What's the Kdrama craze ?

 Annyeonghaseyo! (Hello!) 
This is the first in a series of posts on Kdrama. The second post: My Kdrama Picks

Like everyone else across the world, I discovered Korean TV shows or Kdrama during COVID lockdowns. And like everything else that I do, I watched them with passion. Apparently, I am not alone, in watching it with passion. Thousands went down the rabbit hole, that for me, started with Crash Landing on You. Undoubtedly Kdrama is awesome, evident from the international popularity it currently commands. The lockdown propelled it from a sub-culture into the mainstream and youtuber / influencers recently have started throwing Korean words at us. Popular kdramas are now being dubbed into many different languages including Hindi, and it is also influencing fashion and beauty (Kdrama is really good at product placement).

So what makes Kdramas awesome:

1.The writing is sensitive.... and the characters are fleshed out, doing justice to even the smallest of them. Interestingly, most script/screenwriters are women. And so, the stories tend to have a nuanced female viewpoint and hence, the largely female audience.

2. The acting is fantastic... which is probably a reflection of really good direction. And the actors are all beautiful people, male and female. Of course, this is largely because the industry is very competitive with strict views on perfect good looks (many having surgeries). 

3. Actors play their age bracket... with enough stories for all age groups. To be honest, there are probably more shows with leads in their 30s than under. They are also very flexible with age gaps, and there's a genre of 'noona romance' where the female lead is older than her romantic interest.

4. Budgets are mega... The more recent ones spend on big stars, wonderful cinematography, special effects, locations, etc.

5. Whole range of genres exist... thriller, fantasy, sageuk (historical), and most blend a bunch of genres to give you wholesome entertainment. But of course, they are most famous for romance.

Pro-tip: Watch on Rakuten Viki for better subtitles; My Drama List (MDL) has more reviews than IMDB

But Kdramas can be annoying too:

1. They are predominately written by women, for women. The male lead is nearly always modelled as the perfect boyfriend. So, it may not be very appealing to a male viewer.

2. Given the range of genres, many stories could have done without force-fitting romance. The need for having a bog-standard romance can be annoying.

3. There are some oft-used tropes that can get repetitive. The relationship between a parent and a child form the basis of many stories. A pet-peeve is also linking the childhood/past of the two leads. Memory losses are common too. 

4. Most Kdramas take one or two episodes to end the show after the story itself has ended, so it can be a drag. If you are fully invested into the characters, it's rewarding. 

5. They can be too long with each episode ranging between 50min to 1hr 25min and episodes ranging from 14 to 20. But if you are enjoying it, it doesn't matter. Also, they are only one season long with no scope for renewal. (Although, Netflix started chopping them into seasons unnecessarily.)

Kamsahamnida! (Thank you!)