With the global interest in Korean dramas increasing with the Netflix series 'Squid Game', the recently released 'Hell' is enjoying great popularity.
Even though it is a work with a strong genre color dealing with supernatural phenomena, it maintained the top position in the global rankings for a week immediately after its release, and it is called 'the second squid game', and the possibility of long-term box office is predicted.
There is also an analysis that the sharp gaze on social problems seen in any country in the world, such as corrupt pseudo-religion, the media that chases provocative events, and private broadcasting that is out of regulation, is gaining sympathy from people around the world.
In addition to 'Hell', the historical drama romance 'Yeonmo' and 'Gae Village Cha Cha Cha', a romance set in a seaside village, are also listed in the top 10 Netflix TV shows, and Korean dramas are becoming mainstream on online video service (OTT) platforms. .
According to 'Flix Patrol', an online content service ranking site, today (27th), 'Hell' is running at the top of the world's TOP in the Netflix TV program category.
Flix Patrol counts the rankings by reflecting the ratings for 24 hours, and 'Hell' ranked first the day after it was released on the 19th, and remained at the top until yesterday except for one day (21st).
As of yesterday, the evaluation score according to country ranking was 705 points, which was significantly different from 2nd place 'True Story' (545 points) and 3rd place 'Arcane' (441 points), turning on a green light for long-term box office success.
'Hell' topped the charts in 29 countries including Korea, France, Finland, Belgium, Egypt, Morocco, Pakistan, India, Turkey, Japan and Hong Kong.
It ranked 2nd in Argentina, Brazil and Greece, 3rd in Russia, Spain, and the Czech Republic, and 5th in the United States and Canada, where there are many domestic contents.
It is worth noting that Korean dramas are ranked high not only in the East, where Korean dramas are mainly consumed, but also in the West, Africa, the Middle East, and South America.
The fact that many countries around the world paid attention to 'hell' in a short period of time seems to have been greatly influenced by 'Squid Game', which ranked first in 94 countries according to Netflix's official count.
It is analyzed that viewers who encountered Korean dramas with 'Squid Game' must have watched 'Hell' either by searching for them on their own or through algorithmic recommendations.
Jung Deok-hyeon, a popular culture critic, said, "Although many Korean works have been known abroad, there were countries, such as England and France, where pride in their own culture was so strong that it was difficult to become a topic of discussion. It seems that the reaction was different from before,” he said.
In fact, 'Hell' has a stronger genre than 'Squid Game', which is a death game, so it is a work that people like and dislike.
Even director Yeon Sang-ho, who wrote the original webtoon and wrote and directed the series, said in a recent media interview that 'Hell' was not made for the public.
'Hell' is a story about a supernatural phenomenon in which ordinary people are notified of hell by an unknown being.
As the title suggests, the world in the work is depicted as a dystopia mixed with disillusionment with humans and social chaos.
If the 'squid game' pierces the ruins of capitalism, such as the loss of humanity in the face of poverty and the loss of humanity in the face of poverty, 'hell' is a black-and-white logic that separates good from evil based on human psychology facing fear, revenge and revenge outside the bounds of the law. It sharply exposes aspects of society, such as mass violence and a pseudo-religion that takes advantage of chaos.
Gong Hee-jeong, a drama critic, said, "The most striking part of 'Hell' is the stories related to religion and media.
He continued, "I think that the wide range of sympathy for 'hell' has appeared because this phenomenon is experienced similarly all over the world."
The global popularity of 'Squid Game', which moved to 'Hell' before the heat of 'Squid Game' had cooled down, put Korean dramas in the center of the OTT platform.
In the Netflix TV show rankings compiled by Flix Patrol yesterday, 4 Korean dramas including 'Hell' were in the top 10.
'Squid Game', which was released in mid-September and has been showing for more than two months, ranked 6th, and 'Love Me', a royal romance with the protagonist disguised as a man instead of a dead brother and becoming a crown prince, ranked ninth, and the romance between a woman in a city and a man in a fishing village. 'Gaet Village Cha-Cha-Cha' was ranked 10th.
It seems that the popularity of Korean dramas is not a peculiar phenomenon that appears in a blockbuster work that has exploded once in a while, but rather as 'mainstream'.
Dean Garfield, vice president of policy at Netflix, said in a meeting with Korean media on the 4th, "Today, we are standing in the middle of a storytelling renaissance, and Korea is leading the trend of the times."
In particular, the fact that historical dramas and romances, which are the origins of the Hallyu craze, rather than genres, entered the global rankings means that the fandom of K-dramas has become stronger.
Critic Jeong Deok-hyun said, "If you look at 'Yeonmo' or 'Gae Village Cha Cha Cha', it seems that Asian fans who are highly loyal to Hallyu dramas are paying attention to historical dramas and melodramas. By taking the lead in this regard, the overall ranking of K-content has risen.”
Then, on the possibility that Korean dramas will lead the content market in the OTT Warring States era, where Netflix, Disney+, and Apple TV+ compete, he said, "If new content like Netflix's works continue to appear, there is a possibility that Korean dramas will become mainstream. see," he said.
(Photo = provided by Netflix, Yonhap News)