Why South Korean Drama Rises?

I am not a big fan of Korean entertainment, even I was avoiding anything about Korea since the entertainers seem having a too-much-fashion-style and they just couldn’t catch my attention. Though all my friends started to admire Korean celebrities, I was just not into them. Moreover, the Korean names are too hard to remember and the Korean males are not my type at all lol. 

It began when I was in Junior High School, where my all friends watched Princess Hours, Full House, Sassy Girl. I clearly remembered the title because it was what they talked about every day. I tried to watch, so that I at least could understand what my friends talked about at school, well it was also not bad to experience watching something new. But, I ended up leaving it, I was not interested at all. It happened when I was watching a middle episode of Sassy Girl, if I am not mistaken.

For your information, I am more on western side for entertainment things. I love Hollywood movies, some TV serials, songs (though, I am not really musically up-to-date). But then, I started watching My Girl, a Korean drama, because the serial had just started so I could watch from the first episode. Unintentionally, I love to watch it and I even wait for it even before the show began, I already sat up in front of my television. But then, the story turned out to be far from my wish. It is just good at some beginnings, and again, I did not like to see the side actors, probably because his fashion resembled a girl in my eyes and he was just too much like a girl but his role was to be a man who always protects the main actress. After that, everyone is still in Korean fever, continued watching all dramas on TV. I found another reason, why I was not really interested in Korean dramas, because they were subbed into Indonesian voices. It made the voice of the actors and actresses in any drama became similar.

This picture has no relation at all to Korean drama
but the picture is nice lol

For years, I did not really get going with any Korean things, until I accidentally watched Princess Hours that re-aired in Indonesia TV Station, with Korean voices. I wowed to myself, I love the voice, I love their talking and language, it is cute with almost every last sentence ended with ‘o’ sort of sound. Besides that, the drama was in the part where it showed the whole royal environment and the part where the main girl was taught about the royal family’s subjects. I love to see any cultural things and it caught my eyes.

So, because of that reasons (are they petty reason?), I searched for the whole episodes of Princess Hours. I downloaded the episodes and watched it all night. Damn, I love Korean languages, not in the level of love to learn it seriously, but in the level of love to hear it and catch up some simple words. Especially the way Shin Chae Kyung, the main girl of the drama, talks. So, for about a month, I have a little more curiosity on Korean dramas that I try to find her another drama.

A little more, I am surprised that it was so easy to search about Korean drama, even in Bahasa Indonesia, because the Korean fans are just too much here, so that many blogs write about it. That’s how I can take a conclusion that Korean drama mostly has the similar love story in every drama, which is triangle love story that always end up dumping one of the male actors, usually the good and kind-hearted actor. So, I try to find a drama without that kind of story line. And I find out The 1^st Shop of Coffee Prince, there is a little triangle love story in the middle but at least in the end no one get hurts.

Why South Korean Drama Rises?

Now, besides my interest on language and how the way Korean talks caught my heart, I could say that only Korean actresses are good in my eyes. Just as I wrote before, I have no interest in most Korean actors shown in any drama. But, I am a girl, who also loves to see cute boys, handsome men and six-packs body in any shows. I really am asking myself why I love to just see what I see now. And it is because the story of the drama.

No matter how excluded of my type the Korean actors are, but since I watch the drama from the beginning, I 

can tell that the characters will catch you up, despite of their look. Korean drama has its charm because it makes people feel close by presenting a story about daily life and about things that everybody can experience, feelings towards life and another human-being. And also, the amount of episodes is not too long or too short that it can elaborate the characters slowly and very well. It can give the viewers an understanding towards the characters. And it makes the relation between one to another characters seem going on naturally.

Drama is still drama, which can’t be as natural as real life. Korean drama also sets too many coincidences. But well, I am just okay with that, since I know it is drama not real life thing and the director can also set coincidences wrapped in funny ways.

And the love story line, I found out that is not only my thought, but has already been written in Wikipedia. Korean drama mostly (or probably all, except The 1^st Shop of Coffee Prince, because that is what I found out) tells love story about a female between two males, one is the nasty, cruel and bad towards the female and the other one is the kind-hearted, lovely and responsible, sort of things. But in the end, the female will choose the bad one over the good one.

Then why Korean drama still catches so many fans when even the love story could already been guessed how it will end since the beginning? It’s because they also some up with deep story line besides love. For example a love story between businessman, actress and singer. Korean drama will tell about their private life deeply, about how a businessman works and what kind of business he does, until the very petty things that ordinary people out of the business world do not know. And also about the culture they want to show, Korean drama makes viewers understand about South Korean culture bit by bit by watching the drama.

Korean drama also make good scene with places as the setting of the drama, so we will not only watch the drama but also slowly realize the beauty of Korean scenery and even make the fans want to visit South Korea.

I ended up writing this because I first want to compare Indonesian drama and Korean drama, about why Indonesia had to copycat Korean drama story line before but why it is just seemed not as good as the real one. Because Indonesian drama (in my eyes) seems to only copy the one that appears. Now, seems there are no more huge copycat in Indonesian drama. Hope it is a start to betterment.

Post Script: 

Korean entertainment, including the drama and movies, also becomes more western and I can say that Korea has become the America of Asia. The strong financial support makes Korean entertainment goes internationally fast and creates good results. Korean dramas, movies and musics also got sexier by time.