In the last few years, Korean films, TV dramas and pop music have become immensely popular abroad, a phenomenon known as the Korean Wave. This is the first in a series of essays by a select group of foreign scholars and journalists looking at the spread of Korean pop culture in Southeast Asian countries and beyond. - Ed.
The names Johnny, Jenny and Andrew may not ring a bell for Koreans, but for Filipinos, they started the so-called Korean Wave in the Philippines. They were the "Filipinized" names of the main characters in the drama "Autumn Story," better known as "Endless Love 1" when it was shown in the Philippines. It was the first-ever Korean drama to air in the country.
In 2002, the Taiwanese drama "Meteor Garden" swept through the Philippines and the rest of Asia, paving the way for Chinese dramas to enter local markets. The drama was aired on the ABS-CBN network, one of the Philippines' largest broadcasting companies. More Taiwanese dramas soon followed, heralding the start of the "Chinovelas" (Chinese + novelas, a word derived from the Spanish "novela") fever. Facing the risk of saturating televiewers' interest, the network's rival, GMA-7 looked elsewhere and took a chance on Korean dramas.
As with what ABS-CBN did to "Meteor Garden," GMA-7 translated and dubbed "Autumn Story" into Tagalog to give it a local flavor. It also changed the characters' names to make them easier for Filipinos who may find it difficult to remember, much less pronounce, complicated Korean names.
So the character of Yun Joon-suh (played by Song Seung-hun) became known as Johnny Yun; Choi Eun-suh (Song Hye-gyo) was Jenny Choi; and Han Tae-sukh (Won Bin) was Andrew Han. In late 2003, "Autumn Story" aired locally and is credited with having started the "Koreanovela" phenomenon in the Philippines. The drama has been re-aired twice since then and continued to receive high viewership numbers.
Nina Angeles was one of those who got hooked on the drama. She cited the interesting storyline and the good-looking actors as her reason for watching the drama. "Also, the scenery was very beautiful. Korea looked so beautiful, especially in autumn," she says.
Like Nina, many other Filipino fans began to take interest in Korean movies, as well. She recalls the first time she saw the VCD of "My Sassy Girl" in her brother's bedroom, and thought that it was a porn movie. "My Sassy Girl" was the first Korean film she watched and all the rest followed.
From watching Korean dramas and movies, it was inevitable that fans would take an interest in the country's culture, food and fashion. When, at the height of "Meteor Garden," people were signing up for Mandarin classes, now there was a sudden demand for Korean-language classes and "noraebang" or KTVs became a favorite hangout for fans who wanted to sing along to Korean pop songs.
And so, from Korean dramas and films, it was a natural progression to music, as in Nina's case. A self-confessed "rocker girl" who liked listening to Pearl Jam, Smashing Pumpkins, Black Crowes and Nirvana, she was nevertheless surprised at her sudden interest in Korean pop culture. "I was attracted to K-pop because it was different from the rock scene in the United States and the Philippines. It sounded a lot like American pop music but in a different language and had an Asian vibe," Nina explains.
She initially liked Lee Min-woo of the boyband Shinhwa, and used to watch him all the time in "Music Tank" on the Arirang channel. During a trip to Hong Kong, she bought CDs and DVDs of Shinhwa. "I feel I could relate more to M (Min-woo) and Shinhwa than N'Sync and Justin Timberlake," Nina says.
The language barrier was not a deterrent for fans like her to continue listening to Korean music. "When I started listening to music and watching dramas, I wanted to learn Korean," she says.
Paola Ebora, 21, was introduced to Korean music through a friend. "Listening to music in a foreign language I don't understand is nothing new to me, so what drew me to listening to K-pop is the same reason that drew me to C-pop (Cantopop): songs that don't distract me from studying because I can't sing along to them," Paola says.
Paola, a journalism student back in the Philippines, studied the language when she went to Korea as a foreign exchange student last year. "Now that I know a little bit of the language enough to sing along and understand parts of the song, I continue to be fascinated with K-pop because they give me what I like in Western music, only that they have the Asian feel."
Korean music and dramas appear intertwined for some fans like Kelly Gomez who likes the soundtracks of the dramas she has watched.
Kelly considers herself a "late bloomer," as far as Korean pop culture is concerned. "I remember the first-ever series that I really finished watching was 'Full House.'"
"Full House" starred Jung Ji-hoon, better known as Rain, and Song Hye-gyo; to Filipino fans, however, they were known as Justine and Jesse, respectively.
"Full House" was one of the highest-rating Korean dramas aired in the Philippines in 2005, peaking at 52 percent and averaging 42.3 percent during its entire run.
The country's two biggest TV networks, GMA-7 and ABS-CBN fight tooth and nail to acquire the rights to the latest Korean dramas. Since the airing of "Autumn Story," "Koreanovelas" have eclipsed local soaps which used to dominate local television.
Several reasons have been cited for the rise of "Koreanovelas": simple plots and few characters, good-looking and fashionable casts, good production values, engaging soundtracks and the showcase of Korean culture.
"I was amazed at how Korea was able to come up with so many dramas. They never seem to run out of stories or ideas because, so far, each drama or movie I have seen has a unique storyline; they are like a factory of drama series. And they always have such lovely casts," Kelly says.
In addition, the values reflected in the stories are not so different from Filipino values that teach about love for family, the importance of respecting elders and fighting for one's true love.
Also, Filipinos have grown tired of the formulaic Filipino soaps that used to run for years. One such drama, "Mara Clara" ran for about five years, so the audience literally saw its lead star grow up before their eyes. On the other hand, Korean dramas are fast-paced and the audience do not have to wait for years to know what would happen to the lead characters, and in the case of romantic dramas, whether they would end up together.
With the introduction of foreign dramas, Filipinos suddenly had more choices and local producers were forced to keep up with the competition. In the long run, however, it became more apparent that buying the rights to Korean or Chinese dramas was cheaper than producing local dramas.
Butch Raquel, an executive of GMA-7, noted in an earlier interview that the cost of buying a foreign drama is equivalent to only a fourth of the cost of a local production, adding that the advertising rates are the same. In short, networks earn more from foreign shows because they do not have to invest huge capital. At the same time, they rake in more revenues from advertising spots when these shows become instant hits.
Aside from a slowdown in local drama productions, which is an effect of the popularity of "Koreanovelas," many dramas were prematurely axed due to low ratings.
In 2006, the Philippines was the fourth-largest buyer of Korean dramas next to Japan, China and Taiwan, according to Leng Raymundo, vice-president for program acquisitions of ABS-CBN.
Aside from "Autumn Story" and "Full House," Korean dramas that have been shown in the Philippines include "Winter Sonata," "Lovers in Paris," "Daejanggeum (Jewel in the Palace)" and "My Girl." The latest to air is "Coffee Prince" which has also been enjoying high ratings.
"Daejanggeum," according to some reports, peaked to as high as 57 percent audience share and, due to its popularity, was rerun, again earning high ratings.
The titles of some Korean dramas were also changed, as in the case of "Gung," which was aired as "Princess Hours" and "What Happened in Bali," which was shown locally as "Memories of Bali." In the case of "Autumn Story," it was initially known as "Endless Love 1" and packaged with "Winter Sonata" as one series. "Autumn Story" was later re-shown under its original title.
Korean dramas being aired on GMA-7 and ABS-CBN also battled in the ratings game, as in the case of "Full House" (GMA-7) which was pitted against "Stained Glass" (ABS-CBN) in the same time slot. Most fans switched channels often and had to quit watching "Stained Glass" during the last episode of "Full House."
Many fans, however, prefer to watch the dramas in their original form, getting these from various sources like pirated copies or downloading from the internet. They say that watching the dubbed version can be annoying as not only the characters' names are translated, but even the music has been changed. The networks use local singers to sing the theme song of the dramas to better market them to the Filipino audience so hardcore fans resort to pirated copies, buying the original online or asking friends in Korea to buy for them.
The popularity of these Korean stars has also turned them into overnight superstars in the Philippines, where most stars these days come from reality-based shows. Stars that have come to visit the country include Lee Dong-gun, better known to his Filipino fans as Martin, the name adapted by his character for the local version of "Lovers and Paris"; Kwon Sang-woo, who even opened a branch of The Face Shop, a Korean beauty store, in Manila; and Lee Dong-wook of "My Girl."
Kelly recalls running alongside a bus carrying Kwon Sang-woo during his Manila visit, ignoring the danger of being run over.
But Kelly, like many fans, was also not about to wait out her life for their idols to visit the country. Tours to Korea became very popular. Last year, Kelly and her friends went on a "Koreanovela" tour that included visiting locations of the dramas "Spring Waltz" and "Princess Hours."
"What really made me decide to visit Korea is the 'Spring Waltz' drama. The sceneries were so lovely that I dreamt of visiting the place. I never knew that it would really come true," she says.
One of the highlights of their trip was seeing famous Korean director Yoon Suk-ho in person when they visited the "Four Seasons House," a joint project of the Seoul government and Yoon's production company. The tourist attraction features the sets of "Autumn Story," "Winter Sonata," "Summer Scent" and "Spring Waltz."
"That trip was really so worth it," says Kelly, whose group did not follow the itinerary provided by their package tour, but instead opted to discover Korea on their own. "Going to places that we've only seen in some of our favorite drama series and movies, to be able to personally see the places where they shot the dramas, see and touch the stuff they used and even talk to some people who were there when they were shooting, was just overwhelming."
In 2003, Nina dreamt of going to Korea to see her favorite stars up close. She realized that dream in 2005 when she got an offer to work in Seoul. But not before turning down another job offer in Taiwan.
But nothing could perhaps be more extreme than Paola, a journalism student, joining an exchange program and ending up specializing in engineering. She explained that the program she got accepted to was for industrial management and, as a result, she did not earn any credits for her studies.
Not that it bothered her. She says that it was the perfect chance for her to go and see Korea, the land of her favorite boyband TVXQ (Dongbangsingi).
Korea, she says, is a "mecca" for any K-pop fan. "Seeing the artists in person performing onstage, hearing their songs and seeing their faces on magazines and television... being in Korea was a dream come true," she says, adding that she loved the experience of being among K-pop fans.
The highlight of her trip was joining a TVXQ fan event, where she was the only foreign fan. Paola got to see her idols up close and even had her picture taken with them. It was, as she says, a once-in-a-lifetime chance that not every fan gets to experience, and the perfect way to cap her Korean dream.
By Yasmin Lee G Arpon
