The rise of Korean dramas influences internet “Gukje couples” and propels stereotypes of the male archetype.
Korean culture and tourism had an explosive year in 2019. There were 18 million viewers streaming K-dramas, 54% of U.S. cosmetic consumers reported purchasing at least one K-beauty product, and Dynamite was just about to change the world for K-pop. That same year, 10 million women visited South Korea, a figure four times as high from fifteen years prior. Hallyu (the Korean Wave) was in full force.
As K-culture integrated with mainstream media throughout the world, a new typecast evolved: gentlemen who were, in fact, gentle men. K-dramas painted a picture of Korean men as universally groomed, polished, and polite, further fueling the perception that all Korean men fit under a singular personality umbrella. When Westerners turn to Korea for love, a question arises: is that persona fair to the real-world men who have to shoulder those expectations?
The Love Story We Needed
Some nod to the super-human success of BTS, or the record-breaking movie Parasite as K-culture’s first leap into the mainstream. A few years later, Squid Game sent shivers down our collective necks. Korea became a powerhouse for entertainment, producing one hit drama, movie or band after the other. A perfect storm of great timing, great talent, and a great sum of government funding helped establish entertainment as one of Korea’s largest exports.
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Once production brands like Netflix and Hulu jumped on board, they catapulted K-dramas into everyday Western entertainment. Viewers who once shied away from anything with subtitles began purring over the real-life romance of the Crash Landing on You stars Hyun Bin and Son Ye-Jin. The story of these two co-stars-turned-newlyweds echoed a desire quietly brewing behind the scenes of K-dramas. Were the male tropes portrayed on TV a reflection of reality?
The Slow Burn
Unit sales for romance novels topped 47 million in 2021, establishing it as one of the most widely consumed genres. However, many romance novels also fall in line with the lascivious nature of Western dating rituals.
Much Western media bombards its viewers with highly sexualized shows, images, and advertisements. As a culture, we often expect nudity and/or sex scenes in the content we consume. While overwhelming, it’s also desensitizing; after a while, consumers might begin to think of it as commonplace and incomplete without those risque elements.
The first time you watch a K-drama, you might find the lack of sexuality jarring. Full of missed opportunities and poor timing, the portrayed couples skirt around the subject by concealing the depth of their feelings for one another. K-dramas are, in a word, dramatic, with plot twists that mislead the main characters, pulling them away from one another and back together again. By the end of this whirlwind, a viewer might find herself clenching her heart as one character trips on an unearthed tree root and falls into the arms of her would-be lover–if they could just put their egos aside.
Instead of the brash intensity of passionate one-night stands, a K-drama will build entire episodes up to two lovers finally interlocking their fingers together. Drama fans call this “the slow burn,” a tension build-up between characters so great that each gaze is emotionally charged enough to send an electric shock through its viewers.
The Rise of Oppa
K-dramas are filling a void missing in traditional Western entertainment. By creating narratives about wholehearted love without a sexual overture, viewers who were starving for courtship in the real world found a possibility in the relatively unknown Korean dating scene.
If you’ve watched any five-minute segment of K-dramas, you’re likely familiar with the word oppa, a term of endearment for your male lover. Oppa embodies the quintessential K-drama tropes: either the poor-but-doting or cold-but-caring male who eventually falls for the female lead.
Perhaps the creation of oppa was meant to play into fantasy, though Western viewers skewed it with reality: hoping that a faraway peninsula housed innumerable perfect men. Jun, a model in Seoul, claims, “Dating is not always easy. The girls I meet expect me to be someone I’m not. I also get DMs from girls calling me oppa.” He laughed, adding, “And they have no idea who I am.”
Gukje Couples and Internet Stardom
Perhaps this enchantment had something to do with the #gukjecouple bubble, a hashtag connected to over 34,000 videos on YouTube. Gukje (international) couples usually feature heterosexual relationships between a Westerner and a Korean. These videos discuss how the couple deals with cultural differences, activities, and general details of life.
As seen in the millions of subscribers, there appears to be a fascination about how two people from separate global hemispheres make a unity work. When asked why she thinks keyword searches including “korean boyfriend,” “gukje,” “oppa,” and “korean dating” have jumped to the thousands in recent years, Lyly of @Keguritv on Instagram says, “I believe that the popularity of K-pop artists such as BTS in Korean dramas played a big part in the matter. Also I believe that the exposure of mixed-race couples really made people open and curious about dating outside their country.”
Man as a Monolith
It’s one thing to explore the differences between two heritages joining together positively; it’s a totally different thing to date someone specifically because of their background the stereotypes surronding them. Lyly stated that most of her viewers request what she calls “lovey-dovey” content between her and her partner, Eden.
Lyly closed with, “Unfortunately dramas play a big part in how most people perceive the dating scene in Korea. 99% of romance dramas have the same stereotypical characters. Some people in real life use those stereotypes to their advantage… Many bad experiences can be avoided just by knowing the country and its culture.”
Alternatively, it’s impossible to expect anyone to live up to the standards of Hollywood, Hallyu, or any other outlet for entertainment. “What I’d like [them] to know is that we’re all different,” said Jun.
Future Outlook for the Gukje To-Be’s
There’s so much more here than likes, follows, and fulfilling a fantasy. Nikola, an Australian woman and counterpart to one of the original #Gukjecouples notes, “The best international couple channels promote cultural understanding.” One reason for interracial influencers’ phenomenal success is that there’s an underlayer of truth. Channels that present real people in a real relationship differ from what’s portrayed on television.
Perhaps this is a sign to stop taking TV shows as a factual representation of life, and begin to celebrate differences that are uniquely individual. It’s possible to date beyond one’s country borders, but it may come with patience, understanding, and other cohesive qualities.
For those truly interested in finding their soulmate halfway across the world, remember that good people are everywhere, but the perfect ones only exist onscreen.