According to Wikipedia, Korean drama began in May 1956 with the film Death Row Prisoner, directed by Choi Chang Bong.The genre rose in popularity through the 1960s and 70s with the growth of Korean broadcasting companies, and began showing on colour television in 1981. According to a Blog Post on K-drama history, in the 1960s, the South Korean TV networks began airing dramas regularly in the early 1960’s. At that time, television was still a luxury for the majority of households and the content of the dramas was tightly controlled by the military government. Most dramas were made to educate the public and support the military government. By the 1970s,TV networks started to invest more efforts into producing and promoting the dramas. Moreover, TV dramas began to become a popular form of family entertainment as more households owned TV. The dramas’ storylines were influenced more by the everyday lives of the people than by political agendas.
Some of my favorite kdrama's include, Vincenzo, Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo, Hometown Cha Cha Cha, Extraordinary You, My Name, and Tail of the Nine-Tailed. I mentioned Vincenzo, which is one of my absolute favorite kdramas, it includes everything from action to romance to comedy to suspense. The story follows a korean-born consigliere from Italy, when the mafia boss dies, he moves back to South Korea in order to find the gold he hid years ago. When he stays in the rotten building the gold is in, he makes connections and relationships with other tenants and he gets roped into a scandal with a pharmeceuitcal company.The show was really funny and at the same time very suspenseful, it will forever be one of my favorites.
Another one of my favorite kdramas is Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo, its a romance kdrama and it is really one of my favorites. The story follows a woman in college who is a weightlifter, she randomly encounters her childhood friend who is a swimmer at the same college. They start becoming friends and she falls for a weight-loss doctor who happens to be the swimmer's older brother. She realizes that the doctor isn't for her and she falls in love with her childhood best friend. It is a really funny and cute show that I love because it has a lot of cute moments and includes themes of body-positivity.
