Hello everyone,
(For context. I am not Korean, and don't speak the language)
Big American companies have realised the allure of Kdrama to the global audiences and it is no surprise they started spending big, especially the news of Netflix investing $2.5 billion over 4 years.
This might sounds like fantastic news, but I am more worried than excited.
There is no doubt that Amercan investment will have some positive impact, such as better production values, tackling more serious issues, being bolder, and giving writers greater freedoms.
However, there is no free lunch. I fear that we will gradually start seeing Kdrama produced by Netflix becoming more and more American to the point of essentially having American shows, but set in Korea and with Korean actors. We have already started seeing the short season system and more and more series started to have multiple seasons. Personally, I can't put in words how much I hate multiple seasons.
I am really very frustrated by this development. I escaped from American TV, and started watching Kdrama because they are unique. They are made for Koreans and have their own one season format (90% of time). They approach things differently, series are written by one person, and they focus on different themes.
My point is that one of the biggest reasons people are loving kdrama is that they are different from American shows. I hope everyone remember that. If they become just like American shows, then why bother watching them? One might as well watch American shows.
I hope I am wrong.
What is your opinion?
I don't think that if dramas get more than one season it means they are getting Americanized. If dramas get more than one season it's due to high demand. Shows that are popular and do well get more seasons.
Korean dramas will never get "more American", you have to remember the people who create these dramas. They are made by Korean people. Directors, producers, scriptwriters, etc. are all Korean. Why would they make something that's catered to Americans?
You have to look at this from a non-American point of view. Are shows from other countries getting more American? No. They have their own unique thing. They have pride in their country and culture. Why would they suddenly go out of their way to be like another country?
This is of some concern to me too, and has been for a while - I touched on it in an MDL article I wrote two years ago
https://mydramalist.com/article/korean-dramas-japanese-dramas-globalised-who-does-it-best
I hear ya. I feel like this could go in a lot of directions though. Like we'll inevitably have the Koreaboo cash-grab like XO Kitty, but this might also open up possibilities for really awesome cross-cultural collaborations. The best example of this is Apple TV's Pachinko, which had the perfect source material for such a project. The book itself is written in English, but it is a story about Korean-Japanese migrants. The show was barely in English, but it was produced by an American company and released on an American streaming platform. There was Korean, there was Japanese, there were English subtitles - it was a wild ride. I guess the benefit of having an American company produce the project was that it had the money and the audience to foster such a collaboration, because the U.S. is (perhaps unfortunately) the biggest market for film and TV.
Another way that it could go is what I see now with a category of K-dramas that is exclusively produced by Netflix, for Netflix. I don't really understand the nitty gritty details about the business and politics of production and distribution, but from what I understand, CJ Entertainment has this company called Studio Dragon that signed a deal with Netflix which allows certain tvN dramas to also be released on Netflix. Some examples of these dramas are Crash Landing on You, Vincenzo, It's Okay to Not be Okay. To me, these dramas are the dramas that were catered to global audiences, because they were handpicked by Studio Dragon to be released on a global streaming platform. However, this is different from the category of Korean shows on Netflix that is produced by Netflix and released exclusively on Netflix. The first of its kind was Extracurricular (though I may be mistaken, but I remember watching this and being shocked at all the hardcore swearing), and now theres D.P., The Glory, Squid Games, to name a few. I think these dramas have stayed more local actually, the themes are pretty unique to Korea (I mean D.P. is about the Korean military, The Glory is about school bullying in Korea, and Squid Games has Korean children's games). I think this category of dramas was created not to appeal to global audiences, but to expand the possibilities of what Korean shows could be. Let me start by first saying that everyone in Korea has Netflix now, just like people in the U.S. So Netflix Korea is a thriving branch, which produces the category of shows that I listed above (D.P., The Glory, etc.). There's only so much you can show on cable television like KBS and tvN, but if it's on a streaming platform like Netflix, you can worry less about following the K-drama formula and include an explicit scene here and there. This is what happened with American television, when Netflix started making their own shows, and thus Netflix Korea is paralleling this development.
I don't know if the news about Netflix investing $2.5 billion over 4 years means that they are allowing Netflix Korea to produce Korean shows or if American Netflix is attempting to produce Korean-ish shows like friggin XO Kitty, but I hope it's the former. Generally, when you see that Korean media is being Westernized or being pushed to global audiences, it's usually Korean companies doing the pushing (ahem CJ ahem). Conversely, I think recent global investment in Korean media has produced projects that were not possible just ten years ago, so I remain pretty optimistic.
I'm glad you asked this question, because that same thought has crossed my mind when Netflix started producing their own Korean dramas. At this point, more than being worried about them becoming more 'American', I am more worried about them following the American format. I admit I'm not a fan of the seasonal format. With American TV series, they either sell too well and the producers prolong the series for too long until it feels like the scriptwriters are running out of ideas, or they don't make enough profits so they get randomly cancelled and the viewers never get to see the proper ending. This has yet to happen to Korean dramas made by Netflix, as they usually have two seasons with around eight episodes each, so it feels like a classic sixteen-episode format, but split into two parts. What I found so appealing about dramas was the fact that they had the beginning and the end, we got the whole story in one-season drama. I hope all our worries will turn out to be groundless.
I really do get the concern, but I haven't been personally bothered by it. A lot of people have been worried over American streaming platforms like Netflix and Disney+ getting more dramas, but I don't think this necessarily changed the quality of dramas.
Koreans still make these series (even the Netflix Originals). Yes they're usually more mature, swear, have intense violence or gore, etc, but is that necessarily a bad thing? Yeah it's different from the typical K-dramas we're used to. I was also pretty shocked when Squid Games came out. Yet, I think it's a nice change (and one that most likely would've happened anyway). It's an extension of what K-dramas could've been had they not had the censorship on TV. I'm sure there would've been tons more had there been a streaming platform without censorship before. It'd be a totally different story if non-Koreans were creating these K-dramas. Most of them are quite good too. Squid Games, The Glory, Move to Heaven.
As for multiple seasons, yeah that's not as appealing. Though, not all series get them and it's completely optional too, as most of the time they have different stories. I've noticed a lot more cliffhangers recently, but that doesn't mean S1s don't tell a complete story (for the most part). There have certainly been non-streaming platform shows that had multiple seasons too. Age of Youth, The Penthouse, A-Teen, Miss Independent Ji Eun, Voice, Missing: The Other Side, Save Me, Taxi Driver, Dream High, God's Quiz, Welcome to Waikiki, Yumi's Cells, Work Now, Drink Later, Dr. Romantic, Let's Eat, IRIS, and many more.
You might also be missing out on a TONNNNN of non-streaming service dramas out there that still maintain the K-drama feel and only have one season: Happiness, Not Others, Heartbeat, Bo Ra! Deborah, Revenant, Be My Favorite, My Perfect Stranger, Delightfully Deceitful, Stealer: The Treasure Keeper, My Lovely Liar, The Killing Vote, etc. You don't only need to watch on streaming services, especially not originals.
Some of the Netflix Original dramas (not made from Netflix aka not 8 eps) are some of the best and most beloved as well: Arthdal Chronicles, Kingdom, Vincenzo, Extraordinary Attorney Woo, Alchemy of Souls, Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha, The Uncanny Counter, When the Camellia Blooms, Mr. Sunshine, Stranger, Crash Landing On You, It's Okay to Not Be Okay, Hospital Playlist, A Business Proposal, Our Beloved Summer, Itaewon Class, Hi Bye, Mama, Racket Boys, Law School, Designated Survivor, and more.
And some non-Korean ones: Oh No! Here Comes Trouble, Till the End of the Moon, When I Fly Towards You, Be My Favorite, Home School, Gen Z, Meeting You, The Youth Memories, The Way You Shine, etc.
The exposure actually makes me a little glad because I've met so many people who got exposure to dramas from the Netflix Originals and dramas on Netflix. My sister got into even more because of them. She even watched and enjoyed Crash Landing On You.
Anyway, I definitely get the concern, but I feel like maybe you're only looking at select series? K-dramas don't always need to be fluffy and innocent. It's expanding now (which it would've anyway) now that there aren't censorship issues. But even then, K-dramas are still K-dramaing with only one season for full storytelling. You just have to look in the right places. Plus, multiple seasons have always existed. Maybe you just haven't noticed them before?
