• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
• /
• v.12 no.10
• /
• pp.54-62
• /
• 2012

This study aims to examine the opposant of conventional images of women against heroines in the genre of TV melodramas having been produced since 2005. To attain the goal, it investigates the alteration of female opposant types in 27 dramas with female opposant in them among the melodramas positioned high in terms of ratings from 1992 to 2011. As a result, first, after 2005, docile tendencies increased in female opposant. Second, pure and feminine appearance increased. Third, women with conservative sexual consciousness increased. Fourth, in relationships with others, they showed more dependent tendencies. Although female opposant in the past were characterized by strong character, unfeminine attitudes, or dressing up the outside, after 2005, female opposant tended to show characteristics more like heroines' in the past. This research result implies that after 2005, there has been alteration in the paradigm defining female image.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
• /
• v.13 no.7
• /
• pp.62-69
• /
• 2013

The purpose of this study is to examine how the masculinity types of the male lead appearing in melodrama genre TV series with 2005 as the borderline when we perceived the change of female types in TV drama series. To attain the goal, the paper analyzed the change of the male lead in 74 melodrama series that ranked high from 1992 till 2012 in terms of the ratings. As a result, from 2005, the types of masculinity of the male lead changed significantly. The followings deal with the details of the change: first, about the age of the male lead, those in the 30's or older increased. Second, unmarried men increased. Third, more of them saw men and women equally, and masculinity types setting no role division for men and women increased. Fourth, masculinity types of having more concern over their appearance increased. Fifth, masculinity types of relying on others when a problem occurred increased. Sixth, in relationship with others, passive masculinity types increased. There was no change in men's jobs, economic level, personality, or sexual consciousness. This study result shows that from 2005, stereotyped masculinity types shown in advanced research have disappeared a lot, and the current men image tends to show both male and female features.

• Journal of the Korea Convergence Society
• /
• v.10 no.4
• /
• pp.115-121
• /
• 2019

The purpose of this study is to analyze the 'Modern Architecture Space' represented in Korean melodrama films of the late 1950s. It is assumed that popular films reflect the residential culture, architectural spaces and human activities of those days. For the analysis, a pool of 5 Korean melodramas of the late 1950s was constructed. In these melodramas, the modern architectural spaces were represented as the following: 1) The modern-style residential spaces were emphasized to reflect the interest and longing of the public for western lifestyle. 2) The western non-residential spaces such as work spaces and commercial spaces were emphasized, especially its interior design of western image.

• The Southeast Asian review
• /
• v.20 no.2
• /
• pp.73-99
• /
• 2010

To properly answer the question 'Why have Vietnamese Women kept appearing in Korean Films and TV dramas?', We need to induce Postcolonial discourse along with historical and cultural similarities between Korea and Vietnam. It is because the relationship of two countries can be defined as a neocolonialism specially in view of economic relationship. Koreans need to locate themselves on the superior position by othering Vietnamese women, who are close enough to be compared and also distant enough to be othered. This paper is intended to bring their being in Korean films and TV dramas under the light of postcolonial discourse. According to the postcolonial concepts such as ambivalence, stereotyping and subaltern, Korean films and TV dramas are classified into three groups, which are Vietnam war melodramas, Horror movies based in Vietnam, and TV dramas with Vietnamese brides. War melodramas have been othering Vietnamese woman through ambivalence of the fear of Vietcom warrior and the fascination of exotic beauty. Horror movies, produced about 10 years later, brought the Vietnamese women back to Korean audience, stereotyping them into ghosts, which are incarnated through the suppression and eruption of sexual desire. The third group consists mainly of TV dramas. Their story usually evolves around Vietnamese brides migrating into Korea. The women are forced into the position of Subaltern, not representing themselves in their own voices. Facing multi-cultural society, our visual media are requested to modify their neocolonial approach of presenting Vietnamese women. To accomplish the goal, they have to find ways of storytelling to show the women in their everyday lives and help them to speak for themselves.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
• /
• v.16 no.8
• /
• pp.640-650
• /
• 2016

This study analyzed the narratives of love of "delusional" characters in the works of Jungae Lee and Shijin Yoo, whose cartoon creations were prominent in the 1990s and the early 2000s. Their delusional characters can be characterized by excessive obsession with their objects of love, rejection of realistic logic, madness, and extreme selfishness. They make a type of characters whose traces have disappeared not only in the South Korean society of the 21st century, where love and dating are included in the discourse of self-development and dramatic pathos is regarded as the waste of feelings, but also in creative works. It is still, however, needed to pay attention to the selfishness and collapse of those delusional characters that reject the order of the world and focus only on their love because they make the audience betray the sentimentality of melodramas stimulated by the popular culture and reconsider the concept of "love" itself. While Jungae Lee displays the progress of delusional characters and their narratives of love toward collectivized compulsion with the Messiah motif of Christianity, Shijin Yoo presents a narrative of delusional characters with lost memories reacting to hysterical fantasies and eventually choosing their collapse. Their two narratives are significant in that they propose the archetype of personal desire eliminated by the narratives of love in melodramas.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
• /
• v.14 no.2
• /
• pp.48-59
• /
• 2014

This study examines the characteristics in melodramas by comparing three major television broadcasting companies(MBC, SBS, and KBS) since 2000. The findings of the study are as follows: "Romance" melodrama is more common in MBC and SBS, than in KBS, where "family" melodrama is more common. The most cause of conflict shown in MBC is "love between the rich and the poor" that in SBS is "conflict between love and success", and that in KBS is the conflict similar to that between "Ondal the fool and Princess Pyeong-gang". The most common love relationship shown in SBS and KBS is the "single love triangle" and that in MBC is "double love triangle". In the shows of all three TV broadcasting companies, male protagonists most frequently belongs to "jaebeol" (the rich) and female protagonists are "company workers". The most common personality trait of male protagonists' in MBC shows is and "optimism", in SBS shows, it is "supercilious behavior", in KBS, it is "simple-hearted". However, the personality of female protagonists in the shows of all three broadcasting companies can be described as, bright and cheerful. In MBC and SBS, male protagonists were frequently portrayed as capable, and in KBS, as self-conceited. in KBS are the most frequent. Female protagonists in the shows of all three broadcasting companies were most frequently portrayed as hardworking.

• Journal of Popular Narrative
• /
• v.25 no.1
• /
• pp.123-161
• /
• 2019

The popularity of melodrama indicates that melodrama is composed in a historical context. This is the reason why it is necessary to analyze the imagination of melodrama within a sociocultural context rather than asking the essentialistic question of "What is melodrama?". (2016) and (2018) caused sensations while holding unchallenged top positions in terms of viewing rate and popularity. These dramas indicate the popular imagination and desire of Korean society in the 2010s during a period of upheaval. This paper analyzed imagination in melodrama with a focus on nation and emotions of individuals in and . In preexisting dramas, conflicts are often limited to individuals and families; on the contrary, in and , a nation appears as a motif that forms conflicts between individuals. In these intense situations of conflict, people make rational judgments at first; however, they soon dispose of such judgments and reveal value-oriented attitudes through emotions, which drive actions. Both dramas form poésie mainly through poetic rhyming and the mise-en-scène of objects. The dramas also amplify emotions. The main emotions of these dramas are sympathy and sadness. Such emotions are not consumed in itself; instead, they show moral aims through performativity. Consequently, sympathy becomes solidarity, and sadness becomes mourning. Unlike preexisting melodramas whose endings were simply pursuits of love and happiness within the realm of individuals, and demonstrate a moral imagination that simultaneously reminds us of the individual and community through solidarity and mourning.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
• /
• v.8 no.1
• /
• pp.386-397
• /
• 2008

The purpose of the study is to identify the characteristics of films to be exported into a larger market abroad, especially the Japanese film market which occupies more than a half of the export costs of the Korean movies. Our analysis shows that the factors such as the reputation of a director and actors in Japan, the box-office record in Korea and genres have influence upon the export to the Japanese market. Among genres, comedy movies were less exported, while melodramas was more. We expect that this result will be helpful when film producers plan movies for export from the stage of pre-production.

• Cross-Cultural Studies
• /
• v.33
• /
• pp.77-94
• /
• 2013

This article aims at analyzing melodramas in films of Northeast Asia for seeking comparative studies of popular narrative which have been widely favored in Korea, China and Japan since the 1990s. It is explored of expectation and desire of public who have taken pleasure in watching the films in each countries of Northeast Asia as well. It is selected to Letter(1997) made in Korea, The Road Home(1999) in China and Love Letter(1995) in Japan for the research as above Melodrama of each countries has been searched at not only maintaining the traditional melodramatic convention but also corresponding to sociocultural environment of each countries for meeting tastes of public 'in the 1990s' when cultural interchanges have been more active along each countries of Northeast Asia. It will be concretely pursued to the interchanges and influence-reception relation of melodrama for follow-up research as it has been sprightly enjoying as well as transforming common cultural contents at each countries of Northeast Asia since the 1990s.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
• /
• v.17 no.12
• /
• pp.226-235
• /
• 2017

Reflecting times, Korean TV dramas have gone through massive changes. So have their main characters. This study is about their jobs, which have become more professional as well as diverse. It is observed that the male characters" jobs and job-related episodes take the center stage in the stories of dramas, rather than love stories of those characters. While main characters' jobs used to be part of the overall backdrop in the past, it has been the latest trend for a drama to begin building conflicts around and in the meticulously described work settings. This is opening up the possibility for new categories of genre dramas, as opposed to the typical Koran melodramas. For further success of this newly burgeoning trend, the sense of reality matters the most. Then, it requires elaborately built narratives, based upon a high level of expertise of playwrights in the relevant fields, and realistic proper image processing techniques.