How Korean Culture Found Its Way to More Screens and Entered a K-Pop Golden Era

Georgetown University ^ | March 19, 2026

[CondoleezzaProtege]

In 2025, arguably the biggest movie of the year didn’t come from Hollywood or even hit U.S. movie theaters. It came from South Korea.

KPop Demon Hunters became Netflix’s most popular film of all time and won Academy Awards for Best Animated Feature and Best Original Song...

In 2020, Parasite became the first non-English language film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. A year later, Squid Game became one of the most-watched television shows during the COVID-19 pandemic...

Korean music has topped charts with bands like Blackpink and BTS. Even Korean beauty products, or K-beauty, have begun to set the standard for makeup.

For Jinaeng Choi, a Korean literary scholar... the rise of Korean products in global pop culture can be traced back to South Korea’s deep engagement with the U.S. after the Korean War and its unique storytelling style...

Korean cultural products often give viewers a clear entry point — romance, family, thriller, workplace drama — and then escalate emotion quickly. That clarity makes them easy to enter across cultures, even before you know much context. And once you’re in, a lot of stories operate on two layers: the surface plot and a subtext about class, gender, labor, North-South division, or modernization. That two-layer legibility is part of why audiences get hooked, and then stay thinking...

[MagillaX]

K Dramas, what Hollywood used to be.

[sockmonkey]

K-pop is still on top, but for dramas, C-Dramas are overtaking K-Dramas.
Look up Hengdian Studios where many historical C-Dramas are filmed. 30 square miles of different dynasties, eras, scenery. Amazing.

[trebb]

S. Korea has put out a few decent movies/series - mostly aired on Netflix.

[BipolarBob]

I like my music Gangnam Style.

[Organic Panic]

I love Korean food and they make great, albeit melodramatic, movies.

[OldHarbor]

I’ll have to do a rewatch of the K film OldBoy (2003) , it’s available on Tubi . .

After being kidnapped and imprisoned for fifteen years, Oh Dae-su is released only to find that he must track down his captor in five days.

Rated R violence

Another good K action film is The Man from Nowhere (2010) Tae-Sik is a widower with a mysterious past. When a young girl he befriends is kidnapped by a vicious drug gang, Tae-Sik rushes to save her.

Rated R violence

[dfwgator]

The Master’s Sun is still my all-time favorite K-Drama. Any one with Gong Hyo-Jin in it is a must watch for me.

Goblin was also very good.

[Republican Wildcat]

You must have though Walker, Texas Ranger was a riot as well. :)

[Republican Wildcat]

And here’s the trailers for some more (if you can find them on an app which carries them with English subtitles):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnjmzZFssmg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LzWMTK5OIU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vM3-ooRbDA4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ekX-nl7Hm0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czMr0HusYts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qb6I-L_kfE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rj5WeWp_AXI

[Republican Wildcat]

The ones I’ve watched seemed to be focused on telling good stories without pushing social or political agendas.

It’s been several years since I’ve watched any - hopefully they have stayed that way.

See the links in posts above #15 and #29 for some suggestions.

[VictoryGal]

I worked with several Korean women in my days in tech. Each of them was incredibly driven and did excellent work. No nonsense, but passionate about their work. I couldn’t ask for better colleagues.

Noticed on LinkedIn that one of them, a direct report that I mentored, is now VP at a very prosperous tech company. I am NOT surprised!

[CondoleezzaProtege]

Thank you for the recommended titles!

[CondoleezzaProtege]

I love Korean food and they make great, albeit melodramatic, movies.

Agreed!