SEOUL, South Korea – Pinoys are hooked to Korean dramas, or K-dramas, due to their charisma: complex, lovable, flawed characters with compelling personal stories, raw emotion-packed acting, and beautiful cinematography and directing.
Sen. Jinggoy Estrada earned mixed reactions from netizens due to his comments that South Korean television shows in the Philippines should be banned because Filipino artists are losing their jobs.
“From what I have observed, we continue to show South Korean television series and that our fellow countrymen idolize Korean actors, while our artists are losing their jobs,” Estrada said during the Senate’s budget hearing for the Film Development Council of the Philippines. “So, sometimes I think of banning these foreign shows. Our own artists should be the ones we are showing.”
He later clarified that his comment stemmed from the frustration with the public’s “lack of support” for the local entertainment industry.
I was in South Korea for 10 days when he made the comment as I attended the Asian Patent Attorneys Association (APAA) conference in Busan, then proceeded to Seoul for leisure.
K-dramas are popular in the Philippines since the 2000s. Huge demand from Filipino viewers prompted Philippine television stations to import K-dramas.
I am not originally really an avid fan of K-dramas until the pandemic lockdown resulted to my “binge-watching” (i.e. watching multiple episodes of a TV series in single or continuous sessions) in Netflix, a night habit.
COVID-19 lockdown substantially impacted our daily habits, well-being and mental health, forcing individuals to cope with uncertainty, fears, isolation and feelings of stress, anxiety and depression.
Digital technology provided a welcome source of alternative forms of connection and entertainment. People from anywhere in the world can easily access shows like K-dramas as a form of comfort during the COVID pandemic.
UP Diliman associate professor Erik Paolo Capistrano identified in an interview some of the factors that made K-dramas popular, particularly among Filipinos. He is also the principal investigator of UP’s Korea Research Center (KRC).
He noted that Korean entertainment companies have been effective in creating “new and disruptive” content, in giving “a refreshing take on common themes”, in being “forward-looking” and for being open to moving to different platforms and genres.
Regardless of the topic or the theme of the drama, they have a very robust system that enables it to be executed in such a way that it can communicate to various audiences, he added.
They also have shorter programs. Typical K-dramas span 16 to 24 episodes, as opposed to popular Philippine shows that last for months, or even years.
K-dramas are always moving, sometimes in directions you never thought they would go. They are not as predictable as Pinoy telenovelas.
K-dramas have been constantly evolving and are made available to all through distribution in channels outside of the usual broadcast channels like Netflix.
There is also the aggressive promotion of K-dramas, similar to what is done with Korean music talents.
Korea is also home to the Busan International Film Festival (BIFF), an annual and one of the most significant film festivals in Asia.
The main focus of the BIFF is to introduce new films and first-time directors, especially those from Asian countries to develop and promote young talents.
The festival contributed to making Busan a mecca for movie buffs and the hub of the visual culture industry.
BIFF was held from Oct. 5 to 14, 2022 along with the BTS Yet to Come concert on Oct. 15, the same period that I was attending the APAA conference.
We stayed at G Guesthouse in Itaewon, Seoul which is the same neighborhood where some scenes of “Itaewon Class” were shot. It starred Park Seo-joon as a determined character who refuses to take the easy way out of any situation even if it means compromising his core values and beliefs.
He became a subject of many ill circumstances and unjust treatment, eventually becoming a target of a powerful family who runs the most successful pub franchise in the country.
I also had the chance to visit the shooting locations of other K-dramas like “Extraordinary Attorney Woo”, “Kingdom”, “The King Eternal Monarch”, “Goblin”, “Coffee Prince”, “Train to Busan” and “Move to Heaven”.
Director Joey Reyes said in an interview that the country should learn from K-dramas and movies.
Reyes sees no problem with Filipino viewers getting hooked to K-dramas, stressing that part of democracy in the Philippines is to allow the public to have alternative shows to watch.
As they say in Korean: “Annyeonghaseyo.” Enjoy binge-watching.
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“Peyups” is the moniker of University of the Philippines.
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Atty. Dennis R. Gorecho heads the seafarers’ division of the Sapalo Velez Bundang Bulilan law offices. For comments, e-mail info@sapalovelez.com, or call 0917-5025808 or 0908-8665786./PN
