Before you immediately side with K-dramas and claim that they are much better than Southeast Asian films, it should be clarified that this is not about comparing the two but rather about appreciate them because they are both awesome.
While back then our notion of love and soul mates revolved around Bollywood films, today, Netflix and K-dramas do the same for our American sisters, but unlike our fascination for Southeast Asian films, this one has a downside. In fact, North American women are taking action and going to South Korea in search of love and this is what we now call the “Netflix effect”.
Indeed, hundreds of women in their twenties, mostly from North America and Europe, are traveling to South Korea and flooding local youth hostels. This wave caught the attention of Min Joo Lee, a postdoctoral researcher at Indiana University in Bloomington who studies Korean gender and race policies, and who decided to take a closer look. .
So by visiting eight hostels and interviewing 123 women, Lee discovered that these women are intrigued by Korean men on television who are generally portrayed as emotionally intelligent and sensitive to their effeminate side. For them, Korean men are cultured, romantic and well-organized, which contrasts sharply with men from their country of origin, who make no effort to take care of their appearance and who are narrow-minded.
As an example, we can cite series like “Crash Landing on You”, which present Korean men as gentlemen, polite, romantic, charming and gallant, qualities not generally associated with Western men. By casting attractive men like Hyun Bin and Gong Yoo to play the lead roles, these series provided a glimpse into a world where men are romantic, understanding and patient, thus setting the bar higher for men everywhere.
However, contrary to what these women believe, the series raises the level of standards a little too much because Korean men in real life are far from those who appear on screen and it goes without saying that most of them are Korean men from them are not as incredibly handsome as Gong Yoo. Perhaps this is an important point that these ladies should consider before crossing borders.
What is your opinion on this trend of moving to Korea to find love?