Feminism in Korean TV Dramas and Young Vietnamese Woman Responses

Absztrakt (kivonat)

Representing as a significant contributor to the Hallyu Wave's success in Vietnam, the 21st century witnessed Korean dramas' blossom (K-dramas). These movies and their protagonists are becoming a new phenomenon and influential figures in a wide range of ages, especially young women. Its success was beginning with Vietnam National Television Network's decision to purchase and broadcast several Korean TV Dramas. Such example movies are The Winter Sonata (2002), Boys Over Flowers (2008) Secret Garden (2012) became aspirations of the various entertainment industries. The transnational cultural flow continues to accelerate in human consciousness, ideology, and behaviors level thanks to the modern platforms' expansion. Along with that, the growth of feminism leads to variations in women's main characteristics and perspectives. While in the First Wave of Hallyu and Korean Dramas, the female protagonists were likely composed as the 'Cinderella' or "Candy Girl' type emphasizing standard virtues: pure, sweet, and warm-hearted. This type of protagonist tends to make people touched by her kindness. The female protagonists transformed into independent women figures with rough personalities, socially equal to men. In some movies, those could be described as anti-heroine, short-tempered, selfish at the beginning since they lost belief in romantic relationships due to their sufferings in the past. Yet the film will be the story of her to rediscover the beauty of love. Notably, new figures always confidently acknowledge their value and capacity which could be recognized as remarkable feminism transformation. This evolution would be recognized through a series of dramas from 2016 to recent such as Strong Woman Do Bong Soon (2017), Hotel De Luna (2019), Itaewon Class (2020) etc. Under the circumstances of common gender inequality and domestic abuse in many areas in Vietnam, those modern protagonists would play a crucial role in the feminine movement due to the incredible effect on human behaviors of films and media. The thesis aims to indicate the Korean cultural flow in Asia and Vietnam via those articles focusing on audience responses and customer behaviors towards entertaining industries. Meanwhile, it also examines the cultural proximity in Korean and Vietnamese that play a fundamental role in K-dramas' success. Content analysis would assist the research to demonstrate the transformation of female leads in K-dramas. Furthermore, to explore the hypothesis of the audiences’ awareness, this research would conduct a quantitative survey of young women aged from 18 to 30 responses toward the difference between the female protagonists in the earlier and later part of two decades.