K-Drama School: A Pop Culture Inquiry into Why We Love Korean Television

K-Drama School: A Pop Culture Inquiry into Why We Love Korean Television by Grace Jung

When reading this book, I waffled from loving it to not liking it. Overall, I went for the positive. K-Drama is covered extensively, but is almost incidental to the book. korean Drama serves as a framing mechanism for the author to discuss her life and challenges, as well as the experiences of Koreans and Asians. Koreans has had a challenging history with large falls and rapid rises. Japan occupied Korea, kicked out the monarchs and attempted to wipe out Korean identity. Korea achieved freedom at the end of World War II, only to be divided into two. Many travesties occurred in the Korean War. The war was inconclusive (and technical is still ongoing.) South Korea has a large US military base (despite being an ally.) Televisions were introduced to Korea at this time. The dictatorship ruling the country created a television network to help spread propaganda. Television manufacturers created their own network to sell televisions. Korean Drama came out of this setting. The country suffered from many wounds and still had challenges ahead. Korean dramas were created rapidly and at low cost. There were limits on what could be shown (with the producers often hitten the edge of these limits.) Various tropes, such as amnesia were employed. Dramas also focussed on important parts of the Korean psyche. Society is heavily driven to succeed.  We can see both general as well as individual challenges in the dramas.

The author looks at various dramas and discusses how they relate to her experience (which includes various forms of abuse) as well as Korean life (including adoptions.) She has the power to look beyond the immediate problems. Abusers are people who often suffered from abuse earlier in their life. Ending the cycle is important. She suffered significant abuse from her parents. (In one case she received a huge beating from her mom after her mom misunderstood an elementary school teacher.) She suffered greatly and wanted to separate herself from her family. However, she was able to make peace with them. She is critical of woke people who bring people down for behavior they do not respect. This does not help. Instead we are better understanding and helping others to learn. She received many degrees but was turned off from the academic culture. She finally found an area that she enjoyed.