji-woon, of The Good, The Bad, The Weird fame, sold his latest work, I Saw the Devil, to French distributor ARP. Though still unfinished, the movie is receiving a lot of attention thanks to its stellar cast, which includes Lee Byung-hun and Oldboy star Choi Min-sik.

Director of Poetry Lee Chang-dong and The Housemaid's director Im Sang-soo (Photo: Unikorea, Mirovision)

As seen at Cannes, Korean movies are slowly but surely gaining ground in Europe. But what of the movie Holy Grail, Hollywood? So far, hallyu has had considerably less success there. Yet two top stars, Rain and Lee Byung-hun, were cast in big-budget movies — respectively Ninja Assassin and G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra — and with the success hallyu continues to enjoy elsewhere, who would bet against a Korean-directed Hollywood film hitting it big in the next 10 years?

source: Korea.net