The Korean Wave: Crashing Hard into Hearts of the Western World
Eli Azizollahoff
A common complaint in media today is that everything seems like more of the same. Movies are remakes. Music all has similar sounds with similar messages. TV is dark, sexual, and pandering for viewers. But in this time of entertainment monotony, something stark and new has arisen – much to the confusion of those who aren’t fans – the international popularity of K-Pop and K-Dramas.
“I think, one of the main reasons why the western consumer is drawn to Korean or Asian media is because it’s not more of the same,” says Nava Neugroschl, a college student and 7+ year fan of both K-Pop and K-Drama, “They’re coming from a very different cultural background, so while some of the tropes do seem the same on paper, they’re executed very differently, even just for – let’s say for a K-Drama, the setting of the city that they’re in, it looks different, already that draws some people in. The music style, already, the conventions of the sentence structure, is different, it sounds different, it looks different and the execution of what they do is different. Their mindset's different and they’re culture is given over through these forms of media.”
This rise in popularity for Korean media and culture has an official term: “Hallyu.” “Hallyu” is a Chinese term that literally translates as “Korean wave,” which has become the English vernacular for this cultural spike.
The Korean Wave began in the 1990’s when the Korean government lifted its travel ban – allowing international influence —, revoked it censorship laws, and had to restructure its economy.
Around the same time, Seo Taiji and Boys, arguably the first-ever K-Pop boy group, appeared on a competition show and, for the first time ever, performed music with Western-style and ideals. They got the lowest votes of the show, but their song blew-up and changed the course of Korean music. A few years later the three Korean music labels that now run the $5 billion industry, were formed: SM, YG, and JYP.
In the early 2000’s K-Drama took off when Dae Jang Geum, a show about an orphaned cook who eventually became the king’s first female physician, was so popular in Korea it was exported to 87 other countries and broadened the world’ interest in Korean culture, cuisine, and history.
It was these factors, in combination, that helped Korea build itself politically using “soft power.” “Soft power” is a term coined by Joseph Nye, a Harvard political scientist, in the 1990s. “It refers to the intangible power a country wields through its image, rather than through hard force,” explains the business site, Martinroll. Whereas other countries, like American, use hard power – like their military – to become influential on the international playing field, Korea is the leading country in their use and building of soft power – their major export now being their culture, entertainment, and media. Pop-culture has become the currency in which Korea has built themselves up over the past twenty years – beginning with a GDP per capita less than Ghana and now rising to be the twelfth largest economy in the world.
K-Pop noticeably broke into the American market in 2012, with PSY’s international hit, “Gangam Style.” The song topped the charts around the world, reaching #2 on Billboard’s Hot 100 in the United States. The music video for the song held the record for most-viewed video on YouTube, with over 3 billion views, up until 2017.
Recently, a number of K-Pop groups have fully broken into the international market, with groups like BTS and BLACKPINK performing at Coachella, the American Music Award, and Times Square on New Year’s Eve.
Though Korean dramas are less publicly popular in the U.S. – limited by their nature as prerecorded entertainment and not performative, leaving no reason for Korean actors to come to do promotions or show their skills in America – according to a Korea Creative Content Agency study, about 18 million Americans watch K-Dramas. Viki, one of the top sites to watch Asian TV shows, has over 40 million users in 195 countries, the top country being the United States.
For the fans, though, Korean entertainment means a lot more than just a catchy song or a fun show, it is bringing something new, real, and different to the game, in a way that they connect to deeply.
Brocha W., a New York based K-Pop fan, said, “I love the connection with people all over the world and the sense of family that you get through having the same interest and passion. I have also found that K-Pop stars who share about their lives and experiences can serve as role models and inspirational figures for me.” She also noted the culture difference imbued in the music; “I appreciate the purity of it over how sexually-oriented western music is.”
In an interview with NBC News, Ji-Yeon Yuh, a professor of Asian-American studies at Northwestern, noted that “Korean drama and pop music, but drama especially, offer a version of a society that holds onto traditions and traditional values while moving forward as an economically advanced and developed society.
Some of the features that draw audiences to K-Drama are its unique plot lines, the fact that the character feel more naturally to many audience members, and the fact that most K-Dramas are limited run, meaning they are created to be a certain amount of episodes and do not continue past that.
Regarding limited run, Katherine S. on tumblr said, “it feels more like a prolonged movie most of the time, which is perfect for a TV series in my opinion. Characters can be more complex…and shows don't become repetitive or drag because they have a one good story arc to hold them all together.”
Edgar Allan Poe once described the benefit of the short story over the novel is that short stories have “the totality of effect,” which is to say that because you can read the whole thing in one sitting, you can fully immerse yourself in a way that you can’t when you have to stop and start through a novel. The limited run nature of K-Drama functions similarly.
“I hate being left with a cliffhanger and then needing to wait for a new season,” another tumblr user said, “so much so that I often will wait to watch shows entirely until all the seasons are out and the show is over. I love that I get to see a complete story with Asian dramas without having to wait; I feel like it leaves me more invested in the story because there is no unnecessary break and more satisfied overall.”
The same tumblr user continued, “Another thing I like about Asian dramas, that makes them different from Western entertainment, is that the stories (especially love stories) involve a wider variety of ages and often also include the role of parents/families in the love story.” She continued to explain how the emphasis on young love in Western media made her think she was “running out of time to fall in love as a teenager.” She also noted her appreciation, both culturally, and as an invested viewer, in Asian shows involving the whole family in an individual’s story, “As an Asian American, my parents are also very involved with my life and it felt alienating to watch teenagers fall in love in shows or movies without ever talking to their parents about it, or meeting each other’s families. I think the emphasis placed on family involvement in Asian content indicates a cultural value, but also adds another level of realism to an often otherwise cheesy story.”
A major criticism K-Dramas receive is that they rely heavily on clichés, with the consistent tropes like a love triangle, friend/enemies-to-lovers storylines, and the accidental-touch-then-elongated-stare scene, just to name a few.
“I used to think that too really,” says Danni, aka mainly-kpop on tumblr, “that it was all romance and whiny girls. Although it sort of it, it’s also weirdly nice seeing it. The romance is like a fanfiction where you feel what’s going to happen instantly and its cliché and predictable, but it still has you on the edge of your seat waiting for it to happen. They kiss, and you’re like ‘HAHA! I KNEW IT!’”
For many K-Drama fans, Korean TV isn’t just in addition to Western TV, it is a distinct preference.
“The reason I like Asian dramas over American ones,” says Rachel Pincus, a newer K-Drama fan, “[is in] American ones, once you get past what genre the show is, their all basically the same in that genre. Like, ya there’s different plotlines and different characters, but it’s like different flavors of cardboard. Or like tasteless crackers. And then you have Asian dramas, which are just so different in every respect.”
Ms. Pincus also noted that “something that I like is that people feel more real in Asian dramas, in the way they interact with each other. It feels more natural in that its awkward, versus American [shows] where everything is so polished, and even when it’s not polished it still like… contrived.”
It is the nature of Korean content being more “real,” which is one of the major pulls towards K-Pop as well.
“What drew me to K-Pop,” says Deborah Plotzker, a nursing student, “was I come from a very very musical family, we appreciate music a lot and I was finding the American market music to be very blasé and not moving or emotional that sense at all, not beautiful, the way music is supposed to be.” She continued to tell a story of how her roommate had a BTS song set as her alarm and instead of growing to hate the melody, she fell in love with it. “What hooked me on it, I remember my heart felt like it was falling like a million snowflakes, like I was falling into little pieces and I was like ‘oh my gosh that is beautiful music.’ Then I realized the production and everything behind it – they really gave music their full attention and their all, and I was like ‘THANK GOD!’”
The depth and message behind K-Pop are some of the most consistent draws for their vast audience. Regardless of language barrier, the fans find meaning and connection in Korean music; they find a qualitative difference in their music experience. “I like the meaning behind the Korean music I listen to versus the messages behind western music that is popular for a catchy sound,” says tumblr user Sorachibbi, “I love how the catchy music in K-Pop has a better message behind it. And while I get worried that rising stars are overworked in practices, I like how K-Pop musicians add a show to their performances, not just standing and singing the whole concert.”
That is the other aspect that keeps bringing fans back again and again: the demand and execution of excellence. For a K-Pop group to even debut in the Korean music industry, they must train for years to build up their musical and dancing skills, as well as bond as a group and prepare for their release. This process is the source of much of the criticism of K-Pop, in that many of the performers are overworked and isolated.
“I think the training they go through is insane,” says Danni (mainly-kpop), “and yes most of the time, for some it can be too much. It can ruin them emotionally and physically, but it does put them higher than anyone that doesn’t do this training.”
Once a group debuts, whether they are successful or not, they have been rigorously trained till they reach peek performance; dancing perfectly in sync, singing perfectly on key, and function as a cohesive unit. “The quality is higher in K-Pop because I feel like they feel, they have to prove themselves,” Danni continued, “they have to work that much harder than Western artists to get anywhere near the privileges that they have.”
This is how, despite cultural differences and language barriers, Korean entertainment has stollen the hearts of Western audiences. With qualitative differences and originality, the world is hooked on this new media that has finally brought some flavor back to their deprived palette.
“The language barrier is rather discouraging,” said Sorachibbi, “[but] I find that I prefer Korean culture to western so much, that I’m willing to sift through the confusion rather than settle for less.”