Inside The Radical Transformation Of The Korean Drama

The popularity of K-dramas like "Squid Game" has skyrocketed in recent years — but some longtime fans are worried.

K-dramas, or South Korean scripted TV shows, have long been captivating international audiences. Their popularity has skyrocketed in recent years, most notably with the 2021 success of “Squid Game,” which remains Netflix’s most-watched series. Today K-dramas make up some of the best-performing content on various streaming platforms, regularly occupying several of the spots on Netflix’s weekly Global Top 10 list of the most-watched non-English language TV shows. Last year, nine out of the top 15 international originals on Disney+ were Korean. The thought-provoking sci-fi K-drama “Yonder” was Paramount+’s most-watched international series in the U.S. upon its release. The list goes on.

Global streaming services continue to deliver Korean shows in response to overwhelming demand — with Netflix announcing last year that it will invest $2.5 billion in Korean content over the next four years and Disney+, Paramount+ and Prime Video each expanding its Korean slate. However, many longtime K-drama fans worry that these platforms might be eroding some of the defining characteristics that drew them to Korean TV in the first place — especially the general lack of violence, sex and nudity that made K-dramas a welcome, family-friendly alternative to Hollywood fare. Many of the most recent globally successful Korean series — such as Netflix’s “Squid Game,” “All of Us Are Dead,” “The Glory” and “Parasyte: The Grey;” Disney+/Hulu’s “Moving” and “A Shop for Killers;” and Paramount+’s “Bargain” feature violent, gory and/or sexually explicit content that would’ve been unthinkable less than a decade ago.

But as these streaming platforms release Korean titles for international audiences, many viewers are asking how these global streamers are impacting the kinds of K-dramas we’re seeing today. While streaming has democratized access to K-dramas worldwide, it’s also brought about significant changes to their content, structure and even production process, resulting in a radical transformation of the K-drama landscape and a merging of K-cinema with Korean TV.

Many K-drama fans say that with the rise of streaming, they’ve noticed a corresponding uptick in the number of Korean shows featuring violent and/or sexually explicit content. Some have even taken to online discussion forums and blogs to air their concerns over this trend.

“That is one of the biggest changes I feel I am having to adjust to and one of the reasons I’m watching less K-dramas now,” said Carol Markwei, a Vancouver-based fan who’s been watching K-dramas for 27 years and runs the kdramasmusings Instagram account and a podcast of the same name. “My feeling on this change is really complicated. I am happy for the industry, writers and actors because the expansion of the range of content on TV affords them new roles and stories to explore and play within. At the same time, I fear for a time when graphic content is used to drive plot and not character development, because that’s why I have stuck to K-dramas this long, and what I believed K-dramas did well. You could see, feel and empathize with the emotions the characters were going through.”