2023 K-Drama Trends: Fantasy Romance, Revenge And Celebrities

It was certainly easier for U.S. viewers to see Korean content in 2023. When Netflix
NFLX
CEO Ted Sarandos recently visited South Korea, he noted that 60 percent of the platform’s viewers had already seen a k-drama. U.S. viewers could sample Korean content on Disney/Hulu, Paramount and Amazon’s
AMZN
Prime Video, as well as dedicated platforms such as Viki.com and OnDemandKorea. Not only were there more platforms for viewing k-media, several previously popular dramas returned for second seasons, which Korean dramas don’t traditionally have. That included second installments for D.P. Sweet Home, Taxi Driver and the long-awaited Arthdal Chronicles. K-dramas embraced every possible genre in 2023, from mysteries to gangster dramas to monster stories and fluffy romcoms, but some themes stood out with a disproportionate number of series focused on revenge, fantasy romance, and characters who were celebrities.

Revenge tales are a tried-and-true staple of k-drama storytelling, whether the protagonists want their day in court or aim to exact bloody retribution. Last year ended with the revenge story Reborn Rich and 2023 began with the second part of The Glory, in which Song Hye-kyo avenges the brutality inflicted on her during high school.

Characters went on to exact revenge in the second season of Taxi Driver, in the historical drama Oasis, in the dramas Dr. Cha, Delightfully Deceitful, Bloodhounds, Lies Hidden In My Garden, Big Bet, Worst of Evil, Numbers, Celebrity, Pandora, Payback, The Killing Vote and Vigilante. Sometimes the need for revenge endured through multiple lifetimes. In Moon In The Day a man seemed to have been killed by his lover in a past life, which complicated their present-day relationship.

K-dramas were definitely more violent in 2023, which may have to do with aiming for an increasingly international audience used to gorier entertainment. Consider the perhaps gratuitous fights in The Worst of Evil, Bloodhounds, and Big Bet, the executions in The Killing Vote, and even some of the superhero battles in Moving. Violent scenes used to be reserved for Korean films rather than dramas, but dramas are catching up. While terrestrial stations still blurred out images of weapons, considered too disturbing, knives glinted and gorged in some other dramas. More violence, notably bullying, was also depicted in school dramas, a not entirely welcome development for some viewers. On a side note, many more characters lit up cigarettes, a few chain smoking, which was noteworthy since smokers have been less common during the last decade of dramas and have almost disappeared from most international TV shows.

As always dramas offered plenty of social commentary, focusing on topics such as domestic abuse (Castaway Diva), bullying in schools (The Glory, Moving, Island) bullying allegations at work (Welcome to Samaldri) or in the military (D.P. Season 2). As an interesting side effect of calling out bullying on the screen, several real figures in the Korean entertainment industry were chastised for being bullies in their earlier years.

Dramas also criticized the educational system for failing to protect students and teachers in The Glory, for not protecting students who might be different in Moving and for the intense pressure students face in Crash Course In Romance. Korea’s teachers really went on strike this year for better protection from occasionally vindictive parents.

Celebrities took the spotlight when it came to k-drama characters. Many drama protagonists in 2022 were lawyers. This year quite a few characters worked in the entertainment industry. Heavenly Idol featured Kim Min-kyu as an otherworldly being pretending to be an idol, Yoo Teo was an k-drama actor who hates kissing scenes in Love To Hate You, and Park Gyu-young was an influencer in Celebrity. The accountants in Numbers dealt with the entertainment industry, CEO Doel-mart focused on idols who open a supermarket, and Escape of the Seven featured an entertainment company CEO. Singer Hwang Min-kyun played a composer in My Lovely Liar, Suzy Bae played a k-pop idol in Doona, Ryeoun and Choi Hyun-wook were father-and-son musicians in Twinkling Watermelon. Park Eun-bin was a singer in Castaway Diva and Lee Young-dae is a star in Moon in the Day.

Many of this year’s love stories featured fantasy elements such as time travel, supernatural abilities, alternate realities and secret curses. Popular non-fantasy romances included the historical dramas My Dearest and The Matchmakers, as well as Doona, Crash Course in Romance, True to Love, King the Land, and Love to Hate You, but fantasy gave romance an extra spark in See You in My 19th life, My Lovely Liar, Time Called You, Destined With You, Twinkling Watermelon, Good Day To Be A Dog, Moon In The Day, My Demon, My Man Is Cupid and Park’s Marriage Contract. Even without romance propelling the story, 2023 was another big year for fantasies. Non-romantic stories with supernatural elements included Black Knight, Duty After School, Uncanny Counter, Moving, Miraculous Brothers, Arthdal Chronicles, Heavenly Idol, Yonder, Sweet Home, Island, and Gyeongsang Creature.

There were also a few dramas that dealt with divorce, perhaps because the divorce rate in South Korea increased by 400% between 1990 and 2017. Divorce was a plot element in Strangers Again, Dr. Cha, The Glory, Turn to Love, Love to Hate You, Divorce Attorney Shin and Celebrity.

A few dramas touched on digital life, how time spent online affects the way people behave and could encourage some to see others as less than human. Celebrity focused on the fickle nature of social media, while The Killing Vote compared voting for executions to voting on a reality show. Mask Girl explored the media’s promotion of unrealistic beauty standards, while Unlock My Boss featured a boss trapped in a phone. The potential to post incriminating videos online posed a threat in Destined With You and A Good Day To Be A Dog.

As in 2022, k-dramas featured a notable number of strong and independent female roles, including but not limited to Song Hye-kyo in The Glory, Kim Ok-bin in Love To Hate You and Arthdal Chronicles, Moon So-ri and Kim Hee-ae in Queenmaker, Uhm Jung-hwa in Dr. Cha, Lee Bo-young in Agency, Lim Ji-yeon and Kim Tae-hee in the eerie Lies Hidden In My Garden, and Han Hyo-joo in the tender superhero saga Moving.

The portrayal of gay characters in dramas has evolved over the last decade and fortunately no longer relies on caricatures. While 2023’s dramas did not have a noteworthy number of present-day gay characters, the historical drama My Dearest featured the character Ryang-eum who secretly loved his best friend. The series deserves a shoutout for quietly treating the character’s feelings with respect. The Matchmakers also featured two male Joseon era characters who were viciously attacked for the way they felt about each other.

According to the ratings, the most popular dramas in Korea were Taxi Driver, Dr. Cha, Crash Course in Romance, Dr. Romantic, Agency, King The Land and My Dearest. International ratings varied, but with a full slate of genres—with plenty of revenge, fantasy romance and celebrity characters—there was a lot to enjoy.