We try to weigh in as to why Korean drama and culture is such a hit for Filipinos.
The top three favorites in our survey were Crash Landing On You, Itaewon Class, and Descendants Of The Sun.
It’s no surprise that the whole world right now is smitten with all things Korean: from its delicious dalgona coffee, to the wonderfully infectious songs by Red Velvet and TWICE, to of course, its unique brand of drama. The Philippines is not exempted by this. In fact, we’re probably one of the biggest consumers of K-Drama, especially if you look at Netflix’s trending charts and the number of people online asking their friends for recommendations on what to watch.
That said, we decided to illustrate this a little better by conducting an informal survey—we asked 50 people what K-Drama they were watching now. These 50 individuals consist of people who have been watching K-Drama ever since, as well as people who have never watched one, but started because of the lockdown brought about by the Wuhan Virus.
The answers they gave were varied in popularity and genre: some enjoyed the frightful aspect of Kingdom, some enjoyed the realism of Crash Landing On You, while some gave shows that were obscure (at least to us) but they loved nonetheless. Granted, the most popular shows now has an aspect of love within its plot, be it love for country, love for self, or love for another. However, we wanted to dive deeper into what other aspect made Filipinos adore K-Drama so much, and a lot of their answers showed exactly what was missing from our homegrown shows.
Generally speaking, Filipinos love K-Drama precisely because it isn’t formulaic: the shows are diverse, and aren’t afraid to experiment. One response said that K-Dramas often have “a good mix of history and culture” interwoven within its plot. Another said that “characters are realistic,” and that “you don’t need to have a villian all the time,” implying that progressing through life is conflict enough to drive the plot forward. This is in stark comparison to shows in the Philippines—plots are formulaic, villains are generic, and characters are predictable. Most homegrown dramas revolve around the same plot points: stories of rags to riches, the legal wife and mistress, the amnesiac hero or heroine, and a whole lot of unnecessary zooming.
The answers they gave were varied in popularity and genre: some enjoyed the frightful aspect of Kingdom, some enjoyed the realism of Crash Landing On You, while some gave shows that were obscure (at least to us) but they loved nonetheless. Granted, the most popular shows now has an aspect of love within its plot, be it love for country, love for self, or love for another. However, we wanted to dive deeper into what other aspect made Filipinos adore K-Drama so much, and a lot of their answers showed exactly what was missing from our homegrown shows.
Generally speaking, Filipinos love K-Drama precisely because it isn’t formulaic: the shows are diverse, and aren’t afraid to experiment. One response said that K-Dramas often have “a good mix of history and culture” interwoven within its plot. Another said that “characters are realistic,” and that “you don’t need to have a villian all the time,” implying that progressing through life is conflict enough to drive the plot forward. This is in stark comparison to shows in the Philippines—plots are formulaic, villains are generic, and characters are predictable. Most homegrown dramas revolve around the same plot points: stories of rags to riches, the legal wife and mistress, the amnesiac hero or heroine, and a whole lot of unnecessary zooming.
All that said, it’s sad that some people choose to blame Filipinos for liking these shows instead of, you know, actually making Filipino shows that had these elements to please an ever-growing community of Filipinos craving for shows that are actually worth watching. Filipinos really do want to watch shows made by their own, but with such limited choices, it’s no wonder they choose that of another country instead.
“I usually gravitate towards non-love story. K-Dramas because my boyfriend and I enjoy those more. One would expect that K-dramas are only pakilig and romance-centered, but you just need to look to find plenty of underrated and amazingly-produced dramas as well. I also like the storytelling, [as they] are not always in-your-face and linear like what we’re used to here in the Philippines. I appreciate being taken on a journey while watching and not knowing what to expect “
Oh, and a lot of K-Dramas also feature K-Pop artist as supporting or lead roles, so it’s easy for K-Pop fans to make the jump, and vice-versa.
Oh, and a lot of K-Dramas also feature K-Pop artist as supporting or lead roles, so it’s easy for K-Pop fans to make the jump, and vice-versa.