How Korean Drama Influence Our Attitude, Perception and Belief in Local Culture

Introduction

The Korean entertainment industry is booming nowadays. The global audience for Korean drama, film, and music are expanding across Asia and is even spreading to Europe and North America (Bacon, 2016). It has increasingly become more popular due to the addiction of people toward Korean drama. It has a lot of different genres such as love romance, adventure, mystery, horror, and others. Therefore, people have a variety of selection to choose the type that they love. 

In this modern era, people can get to know about the latest Korean drama through the advancement of technology. During the past generation where people did not have advanced technology, the news about Korean drama is not widely spread. Compared to nowadays, people get to know the latest Korean drama on billboard advertisements, television, magazine, drama website and social media such as Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and Weibo.

Most of the times, we can see that people are sharing images and trailers for a new Korean drama to the public on Facebook and thus more people will know about it. Besides, we can follow our favorite Korean artist on social media to know about their latest status. Sometimes, the artist will share their working experience and new Korean drama preparation and hence people will keep an eye on it.

However, Korean drama often portrayed the scene of "dating violence". For instance, in one of the scenes of Korean drama "Our Gab Soon", the male actor suppresses the female actor and forcibly pull and kissed her. Besides, the Korean movie "Temperature of Love" showed shouting and verbal violence scene ( "[CARD NEWS] The Violent Romance Cliche in Korean Dramas", 2017). In fact, there are many other Korean dramas that show all these "dating violence" scenes. Therefore, it unintentionally shaped our attitude, belief, and perception. 

Action taken from the authority/ government/ company/NGO

Regarding the controversial scene in "Our Gab Soon", a hearing was called on for the scene's portrayal of dating violence, thus breaching the Broadcasting Deliberation Regulation Article 27 (Maintenance of Dignity) Clause 5, and Article 30 (Gender Equality) Clause 2. However, Korea Communications Standards Commission (KCSC), ruled that there is no problem with the drama (Aspera, 2016). 

If you watch Korean drama, you will notice that knives depicted in the dramas are always censored. The reason for the censorship is an effort to comply with Rule 81, Art, 37 of the Koran Communication Standards Commission Rules which stated that the NY items, which may convey excessive shock, anxiety or disgust to viewers, may not be broadcast. There may be limited exceptions if such depiction is unavoidable in discussing the content, even in such cases, expression of these items must be approached cautiously (A guide to South Korean Censorship, n.d.).

Other than knives, any item that also suggests violence is also blurred. Take an example of the critically acclaimed 2009 drama "Friend" that tracked the lives of Busan area gangsters who grew up together as childhood friends. In order to create realistic fight scenes and at the same time to avoid the censorship, the producers had the character wield household items, such as a wooden club that Koreans in the 1960s use for laundry instead of weapons, but no matter they were still bounded by the rules.

But what is ironic is that, if knives are blurred, but other issues like dating violence are not censored. Even other hand held weapons (like a gun) are not blurred. Why only knives? It seems like the Korean censorship board is pretty inconsistent with the censors depending on how they feel, but at the same, it can be said about pretty much any application of the law. Just think about how routinely people violate the speed limit without getting punished. 

The opinion on action and possible solutions to the issues

South Korea had tried to bring their culture and image into the Korean drama. This not only can help to introduce the country, but it also can bring many negative perspectives to the audience. Korean drama not only involves their own culture. but also involve many unethical scenes such as dating violence, which describing a boyfriend kidnapped his girlfriend and locked her in his house and hit her when she tried to run out from the house (Chocalatte, 2016). This types of scenes will bring negative effect to the audiences. The audience will pretend the action is ethical and imitate the action of the scene.

There are some solutions that can help to prevent this problem happen. Firstly, the government should filter out the unethical scene and attempt to censor the scenes. This is to prevent the audience's especially underage children that are easily influenced to watch and imitate the scene. 

Other than that, the school can become a platform to provide some information about the dating violence. In school, teachers can teach the student the knowledge, and consequences of dating violence, such as the offense and punishment. Through this, students can learn more about dating violence and also the law that will be breached through dating violence so that they will not repeat such problem. 

Impact of advanced communication technology in Korea entertainment industry

Korean drama can influence people in many aspects. Firstly, Korean dramas give us an opportunity to learn about the Korean culture, tradition, and cuisine that are totally different from our culture. People can broaden the knowledge and learn some simple words or phrases of Korean language by watching the dramas. It helps a lot when you visit Korea and you able to communicate and have a simple conversation with them. Besides, people will visit the beautiful places that the Korean drama has shot before to experience again the romantic moment or encounter when watching that scene. 

Secondly is the fashion sense of Korean drama. Many people will be inspired by fashion trends of Koreans, such as the outfit, makeup products, accessories, and hairstyle used by character after watching Korean drama. They enjoy dressing up like their favorite actor to which the style is the latest trend. People will discuss with their friends who also love to watch Korean drama, like which drama they love the most, and fabulous fashion style wear by actors. Same topics or hobby can improve the relationship between each other. 

Korean drama is not only about romance, but it also educates us about the valuable life lessons and how we can learn to be a better person. Besides, watching foreign dramas lets you absorb information about a different culture without the hassle of dreary studying. You learn about different societal norms by watching the day to day life of the characters. The majority of Korean dramas are G-rated, more appropriate and suitable for every age to watch because the foul language and violence are minimal compared to American movies. 

Korean drama has successfully created emotional connections with the audience. The professional acting skills of actors and storyline perfectly connected the emotions of the audience with the drama. Many people view Korean drama as their necessity in their daily life and some might get addicted to it. So, Korean drama has an impact on people lives and the accessibility of Internet which allows more people watching Korean drama than in the past. 

Future prediction of communication technology in next 10 years

In next decade, Korean drama will be integrated with Virtual Reality (VR). The consumer may enjoy the scenes of drama just as same as they are the character of the drama as well as the surrounding of the drama. Therefore, they may experience the same feeling, even more, in-depth thoughts and more devoted to the drama. That is the different type of visual enjoyment that inspiring consumers a lot. This innovative product may be leading a trend in the industry of drama. 

Other than that, a chip may be implanted in the mind of the consumers in order to watch the Korean drama as the chip is accessible to the Internet and connected to the VR. Consumers do not need to have a laptop or television to watch the drama. They can watch the drama everywhere and anytime they want as long as they have the small VR box with them rather than bring along the huge mobile device to watch the drama. It is more convenient for consumers, especially for the travelers. Normally travelers prefer not to bring a lot of stuff on their journey as this will cause them to a lot of inconveniences. 

Main References

A Guide to South Korean CENSORSHIP. (n.d.). Retrieved March 01, 2018, from https://mydramalist.com/article/2017/07/08/a-guide-to-south-korean-censorship

Bacon, C. (2016). Why Korean Dramas Are Popular. ReelRundown. Retrieved 28      February 2018, from https://reelrundown.com/movies/Korean-Wave-Why-Are         Korean-Dramas-Popular

[CARD NEWS] The Violent Romance Cliche in Korean Dramas. (2017). Korea         JoongAng Daily. Retrieved 28 February 2018, from               http://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/article/article.aspx?aid=3035674

Chocolatte (August, 2016). Age of Youth: Episode 11. Retrieved from  http://www.dramabeans.com/2016/08/age-of-youth-episode-11/

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