Park Eun-bin questions a witness in ‘Extraordinary Attorney Woo.’
A dizzying array of Korean dramas were released in 2022 but despite the variety of genres and formats, some trends stood out. The year saw a surprising number of courtroom k-dramas, but also a welcome influx of neurodiverse and gender-diverse characters, plus a remarkable number of strong, multidimensional female roles in which women sought justice, achieved revenge, focused on friendship, raised families—and excelled at their careers. There were also more streaming platforms to view dramas on. More than a few k-dramas achieved international popularity and were optioned for remakes in other countries.
K-Drama Law And Order
So many k-drama scenarios happened in court this year. From melodramas to comedy, the many dramas featuring legal professionals included Military Prosecutor, Big Mouth, Again My Life, Extraordinary Attorney Woo, Juvenile Justice, Why Her, Law Cafe, One Dollar Lawyer, May It Please The Court, Reborn Rich, The Empire, Love In Contract, Bad Prosecutor and Blind. There were noble lawyers helping the downtrodden achieve justice and corrupt lawyers helping the rich and powerful escape retribution. Dramas featured bad and good lawyers, judges and prosecutors of both genders—including Woo Young-woo, one extraordinary lawyer, who wins cases by citing legal minutiae and asking awkward questions.
The entertainment industry was also the setting for quite a few dramas with actors, producers, managers and agents featured in Shooting Stars, Behind Every Star, Curtain Call, Fan Letter Please, Woori the Virgin, Love Is For Suckers and Love in Contract.
Nana and Jeon Yeo-been chase aliens in ‘Glitch.’
Bechdel Test-Worthy Roles
Women ruled k-drama in 2022. So many of this year’s selection of strong female roles passed the Bechdel Test, which requires a work of fiction to feature at least two female characters talking to each other about something other than a man.
From the villainous to the virtuous, some of those solid female roles were featured in Eve, Our Blues, Why Her, Extraordinary Attorney Woo, Curtain Call, Law Cafe, Shooting Stars, Pachinko, Jinxed at Love, Little Women, 39, Green Mother’s Club, Glitch, Curtain Call, Under The Queen’s Umbrella and Juvenile Justice.
Even when the drama was a workplace romance, characters such as the female leads in Business Proposal, Our Beloved Summer, Today’s Webtoon, Shooting Stars, Love is for Suckers and Forecasting Love and Weather were competent career women who prioritized rewarding work.
Female friendship was the focal point of a few dramas. 39 explored the support offered by friends in times of tragedy, while Glitch was a female buddy adventure in which two very different women team up to chase aliens. Female characters in Green Mother’s Club and Little Women found themselves in dangerous situations that tested the strength of their complicated friendships.
Park Min-young’s roommate in ‘Love In Contract’ was played by Kang Hyun-suk.
Same Sex Relationships and LGBTQ Issues
There was a subtle shift in drama portrayals of LGBTQ issues, with a few k-drama scripts confronting traditionally conservative views about gender diversity. Boys Love drama Semantic Error became a hit, prompting conversations about same-sex relationships and making it less likely that playing a gay character would threaten a Korean actor’s career.
Love In Contract featured the friendship between a professional “wife,” played by Park Min-young, and her very likable gay best friend and roommate, played by Kang Hyung-seok. Kang’s character wants to leave Korea, where he’s discriminated against, but he’s warmly supported by so many of the drama’s characters that he’s encouraged to stay and help change attitudes.
Extraordinary Attorney Woo featured an episode in which a woman openly admits her relationship with another woman and some of the main drama characters react to her admission with an approving “Wow.”
The topic of gender diversity was also explored in a historical drama. The Joseon-era queen, played by Kim Hye-soo, in Under The Queen’s Umbrella discovers one of her sons secretly likes wearing women’s clothing. She not only accepts him for who he is, but supports him and struggles to keep his secret. The truth could lead to his death sentence.
Jung Eun-hye played Han Ji-min’s sister in ‘Our Blues.’
Mental Health and Neurodiversity
K-dramas also explored the topic of neurodiversity. Extraordinary Attorney Woo was not only a drama about an attorney on the autism spectrum, but the drama used court cases to explore other kinds of neurodiverse behavior and mental health issues.
Park Eun-bin’s sensitive performance of Attorney Woo Young-woo led to public discussions about autism spectrum disorder and the prejudice that neurodiverse individuals might face. In Korea the drama recorded 17.5% nationwide ratings with its final episode, making it the seventh highest rated drama in Korean cable TV history.
Jung Eun-hye, who actually has Down Syndrome, was cast in the drama Our Blues, playing the younger sister of Han Ji-min’s character. Han’s character is embarrassed by her sister and their relationship finally improves when other Our Blues characters focus on her sister’s strengths rather than her disability. Audiences responded positively to Jung’s portrayal, which prompted curiosity about the actress, and her real-life achievements as an artist.
‘Flower of Evil, starring Moon Chae-won and Lee Jun-ki, was remade in India as ‘Duranga.’
Remakes and Expanded Access
In 2022 Korean studios saw more requests for international remakes. Flower of Evil was remade in India as Duranga, while Itaewon Class generated a Japanese remake. Business Proposal and Again My Life are slated to be remade in India, while Start-Up was remade in the Philippines. Planned English language remakes include Crash Landing On You, Extraordinary Attorney Woo, W: Two Worlds, Hotel Del Luna, Vincenzo and Hometown Cha-cha-cha.
A few major US-based streaming platforms added Korean dramas to their offerings. Disney+ released several Korean dramas globally, showing some in the US on Disney+ and others on Hulu. Paramount
The King’s Affection became the first Korean series to win an award at the International Emmy Awards, while the 2021 drama Squid Game continued to rack up awards in 2022, winning six of the 14 categories they were nominated for at the Emmys. These series helped introduce an even wider audience to the inventive storytelling and fine acting found in Korean dramas.
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/joanmacdonald/2022/12/04/2022-k-drama-trends-court-cases-diversity-and-strong-female-roles/