Illustration by Koko Lee. Yet neither moved me as much as a single scene from the Korean drama, Extraordinary Attorney Woo βmore law-procedural than romcomβwhere the two leads press their fingers together against a window pane. But despite these successes, Hollywood is not investing in much beyond blockbuster superhero moviesβor any intellectual property that has franchise potential.
In the meantime, rom-com fans have been turning to something that fulfills their desire to see two individuals overcome obstacles, against all odds, to find true love: Korean dramas. For the uninitiated, Korean dramas a. K-dramas are limited-series romantic TV shows produced in South Korea.
They are typically limited seriesβthough some newer dramas have begun offering multiple seasonsβand they range from around 10 to 30 episodes, sometimes as short as 25 minutes each, but typically lasting upwards of 40 minutes.
K-dramas, alongside other aspects of Korean pop culture like K-pop, have been making inroads in East Asia since the s. Their popularity was aided by websites such as Viki and the now-defunct Dramafever, which allowed North American viewers to watch episodes the day after they aired in Korea, with English subtitles, for free.
So what changed? For decades, the rom-com was a viable option for Hollywood studios. However, this boom had faded to a whimper by the s. Since these films have such a strong track record, film studios have been less inclined to take their chances on rom-coms, whose pull on audiences is much harder to predict.
