I will be trounced for this, but I have been watching Asian TV to get a glimpse of what’s there. I try not to get too caught up in the story lines while observing themes and what’s in the back ground. There are several themes common to Taiwan, Korea and Japan and China. Yes there is TV produced in China that gets aired in Asia, Taiwan, Korea, Philippines.
The primary theme is upward mobility of youth leaving the provinces for the cities. There is much blatant admiration for America. That is evidenced by occasional usage of English, primarily American slang. There is wide spread wearing of T shirts with American products. “Snickers” seems popular.
There is always class war most commonly represented by a romance between a rich, cosmopolitan, well educated and high titled American educated professional or business person and a commuity college educated provincial. The long drawn out story eventually ends in marriage. However in one program, the romance ends in tragedy.
There is a very strong presentation of the clash between generations. The young are constantly battling against ultra conservative parents that insist on following to the letter the age old societal customs. The youth struggle and persist and win out, becoming modern (and American like) much better off than their provincial parents or wealthy but custom constricted parents.
In two of the programs produced and filmed in Hong KOng and Shanghai but aired in Taiwan and elsewhere, there is considerable mobility for better life and jobs. There is one instance of leaving the mainland for hong kong and then to Taipei. There is another where there is travel for education to America (a strong theme) and back to Shanghai where being mobile and fairly affluent they conduct professional services and business with clients in both Hong Kong and Los Angeles.
I know that TV is fiction. The TV that is diverse in national origin however, all has the strong common themes noted above be it Taiwan, Japan, Korea or amazingly China. They like to present that which is new and shiny and chic.
It is very interesting to look through the Netflix window to glimpse a world otherwise unknown
I’ve watched a lot of KDramas, and yes most are about the rich “Chaebol” dating the commoner.
Recently the KDramas are being shot in more foreign locations, “Descendants of the Sun” was filmed in Greece, “The Legend of the Blue Sea” in Spain, and “Goblin” had scenes filmed in Quebec.