“Cinema is the soft cultural ambassador of any country.”
– ANURAG KASHYAP
Rightly said by the Indian Film-maker, Cinema does represent a country and its culture. It represents the people, their likes, dislikes, and their kind. Before the Pandemic, there were few cultures that people were unaware of. Most probably, the western culture was blooming and ruling for decades.
After the pandemic, there was a noticeable shift in many segments of life. One of them was the entertainment industry. People were introduced to OTT platforms. It was a kind of entertainment revolution. People started watching movies and series of different film industries. OTT platforms were a great stage for exposure to different cultures. Whether it was Spain’s ‘Money Heist’ or Korea’s ‘Squid Game’, the shows were loved globally. It changed the lives of those artists.
- K-DRAMAS:
The world really forgot sitcoms and rom-com for a decade. Shows like Friends and The Office had no competition. Till K-dramas made their way through the list. Human beings are emotionally driven. They easily get excited and easily bored. The films prior to the pandemic were sort of common or common with few surprise elements. People are fascinated by the change they experience. They like variety and during the pandemic, they had a big time span to try new things. From Money Heist, people experienced a thrill and adventure that they did not experience with any other movie or series. With that, they also acknowledged the culture of Spain.
When K-dramas showed up on OTT platforms, people were eventually attracted to them. Because now they had already tried to embrace the change after the pandemic. K-dramas were light-hearted, sensitive, and gullible. They represented the country, the Korean people, and their culture. Generally, a majority of the audience had no idea what Korea looked like, or felt like. That is the thing about cinema, it makes you travel to different places while you are sitting still in a movie theater.
There are a number of elements that people picked up from K-dramas. Some of them are the reason why K-dramas bloomed across the globe.
- KOREAN CULTURE:
Korean Culture is known for its humbleness and respect for emotions. They follow Confucian principles. Their cinema actually represents the real South Korea. This is where the Koreans have achieved great success. They not only have romantic K-Dramas but a lot of experimented genres. Some of the suggested and loved K-Dramas of different genres are Descendants of the Sun, School 2017, Boys over flowers, The heirs, Crash landing on you, Alchemy of soul, and Goblin. Their cultural elements like food, music, and lifestyle are different. They have made it accessible to people all over the globe.
- EMOTIONAL CONNECTION:
“There is a lot of extreme emotion in Korean films. It is because there are a lot of extremes in Korean society.”
– BONG JOON HO
K-Dramas takes us back to the 1990s era. The time when directors chose domestic plots for movies and shows. Especially for the Indian citizens, who grew up watching Sooraj Barjatya’s movies. A small domestic subject turned into a feature film with memorable music and characters that leave a mark. It is exactly what K-dramas provide. Their culture is different undoubtedly, but the core structure of their cinema revolves around such subjects. With a lot of fictional stories and movies in recent times, K-dramas provided the emotions that the entertainment world lacked. The South Korean entertainment industry has been successful in providing all kinds of vibes to its audience. Squid Game (2021) developed a sense of thrill in the audience while other romantic dramas like Crash Landing on You (2019) melted the hearts of the audience. As the Indian audience is only familiar with killing the villain or violence by the protagonist being a basic part of the series or film, the romantic K-Dramas changed their perspective. In K-dramas, the humor, sensibility, and kindness is shown in such finesse. Their movies do not have a hyped hero entry but even their fantasy dramas are rational.
- MUSIC & FOOD:
K-pop has earned the respect and love they get from everywhere. When Bong Joon Ho won the Best Picture Award for his film Parasite (2019), he said, “Once you overcome the 1-inch tall barrier of subtitles, you will be introduced to so many more amazing films.” The quote is true and of high relevance after the pandemic. Korean culture is now known to people of so many countries. Indians love K-dramas, K-pop, and Korean food. The world wants to celebrate all the cultures they get to know. People want and need change. Cinema is one such medium for change. And it has successfully offered change to people.
K-pop has lately become popular all over the world. Tiktok and Instagram are great mediums for promotional activities. The South Korean boy band BTS also took the internet by storm with their songs like ‘Dynamite’ and ‘Butter’.
How can we forget about BLACKPINK? Their song ‘How you like that and ‘Kill This Love’ are most often to be found on every second playlist.
Most of the audience listening to K-pop are teenagers. These bands and their songs are also the reason people are attracted to Korean characters. Once people get familiar with a new culture, they want to experience new things.
There are several YouTubers who tried Korean food after watching K-dramas. Whether it is Kimchi or Tteokbokki, people fancy appetizing food. South Korean series didn’t only show us their culture but also welcomed us to explore it.
- RED LIGHT, GREEN LIGHT:
What Baahubali did for Indian cinema, Money Heist for the Spanish entertainment industry, and Squid Game did the same for the Korean Entertainment industry. Squid Game remained on top for 29 days on Netflix. The show was most watched on Netflix and even beat Bridgerton in 2021. It bagged a number of prizes and nominations including 14 nominations for the Emmy Awards. It is also believed that the stocks of Netflix were about to fall and it was this miraculous show, Squid Game, that saved the platform with its huge success.
We all love feel-good movies and series. They are a necessity and K-Dramas render that to the audience. Adding to that, Korean Dramas have given an opportunity to people to get a full-fledged vibe of a new culture while they are sitting on their couch or bed. That is something a lot of entertainment industries lack. They do not promote their culture. However, the South Korean industry has maintained its authenticity and still has managed to experiment in different genres.
Do you like treasure hunts? Discover some hidden gems on our Weekend Watchlist and make your weekend worthy.