Any Kpop and Kdrama Fans with Recs?

[pennswoods]

This weekend I will be presenting at the national conference of the American Association of Teachers of Korean (AATK). I, of course, am not a Korean teacher so you may be wondering what the hell I am doing there. It turns out the conference organizer is a faculty member at my uni and saw a talk I gave about fan practices and language learning over a year ago in which there were some interesting developments coming out of Korean fans and their language learning. 

My talk, which I am still organizing because that's how I roll (but seriously, if I prepare something too far in advance, it will not be fresh in my mind) is coming together nicely. I am still re-ordering things to tell a story that fits. This talk is a featured talk, which means I have a full hour as opposed to the usual 20 minutes and I believe in telling a story that keeps people interested. Part of this includes relevant images to accompany texts. 

This is where I need some help. I myself am not a fan of Korean media thought I know quite a few who are and I wanted to ask for recs. I have a few images of Blackpink and BTS as well as groups of fans. I am avoiding anything with signs in Korean since I don't want to ignorantly post something offensive. I am much less familiar with Kdramas thought. I have grabbed a few images from Netflix series that have come up on multiple fan lists of the best Kdramas. So far this includes an image from Mr. Sunshine and Twenty Five Twenty One.  However, there are SO MANY and again I don't know what some of these might signify. Does anyone have names of K-pop groups or K-drama series that I should consider looking into?

 

Comments

[clevermanka]

Not exactly sure what you're looking for, but I like Lee Hyori, who has a pretty extensive back catalog of both solo and group work. She's also an advocate for animal rights and hosted a charming show called Hyori's Homestay/Hyori's Bed and Breakfast. It's tragically not on Netflix anymore tho, so not sure where you might find stills (legally lol).

I'm not big into K-dramas, but I did enjoy Kingdom and Extraordinary Attorney Woo, both on Netflix. Pretty sure those were developed for American (or at least Western) audiences, so they might not be what you're looking for. If you're looking for shows that have active (ie slashy) fanbases, maybe check out Devil Judge and Beyond Evil. A lot of people I know went pretty feral over those.

I can rattle off some more music recs, but I don't really know what you're looking for...

[pennswoods]

This is actually REALLY helpful. I have come across some of these names in my searches so it is validating to see them here. I am absolutely okay with K-dramas developed for international audiences as I am talking about people who get into learning Korean based on Korean popular media and those people are typically not Korean.

It's also been fascinating to come across reference to different K-dramas that are big in different countries because of how themes supposedly resonate. K-dramas got really big in Pakistan and India during the pandemic and there is interest those which touch upon the division between North and South Korea because it is relatable to the Indian-Pakistani context too. This was so interesting. Extraordinary Attorney Woo was also a big hit in India.

I think I am just about there!

[clevermanka]

Glad I could help! And Extraordinary Attorney Woo has an episode about a North Korean woman, fyi.