South Korean TV series

A partir de um prisma investigativo, esta pesquisa busca compreender o contexto sociocultural, político e econômico que permeou o nascimento e evolução do fenômeno cultural Onda Coreana (Hallyu), a fim de apurar a concepção de uma de suas principais vertentes: os Dramas de TV. Parte-se aqui do esforço em investigar, através do corpus de análise e de práticas da indústria cultural do país, questões de construção de nostalgia e de influência pop nas narrativas dos dramas televisivos sul-coreanos em favor da elaboração de uma identidade nacional renovada dentro do cenário global. O corpus de análise é a série de dramas de TV sul-coreanos (K-dramas) Reply, composta por Reply 1997 (tvN, 2012), Reply 1994 (tvN, 2013) e Reply 1988 (tvN, 2015-2016), que são retratos romantizados do passado recente da Coreia do Sul e de sua guinada pop atual. Essas narrativas exemplificam o atual esforço pela renegociação do imaginário narrativo do país através da tentativa de um acionamento nostálgico positivo de momentos delicados da história do país, a fim de ressignificá-los em favor da diplomacia política, cultural e econômica no cenário internacional.

The fields of Korean classical literature and Korean TV drama do not often intermingle. Viewers of K-dramas can sometimes watch their protagonists thumb through certain books onstage, but these books are usually of foreign origin and do not belong to the so-called canon of traditional Korean literature. As a covert parody of the The Dream of the Nine Clouds, My Love from the Star is an exception. It does not only explicitly allude to the novel, but shares semantic and structural parallels with it. In order to illuminate the intertextual references between the two works, I combine John Fiske’s concept of intertextuality with Linda Hutcheon’s A Theory of Parody. The tension between the novel and drama generates a dichotomy between tradition and hallyu that eventually leads to the self-mockery of hallyu itself. The fact that My Love from the Star was not widely recognized among hallyu fans as a parody of The Dream of the Nine Clouds might ironically support the drama’s mockery of the superficiality of hallyu. It might also prove that the pleasure viewers derive from a drama has less to do with the communication of meaning than with the way they are moved by it.

This essay examines Korean television shows that feature foreigners encountering Korean society. A recent example, Non Summit, presents a series of formal “summits,” borrowing the format of an international strategic meeting. The show enables Koreans to consider issues involving cultural differences, racial discrimination, and national hospitality, particularly related to immigrants. Indeed, Korean TV shows that focus on foreigners living in Korea are increasingly popular, which surely reflects changes in the Korean racial imagination along with the increased number of immigrants entering Korea in recent years. Nevertheless, despite their stated purpose of encouraging Korea to be a more harmonious multicultural society, programs like Non Summit seem to reproduce racialized colonialism in the context of contemporary global capitalism, particularly through their selections of participants and their efforts to paper over revealed cultural tensions.

Μια σύντομη ανάλυση της νοτιοκορεάτiκης τηλεοπτικής σειράς Squid Game (2021), μέσα από μια προσωπική οπτική που συνθέτει στοιχεία από τις πολιτισμικές σπουδές και τη σημειωτική, διατηρώντας μια βατή γλώσσα για τον μη-ακαδημαϊκό αναγνώστη. Το άρθρο αρχικά δημοσιεύτηκε, χωρίς βιβλιογραφικές παραπομπές, στην ιστοσελίδα “Avopolis”, με τίτλο “Πρέπει να ξαναμιλήσουμε για το Squid Game”.

A brief analysis of the South Korean TV series Squid Game (2021), through a personal perspective that composes elements of cultural studies and semiotics, in a more simple writing style, also suitable for the non-academic readers. The article was originally published, without bibliographic references, on the "Avopolis" website, entitled "We need to talk about the Squid Game again".

https://www.avopolis.gr/movieworld/cinema-features/74575-squid-game (28/11/2021)