K-Drama School

A Pop Culture Inquiry into Why We Love Korean Television

By: Grace Jung

Narrated by: Grace Jung

From the Emmy Award-winning Squid Game to streaming sensations like The Glory and Crash Landing on You, Korean television has emerged onto the global pop culture scene as compelling television—but what exactly makes these shows so irresistibly bingeable? And what can we learn about our societies and ourselves from watching them?

From stand-up comedian and media studies PhD Grace Jung comes a rollicking deep dive into the cultural significance of Korean television. K-Drama School analyzes everything from common tropes like amnesia and slapping to conspicuous product placements of Subway sandwiches and coffee; to representations of disability, race and gender; to what Korea's war-torn history says about South Korea’s media output and the stories being told on screen.

With chapters organized by "lessons," each one inquiring into a different theme of Korean television, K-Drama School offers a groundbreaking exploration into this singular form of entertainment, from an author who writes with humor and heart about shows that spur tears and laughter, keeping us glued to the TV while making fans of us all.

Shows discussed include: Squid Game, SKY Castle, Crash Course in Romance, Extraordinary Attorney Woo, My Mister, Something in the Rain, One Spring Night, DP, Guardian: The Lonely and Great God, Autumn in My Heart, Winter Sonata, Our Blues, and more.

©2024 Grace Jung (P)2024 Running Press Adult

Misleading title and blurb

Being a lover of K-Dramas and enjoying Grace's podcast I was unprepared for the unrelenting darkness that is this book. This should be a labeled T-School: a memoir of trauma because only about ten percent of the actual content is about K-dramas. Most of the book is about the history of trauma for both Grace and the Korean Peninsula. I do get that knowing the history of a culture is important to understanding what you're watching.

However, Imagine, opening a book about the fun, inner workings of Disney World and instead getting a lecture about how Walt was a white supremacist, the history of the KKK and the Seminole Tribe that was slaughtered so you can ride It's a Small World. It's like being told you'll watch a light-hearted comedy about a bunch of factory workers and being shown Schindler's List.

I agree with 90% of what Grace says and but so much of her rhetoric is off-putting and accusatory: no one is spared from Jung's wrath, NO ONE. Which makes me wonder who Grace wrote this for a for? She often sounds like a 90's punk rock fan screaming sell-out, trashing record labels, calling out bands and chastising late comers to the scene. Also, this is not a pop culture inquiry but rather an academic inquiry through the lens of a gender studies/ art history class. I wonder how many more people she could have reached (read: educated) if she had softened her language. It's not a zero sum game.

Finally, for someone who writes about the trauma of being judged she is pretty unforgiving of a lot of people: adoptive parents, parents of children with disabilities, Non-AAPI Americans who are interested in Korean culture (because it's a strange fetish) among others. Generalizing and assigning motives to people without understanding their side of the issues.

I do get the impression from the book that Grace Jung is a strong, smart, funny, driven, intellectually curious human being who doesn't take crap from anyone. I hope she finds a way to share her gift in a way that resonates with the whole world while at the same time allowing her to keep her values intact.