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Cultural Strategies of Remakes: The Case of Yojolady |
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| 1. Introduction The notion of unilateral globalization fails to take into account the diverse and disjunctive dimensions of cultural - or media - exchanges within Asia, as well as between Asia and the West. Indeed, the popularity of Japanese media products in Asia in the 1990s has challenged the hegemony of US/Western media culture. During this period, Japanese popular culture served as a leading resource for the trans-cultural phenomenon among Asian countries. By the late 1990s Korean popular culture, itself explicitly and implicitly influenced by the Japanese, had emerged as yet another resource. While the US remains the most important global player directing media products into Asia, the growing interpenetration of media markets and products in proximate Asian countries suggests a new order of complexity within the global television market (see Wang et al., 2000; Iwabuchi, 2003; Sinclair, Jacka and Cunningham, 1996). Korean popular culture has itself evolved alongside the importation of Western media culture, especially American media culture. In other words, the formation of a distinctive Korean television culture has been contextualized by American media culture. And yet, there is another reference point to consider in this trans-cultural grid. This is the instrumental role of Japan in shaping Korean culture. More specifically, Japanese media culture has become an important vehicle for internalizing Western culture within a Korean context. This process has occurred despite Korea's 36-year experience of colonization by the Japanese and the banning of Japanese media products. While the influx of Japanese television culture via informal routes of copying was reported contemptuously during the 1990s, adaptations of Japan's popular culture have profoundly affected the narrative forms of Korean television. Although the flux of Japanese television programs was officially regulated during the 1990s, the transnational influence of Japanese television culture grew rapidly during this period. Korean "trendy" drama was formed in the early 1990s in the milieu of this informal cultural inflow. Until the late 1990s, the originality of Korean trendy dramas was often in doubt. However, in the early 2000s the Korean television industry became much more concerned about accusations of plagiarism and realized the value of trendy drama as a cultural commodity across Asia. Rather than taking the risk of blatant plagiarism, Korea trendy drama has tried to develop its own resources or to consider licensed adaptation. Yojolady (A Lady of Refined Manners, SBS, 2003), a 16-part miniseries, is one case that openly publicizes the remaking of a Japanese drama, Yamatonadeshiko (Fuji TV, 2000). Although Yojolady didn't get high ratings and was often criticized as a poor remake, it created a moment in which the Korean audience spoke about Japanese drama, compared it to Korean drama, and gave thought to the cultural identity of Korean drama. This paper attempts to elucidate the process of this transnational adaptation in terms of production practices, drama texts, and audience reception. It will examine not only the degree to which the narrative of Yojolady is similar to or different from its Japanese counterpart, but also how the Korean audience has responded to this narrative. By looking at the audience's discourses on Yojolady, as well as the drama's narrative strategies compared to those of Yamatonadeshiko, the author will try to observe how Japanese television is culturally signified in Korea. 2. Cultural attitudes toward Japanese popular culture The Korean government has banned the import of Japanese popular culture since its liberation from Japanese colonial rule in 1945. It was not until the late 1990s that it finally declared its open door policy to Japanese popular culture. For Korea, Japan has been regarded as a "close but distant" other/oppressor. Japan's economic success has been envied as the model or manual for receiving Western capitalism, but the painful experience with the Japanese as colonialists has not been easily forgotten. Popular discourses on Japan or the Japanese in Korea reveal how prevalent and persistent the painful collective memory of Japanese colonial rule is. The wartime Japanese have been stereotyped as an evil which reappears in the representation of the Japanese businessman and the nationalist statements of Japanese political leaders, the "distorted" history textbooks, the inadequate apology and compensation for the Korean wartime "comfort" women, sexual slavery, the unequal legal status of those of Korean ancestry in Japan, the territorial conflict over Dok Island and so on, all of which continuously remind the Korean people year after year of the departed spirit of Japanese militarism. As Sartre writes that we need the other to perceive our whole structure of being (1965, pp.189-190), modern Korea has viewed Japan as an important "other" through which to infer her own sociocultural identity. She feels self-confidence in attributing ancient civilization to Japan and is eager to take a lesson from the Japanese economy. As Bhabha (1994) argues, although one derides and denies the other, each one's difference from the other makes one desire the other; the popular discourses on Japan or the Japanese hardly overcome the dichotomy between "repulsion and fascination" and "detestation and adoration." These discourses have tended to take the extreme and, moreover, have attempted to describe Japanese images in relation to "our" nation's autonomy and identity. The deep-seated collective memory as victims of Japanese imperialism has reflected on the Korean government's policy for cultural exchanges with Japan. It was 1998 when the Korean government first declared its policy of openness towards Japanese popular culture; it announced its policy to gradually open the domestic market to Japanese popular culture "in phases." It was a major declaration, reversing a decades-old ban that outlasted even the normalization of relations in 1965. The first phase of the opening covered only a limited selection of films and videos, namely titles jointly produced by Korea and Japan, Korean titles featuring Japanese actors, and Japanese titles that had won awards at the three major film festivals (Cannes, Venice, Berlin) or at the Academy Awards. However, many concerns were expressed about the ripple effect of the upcoming "phases" on local television. It was said that the unfiltered expression of "suggestive and sensational" programs could devastate national sentiment and cultural identity (Kookmin Ilbo, April 1, 1998, p.26), that young people would be greatly influenced by Japanese celebrities (Kyonghyang, April 27, 1998, p.25), and that in the worst case scenario Korea would come under cultural occupation by Japan (Hankook Ilbo, April 23, 1998, p.21). Many were extremely sensitive to the inflow of Japanese television programs and worried about the possibility of cultural subordination to Japan. The affirmative side argued that the openness would normalize the market for Japanese cultural products, eradicate the practices of plagiarism, build up cultural strength, and keep up with global trends. And yet, despite the benefits of openness, bitter memories of the Japanese colonialists have unconsciously and consciously contextualized the current cultural exchanges with Japan. The second and third phases followed in 1999 and 2000, unlocking the door to a wider array of Japanese pop culture items, including music concerts, internationally- awarded films and animations, PC games, and parts of TV programs. In 2000, Korean television stations were allowed for the first time to import Japanese-produced sports programs, documentaries, and news reports. Compared to the first phase, the second and third phases were far broader in scope. The fourth and final phase that would complete the openness was scheduled for 2002, and yet was suspended when one of the Japanese middle school history textbooks that whitewashed Japan`s war crimes during the imperial period was authorized in Japan in 2001. In 2003, the Korean government pledged to open the domestic market wider to Japanese popular culture. It stated that this opening would enhance cultural competitiveness, assuring that the previous opening hadn't deeply affected the domestic culture. Movies banned for those aged 17 and under, and songs in Japanese, will be allowed from 2004 forward. However, the government has not yet allowed Japanese animated films for movie theaters, as well as TV dramas and other entertainment, programs to be imported. Although the government acknowledges that the opening has increased the opportunity to experience diverse cultures and boosted the competitiveness of the local culture industry, it cannot hush the deeply rooted public fear that the open exposure to Japanese TV dramas and entertainment programs would cause an undesirable cultural impact upon Korean culture. The arguments for and against the opening have been reproduced within the discourses on copying practices. As copying grew rampant during the 1990s there were many heated discussions about these practices. The arguments can be summarized as follows: First, these copying practices would result in legal conflicts that would cause great economic losses and international condemnation. Secondly, they would further accelerate cultural dependency on Japan. Thirdly, they would paralyze the ethical consciousness of the local broadcasters. Fourthly, they would weaken local creativity and, furthermore, reduce the competitive power of Korean programming in the global market. Fifthly, the increasing dependency upon Japanese programs would infringe upon the local audience's right to watch good quality diverse programming. As viewers have gained access to more channels through which to identify the originals and to exchange their critiques, they have become very sensitive to the "voluntary" influx of Japanese programs. The Korean press has often picked up and publicized these critiques. The criticism of copying practices has concentrated mainly on those producers imitating Japanese programs. But in fact there have also been many cases that have borrowed from American programs. Three Boys and Three Girls (MBC), a program that achieved great popularity and founded a local sitcom convention targeted at the young generation, followed the sitcom format of NBC's Friends. Its stage settings and characterizations were similar to those of the American program. The Johnny Yoon Show, which first introduced the American-style talk show format in the early 1990s, imitated the formats of The Late Show with David Letterman and The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. There are entertainment news programs that copy the format of Entertainment Tonight, and even a quiz show called Live Show, I Love Quiz Show (MBC), which resembles Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. These programs have rarely been accused of plagiarism. Although their copying practices are clearly evident, they are not criticized as much as those that copy Japanese programs. Since 2000 there has been less public discourse on copying practices, but this does not mean those practices have disappeared. With audiences more attentive to the media, and with the imminent opening to the Japanese program market, the Korean television industry has become more sensitive to accusation and has turned its interest to buying formats. The cases of blatant plagiarism have decreased, and yet at the same time the methods of appropriating aspects of Japanese programs have become more complex. When one of the Korean broadcasters, MBC, officially bought a format for the first time in 1999, this attempt was negatively viewed as "an open copying practice" (Chosun Ilbo, July 14, 1999, p.42; Hankyeorae, July 19, 1999, p.24). Although the Korean broadcasting companies have become more ready to buy global formats (Hankook Ilbo, August 20, 2002, p.48), many criticize purchasing as a temporary expediency that reveals a lazy attitude toward production (Moonhwa Ilbo, August 8, 2002, p.19; Chosun Ilbo, July 24, 2002, p.37). In 2002, local television broadcaster MBC cautiously co-produced two miniseries with its Japanese counterparts - Friends with TBS and Sonagi, An Afternoon after Showers with Fuji TV. Although there was an opposing view on this way of bringing in Japanese TV, and those dramas didn't get high ratings, there is more attention to the cross-cultural effect of this co-production. The rules for the direct inflow of Japanese television are strict, but the collaborations between local and Japanese broadcasters have come to be considered as acceptable. A degree of public acceptance was further widened when Seoul Broadcasting System (SBS) announced its plan to remake Yamatonadeshiko. Moreover, Yojolady's publicity as a remake successfully drew the audience's attention at the start. Audiences' responses to Yojolady reveal the enduring but changing cultural attitudes toward the inflow of Japanese TV in Korea. This will be discussed in the following sections. 3. Modes of program adaptations 1) Unlicensed Adaptation The Korean broadcasting industry developed rapidly during the 1970s and 1980s and sought cost-effective indigenous program forms. Japanese television programming and scheduling practices were seen as a successful model of adapting American broadcasting know-how and creating local conventions. As the industry became more concerned with ratings and competition, Korean broadcasters began to actively emulate Japanese network programs. In 1991, a commercial broadcasting company, SBS, entered the existing competition between the two public broadcasting companies, KBS and MBC. This coincided with the introduction of the People Meter technology by the rating research company Media Service Korea, and an increased network scheduling of prime-time entertainment programs, often directly competing with each other. This was also the time when local audiences demanded that domestic programs reach global standards. The industry needed an efficient recipe for ratings success, and Japanese television programs were considered to be good models. During the 1990s, copying practices were so widely used that many complained that there was little difference between the two nations' entertainment programs (Joongang Ilbo, May 5, 1998, p.3).1 A total of 15 cases of suspected plagiarism of dramas and 46 cases of entertainment programs were reported during this decade.2 In 1997, when the Korean National Assembly inspected KBS, it was reported that 59.1% of 186 television producers understood the serious implications of copying foreign programs (Joongang Ilbo, October 15, 1997, p.46). Entertainment programs are the genre that has most frequently been perceived as having serious problems with copying and plagiarism. In 1999 when the Korean Research Centre asked 200 Korean producers to choose which genre of foreign programs was more likely to be copied or plagiarized, more than 90% of the producers pointed to entertainment programs. Although a provision enacted by the Korean Broadcasting Law prohibits plagiarism, there have been few cases actually submitted for disciplinary review; it is not easy to apply sanctions against plagiarism, especially in cases where there is insufficient evidence. For example, in 1999 the Korean Broadcasting Commission issued an order of public apology to Seo Sewon's Superstation (SBS) because one of its segments called "The Most Wanted" was suspected of being a copy of "The Runaway" on Fuji TV's Run for Happiness. Immediately after that order was issued, the Korean producer cancelled the suspected segment and simply destroyed the damning evidence. As Japanese entertainment programs were officially banned, it was not easy to render a legal decision on plagiarism; this has resulted in the proliferation of shady copying practices. On the other hand, although Korean dramas have been less accused of copying Japanese dramas and borrowing ideas from other Japanese cultural products than entertainment programs, the so-called Korean trendy drama has occasionally been accused.3 Before the birth of trendy drama, drama programs had hardly ever been accused of copying practices. Until the 1980s, the drama genre was considered to be an indigenous cultural form of storytelling. There was only one drama, called Kannani, which was accused of copying Japan's famous drama, Oshin. However, in the 1990s, Japanese dramas became one of references that inspired many Korean producers to take up the newest trends in television production. Jealousy (1992), which is now known as the first Korean trendy drama, created a boom for trendy drama in Korea, and yet was suspected of copying Tokyo Love Story. In 1998, MBC's mini-series drama Chongchun (Youth) was cancelled because it was accused of copying a 1997 Japanese television drama, Love Generation (NTV). This case marked the first time that a broadcasting company officially admitted its plagiarism, and decided to take action. After this incident, producers became more cautious of blatant plagiarism. In identifying the degree of reference to Japanese models, unlicensed adaptations can be classified as the cloning, developing, and the collaging types. The cloning type describes those programs that directly copy Japanese models, while the developing types are those that apply or extend a specific part of a Japanese program to create their own format. The collaging type can be identified as those programs that refer to several Japanese models, and blend them to construct a hybridized program. The cloning type is most frequently associated with claims of plagiarism. According to the degree of copy-catting, this type can be divided into programs that replicate most or all of the narrative of their counterparts and those that copy only a specific part or presentational techniques. There are several notorious cases of program replication, most of which were entertainment programs. In 1993 Challenge, the Mystery Express (MBC) was accused of copying Quiz, the Magical Brain Power (NTV), and Get Household Goods (SBS) was accused of copying One Million Yen Quiz Hunter (Asahi National Broadcasting Company [ANB]) (Korean Broadcasting Institute, 1993). The type of contest and stage setting was said to resemble those of the foreign programs. In 1999 still more cases of program replication were found (see Korean Broadcasting Institute, 1999). For example, Game Show, High Five (SBS) was suspected of plagiarizing Tokyo Friend Park 2 (TBS). The first part of Chongchun, which was accused of being a replica of Love Generation, was a case of this type. Although there would be several minor differences which derive from the demeanor of local hosts and the localism of subject matter, or from larger contexts such as programming conventions and the economics of production, cases of the cloning type can hardly get away from suspicion of copying. The developing type can be referred to as those programs that expand and creatively reinterpret a specific feature of a Japanese program. For example, Seo Sewon's Making A Good World, a variety show, was at first accused of copying a three-minute quiz segment, "Silver Quiz," and another "Video Letter" segment from Samma's Super Trick TV, which turns the village elderly into objects of ridicule for entertainment's sake. Compared with Super Trick TV, the Korean program Making a Good World has gradually extended the time of the segments and reframed them in a slightly different context, sensitively illustrating the lives of the village elderly. Although Making a Good World makes the audience laugh at the outdated attitudes of the rural elderly, it also shows the plain country life, uncontaminated by the city's self-interested value system. While the Japanese "Silver Quiz" makes fools of the rural elderly who cannot catch up with the modern lifestyle, Making a Good World rediscovers the healthiness of the country and evokes nostalgia and tender feelings. Both Japanese and Korean programs gaze at the country from the viewpoint of city-dwellers or the younger generation, and yet the latter emphasizes nostalgic images of the home country. Until its cancellation in October 2000, Making a Good World maintained its format of featuring the village elderly. Although Jealousy was suspected of copying Tokyo Love Story, in terms of subject matter and specific scenes, it provided a different version that reflected cultural norms as well as narrative conventions in Korea. Likewise, Wish upon a Star (1997, MBC) and Tomato (1999, SBS) were accused of borrowing their ideas from the Japanese mangas Candy and Happy respectively, and yet they apply typical themes from Cinderella to create sensitive and light-hearted "trendy" narratives with great popularity. The collaging type of program combines elements of several shows to construct a new narrative. Avoiding the criticisms levelled at direct cloning, the collaging type appropriates ideas or elements from the Japanese models and blends them. The Korean entertainment program Paradise for Curiosity (SBS) is an example. When Paradise for Curiosity was first broadcast in 1998 it evoked two opposing opinions. One view was that the program successfully combined information and entertainment in a novel way, differentiating it from existent programs, while the other condemned it for copying Power! Thursday Special (Fuji TV), which was an extension of "The Investigators" in The Alarm-Clock TV. Despite the suspicions of plagiarism, Paradise for Curiosity (SBS) became a popular program and was followed by the similar series Confirmed, Lift the Veil (KBS2) and The Mysterious World of Science (KBS1). Paradise for Curiosity takes elements from a number of Japanese infotainment programs that address the questions of ordinary people through research, experimentation, or inspection. Its main source includes "The Investigators" in The Alarm-Clock TV (Fuji TV), Experiment and Nod (NHK), Great Discovery, The Laws of Fear (ANB), Discovery, The Great Aru Aru Cyclopedia (Fuji TV), Tokoro's Megaten (NTV), Konnomisako's Science Hall (ANB), Takeshi's Book of Genesis (ANB), and Special Mission, Research 200X (NTV). While these Japanese infotainment programs demonstrate great variety in terms of subject matter and formats for providing information, Paradise for Curiosity appropriates the common narrative. Rather than benchmarking the narrative of a specific program, Paradise for Curiosity follows the common narrative forms of Japanese infotainment programs and appropriates some presentational techniques to introduce a program format new to Korean audiences, thus avoiding accusations of plagiarizing a specific program. 2) Licensed Adaptations Although informal copying practices have widely prevailed, few sanctions have been initiated against them. In late 1993 the international agency of Japan's TBC sent KBS an official document accusing KBS's Racing Sunday of copying TBC's Lucky Zenda, and requesting a US$30,000 royalty for using the format (Hankyeorae, August 16, 1994, p.8). Immediately after this warning was issued, the program was cancelled. In 1998 the agency demanded that the producers of SBS's Special Mission, Father's Challenge officially buy the format. SBS apologized for their negligence and then cancelled the program. Korean television is unaccustomed to the business of buying formats, especially from Japan. In 1999 MBC officially purchased the license for the format of Boys and Girls in Love from Fuji TV. MBC uses this format in a segment called "Love Train" in Eve's Castle, where the participant who confesses his/her love rides a special train whose track can veer in different directions depending on the partner's reply. Even though the usage of a special train as a medium for love confessions was in itself a novel idea, the narrative structure was not new. Other variations had already been utilized. For example, a segment called "The Choice of One's Heart" in The Beautiful Meetings (SBS) presents a similar plot, in which the participant declares their love to someone whom she/he has secretly been pining for. The difference between "The Choice of One's Heart" and "Love Train" lay in the method of portraying confessions and replies. Eve's Castle failed to differentiate itself from the existing dating programs, and subsequently did not draw much attention. It was cancelled after one season. In the early 2000s the Korean television industry became much more concerned about accusations of plagiarism and began to consider licensed formats. In 2002 several entertainment programs officially adapted Japanese formats. "Brain Survivor," one of the segments of Sunday, Sunday Night (MBC), has adapted the format of TBS's two-hour special, Brain Survivor 2. The main idea of this quiz show is that it does not require knowledge, but rather a good memory and intuition; one has to guess a word, put the picture back in its original place, and remember a series of names or a sequence of colours. "Brain Survivor" borrows the main plot from Brain Survivor 2, as well as its presentational techniques. However it does not simply reproduce the same program; it features a diverse range of panelists, and the ultimate winner among these 16 panelists is supposed to offer prize money to her/his old school as a form of scholarship. Until the year 2002, formats were imported mainly for the purpose of adapting specific settings. With the full-scaled opening of the door to Japanese TV programs imminent in the near future, the Korean broadcasting industry has been paying more attention to the global programming or formatting agencies as well as domestic accusations of plagiarism. Although many global television formats, especially Japanese television formats, have already been brought into Korea through copying practices, there will be growing pressure on unlicensed program adaptations as well as a growing need to acquire the licenses to competitive Japanese programs. Yojolady provides an early example of licensed adaptation of Japanese TV drama. Although it directly derives its dramatic motif from Yamatonadeshiko, it develops a different plot and characterization. 4. Narrative similarities and differences between Yojolady and Yamatonadesiko Yojolady (2003) reproduces the main theme of Yamatonadeshiko (2001), which deals with a girl who dreams of marrying a rich man to free herself from her painful memories of poverty, but in the end realizes the value of true love. However, as it fits the 11-part Japanese miniseries4 to the 16-part Korean miniseries,5 whose length is more than double, it produces a version slightly but significantly different from the original narrative. By comparing the modes of characterization and narrative strategies in the two, this paper attempts to look at the ways in which Korea drama transnationally adapts or (re)interprets its Japanese counterpart. To analyze the degree to which the two dramas are similar and different, this author will focus on not only characterizations and relationships, but also the "narrative projects" of characters and plot sequences. This analysis follows Chatman's (1978) notion of narrative which is composed of story and plot. While a story is composed of causally arranged elements such as characters and events, discourse can be examined through the ways in which the story is described, for example, plot sequences, the roles of narrators, and presentational techniques. According to Chatman, character is "a paradigm of traits" or "a set of traits": "trait in the sense of relatively stable or abiding personal quality" (1978, p.126), which is inferred from the real world. Chatman argues that traits emerge in the audience's consciousness as the events of the narrative proceed. The audience interprets characters by analogy to persons in real life. Leitch (1986) contests Chatman's definition of character as a sum of traits, because he states that characters are "a body of traits preceding or underlying the diegesis, but some quality inherent in the diegesis itself" (p.157). While Chatman is concerned with persistent personal qualities that the audience apprehends in the characters, Leitch focuses on the function of the characters who project the story. This paper tries not only to identify each drama's set of codes for depicting major characters, but also to inquire into the function of each character's role in the narrative, namely "the narrative project" of character. Analyzing the modes of characterization, the narrative projects of characters, and plot sequences, it examines each drama's textual strategies through which the producer of a text communicates with her audience. 1) Characterizations and relationships Both heroines, Minkyung and Sakurako, are stewardesses who are disgusted with poverty and firmly believe that only money can make them happy. They escape from a poverty-stricken place lacking in the attributes of modernity to a place of consumption where they hope to live a new style of life. They visually display their materialism through their dress codes. They take advantage of their beautiful looks to find suitable bridegrooms of wealth. On the other hand, although both heroes, Youngho and Osuke, have slightly different jobs, namely Youngho is a former astronomer and a rice-cake shopkeeper, and Osuke is a former mathematician and a fish shopkeeper, they have similarly warm hearts; their characters are intended to convey mental and moral values over materialistic values. Each man has barely gotten over the bitter memories of parting with his ex-girlfriend, and has given up his studies to pay off the debts of his late father. At their first meeting with the heroes, both heroines mistake them for rich men, but shortly find out their financial situations. Those who become the heroines' fiances to fulfill their dreams are Dongkyu, a vice-president of SUNY, a game software company, and son of the company's president, and Dakasi, a doctor and heir to Higashijujo Hospital. Basically both dramas set up similar characters. However, their characterizations and relationships in detail take the different paths. In Yojolady, Minkyung is not good at hiding her inner self as thoroughly as Sakurako; while Sakurako hardly shows her emotions and keeps her coldheartedness toward poor men, Minkyung is apt to be faithful to her feelings. For example, she shows her attachment to cheap things like a shirt, a "pippi" doll, a wired ring, and the starfish which Youngho gives her. She willingly nurses a sick child at Youngho's house, which will cause her fiance's misunderstanding, and protests the insulting remarks of Daepyung, Dongkyu's father, who finds out that Minkyung's father is a street peddler rather than a seaman. While Sakurako tries to have as many meetings as possible up until the last moment of marriage, Minkyung can hardly maintain her nickname as the queen of meetings. Minkyung's character has as little tenacity of purpose as that of Sakurako has toward a man of wealth. Youngho's character is also different from that of Osuke. While Osuke gently acknowledges Sakurako's coldheartedness and hardly makes an effort to change her, Youngho actively refutes Minkyung's view of life for money and challenges Dongkyu. Moreover, Dongkyu is no longer a kind and courteous wealthy man like Dakasi; he straightforwardly lures Minkyung with money. Sooyeon, a Korean counterpart of Wakabe, is also no longer a modest admirer of Youngho; she spares no effort to get Youngho's love. In Yojolady, the wealthy old man who lives in a roomy mansion turns into a powerful patron who is strict with Youngho, and yet supports his competition with Dongkyu to be successor to the game software company. Compared to Yamatonadeshiko's characters, Yojolady provides flat characters, setting the contrast and competition between good and evil, and sacrificing the description of the character's inner changes. As Yojolady extends the storyline of Yamatonadeshiko, it adds family or pseudo-family relationships to its subject matter. It includes not only the daughter/son/father relationship, but also the relationship between fathers and mother. The old man, who used to love Youngho's mother when he was young, trains Youngho as a successor to rebuild the company which Daepyung has deteriorated with his unethical enthusiasm for profit. While Daepyung is described as a low-class capitalist who voluntarily imports foreign products which would devastate the domestic market, the old man is a capitalist who stubbornly sticks to his principles. The old man plays the role of a foster father for Youngho. Minkyung's father, Inkoo, is fooling around with Minkyung, occasionally getting her into trouble. Although Yojolady highlights the love relationship between the heroine and the hero, it doesn't eliminate family - and pseudo-family - relationships. Moreover, the workplace is described as a place where the hero and heroine test their talents, pursue their dreams, and confirm their love (see Table 1 and Table 2). Table 1: The relationships between major characters in Yamatonadeshiko
Table 2: The relationships between major characters in Yojolady
2) Narrative Strategies Both Yamatonadeshiko and Yojolady tell a story about a greedy girl who comes to realize the value of true love through a man with no money but a warm heart. Both heroines have a Cinderella complex with which they try to marry a man with everything, money and high social position, to fulfill their own dream. Unlike the traditional Cinderella who is passive, waiting for the call of Mr. Perfect, they are actively searching out the one by themselves. While Yamatonadeshiko tells the audience that the reason why the heroine has a greedy view of life is because of her poverty-stricken childhood, Yojolady provides little explanation about the heroine's excessive materialism. In Yamatonadeshiko, frequent flashbacks to the bitter memories of childhood describe the mind behind the cold face that utterly ignores a poor man, which make the audience have sympathy for her. The romantic title song speaks for the veiled state of the heroine's mind and keeps the audience paying attention to the subtle changes in her mind. Sakurako's belief in money lasts almost to the end of the series. On the other hand, in Yojolady, Minkyung washed dishes at a rustic tavern to pay off her father's debt. As soon as she has paid it off, she and her father run away with the owner's money. This exodus, comically presented in the beginning of the series, shapes the tone of the whole story. With little background information underlying her desperate desire for money, Minkyung is described only as a woman full of vanity and snobbery. To maintain a light, comic tone, the narrative reduces any serious moments that would arise when the story confronts the gap between the poor and the rich, the hatred of poverty, the worship of money, women weighing men's economic power, men only looking at women's beauty, and so on. Rather than digging into the inner description of the heroine's greed from various viewpoints, Yojolady introduces another main plot, another "kernel," in Chatman's term. While Yamatonadeshiko tells the audience a pure love story, Yojolady tells a different story of "trendy" romantic comedy. While Yamatonadeshiko sticks to Sakurako's storyline and proceeds to a character-centered, relatively simplified deployment of story, Yojolady tells both a love story and a success story. Yojolady offers two love triangles, that is, one between Youngho, Minkyung, and Dongkyu, the other between Minkyung, Youngho, and Sooyeon. Although Yamatonadeshiko suggests similar love triangles, it concentrates its storyline on the relationship between Sakurako and Osuke. Yamatonadeshiko follows the episodes that describe the process by which Sakurako comes to understand the precious thing that money cannot buy and, at the same time, Osuke recovers his vision. There is no villain. While Osuke gradually transforms Sakurako's view of life and marriage in Yamatonadeshiko, in Yojolady Youngho comes to contend with Dongkyu as well as with Minkyung's materialism. Yojolady ends with the love story of the original in the middle of the series and starts a success story about the innocent Youngho. Dongkyu and Sooyeon become villains who conspire together to make Youngho's project fail and thus make Youngho and Minkyung split up. Youngho must win the competition with Dongkyu to keep his love with Minkyung, to meet the expectation of the old man, and not to discourage his team, including Hyuntak and Taesung. The fathers, pseudo-father, and mother of the heroes and heroine, as well as their friends, are deeply related to the love relationship of Young and Minkyung, and their success. The latter half of Yojolady adapts the precedent of trendy dramas written by the writer Heemyung Lee, such as Mr. Q, Tomato, and Success Story of a Cheerful Girl, rather than of Yamatonadeshiko; these dramas have provided a love story and a success story in a light tone, rewarding the good and punishing the wicked. To fill up the 16-part series, Yojolady tries to combine the subject matter of Yamatonadeshiko with the major features of the writer's previous popular works. By collaging popular parts of different dramas, it tries to create another hit, but doesn't blend all the elements well enough to construct an innovative, well-woven drama. Table 3: The narrative projects of major characters and their states in the plot sequences of Yamatonadeshiko
Table 4: The narrative projects of major characters and their states in the plot sequences of Yojolady
Both dramas show a happy ending; the heroines get married to the heroes. Such happy endings conform to the traditional ideology of marriage, and thus sustain the traditional values underlying the relationship between men and women. However, these happy endings are differently contextualized. While in Yamatonadeshiko Sakurako finally frees herself from the Cinderella complex as she chooses to get married to Osuke, who is still poor, in Yojolady Minkyung becomes a Cinderella who gets married to Youngho, who proves his ability as a successor to the company. Youngho is proven to be a better qualified person, with a warm heart, competence, and morality, than Dongkyu. Although Youngho gives up the life as the president of the company to continue his studies, he is no longer a poor man. The ending of Yojolady reproduces not only the dramatic convention of good and evil but also the typical gender relationship. Yamatonadeshiko presents character-centered episodes rather than the traditional construction of a dramatic structure, arranging scenes along the emotional changes of characters. The heroine's every gesture, as well as her dress code, provides the site of spectacle. The audio-visual imagery captures in detail the feelings and gestures of the heroine and hero. Rather than taking the stereotyped gender roles, the hero shows a tender mind, while the heroine independently throws out the materialistic happiness that she has yearned for such a long time. On the other hand, Yojolady tries to follow the traditional image of the dichotomous gender relationship. It transforms the feeble hero of Yamatonadeshiko into a man of competence. It also attempts to avoid the expected public criticisms of the heroine's materialism by maintaining a comic tone, as well as by ending the heroine's pursuit of money in the middle of the series. Yojolady imperatively eliminates the heterogeneous, unfamiliar elements of the original; however, it neither makes the best use of the original's character-centered story-telling, nor creatively transforms it into a local text. Yojolady has received a low rating and has become a target of criticism.6 Table 5: Comparison of the narratives
5. Audience reception With the informal inflow of Japanese popular culture into Korea, many fan clubs for Japanese popular culture have formed, which in turn have played important roles in channeling various information about current Japanese popular culture. Although the Japanese TV dramas have been banned from broadcast, many Internet communities have shared their information about Japanese TV dramas. Especially those in their teens and twenties have become the active receivers or consumers of Japanese TV dramas, showing a different transnational sensibility from the elderly. When this author collected data on the audience reception from the bulletin board of Yojolady's official homepage (http://tv.sbs.co.kr/yojo/sub9.html), it was found that many of the audience members who sent their messages had already seen Yamatonadeshiko. When Yojolady publicized Yamatonadeshiko, it drew much attention from many Japanese drama fans. Many audience members on the bulletin board, especially those who saw Yamatonadeshiko, have shown negative attitudes toward Yojolady. This negativity comes from various cultural attitudes. The following analyzes 1,100 messages, collected amongst the total number of 39,300 messages on the board from 2003/8/13 to 2003/10/13.7 These messages can be categorized into four groups: first, those who compared the drama to the original and criticized the poor adaptation, second, those who compared it to the original and supported the adapted version, third, those who criticized the drama without mentioning the original, and fourth, those who mentioned their pleasure with the drama without mentioning the original. During the first week after its airing, many Japanese drama fans as well as general audience members participated in expressing their disappointment and criticism. More than 40% of the selected messages were sent during this first week, and 80% of them show negative views (see Table 6). After that, there were growing numbers of messages regarding the drama's love relationship as well as some fan letters, and yet there were still many critical messages. Table 6: Messages during the first week after airing Yojolady
Those who have had a chance to compare both dramas express their disappointment in various viewpoints. Some criticized that Yojolady was far behind the original because of its unfaithfulness, asserting the cultural superiority of Japanese TV dramas. By comparing it with the original, they explained the original's strong points and displayed their fandom. However, this fandom was often challenged by those who criticized this as a blind devotion to Japanese TV dramas. On the other hand, many argued that Yojolady didn't creatively adapt or re-interpret the original. They said that they were disappointed because the drama didn't show a re-created, localized version of Japanese drama; they said Yojolady was "copying", "literarily translating", "too much following" the original, producing "a drama of unknown nationality" or "a drama unpalatable to the tastes of Korean audiences." The drama was said to awkwardly transform the settings of the original, "without comprehending the strength and weakness of the original." After hearing the news report that Yojolady would be exported to Japan, many were greatly afraid that this export would create a negative image of Korean drama. Since Yojolady is neither a Korean drama nor Japanese drama, neitherMany of those who saw the original acknowledged that there is an emotional and cultural difference. For example, to meet a stewardess at a strip bar, to often show love hotels, or to display the brand-name of clothes, to perform an overaction, and so on, would not be acceptable for Korean TV. An audience member argued that "Japanese drama is enjoyable when we give consideration to Japanese emotions. But it is unreasonable to copy the original into a Korean drama" (ID: sulsa, 2003/8/25). Yojolady was criticized as having poorly adapted the original settings and characterization, hardly reflecting the Korean audience's structure of feeling. Whether Yojolady's weakness comes from its unfaithfulness to the original, or from its faithful adaptation with no concern for emotional, cultural difference, it failed to get warm responses from the audience. Those who haven't seen the original also criticized the drama's miscasting, "unnatural" acting styles, the subject matter of materialism, the "loosely-structured" narrative, "reality", "childish" dialogue, "mediocre" visual imagery, "Japanese-style" dialogue, "ambiguous" genre, and so on. Some detested the materialism of the heroine, who said, "poverty is worse than a lie," while others argued that the drama provided no dramatic pleasure except for its featuring several stars. By looking at the dramatic problems of Yojolady, they spoke of the "limits" of Korean drama, as those who have seen the original did after comparing both dramas. The selected messages on the bulletin board exemplify how Korean audiences have received the trans-national adaptation of Korean drama. The easygoing way of adapting the Japanese drama has confronted harsh criticism. In this case, the audience has asked for a more locally acceptable adaptation and, at the same, for a competitive production system that meets the trans-national standard. Although many of those who have seen Yamatonadeshiko favor the original, they become aware of the cultural differences between Korean and Japanese dramas, and of what could be trans-nationally shared or not. 6. Concluding Remarks As Japanese television culture has been flown into Korea by various informal routes, it has been widely and profoundly implanted in Korean popular culture. From informal copying practices to licensed adaptations, Japanese television culture has been actively brought in Korea. This influx of Japanese television culture is a complicated process of cultural hybridization occurring at the local site, rather than a one-way process of imposition of Japanese television culture on "indigenous" culture. While unlicensed adaptation as well as licensed adaptation have made Korean television programs look similar to their Japanese counterparts, these processes have also formed the hybridized cultural specificity of Korean programs. The local context of Korea, such as the conditions of the media industry and technological development, as well as the characteristics of consumption of popular culture, has shaped the process of trans-national cultural adaptation. Since the 1990s, the Korean broadcasting industry has, on the one hand, tried to produce more competitive programs reaching global standards and, on the other hand, there have grown consumer groups which can appreciate, compare, and evaluate global cultural products, especially Japanese popular cultural products. The process of trans-national adaptation has become a more culturally self-conscious one. During the 1990s when the Korean broadcasting industry became more concerned with its own competitiveness, many Korean producers found relevant, cost-effective references from Japanese cultural products. However, these copying practices haven't always met the producers' expectations, because translocal adaptation should meet the shared meaning or value system in a society or "structure of feeling" within the national boundary in order to be communicated. Even though local storytellers have turned to foreign cultural products, they always carefully conduct inevitable modification in order for these products to communicate well with the audience. Processes of cultural appropriation, exclusion, and transformation have existed within trans-national adaptation, and there have been many "successes" and "failures" in meeting the local meaning system. Yojolady has failed to satisfy the expectations of local audiences and has faced harsh criticism. The comparison between the narrative of Yojolady and that of the original, Yamatonadeshiko, shows how cultural appropriation, exclusion, and transformation have occurred across cultural boundaries. Yojolady has appropriated the original's subject matter and has blended it with the dramatic conventions of Korean trendy drama. For Korean dramatic conventions, the outspokenly materialistic heroine and the emasculated hero in the original are unfamiliar but innovative characters. As Yojolady has extended the original drama's plot, it has transformed those characters to be more suitable to local dramatic conventions, and has added a popular but hackneyed storyline. This much-publicized trans-national adaptation has ended up with an undigestable cultural product that casually collages heterogeneous textual elements. Without the consideration of different production conditions, dramatic conventions, and cultural meaning systems, "remaking" wouldn't have a desirable outcome. Most Korean audiences have been unconsciously exposed to television programs that are hybridizations of Korean and Japanese shows; due to the regulation of Japanese television programs, they have had little chance to acknowledge the nationality of what they are watching. Since Yojolady has formally publicized its remaking, Korean audiences have watched the drama with knowledge of its origin; especially, the Japanese TV drama fans have had an opportunity to compare and evaluate the remake and the original in public, beyond the boundaries of their "interpretation" communities. Many Korean audiences have detested the trans-national adaptation of Yojolady as well as its quality in itself. While some audiences have shown their attraction to the original, others have tried to identify cultural difference. As they have shared their opinions on the drama, they have become conscious of the process of cultural hybridization and have actively joined this process by raising their voices. They have talked about their experiences of global cultural consumption and cultural difference at the same time, which provides another example that illustrates the ways in which Japanese popular culture has been received, consumed, and signified in Korea. With the inflow of Japanese television culture, Korean television has become "culturally proximate" to Japanese television. However, this inflow doesn't mean cultural homogenization, which reduces cultural difference and heterogeneity. There is a rather complicated process of hybridization, conditioned by cultural practices in a specific local context. Through Yojolady, it can be seen that various cultural practices have been interrelated and collided with to form a hybridized local product. 1 It is not easy to define entertainment programs as a genre. In this paper, this term refers to various kinds of programs that aim at entertaining. This includes quiz shows, talk shows, comedy shows, and variety shows presided over by hosts. 2 To search the cases of plagiarism, the KINDS (Korea Integrated News Database System, http://www.kinds.or.kr/) database was used. 3 The so-called Korean 'trendy' drama has been said to be "satisfying the tastes of the video generation", "depending on the stars of the new generation", "sensitive and light-hearted", "emphasizing visual imagery", "fast tempo and cheerful background music," and "following the latest fashion." 4 Approximately 525 minute. There are nine parts of 45-minute drama and two parts of 60-minute drama. 5 Approximately 1,120 minute. There are 16 parts of 70-minute drama. 6 According to TNS Media Korea, the rating of Yojolady started at 13.9% and ended at 17.9%; rating of the second part was even lower at 10.7%. 7 These messages have more than 10 lines, in which the audiences expressed their pleasure, opinions, or criticisms, and more than 100 people have clicked. <References> Bhabha, H. (1994). The location of culture. London: Routledge. Chatman, S. (1978). Story and Discourse: Narrative structure in fiction and film, Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. Iwabuchi, K. (ed.) (forthcoming). Feeling Asian Modernities: Transnational consumption of Japanese TV dramas in East/Southeast Asia, Hong Kong: University of Hong Kong Press. Korean Broadcasting Institute (1993) Studies on Plagiarism of Domestic TV Programs (Kooknaebangsongeui oikookprogram mobanghyunhwang boonseok Yeonkoo), Seoul: Korean Broadcasting Institute. Korean Broadcasting Institute (1999) Copying Practices of Broadcasting Programs: Present conditions: and Countermeasures (Bangsong Program moobangeui hyunhwangkwa daeeungbangan). Seoul: Korean Broadcasting Institute. Leitch, T. (1986). What stories are: Narrative theory and interpretation. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press. Sartre, J. (1965). The philosophy of Jean-Paul Sartre. (Robert Cumming, Ed.). New York: Random House. Sinclair, J., Jacka, E., & Cunningham, S. (eds.). (1996). New patterns in global television. New York: Oxford University Press. Wang, G. et. al (eds.) (2000). The New Communications Landscape, London: Routledge. http://www.kinds.or.kr http://tv.sbs.co.kr/yojo/sub9.html |
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