She watched Korean dramas obsessively, kept a chart of the 175 titles she consumed, cooked Korean food, and studied Korean. She is planning a trip to South Korea.
For Lewis, 52, Korean dramas were an escape from the unbearable news in 2020 as racial tensions flared across America, adding to her ongoing worries about her two sons. Scripted television, she said, was no better. “Either there are no blacks or we’re criminals.” Korean dramas provided a guide to possible healing.
When a white student called her son a racial slur at school, she watched dramas for the kind of reward she wanted. “I wanted the boy’s parents to come to our house with their son and kneel down and bow down and ask for forgiveness,” she said, referring to a Korean ritual when a deep apology is sought.
Like Lewis, many black women have turned to Korean scripted television for escapism and comfort, often years before most Americans had ever heard of Squid Game (the 2021 K-drama that became the most-watched show in Netflix history ), creating an influential passion and fan following. Black K-drama evangelists have started blogs, Facebook groups, Instagram clubs, podcasts, and TikTok accounts dedicated to Korean dramas.
When Michea Hayden was 13 years old, she discovered “Secret Garden” with Korean protagonist Hyun Bin while surfing the Internet. Since then, the now 24-year-old retail associate has watched hundreds of other K-dramas and visited South Korea.
“I was literally absorbed! Here I am, a young black girl from Mississippi! There are no Koreans here, especially the city I’m from. It was very foreign to me, but also so interesting that I had to dive deeper into it,” she said. “Getting into Korean culture was a way for me to see a different world and become more educated about different cultures as a black woman.”
There’s no data on the genre’s exact viewership demographics, but die-hard fans say it’s more than just the size of the black female audience, but its influence.
“You couldn’t ask for a better cheerleader than a black woman. From our politics to our hair care products, we passionately support and share,” said Ore.-based writer and podcast host Nina Perez, 48. She founded Project Fandom and the Fandom Podcast to review pop culture. , including K-dramas.The podcast is downloaded 10,000 to 12,000 times a month, but the majority of listeners who stream live on Twitter are black women, Perez says.
Korean dramas, or K-dramas, are South Korean television shows that include romantic comedies, historical epics, thrillers, supernatural fantasy, and often touch on class, plot twists, fate, and corruption. Like K-pop, they are key to the rise of Korean culture’s global popularity.
Although Korean cultural exports have long been popular in Japan, China, Southeast Asia, and Latin America, they have experienced a slower crescendo in the United States. As they explode – “Squid Game” now boasts 14 Emmy nominations and six wins, including Asian firsts for lead actor in a drama for Lee Jang-Jae and director for Hwang Dong-hyuk – Experts assess the influence of black and Latina women.
“People think it’s Korean-Americans who are driving the integration of Korean culture in the US, but in fact, it’s just as much black women,” said the author of Ask a Korean! blog, which uses the pen name TK Park.
This influence is not new, points out Crystal S. Anderson, an associate professor of African American studies at George Mason University. “In the 1970s, the kung fu movie reached the United States and was eagerly consumed by black and Latino audiences … long before it reached mainstream America,” she said. “We see it in anime, we see it in Bollywood, we see it in K-dramas.”
What has helped K-dramas grow in popularity, Anderson said, is access through streaming platforms. Decades ago, the shows were only accessible on VHS tapes, then DVDs from Korean grocery stores. Then pirated downloads came into the picture. In 2009, a start-up called DramaFever began broadcasting licensed Korean dramas and eventually other Asian content globally.
Digital access has also allowed fans to create their own networks. When Danielle Morris-Scott pulled out of the crime thriller Stranger in July 2020, the 36-year-old mail carrier was watching alone. She started the Facebook group Black and Obsessed With K Dramas in March 2021. Currently 140 members dig Korean culture and language, some of whom plan to visit Korea next spring to see cherry blossoms, locations from their favorite shows and to eat the kitchen premises.
For some — even the fans themselves — their love of K-dramas may come as a surprise. When a journalist asked about the genre’s popularity among black women on Twitter, hundreds responded.
Many cited familiar cultural themes: the emphasis on family, respect for elders, and the central role of food as an expression of love. There is also the escape of seeing stories unfold through a non-Western lens through non-White characters. But the vast majority of women mentioned the joy of seeing love stories between people of color, without the politics and racial baggage.
“Asian stories are often overlooked, just like black stories. Asian men in American society are not valued or seen as attractive in the same way that black women are. Yet here I am seeing super-hot Korean leads living their best lives on screen,” said Sandrine McCurdy, 45, a catering sales manager in San Antonio. She follows the shows she has watched on MyDramaList – 218 in the last three years.
Chrystal Starbird, 40, a scientist in North Carolina who has watched about 70 K-dramas and is learning Korean, noted, “A lot of times, K-dramas are about being invisible or the existence of beauty. where many think there is none. As a black woman living in America, I can relate. Even for those who fit the stereotypes on the surface, they and we are so, so much more.”
Franceska Williams, 28, a teacher in Chicago, got into K-dramas as a child by getting mani-pedis with her mother. Intrigued by the shows playing on the TV in the background, she asked the salon owner to turn on the subtitles. She said it relates to the common trope of female leads who, if they’re too “hard-working and independent, they’ll never get married and settle down”, but prove everyone wrong.
The purity of Korean dramas is also a big draw: There’s usually no nudity on screen, and depictions of sex are rare — 16 episodes usually lead to a kiss, often with the mouth closed. (Korean movies, on the other hand, can get wild). The slow burn of the romance offers an enviable balm against the hypersexualization of black women in Hollywood for some fans.
“I’ve always wondered why almost every black woman I meet is as into K-dramas as I am,” said Zainab Barry, 24, a New York City performance artist who grew up in Northern Virginia. As black women, “we weren’t even considered or hypersexualized.”
“There’s something so sweet about watching a non-white couple take it slow with their romance, watching a relationship build without sex as a priority. Maybe we’re drawn to it because we see the romance we want to have, but it’s not always given to us?”
The Korean entertainment industry did not anticipate the black fandom, said Christine Hye-jin Ko, who co-directed the popular series “Law School” and “Love and Weather Forecast.” She was surprised to learn of their popularity with black women when she discussed her shows on Clubhouse chats hosted by social media club KDramatics.
Later, reflecting on her high school days in Vancouver and college at Duke University, Ko recalled a “cultural connection with my African-American friends, similar to Jung (a deep bond or connection), one of the core values that differentiates Korean culture,” she said. There is also a widespread undercurrent of it (a deep-seated feeling of sorrow, grief, or anger) that Koreans attribute to centuries of occupation, oppression, and suffering that she said black women can relate to.
However, South Korea is not a diverse country, making it all the more surprising that Korean dramas have developed a fervent black fan base. In a society that struggles with colorism, impressions of black people are largely informed by Hollywood or the US military presence.
“Koreans in general are not that aware of the concepts of diversity – representation is not something we are educated or equipped to discuss in any meaningful way. The media landscape is still quite homophobic, xenophobic, sexist and ageist,” said Ko, the Korean director who has worked on several popular dramas. “Our ability to understand why representation is important is not expanding as fast as our audience.”
The lack of genuine representation has not been a hindrance.
Nicci Gittens, a 30-year-old medical assistant in North Texas, may not see characters exactly like her — a black trans woman — but she can still identify with K-dramas, she said. “Seeing how a relationship can be created and built from non-sexual desire was really beautiful to me.”
“That’s not how ‘American’ shows, or how men in general tend to approach women, especially identified ones. There’s an innocence and excitement to waiting 15 to 30 episodes, or even multiple seasons, just to see a kiss,” she said, adding that watching dramas has made her raise her dating standards.
