After meeting with South Korean President Yoon Seok Yul yesterday, Netflix announced that it plans to invest $2.5 billion in “creating Korean scripted series, movies, and shows over the next four years” — which is a fancy way of saying that Netflix is all about making a bunch of Korean dramas.
The amount is double what Netflix has invested in K-dramas since 2016 — no wonder given its massive success Squid game Beside glory And Physical: 100. In a statement, Netflix Co-CEO Ted Sarandos said the company “has great confidence that the Korean creative industry will continue to tell great stories,” noting that Korean entertainment is “now at the heart of the global cultural zeitgeist.”
As one of the second generation Korean Americans, this seems odd. amazing! But also very strange.
For most of my childhood, K-dramas were something I watched with my parents on CRT’s “Korean Channel.” I can barely remember half of the performances—there was one with an old bald king who was dressed in gold and had a neat eyepatch—but I do remember how the kids at school bullied me while using the gimbap my mom packed in my lunchbox. The same kids also teased me for listening to K-pop artists like HOT and Baby VOX. So the recent shift in the cultural zeitgeist refers to Sarandos? The place where BTS and Blackpink are commonKorean skincare floods TikTok and parasite win an Oscar? The person responsible for the emergence of terms like koreaboo?
I wish I could show this to my younger self. How was the culture I secretly loved, the one I pushed into the darkest corners of my mind when I was with American American friends, they will be someday At the heart of the global cultural zeitgeist. At the same time, there’s a part of me that feels irrationally frustrated and annoyed at how easy it is — and how lonely I still feel despite more non-Asian friends texting me about their recent K-drama addiction than at any other time in my life.
In the old days, you’d have to go into the basement of a strip mall in Flushing, New York, and rent bootleg DVDs from a dodgy grandfather. I used to watch episodes of the drama while visiting family on summer vacations. When I got home, I had to search the internet for rings cut into a million parts with the precision of potato quality just to find out what happened. My first lesson in region locked content was when I foolishly bought DVDs over the summer only to find that they wouldn’t play in my US DVD player. Now, I can just open Netflix, there are so many Korean dramas, I don’t know where to start. It’s even decently subtitled in English so anyone can watch, even if they miss some of the nuances. (See: gganbu’s translation catastrophe Squid game.)
Now, I can just open Netflix, there are so many Korean dramas, I don’t know where to start
But the frustrating part of all of this is how, in a way, Netflix becomes the arbiter of how average Americans view K-dramas. Yes, Squid game It was so popular that it was given a second season. Yes, it’s pretty impressive that Netflix got it Extraordinary Attorney Wu Very fast. (I was waiting Months For reliable streaming of an entire series.) But when my family and friends told me that demon (also known as Guardian: The one and only God), one of more Popular Korean drama of all time, starring Squid gameGong Yoo, he was nowhere to be found on Netflix. when Bad plaintiff It came out last fall, starring my current idol Do Kyung Soo, who was also missing in action.
It’s not the worst thing. That’s why I have a Rakuten Viki subscription. But it kind of eats something Sarandos said in his statement. “It is incredible that the love towards Korean shows has led to a broader interest in Korea, thanks to the compelling stories of Korean creators.”
Friends will ask which Bong Joon-ho movies they should watch next parasite, And the only one they watch constantly is him Okja because this The ones on Netflix. I can recommend Memories of the murder All I love, but I know most of my friends will nod their heads and never bother because Netflix doesn’t have it. I can say that I liked Squid game Lee Byung Hun V common security area – which also stars Song Kang-ho parasite It was directed by big boypark chan wook – But it’s not on Netflix. I personally want to watch My annoying brotherAnd while it’s available on Netflix in other countries, it’s not here, not on Rakuten Viki. I can pay $3.99 to rent it, but then again, who can I talk to now that my parents are gone?
This isn’t really Netflix’s fault. Region lock is just a lousy commentary from the DVD era. Besides, I don’t blame my friends for not wanting to go out of their way to entertain a foreigner when he’s there Lots of content Generally. Netflix actually has a pretty impressive collection of Korean movies and TV shows. With this $2.5 billion investment, I’m sure it will only get better. And it’s not just Netflix. The platform’s success in this arena has led Hulu, Disney, and Apple to include Korean dramas on their streaming platforms as well.
In general, this is a good thing. But sometimes progress is also bittersweet. As happy as I am that K-dramas are having their moment in America, I can’t help but dwell on how difficult it is to hold on to the culture your immigrant parents gave you. Then and now.