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?
