THE INTERNATIONAL SCARLET HEART RYEO (Korean Drama) PHENOMENON

THE INTERNATIONAL SCARLET PHENOMENON

I am so surprised to see that the WORST drama in Korea is such a hit internationally. It has caused such an upheaval (commotion) is not even a joke!

People watching it 2, 3 times or more, raw, with subs, both versions... you name it. Girls, who never gave a second thought about LEE JOON GI, now are dying for that man; digging up everything they can about this actor; and yet, according to Koreans and some other people who believe themselves to be experts in cinematography, this has been the worst role ever, and the worst acting ever of Joon Gi.

I really wonder why?

My facebook newsfeed is full of posts about SCARLET from Mondays to Thursdays. Even though the same international audience is watching the BEST drama, with the BEST RATING at the same time they are watching the WORST drama, with the WORST rating, all the posts, comments, and so on are related to SCARLET... just a few posts or comments relate to the best drama.

I am not writing this to compare dramas and to discuss which one is better or worst; I am just writing this because I am really curious about this phenomenon. I have so many questions popping up in my head right now:

Why a drama that is deemed to be the worst in one nation (actually the nation itself where the drama originated from) is so well accepted and loved in many other nations? Is the taste of Westerners that different from Koreans (what we consider good, they consider bad; what we consider pretty, they consider ugly, etc.)? And if this is the case, why other dramas, such as DESCENDANTS FROM THE SUN and MAN FROM THE STARS were an absolute hit around the World, including Korea? What made the difference? Is it the quality, the promotion, the scenery, the cast?

The opposite happens too. Dramas that are hit in Korea are not popular with foreigners. But then again, this is a little bit more understandable since we could hypothesized that because the drama was made in Korea, it has all the necessary elements (filming and cultural) that please the Korean audience; therefore becoming a hit among Koreans; but not necessarily all the factors that would make it a hit among foreigners. Or, it may be simply that because foreigners may not know or understand a certain aspect of the Korean culture, they cannot fully appreciate a Korean drama even though that drama may be of the best quality (contentwise, filmingwise, actingwise, castwise, etc.).

Since I started my post-graduate degree in Kyung Hee University, all I hear, read, and write is RESEARCH, RESEARCH, RESEARCH hahaha.  May be I should conduct a research about this. It may help to narrow down the factors, and discover the ingredient that makes a drama so popular internationally and domestically. And then, I sell the results to SBS, MBC, and KBS, and I become RICH!!! (Yeah right! As if! Hahahahaha)

Anyway, I am so busy right now, that instead of pondering about this measly thing, I should focus on studying for my GRADUATION COMPREHENSIVE exam I'll have this Saturday XDDD. So for now, while studying, I will continue enjoying my WANG SO wallpaper here and there... OMG LEE JOON GI (A.K.A. WANG SO) soooooouuuu gorgeous; it's not even funny!!! (Totally fangirling right now hahahahahaha).