![]() “Inventive and gripping Korean storytelling, like revenge drama The Glory, is beginning to gain popularity, and webtoons will continue to act as great creative source material for K-dramas, with their unique storylines and proven concepts,” she said. Global viewership for such titles on Netflix tripled from 2018 to 2022, she said. Romantic titles such as Crash Landing On You (2019) and Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha (2021) have driven the love for K-content, and “this affection shows no signs of fading”, a spokeswoman for Netflix told The Straits Times. This is more than twice what it put in when it started streaming in the country in 2016. In May, Netflix announced it would invest US$2.5 billion to produce original South Korean content over the next four years. “By producing, distributing and providing a tool to consume Korean cultural content, Netflix has rapidly become part of the Korean Wave,” said Prof Jin. Netflix, the American streaming giant, has played a crucial role in expanding the global reach of South Korean dramas, which are now screened in 190 countries. When audiences around the world were stuck at home and looking for entertainment options, they discovered Squid Game, an out-of-this-world tale about a group of desperate people joining a mysterious survival challenge to win billions of won. He noted how South Korean dramas started proliferating on streaming platform Netflix shortly before the Covid-19 pandemic in early 2020. “Fortuitous timing” played a crucial role too, said sociology professor Shin Gi-wook of Stanford University, who has written books about South Korea. He pointed out how K-pop stepped in when K-dramas and films began to feel tired, and how webtoons are now the big thing. ![]() The entertainment industry is also able to keep churning out new growth engines to overcome stagnation and decline, Prof Jin, who has written books about the Korean Wave, told The Straits Times. Journalist-turned-professor Jin Dal-yong of Simon Fraser University in Canada attributed the K-wave to talented and dedicated producers, directors, writers and composers, the timely growth of necessary infrastructure, and the government’s supportive cultural policies.
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