Squid Game, Hellbound, BTS success reflects West's acceptance of Korean culture

From the dramas Squid Game and Hellbound to superband BTS South Korean pop culture drew fans from all over the world throughout 2021 raising hopes about what is in store in the coming yearSquid Game a dystopian Korean drama series has become the mostwatched Netflix content of all time with more than 165 billion hours of viewing in the first four weeks after its release in September reports Yonhap News AgencyThe ninepart series is about contestants competing in deadly Korean childrens playground games to win 456 billion won 385 million in prize moneyThe shows popularity made its costumes green tracksuits and black masks a fashion hit for Halloween in many countries around the world last month On TikTok a short video social media platform that is used by mostly teenagers videos of people playing childrens games that appeared in the series have been spreading rapidlyAnd then Hellbound a new South Korean fantasy horror series from Netflix overtook Squid Game as the mostwatched TV show on the streaming platform one day after its release last monthHellbound which depicts social turmoil and unrest after a series of inexplicable supernatural phenomena sat atop the services global chart of its 10 most popular TV programmes for 10 nonconsecutive weeks until it slipped off the list this past Thursday But three Korean dramas were on the chart Squid Game at No 6 KBSs historical romance The Kings Affection at No 7 and the tvN romance Hometown Cha Cha Cha at No 9 that dayIn the Kpop industry BTS continued its recordshattering run this year as its second Englishlanguage single Butter stayed for 10 nonconsecutive weeks on the Billboard Hot 100The South Korean boy group followed it up with two other charttoppers Permission to Dance and My Universe a collaborative single with British rock band ColdplayThe septet snatched four awards at the annual Billboard Music Awards and three at the American Music Awards AMAs and was nominated in the best pop duo or group performance category of the Grammy Awards for the second consecutive year During the AMAs held last month in particular BTS became the first Asian act to win the top honour of Artiste of the YearThe Kpop giant had four soldout concerts at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles where more than 200000 American fans gathered across four nights between November 27 and December 1 despite the Covid19 pandemicYonhap quoted experts as saying that these phenomenal successes once again proved that Korean pop culture is now firmly rooted in the global entertainment market that has been dominated by the United States for nearly a centuryIn the past the Korean Wave was just a regional phenomenon in some geographically and culturally adjacent Asian countries Kim Youngdae a music critic said in a radio programme But now it is a global phenomenon happening with no particular pattern and in countries with no similar culture backgrounds like the United States Kazakhstan and IndonesiaNoting that a total of 13 albums from other Kpop groups such as BLACKPINK TWICE Seventeen Enhyphen ITZY NCT 127 Tomorrow X Together and Monsta X made it to the Billboard 200 main albums chart with some reaching high rankings this year Kim said these achievements show there has been a fundamental change in the Wests perception of South Korean culture in recent yearsWesterners obviously had stereotypes or prejudices about Asians and from that point of view they consumed foreign content in the past They thought like foreign content is fun but very exotic or eccentric he said citing Psys 2012 worldwide hit Gangnam Style as an exampleBut things have changed in the recent three to four years to a point where Kpop idol groups are considered to be a new standard of aesthetics or modernity he pointed outThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever