Is Netflix Riding the Korean Wave or Vice Versa?| Third-Space K-Drama: Netflix, Hallyu, and the Melodramatic Mundane

This article examines K-drama’s potential as a postcolonial Third Space. I consider the impact of Netflix’s profit-driven transculturalism on Hallyu by contrasting Netflix Korean Originals, particularly Squid Game, with K-dramas such as Liar Game. The latter belongs to an emergent mode of Korean TV...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International Journal of Communication
Main Author: Yin Yuan
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: USC Annenberg Press 2023-11-01
Subjects:
K-drama
Hallyu
hybridity
Netflix
Squid Game
Online Access:https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/20724
Description
Summary:This article examines K-drama’s potential as a postcolonial Third Space. I consider the impact of Netflix’s profit-driven transculturalism on Hallyu by contrasting Netflix Korean Originals, particularly Squid Game, with K-dramas such as Liar Game. The latter belongs to an emergent mode of Korean TV that I call the “melodramatic mundane,” which creates new forms of hybridized identity in the global arena. Analyzing K-dramas’ Western reception alongside a comparative close reading of American, Japanese, and Korean TV shows, I examine alternative structures of feeling in K-dramas that challenge American narrative ideologies.
ISSN:1932-8036

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