PRODUC T I ON . HALLYU
How K-dramas and K-films became so loved in the West The Korean wave
WORDS. Chelsea Fearnley
K orean entertainment has taken off in the West, but it’s been popular in the East for years. K-dramas, in particular, were a main motivator for the Korean wave, or hallyu: a term coined by Beijing journalists in the late nineties as they discussed the rising popularity of Korean cultural imports. While most sources point to What is Love? as the genesis for hallyu, with the 1991 family drama ranking second in China’s all-time imported video content, others say it was Star in My Heart or the broadcast of 1992 series Jealousy . Since then, K-dramas, K-films and K-pop have made their way across the globe, but their success has a surprising political history. After the Korean War, dictator Park Chung-hee was encouraged by the US (which still had a presence in the country at the time) to invest in the rapid industrialisation of South Korea. But the media and entertainment industries were still ignored or heavily censored by the regime. It wasn’t until Park’s assassination in 1979 that South Korea started to
change. Throughout the eighties and nineties, the country began cultivating its cultural imports as it modernised, and corporations like Samsung seized the opportunity to invest in filmmaking. Samyang Optics, which was founded in 1972, also started exporting its lenses overseas. In 1994, a South Korean government report was published, suggesting that one blockbuster (the example given was Jurassic Park ) could single-handedly equal the sales of over a million Hyundai cars. It was a profitable venture that became attractive after the shattering 1997 Asian financial crisis, when South Korea suddenly faced economic troubles, followed by a deluge of international bailouts. At his 1998 inaugural address, President Kim Dae-jung said, “We must pour energy into globalising Korean culture… tourism, the convention industry, the visual industry and special cultural commodities are a treasure trove for which a limitless market is awaiting.” Essentially, with that speech, hallyu was born.
CRITICAL DARLING Lee Isaac Chung’s 2020 drama Minari was widely acclaimed, with six Academy Award nominations
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