Fanaticism of Female Students on Korean Entertainment: Inputs for Increasing Tolerance

A Research Presented to

The Faculty of College of Arts and Sciences

Our Lady of Fatima University

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the

Degree in Bachelor of Science in Psychology

By

ARABIS, ALCRISTAIRE JEIEL V.

ESVER, JULIAN III E.

GONZALGO, PERCY KIM S.

ILACAD,GABRIEL LUIS M.

March 2015
 Chapter I

THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND

Introduction
Korean culture is a big hit here in our country. It came in South Korea and their
culture has been acquired here in our country many years ago by television networks
showing Koreanovelas (Korean drama). The Filipinos admired the Koreanovelas so much
that some local TV shows have remade the Koreanovelas.

The Korean pop also known as KPOP, started towards the turn of 21st century. It is
characterized by audiovisual elements that makes it playful to the ears and eyes.Its
popularity in South Korea reached first the East Asia and eventually the whole world. Its
global phenomenon helped the South Korea to boost their marker and tourism. The
fanaticism of locals here and abroad in Korean culture makes the South Korea one of the
biggest exporters of entertainment.

Background of the Study

Since the advent of media, there has been an influx of ways and opportunities for
fans to express their admiration for a popular narrative or text. Fans send fan letters
through snail mail, or visit their idols on shoots and productions. And now especially
with the dawn of new media such as the Internet and cellphone, the audience and the fans
have a faster avenue to express their thoughts. After an episode of a drama series aired,
fans would rally online to talk about their thoughts on the recent episode minutes after the
broadcast. Andrejevic’s study on the productivity of online fans found that viewer
thoughts on an episode can change the way writers and producers create future episodes.
Through different media, celebrities and broadcast programs are now more reachable for
the fans. It is the same way that even fans from one country can access media content
from another country. The world has become borderless, and media and fan activities are
just two aspects of globalization that brought about the openness of the world.
 Therefore, it is no surprise that even a Mexicana named Thalia and four chinky-
eyed men from Taiwanese group F4 captured the hearts of the Filipinos. Marimar and
Meteor Garden were game-changers in the programming landscape of the Philippines and
created a cult-following among Filipinos. Their penetration in the mainstream media and
the openness of the Filipinos to foreign media products brought upon the Korean Wave in
the country. Since 2003, Korean dramas have become a staple in Philippine television.
Studies show that the Philippines was only one of the many shores that the Korean wave,
also known as Hallyu, affected.

“Hallyu” or the term of “Korean wave” is used for describing the popularity of
Korean popular culture. People are influenced by the Korean pop culture which became a
phenomenon that spread out in other Asian countries such as China, Hong Kong, Taiwan,
Singapore, Japan, the Philippines and Thailand. They widely watch Korean TV Dramas,
movies and listen to their pop music. As a matters of fact, these media factors are the
beginning of an overwhelming so-called Korean Wave and the consequences of these
factors have turned out to be superb as people who perceive these media products are also
willing to spend their money for buying products that are used in the TV dramas or
presented by their favorite actors or singers, for instance, cosmetics, mobile phones,
attires, etc in pursuance of getting close or even being able to look like their favorite
actors or actresses. Moreover, people are taking further steps by being interested to eat
Korean cuisine and traveling to South Korea especially visiting the places where the
famous Korean TV dramas or movies shooting and this later became the norm for a
Korean fanatic.

Apart from the popularity of Korean pop culture, the South Korean Government
has put even more effort promoting their country by launching a nation branding project
in January 2009, which the government aims to use as a tool to lift Korea”s ranking in the
Anholt‟s Nation Brands Index (NBI) and to make their brand value match the reality.
 In addition, Korean pop music (Kpop) is also popular in Japan, China and Taiwan.
In the Philippines, Filipinos were only drawn to Korean dramas. However, June 2009
the debut of Korean music videos (MVs) in MYX Music Channel. Since then, Kpop as a
media content, has become a staple in the programming of said channel, and created a
fandom especially among the Filipino fans. Korean songs entered MYX music charts and
stayed for weeks. Music companies distributed Korean albums in the country, and most
of these albums were best sellers in music stores. As an answer to the fan’s clamor for
Kpop content, MYX channel launched Asia Myx in December 2009, and Pop Myx Kpop
Edition in May 2010. The year 2010 marked another milestone for the Kpop fandom
among Filipino teens. Numerous Kpop groups like Shinee, 4minute, FT Island, Super
Junior, U-kiss, Beast, Kim Hyunjoong and Rain visited the Philippines to perform.

Statement of the Problem

The study aims to know the tolerance of Female Fanatics in Korean culture
specifically sought to answer these questions:

1. What is the demographic profile of respondents?

1.1 Age
1.2 Year Level
2. What is the degree of tolerance of the Filipino through their frequency of
consuming Korean popular music and videos?
3. Is there a significant relationship between the level of tolerance and the
demographic profile of the female students?

Hypothesis
Ho = There is no significant relationship between the demographic profile and the level of
tolerance of the female students.
Ha = There is a significant relationship between the demographic profile and the level of
tolerance of the female students.
Significance of the study
The researcher firmly believes that through this study, Female students who are
kpop fans may gain understanding of their fandom, and how their consumption of Kpop
media content affects their decisions and participation in many activities in their lives.
The study could encourage fans to be critical of the media’s direct effects on their daily
decisions. Also, the researcher was convinced that Kpop fans spend a considerable
amount of their allowances on buying Kpop media products. This study could make
Filipino parents understand their children’s fascination for such foreign media products.

To the students–this research is intended to help students to understand how their

fandom, consumption of Korean culture media content affects their decisions and
participation in many activities in their lives.
To their parents – this research could make them understand their children’s fascination
for such foreign media products. This will also guide their children to the traditional ways
of Filipinos.
To the psychology students – this research includes information that will help them
understand the behavior of Filipino female students who are Korean culture fanatics.
To the future researchers – this research may serve as a guide or reference to future
researchers that will have a study related to this one. This study may also help them
determine what tools and variables they could use in their study to foretell the possible
behavior of the students.
Scope and Limitation
This study focused primarily on increasing tolerance in the fanaticism of Korean
culture among female Filipino students. Using self-made test which will determine the
cultural aspects present in Korean culture that the students could relate with, and how the
content gratified the needs of the fans.

This study is conducted among one hundred (100) female Filipino students of Our
Lady of Fatima University.

Definition of Terms
The following terms shall be understood in context with the study. The researcher
provided this section in order to inculcate the meaning of various terms in relation with
the current research endeavor.

Advent – the period of beginning

Cultural offering - facets of the Cultural Proximity Theory used in this study to describe
the content of foreign media texts.
Fan – a person with an intense enthusiasm or attachment to Korean popular music,
videos and artists.
Hallyu – describing the popularity of Korean popular culture.
Idol – a singer trained by an entertainment company marketed as an idol for the general
public (e.g.: Girls’ Generation, Super Junior, Shinee, SS501, U-Kiss).
Influx – the arrival of a large number of people
Korean Popular Music (Kpop) – a genre of pop music that originated from South Korea
and performed by Korean idol singers and groups.
Kpop Music Video (MV) – the official music video of a Kpop song originally performed
by a Kpop artist and produced by their official Korean entertainment companies.
Kpop Video Clips – clips containing Kpop artists or their music; maybe videos from
television shows.
Media Content – other music, video clips, and music videos which contain or are related
in anyway to Kpop or Kpop artists.
Needs – the different psychological or sociological necessities/wants of the fans that are
gratified by consuming Korean popular music and videos.
Online Forums – Internet communities where fans can post, download, and exchange
comments, messages, pictures, videos with fellow fans.
 Chapter 2
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES

This chapter presents the review of related literature and studies. In this chapter,
the readers will be able to scrutinize the views and opinions of the authors about the
impact of Fanaticism of Female Students on Korean Entertainment: Inputs for Increasing
Tolerance.

There was a considerable amount of studies found especially regarding the

fanaticism of students on Korean entertainment. Most of the related literatures were
unpublished theses and books found at the online journals and scholarly articles were
retrieved from online sources.

KOREAN WAVE: THE GREAT SPLASH ON PHILIPPINE POPULAR

CULTURE & LIFE

According to Ma. Crisanta N. Flores (Department of Filipino and Philippine

Literature University of the Philippines Diliman. 2012) A significant number of papers
on Korean wave and K-Pop has already been read by Filipino scholars in different fora,
symposium and conferences since 2006. But with the steady flow of Korean pop culture
and migration to the Philippines up to the present year 2012, there will be more data to
collect and analyze. How has this Korean wave surged into the cultural life of Filipinos?
How has this tsunami affected the upstream and downstream of Philippine life and
culture?

Korean wave splashed onto Philippine shores in many forms. The first tidal wave
was the Korean drama which became phenomenal in 2003 with the tearjerker, Endless
Love. Then came a bigger wave, the K-Pop sensation. Every year since 2009, a K-Pop
Convention is held in the Philippines. Accompanying these billowing waves are Korean
online games, cosplaying of Korean characters and the increasing number of Korean
visitors, students, businessmen and migrants into the country. And as I speak, the most
recent biggest wave is the Gangnam style.

Ma. Crisanta N. Flores thought that her paper is a continuation of many other
studies on the influence and impact of the Korean wave to Philippine popular culture and
life. It shall also attempt to understand the movement of the Korean wave in the
Philippines. Will the waves continue to billow or will it be a rise and fall of tides that will
just gently lap onto shore after its great splash?

HALLYU ON EVERYONE‟S FINGERTIPS: The Role of the Internet in

Sustaining Filipinos‟ Interest in Hallyu

1. Intoduction

According to Catherine Deen (Yahoo! Southeast Asia. 2012) The “Hallyu”

phenomenon or the Korean Wave has become an unstoppable force in today‘s pop
culture. Initially coined by Chinese journalists in the late nineties, the term Hallyu was
used to describe the popularity of Korean dramas in China. Ten years later, the terms
Hallyu and Korean Wave have become common knowledge and largely understandable
in mass media and academic circles. For this paper, I shall adapt the definition of Yang
(2012), which states that:

“Hallyu means both the flow and popularity of Korean popular cultural products,
especially media contents, in other Asian countries and beyond, as well as
exported Korean popular cultural products themselves.

2. Falling in Love with Korean Pop Culture

I first fell in love with Korean pop culture after watching the drama “Boys Over
Flowers” back in 2009. Some of my closest friends were heavily into K-Pop and have
been encouraging me to try the genre. I resisted for a long time until peer pressure won
over and I gave in.

The Korean drama “Boys Over Flowers”, a remake of a Japanese and Taiwanese
drama, tells the Cinderella story of a simple young woman who fell in love with an
arrogant rich heir. With its universal theme reminiscent of the classic plot of “Pride and
Prejudice”, “Boys Over Flowers” won the hearts of many female fans including mine.

Catherine Deen stated that just like a smitten teenager, the Internet quickly became
my portal to the K-Pop world. For many hours, I scoured the Internet for information
about my favorite Korean stars. Since I was from the Philippines, where else could I go to
feed my curiosity? My initial plan of simply reading about the artists led to discovering
more Korean music videos, movies and television shows. I found myself falling deeper
and deeper into the K-Pop spell and obviously I did not stop. The Internet has become my
friend, my enabler, and in some ways, my enemy in sustaining my passion for K-Pop.

3. The Internet and the Hallyu Phenomenon

The Internet is attributed as having a large role in the proliferation of the “Hallyu”
phenomenon. Although the Internet is not the direct cause of the Korean wave, no one
can deny that it has a role in its rapid expansion.

If in the past it was incredibly difficult for a Korean artist to have their music
heard in other parts of the world. Today, it is as easy as uploading a music video on
YouTube or posting a music file on an artists‘ official website. A recent example of how
the Internet can facilitate a breakthrough for a Korean artist comes in the form of YG
Entertainment artist PSY whose “Gangnam Style” music video went viral with more than
100 million views and counting. This kind of crossover phenomenon is unheard of before
the Internet age.

An article by Maqsudul and Billah (2012), they expressed that Koreans, aided by
the Internet revolution, are proactively promoting their cultural values and economic
accomplishments abroad while their music, drama, and arts are becoming more and more
popular in Japan, China and the United States. In a recent New York Times and
International Herald Tribune article by Sang Hun (2012), he said that:

“The Korean Wave has long conquered Asia, but before the proliferation
of global social networks, attempts by K-pop stars to break into Western
markets, including the United States, has largely failed…but now
YouTube, Facebook and Twitter make it easier for K-pop bands to reach a
wider audience in the West, and those fans are turning to the same social
networking tools to proclaim their devotion.”

So what is the main function of the Internet in spreading Hallyu? The answer is
clear. The Internet is, without doubt, the most powerful facilitator of the Hallyu
phenomenon. Let me discuss how the Internet facilitates the Hallyu phenomenon using
two perspectives: (1) The Internet and the Filipino Hallyu Fan, and (2) The Internet and
the Hallyu Star

4. The Internet and the Filipino Hallyu Fan

The Philippines, a Southeast Asian country characterized by a unique archipelago

of 7,107 islands, is a highly wired nation. In the recently concluded ―Ad-Tech
Conference‖ in Singapore, comScore, a respected firm specializing in digital
measurement research, revealed that the Philippines is one of the world‘s fastest growing
online populations increasing 11% in 2012 from 2011. They also expressed that
Southeast Asia accounts for half of the world‘s youngest markets (i.e., below 35 years
old) with the Philippines accounting for 70.6% of users, a few percentage points away
from the leader India at 74.1%.

A Filipino Hallyu fan utilizes the Internet for three main reasons: (1) information,
(2) social networking and community, and (3) purchases.
4.1 Information

When I speak of information, I refer to all types of K-Pop information including

text, photos, and videos. Filipino Hallyu fans spend hours on the Internet looking for
available information on their favorite stars, dramas and shows.

The Internet is full of websites, blogs, and video channels devoted to K-Pop news
and views. Websites such as soompi, allkpop, and dramabeans are just some examples of
top K-Pop websites frequented by ardent fans. Many of these websites started as blogs
run by passionate K-Pop fans which later grew into viable income-generating ventures.

Yahoo! Southeast Asia recognized the growth of the K-Pop subculture in the
Philippines back in 2010. To address the growing demand, the regional editor suggested
that Yahoo! OMG!, the entertainment news arm of the company, host a blog called ―oK
Pop‖ to cater to all things K-Pop. Today, ―oK Pop‖ has become a respected blog for
Korean pop culture in the Philippines and has readers from all over the country and the
world. Blog articles in ―oK Pop‖ are also published in other regional sites including
Yahoo! Singapore, Malaysia, UK and Ireland.

As the resident K-Pop blogger of Yahoo! ―oK Pop‖, I witnessed the growing
demand for K-Pop content which propelled Yahoo! Southeast Asia to expand its K-Pop
coverage from one blog to a whole new entertainment section called ―Korean Wave‖.
―Korean Wave‖ was launched in May 2012 and features a comprehensive coverage of
the ―Korean Wave‖ including news, drama and movies, photos, fashion, and videos.
Addressing the power of Hallyu in the region, ―Korean Wave‖ was made available in
other Yahoo! Southeast Asia sites including Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia.

4.2 Social Networking and Online Community

According to comScore (2012), the 2011 average Internet user spends nearly 1 in
5 minutes online on social networks with 1 in 7 minutes online spent on Facebook.
Interestingly, the Philippines was found to have the highest reach of visitors for social
networks in the world with 96% and is the second most engaged social networkers with
an average of 8 hours per visitor (Dale, 2012). Given the state of Filipinos‘ use of social
networks, it is not surprising that Hallyu fans use this to sustain their 30 Hallyu interests.

The Filipino Hallyu fan naturally seeks the company of others who share the same
passions. The easiest way to do this is through the Internet. In my article, ―Experiencing
the K-Pop Subculture‖, I described the development of friendships from online forums
and communities devoted to particular K-Pop artists or products (i.e, drama, television
shows).

Although local fan clubs and forums have a separate website for their members, all
of them keep a Facebook and Twitter account. Through these channels, fans are
constantly connected and their interests in ―Hallyu‖ is strengthened and sustained.

To illustrate the power of the online communities and social networks in

sustaining Hallyu interest in the Philippines, let me discuss how the first and largest
organized group of K-Pop fan clubs in the world was formed.

The Philippine K-Pop Committee is the first non-profit K-Pop organization in the
Philippines. It started as a group of various K-Pop fan club administrators meeting to
discuss how they can increase the impact of the local K-Pop fandom. Inspired by their
common interests and goals, these fan clubs joined together to form the ―Philippine K-
Pop Committee‖. That was back in 2007. Today, the ―Philippine K-Pop Committee‖ is
officially registered with the country‘s Securities and Exchange Commission and the
Bureau of Internal Revenue. It is composed of more than 60 fan club affiliates and boasts
of more than 77,000 members on Facebook and 7,800 followers on Twitter. The group
has organized numerous activities most notably three annual ―Philippine K-Pop
Conventions‖ with proceeds going to Gawad Kalinga beneficiaries.
4.3 Purchases

In the Philippines, the availability of K-Pop products including CDs, DVDs, photo
books, lightsticks, and the like is not as widespread as the demand for them. Hence, the
Filipino Hallyu fan uses the Internet to purchase K-Pop products. One of the most
popular Filipino-initiated online stores is ―Fangirl Asia. Officially registered in May
2012, ―Fangirl Asia‖ has become a premiere source for K-Pop items and even expanded
to include concert travel packages called ―Field Trips. ―

Fangirl Asia is just one of the many online stores that cater to the Filipino Hallyu
fan. There are online stores from the more professional YesAsia to the entrepreneur-
driven ―Facebook and ―Multiply‖ hosted stores catering to a K-Pop fans‘ every whim.

5. The Internet and the Hallyu Star

It was established that the Internet is a facilitator of the ―Hallyu‖ phenomenon.

This does not only have implications to the fans but more so on the K-Pop artists
themselves.

An internet-savvy K-Pop artist has the potential to reach greater heights than those
who do not know how to harness its potential. A good example of an Internet-savvy K-
Pop artist is Jay Park. Jay Park has utilized Twitter and YouTube to his greatest
advantage allowing him to successfully return to the K-Pop scene after suffering a
seemingly career-ending scandal back in 2010.

According to Bernie Cho, the president of DFSB Kollective, ―Thanks to Twitter,

Facebook and YouTube, Jay Park is not just an artist but also his own P.R. agent, fan
club president, and TV network.‖ Through the Internet, Jay Park is bypassing traditional
media gatekeepers and gate-crashing his way into the global market (Sang-Hum, 2012).
Other examples of Hallyu stars who successfully harnessed the power of the Internet
include Super Junior‘s Kim Heechul, JYJ‘s Kim Jae Joong, and 2NE1‘s Sandara Park.
These days, the business and marketing strategies of all K-Pop artists including debuting
and established artists have an internet strategy.

Everywhere There’s KPop!

According to Shiena Iane Bernardino (May 13, 2014) The Korean craze is taking
the country by storm! You can see its influences everywhere. From TV shows, fashion,
and even food, the Korean charm is obviously taking over the Philippines. But the most
prominent of it all is the Korean pop music, or what we popularly know as KPop.

The proliferation of the KPop invasion is not really a surprise. For a country that
can be easily influenced by foreign culture, it does not take long before the Korean style
touch the fancy of many Filipinos.

KPop, or the Korean pop music, had been touching the lives of Pinoy fans ever
since the popular Korean shows started playing in the local TV networks. The catchy
songs played during the opening and ending credits of all the Korean shows have lead to
a whole new musical fixation from its Filipino fans. Even if we do not really understand
the lyrics of the song, we can easily catch ourselves singing or dancing to its tunes. We
even played a lot of KPop songs during parties and events. Who haven’t heard of Psy’s
dance inducing “Gangnam Style” or Wonder Girls’ “Nobody But You?”

Because of that, KPop fandoms spruce up all over the country. Filipino fans start
to buy KPop albums to be able to hear their favorite songs all the time, and when the
KPop artists happen to visit the country to perform for their fans, expect legions of people
lining up the concert venues to have a glimpse of their Korean idols.

Of course, there are people who just don’t get why this type of music became
famous in the Philippines. For them, it is hard to grasp the idea why some Filipinos go
crazy over a bunch of oddly-dressed Korean artists who sing and dance to songs that we
Pinoys do not really understand.
 Self-confessed KPop fan and blogger Jane explained it in simple terms. She said,
“I like KPOP because what’s not to like? Well, a lot actually, but if you withhold
judgment for a minute and really listen to it, there are some amazing artists who make
awesome music. The few gems in KPOP are definitely a lot more than their wacky outfits
and over-the-top makeup, and they are pretty powerful performers.”

Just like the legions of KPop fans in the country, Jane had spent a lot of time
listening to KPop songs and watching Korean dramas. She even started the
AsianFixations blog to discuss all things; KPop and Kdramas, as well as reviews from
other Asia movies.

Aside from the music, Jane and other fans were hooked with KPop because of the
artists. There are thousands of screaming Pinays who would do everything just to see
their beloved KPop icons. Jane confessed, “I like pretty boys, and KPOP happens to have
tons.” There’s CNBlue, ChangMin, Super Junior, and SHINee to name a few. There’s
also Lee Min Ho, a popular Korean drama star who have been a fan-favorite after playing
the role of Gu-Jun Pyo in Boys Over Flowers.

Filipino boys also have their favorite KPop girl groups, such as the Wonder Girls,
4Minute, and 2NE1, who happen to include Dara, the former Korean girl who appeared
in local showbiz scene.

And since there are new catchy tunes coming from more Korean artists as of the
moment, Jane and other fans will definitely have more to look forward to from the KPop
movement. With that, KPop will continue to dominate the country for a long time.
 According to Jobart Bartolome (2012) of GMA Network, Korean Drama on Prime
GMA Network started airing Korean dramas or Koreanovelas in 2003 with the program
Bright Girl in the afternoon slot. Shortly after, Endless Love 1: Autumn in my Heart was
also aired, in prime time, and it became a hit. Other Koreanovelas followed – Stairway to
Heaven and the romancecomedy (romcom) Full House. From then on, and until now,
GMA Network has always maintained an Asianovela slot in its weekday (Monday-
Friday) prime time block. These Asianovelas have mostly been Korean dramas. ABS
CBN has also been airing Korean dramas in their weekday prime time block but on a less
regular basis compared to GMA. Although the Asianovelas are placed on the fourth and
last primetime slot (starting at around 10-10:30 pm), this slot still maintains a very high
viewing level, higher than most daytime slots. There was at least one time when the
Koreanovela – Jewel in the Palace, was the highest rating program on Philippine
television, late prime time slot notwithstanding. 2. TV has become the most popular
medium Television has become the most popular mass medium in the last two decades,
surpassing even radio as the primary source of news and information. By the 90s,
television has become accessible to the masses – TV sets have become affordable and
cheaper and second hand units soon became available. During this time also, electricity
has reached the poorer sections of the metropolitan areas as well as smaller towns across
the country. Free-to-air television, with its audio-visual advantage, trumped all other
mass media. When a particular TV program gets noticed by regular TV viewers, there is
usually a surge in the number of new viewers tuning in to TV sets during its airing
because of what they have learned through word of mouth. The program and its story
developments, crucial scenes, dialogue, characters and stars become hot topics of
conversation among friends, relatives, neighbors, classmates, officemates, etc. Why are
Korean drama tops among foreign drama series? The next question is: What is it in
Korean dramas that, among the foreign drama programs, make them the only ones that
have been consistently included in the prime time line-up of Philippine TV, together with
the biggest local soap operas? The simple answer is—there are many very good Korean
dramas, as far as the most important audience segment (the C2DE housewives) are
concerned. It is to be expected that Korean dramas would be beaten by the biggest local
soaps because of the star/familiarity factor alone. Still, many Korean dramas have rated
better than big local productions. Temptation of Wife, for instance, became a highest
rating program in the afternoon block, getting numbers comparable to prime time soaps.
Korean dramas have been a favorite of students and scholars studying TV programs
because of their success inside and outside Korea. In the Philippines, for instance, what
elements of the successful programs are important in attracting the Filipina housewife?
Among the factors cited are the story, acting, the characterizations, the romantic set ups
in rom-coms, the relatable/familiar concerns, the refreshing, beautiful locations. These
elements, however, are not unique to Korean dramas. In fact, viewers look for these in
every drama that they watch. Not all Korean dramas have performed well in the
Philippines. There have been high rating titles in Korea that only had an average
performance in the Philippines. Among the most successful Korean dramas in the
Philippines, audiences have found something refreshing, something different and more
interesting than the usual dramas they watch. The fact that the very good Korean actors
are often unfamiliar, their private lives being inaccessible—to the local audience may
actually be an advantage because the audience is able to focus on the characters and the
story and do not get distracted by the actor‘s real persona. Many local dramas are driven
by stars whose popularity get in the way of their characters and the story of the soap.
Local networks also have the benefit of looking at the performance of a Korean drama
title in Korea and other Asian countries before acquiring and showing these locally. More
often than not, Korean dramas that have performed well outside Korea also perform well
in the Philippines. Also, in terms of production value, there is no doubt that Korea has
‗first world‘ standards and the local audiences somehow appreciate this. With competent
dubbing, plus popular local songs as theme music, Korean dramas are a treat to the local
soap viewer. We must not forget that TV is primarily entertainment. Entertainment varies
across cultures, across ages, gender and classes. In the Philippines, where the great
majority of the population, the great majority of the TV viewers are poor, one of the best
forms of entertainment is TV - it's free, it makes them forget their problems. Soaps, with
their very strong stickiness element, hook the most important and biggest segment of the
TV audience - the ―masa‖ housewives. It is undeniable that the Filipino TV audience
find many Korean dramas very entertaining, even fulfilling to watch. It is also undeniable
that many other Korean products have improved greatly—from electronic gadgets, to
cosmetics, food, and even their performance in the Olympics. The presence of many
Korean tourists and communities in the country may have piqued the Filipino curiosity.
In many aspects, Korea has overtaken Japan. The best Korean dramas are very well made
such that culture and language are transcended by the themes and how the situations and
stories resonate with the Filipino audience. So, why do Korean dramas remain on prime
time? Because they are very entertaining and fulfilling to watch.

According to Florinda de Fiesta-Mateo of University of the Philippines, In 2003,

the introduction of Korean television dramas, or Koreanovelas, sealed the Asianovela
craze in the Philippines. Bright Girl was said to be the first Korean drama shown on local
television. But it did not really catch on among the viewers, until GMA-7, one of the two
leading networks in the Philippines aired Endless Love (Winter Sonata). Since then,
several more titles became popular, so popular that Filipino adaptations were produced
and enjoyed high viewership. Based on the data from the Korean Cultural Center in
Manila, a total of 175 Koreanovelas have been shown on Philippine TV since 2003. The
years 2005, 2006 and 2011 can be regarded as the peak years of Koreanovelas in the
Philippines with at least 20 such dramas shown in each of those years. Drama remains
the most popular genre on Philippine television both in terms of airtime and viewership.
The Nielsen Unified Television Audience Measurement (NUTAM) figures for April 2012
show that dramas constituted nearly 50% of airtime, and enjoyed nearly 40% of
viewership. The category ―dramas‖ in this case include the following: drama, fantasy (a
popular theme of local teleseryes) and the drama series or Asianovelas (primarily
Korean television dramas).
Foreign literature

K-pop is not a mainstream phenomenon in the Middle East but rather a subculture,
which caters to small communities of dedicated fans, integrated within the confluences of
global, regional, and local pop music. The Israeli audience leans strongly toward Anglo-
Saxon culture (Lemish and Bloch 2004). In music, Israeli and American pop music are
the most popular, followed by European pop music. Among Palestinians, pop music from
the wider Arabic world, especially Lebanon, which in recent years has emerged as a
regional hub for pop music, is the most popular. American pop music is also popular to a
certain degree among young Palestinians, as is Israeli “Mizrahi” music—old-fashioned,
ethnically Arab pop melodies (Regev and Seroussi 2004). The existence of K-pop in both
Israel and Palestine is overwhelmingly fan driven. Unlike the East and Southeast Asian
markets, where K-pop is actively encouraged though a network of promoters and agents
(Choi 2011; Shin 2012, 2013) and supported by the Korean government (Jin 2011;
Otmazgin 2011; Shim 2006), in the Middle East the local demand of fans is the driving
force behind the dissemination and consumption of K-pop. In this part of the world, the
spread of K-pop is thus more “spontaneous,” in the sense that it is based on the will of the
consumers and their ability to access cultural content through social media. To borrow
from media scholar Henry Jenkins’s notion of “participatory culture” (2006), fans in
Israel and Palestine actively participate in the creation and circulation of new content by
using social media and expanding their fan-driven community. The harbingers of K-pop
in both Israel and Palestine were Korean TV dramas, which have been broadcast in the
region since the late 2000s. This shift from K-drama to K-music is not unique to the
Middle East: it has occurred in different parts of the world and is referred to as “Hallyu
2.0” after the increasing influence of social media (Jung 2011; Lee forthcoming). In
2006, the Korean TV drama My Lovely Sam-Soon (Nae Ireumeun Kim Sam-soon, 2005)
was the first to be aired on the Israeli cable soap-opera TV channel, Viva. The show’s
tremendous popularity paved the way for the next thirty Korean TV dramas to be
broadcast on the same channel (Lyan and Levkowitz, forthcoming). This was followed by
an increased interest in things Korean—movies (Utin 2012), fashion, food (Ma 2010),
and K-pop. The Israeli media, for its part, has been intrigued by this new phenomenon. In
2008, Yediot Aharonot, the most widely circulated daily Israeli newspaper, described the
popularity of Korean TV dramas in Israel as a “revolution” in cultural taste. In 2013,
another popular Israeli newspaper, Calcalist, published a three-page cover story on how
K-pop has “conquered” Israeli youth. At present, according to our estimates, there are
more than fifteen hundred Israeli K-pop fans, and around three hundred of them can be
categorized as “active” participants in online communities, who are involved in meetings
and other K-pop–related activities. The Palestinian K-pop scene has followed a similar
path—fans’ interest in Korean TV dramas was followed by listening to K-pop. In
Palestine, as in other countries in the Middle East, many Hallyu fans were initially
exposed to TV dramas through major Arabic TV channels such as Korea TV, MBC 1, 2,
3, 4, and Dubai TV, which sometimes broadcast Korean TV dramas. This exposure to
Korean dramas on Arabic TV channels later encouraged fans to search for more
information on Korea via the Internet. Considered conservative enough for a Middle
Eastern audience (that is, sexually moderate and Otmazgin & Lyan 75 Cross-Currents:
East Asian History and Culture Review E-Journal No. 9 (December 2013) • (http://cross-
currents.berkeley.edu/e-journal/issue-9) supportive of family values), Korean TV dramas
are perceived as appropriate for a Muslim audience (Hemati 2013; Noh 2010, 2013)