Korea vs The West: Television Media

culture korea vs west Nov 27, 2022

Do you love Korean TV shows and K-Dramas?

What do you see is the biggest difference might be with Western television?

Have you thought that what you see is a bit, what's the word… mild?

Personally, I think that in Western media, what you see is often what you get.

You watch shows and series and it's a pretty accurate depiction of real life, right?

That's not quite the case for Korean media.

Of course, there would be many factors affecting this like celebrity culture, societal values, traditions and legislations. This isn't some scientific article researching politics and sociology - it's much more shallow than that, don't worry (telling myself).

Korean vs the West. Part 2.

Here's what Sopie Ssaem thinks about the differences in television media between Korea and the Western world.

Broadcasting Channels

You've probably head of MBC, KBS and SBS before - they are the top three Korean public television broadcasting stations.

But did you know they each have their own style too?

KBS is short for "Korean Broadcasting System". It is the oldest channel and are known to have the most mild and censored shows.

They focus on documentaries, cheesy daily dramas, news and children's shows. This would be the channel with shows like Home and Away and The Bold and the Beautiful and the Wiggles or Hi-Five.

In a nutshell - Don't expect anything spicy on this channel!

MBC and SBS are definitely head-to-head competitors with who has the best shows!

In recent years, MBC has really brought it home with their Variety Shows (예능) - you may have heard of Infinity Challenge or I Live Alone - two of the most popular Variety Shows in Korea for the past 10 or so years.

Whereas SBS has always been known for their Weekend Dramas like My Love from Another Star (Jeon Ji Hyun and Kim Soo Hyun) and The Heirs (Lee Min Ho and Park Shin Hye) are a couple you may have seen!

But at the end of the day, all three channels have a strict regulations team watching over, to make sure nothing cray-cray is being aired.

Then we have the 'Cable' Channels like TvN, Mnet and JTBC being the largest and most popular.

The shows on these channels use to be thought of as lower-tier and you'd hear celebrities say things like "I want to be on a public channel'.

However, in the past few years, this has changed drastically and the quality and popularity of cable tv shows have skyrocketed - Think about In the Soop, Show me the Money, Sky Castle to name just a few.

Cable Channels have a bit more freedom and leeway from broadcasting restrictions which seems to have added to this rising popularity.

Television Regulations

The Top 3 are quite heavily regulated and have fairly strict rules around what can or cannot be broadcasted - but it's getting less serious, that's for sure.

I remember a time, not too long ago, where shows were suddenly cancelled if someone said the wrong thing and it wasn't edited out.

Here's a list of a few that you will still not see on Korean television:

Smoking cigarettes
Knives: The killing-kind not the onion-kind
Swearing. On the rare occasion someone swears, it will be bleeped out AND the mouth blurred - even for the very mild swear words. You will not catch a celebrity dead saying the harsher ones (the one with the ㅅㅂ)
Sexual language unless for medical reasons (including the word sex)
Improper use of Language: Using Japanese words instead of Korean words will be frowned up, so although it won't be cut out, the subtitles will show the Korean word instead.
Branding: Inadvertent advertising is a big no-no which is why you see all that tape covering brand names!

Idols and singers will have different versions of songs and dances for music shows to suit the regulations of the different broadcasting channels. For public channels it will be more mild-flavored - whether it's swear words, offensive/strong language or dance that is less raunchy.

The main argument for the strictness seems to be the possible negative influence on children and young adults viewers.

I grew up watching the Simpsons - looking back on it now, that was absolutely not a children's cartoon. And I turned out just fine!! …..... I think.

The Boom of Youtube

It's only since the last couple of years that Korean celebrities have really started to branch out into the Youtube universe. And of course, without a Big-Brother-like regulations team watching over, they're free to be who they are and viewers and fans are lapping it up (myself included!).

The biggest trend at the moment seems to be celebrities getting drunk!!

This is an extremely sensational concept for Korean media culture - back just 10 year ago, celebrities were cautious even talking about alcohol.

Summary

There's been a major shift in Korean television media in the past few years and as a viewer, it's relieving and refreshing to see. The dramas are spicier and shows have variety. Not to mention the fact that we have visibility to a more human-side of our beloved stars, who had historically been a mystery to us.

My favourite celebrity Youtube channels include: