Popular Culture Review - Volume 26, Number 2 - Summer 2015
Boys Over Flowers:
Korean Soap Opera and the
Blossoming of a New Masculinity
Colby MiyoseA and Erika EngstromA
W
hen it premiered on South Korean television in 2009, the Korean
drama (or “K-drama”) Boys Over Flowers became a ratings
sensation, mostly among females between their mid-teens to thirties
(AGB Neilsen Media Research, n.d.). Originally a Japanese manga (comic
book), the Korean television version became the third iteration of the story
of teenage love and romance, following Taiwanese and Japanese television
versions. Boys Over Flowers
the kkonminam
kkot
minam means “handsome man.” Merged together, these
kkonminam
are frequently linked to characters in Japanese manga stories of teenage
schoolgirls and their romantic relationships with their bishonen (“beautiful
such as YouTube, ViiKii, and Dramabean (Jung, 2010).
of South Korea for the country’s richest and most elite children, Boys Over
Flowers follows the trials and tribulations a clique of boys who “rule the school”
and the young working-class girl named Jan Di who becomes a transforming
force in their lives. The narrative of Boys Over Flowers centers on the themes
of love and friendship as experienced by Jan Di, her best friend, and the group
of four Shinwa male students known as the “F4,” or Flower 4 (Boys Over
Flowers, n.d.). Jung (2010) noted that Boys Over Flowers is a retelling of the
classic fairy tale Cinderella, with the addition of a love triangle and emphasis
on materialism.
Japanese title, Hana Yori Dango, literally translates as “dumplings rather than
to festivals that celebrated Hanami
when they enjoyed eating sweet dumplings more than viewing the blossoming
hana yori dango
means