Korean melodramas

Running Head: KOREAN MELODRAMA 1

KOREAN MELODRAMA 7

Contemporary Korean Melodrama

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Contemporary Korean Melodrama

Korea is a region in East Asia and comprises of South Korea and North Korea. Similar to other nations around the world, cinema is an important form of entertainment. The Korean cinema has undergone a significant transition from the “antiquated cottage industry in the 18980s to a thriving international cinema albeit with a series of tension and challenges in the post-boom years of the 2000s right up to the present. Pointedly, melodrama is the dominant genre in the industry and takes the largest proportion of viewership. The paper focuses on one common element of the contemporary Korean cinema; melodrama and explores its development, including the Cinema`s reliance on the excessive affective response from the viewers.

Korea Film Industry

Immediately after the 1950 Korean War (between the North and South), the film industry experienced a series of development with a series of quality local productions. The contemporary melodramas of the “Golden Age” comprises a series of aesthetically, historically and politically significant as those of other popular national firm movements. The analysis of the film culture following the 1980s has set the stage for the transition and development in the Korean cinema over the last decade and points to a longer historical continuum that involves the “re-emergence” in the 1980s of a “cinema quality” that involved a series of critical acclaims. According to studies by Parc and Hwy-Chang (2013) and Yecies and Shim (2015), emotional playoffs in the contemporary cinema are the byproducts of compelling, causality type story telling. Pointedly, the contemporary Korean cinema seems to give the same counterexample. From the Asian Extreme cinema by Park Chan-wook`s vengeance trilogy to Kim Ki-duk sensational film, from the popular genre films to Korean TV mini-series dramas such as that by the Winter Sonata, the focus seems to concern melodramas.

Melodramas

Berry (2016) describes melodramas dramatic sensational pieces with exaggerated characters and entertaining events that intend to appeal to the emotions of the viewers. Melodramas are the dominant genre in Korean movie production. In the worldwide Korean romantic comedies, My Sassy Girl (2001), it referred to Koreans like melodrama. Pointedly, romantic genres or melodrama genres contributed to about 60% of the South Koreans film market. Notably, melodramas contribute to about 60% of the Korean cinema industry. This is a fairly high percentage compared to other countries (Hogarth, 2013). The underlying stories are quite similar; it follows that a boy falls in love, then separate after a series of challenges, then they overcome the changes at a later stage and end up having a happy life. In the new highlight of the genre, the heart-breaking ending is a common trend.

Melodramas and their Development

The Korean melodrama refers to a subgenre of melodrama that largely borrows from the Korean narratives and theoretical formations through the adaptation of traditional folk tales and pansori (Stam, 2017). Pointedly, the genre also borrowed from the Japanese early Hollywood and theatrical “shimpa.” Although shimpa used to be a contemporary issue least during the colonial periods (in the early 20th century) it is now referred to as the outdated melodrama. However, contemporary films seem to have elements of shimpa (Kim, 2017), some of the notable features of shimpa films includes the sense of time, connection with stage, extreme emotionalism and pessimism. Nonetheless, while shimpa is an important element in the development of Korean melodrama, it is becoming obsolete particularly in the understating of contemporary cinema.

Lee (2001) highlighted the notion of class in the Korean melodramas; the study notes that the films are strongly aligned with the Koreans common cultural traits and in the conventional Confucian structures and values. The study further pointed to the fact that class issues in the society continue to take shape particularly away from dualistic attitudes towards social hierarchies that are inherited from the past. Further, they also show shared convictions that reunification is inevitable. Nevertheless, success is less remarkable as far as the figures are concerns opposed to its likelihood. The study further points to the fact that class issues in the society continue to take shape particularly away from dualistic attitudes towards social hierarchies that are inherited from the past. The approaches were taken in managing these issues often reflect curious discontents with the lack of class. The films in this genre have effectively highlighted a similarly ambiguous concern over the limited status based on wealth, this time on the part of the new middle class who are shown as blindly materialistic and fairly cunning.

Notable movie stars are in most cases remembered for their roles in heart-wrenching tragedies. The degree to which the melodramas have gained prominence and become a party of the Koreans self-image can be noted in the scenes from Park Kwang-soo`s acclaimed 1990 feature Black Republic, in a case that a barmaid makes disparaging comments concerning a Hollywood action film on the television. Her counterpart responds that it is better than a section of weepy melodramas after which she agrees that she likes Korean movies.

It is ironic the way melodramas have influenced the Korean cinema. The concept of realism is used in most cases together with arthouse films designed for intellects and the festival circuits. As far as contemporary melodramas are concerns, both classical directors including Yu Hyun-mok and actors such as Lee Chang-dong have been commended by local critics for their artistic caption of reality. In this regard, the concept of love and romance, however, merits a closer look. After all setting up a camera in any “happy” family would produce a realistic love experience, however, it might not be a perfect film. When critics include some aspects in their judgments, they often imply the political orientations of their work. And how it portrays a series of the neglected highlights in the society or concerned with form, the level that they reject the conversations in the popular melodrama.

Some of the issues that have attributed to the development in the melodrama include peace and tranquility in the region, the general support in the national cinema by the governments and the issues in the society such as social challenges that drive the need for entrainment with insights into social inclusion and development. Some of the popular contemporary melodramas include the Heirs (2014) that stairs Lee Min-ho and Park Shin-hye. The story is atypical melodrama narrative and involves a hardship friendship between two teenagers living at different social classes.

Comparison with the West

Compared to other melodramas, particularly those produced in the West, the idea of suffering is a principal element and is in part captured in the films which imply deep-seated despair, bitterness and sorrow that frames from the injustice or the oppression that develops over time and remains dormant in the heart. It is largely believed to be adjusting feature of the Korean culture. Similarly, other distinct element of the Korean melodrama are the focus on the family. These elements are different from the Western melodramas as they tend to focus on the individuals; the highlights of the self as they relate to the family in Korean melodrama is crucial. According to Yecies et al. (2015), initial melodramatic texts typically dramatized the moral superiorities of old values. The concept of melodrama initially stemmed from the idea of music. Nevertheless, in the contemporary Korean melodramas, there is less use of the initially throbbing and seductive music.

Over the last two decades, the Korean film industry has seen a spectacular development both locally and across the border. At the moment, the film industry not only occupies the top spot at the domestic box office; however, the majority have come to take a spot in the stock of global cinema, often winning prizes in the global film festivals. In the melodrama, the experience, circumstances and exaggerated feelings work together to arouse empathy in the viewers while in the majority of Korean art films, directors have used a series of mundane concepts. In place of the throbbing, seductive musical in the melodrama, the films have little to no music at all. The heroes in these films have floods of emotions from polar bears opposite to the bitter, silent hero of the art films. In this regard, the melodramas have an indirect influence on the majority of the work that makes up the Korean film industry. The genre seems to describe most Koreans impression of their film industry. Across the Koreans film industry, the melodramas have dominated popular films. However, while the films are used to highlight a series of ideologies such as social difference, the approaches in which the films deal with them are rarely one dimensional.

References:

Berry, C. (2016). Sino-Korean screen connections: towards a history in fragments. Journal of

Chinese Cinemas, 10(3), 247-264.

Hogarth, H. K. K. (2013). The Korean wave: An Asian reaction to western-dominated

globalization. Perspectives on Global Development and Technology, 12(1-2), 135-151.

Kim, D. H. (2017). Eclipsed Cinema: The Film Culture of Colonial Korea. Edinburgh University

Press.

Lee, H. (2001). Contemporary Korean cinema: Identity, culture, and politics. Manchester:

Manchester University Press.

Parc, J., & Hwy-Chang, M. (2013). Korean dramas and films: Key factors for their international

competitiveness. Asian journal of social science, 41(2), 126-149.

Stam, R. (2017). Film theory: an introduction. John Wiley & Sons.

Yecies, B., & Shim, A. (2015). The changing face of Korean cinema: 1960 to 2015. Routledge.

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