PERCEIVED INFLUENCE OF KOREAN DRAMA IN THE CLTURE OF STUDENT VIEWERS IN CENTRAL LUZON STATE UNIVERSITY Aeriel Joy C. Posadas1 Danilo S. Vargas 2 Lynell Alejandro3 Central Luzon State University1 Central Luzon State University2 Central Luzon State University3 Viene_012@yahoo.com1 dsvargas@clsu.edu.ph2 lalejandro@clsu.edu.ph3 Edu. This study aimed to find out the perceived influence of Korean drama in the culture of the students in Central Luzon State University by their extent of; watching and the medium usually using to access Korean Dramas. This research is a qualitative paper. There were 49 students representing eight colleges in the university specifically College of Engineering (1); College of Agriculture (4); College of Arts and Sciences (2); College of Education (7); College of Business Administration and Accountancy (15); College of Home Science and Industry (10); College of Veterinary Science and Medicine (7); and College of Fisheries (1). The results were analyzed through descriptive analysis. This research used Regression Analysis which analyzed and concludes between the socio-demographic characteristics and the perceived culture of the respondents by watching Korean Drama. Results show that there is positive relationship in terms of age, sex, length of years watching Korean Drama, frequency of watching in terms the advent of there hasof of hours spent on a daily basis, and number of series watched bySince the respondents andmedia, the influence been an influx of ways and opportunities for Korean culture as perceived by the respondents in the Korean Drama. fans to express their admiration for a popular narrative or text. Fans send fan letters through snail mail, or visit their idols on shoots and productions. And now especially INTRODUCTION with the dawn of new media such as the Internet and cellphone, the audience and the Fandom is a way of life. Much like fans have a faster avenue to express their daily activities such as eating, walking, thoughts. After an episode of a drama series watching television, reading books and the aired, fans would rally online to talk about like, fandom is a habitual activity for a fan. their thoughts on the recent episode minutes Sandvoss (2012) described fandom as the after the broadcast. Philippines is a country “regular, emotionally involved consumption that has varied cultural influences. Most of of a given popular narrative or text”. There these influences are results of previous are emotions invested in the part of the fan colonization, deriving mainly from the such as adoration, idolization and other culture of United States and Korea. extreme feelings of fondness. A simple Nowadays, Korean drama is becoming more appreciation of a media text may result to popular in the mainstream. The melting pot repeated and regular consumption. This theory which a metaphor for a heterogenous, active consumption is the main subject of this the different elements “melting together” research endeavor. with a common culture or vice versa that is evident in this culture makes this country a vibrant, exciting and diverse place to live and visit. Since 2003, Korean dramas have become a staple in Philippine television. Studies show that the Philippines was only one of the many shores that the Korean wave, also known as Hallyu, affected. Hallyu is the rapid spread of the Korean entertainment industry in Asia. In addition, Korean Pop music (K-Pop) is also popular in Japan, China and Taiwan. Most of these influences are results of previous colonization, deriving mainly from the culture of United States and Korea. Nowadays, Korean drama is becoming more popular in the mainstream that is evident in this culture makes this country a vibrant, exciting and diverse place to live and visit. Places such as, in schools, malls, stores, even to recreational places such as parks and other tourist places, you will observe the trend of Korean culture among Filipinos especially to the youths - Korean sensation is almost everywhere. Perhaps, this is because Korean dramas started airing among the considered largest media networks in the Philippine Television like GMA and ABS-CBN, then followed by TV 5 and even other networks as early as 2003. The youths are the one who are most influenced by the Korean Wave which usually includes Korean music, dramas, films, and its cultural change especially in Asian nations today. The new generation today is different and are easily influenced by the things around them. Youths, specifically, are exposed to the different kinds and genres of music, television dramas and fashion. Now and then, their choice in terms of music, movies and fashion has been changed, improved and made more exciting in the eyes of the Filipino youth considering that Philippine media has been marketing Korean Dramas to complement the demand of its viewers. It is quiet noticeable that majority of those who belong to the young generation specifically students are observed to be attached to Korean Drama. Hence, this study will be conducted to identify the influence of Korean Drama to the student viewers of Central Luzon Stat University considering that youths are the successors of the Filipino culture. Moreover, it aims to identify the positive and negative habits perceived by the viewers which affects its existing culture and behavior by just merely watching Korean Drama. However, it is very interesting to note that there have been no studies attempting to determine the influence of Korean Drama in the culture among the students of Central Luzon State University (CLSU). To identify the reasons behind their consumption of Korean Drama. The drama media content which contributes to the CLSU students liking and appreciation and the possibility that can influence them. Objectives of the Study Specifically, the study aims to address the following: 1. To determine respondents. the profile of the 2.1 To determine the communication characteristics of the respondents in terms of medium use; 2.2 To determine the medium used in accessing Korean Drama; 3. To identify the respondent’s reason of watching Korean Drama; 4. To determine the perceived influence of the Korean Culture that are particularly seen on the Korean Drama to the student respondents. RELATED REVIEW OF LITERATURE Korean in the Philippines As the Korean Wave sweeps the Philippines, the number of Korean nationals in the country continues to get bigger and bigger. Korean emigrants provide an important encouragement to the economy of the Philippines. They are estimated to spend between US$800 and $1000 per month, making a total contribution of over $1 billion per year in consumer spending (Korean in the Philippines, 2013). The Philippines and Korea are linked by flows and counter flows of people,” said Dr. Virginia Miralao of the Philippine Social Science Council in a study on the Korean culture dispersion in the Philippines. One reason of increasing number of Koreans in the country is the geographic proximity of the two nations. Another is because Koreans want to receive the most famous Philippine hospitality (Meinardus, 2015). According to Han (2015) the Korean community in the Philippines had little influence on Philippine society until the late 1980s, when the Korean wave started. They continue to be seen as a closed group by Filipinos. In addition, Filipinos in general perceive South Korean migration to the Philippines a strange thing, as it goes against the pattern more familiar to their own experience, that of people from developing countries migrating to more developed ones. As of 2007, 15% of all foreign visitors to the Philippines are Koreans, the annual number of South Korean visitors arriving in the Philippines was just 26,000; however, that expanded over seven times to about 180,000 by 1997, and then to 303,867 by 2003. Tourism arrivals continued to grow rapidly, to 570,000 in 2006. At this point, South Korean tourists formed a larger group than American tourists for the first time, and then to 650,000 by 2008. As of 2007, Korean Air, Asiana Airlines, and Philippine Airlines each offered one daily flight between Manila and Seoul (Jung 2014). However, having the difference in language is one barrier in understanding and developing an interest of Hallyu because of this it gives interest to the people who likes Hallyu to do multilingual. If we can understand what this Hallyu really is about, it can help us to determine the grater variations in the themes that is presented to Korean culture (Gaya, 2013). Korean Wave in the Philippines As the number of Korean pop fans increases, Manila is now seen to have that Seoul marks to cater K-pop fanatics. There are three Korean fixes that can be found in Manila. First is the K-pop fix. One can easily find a “noraebang” or KTV’s like Platinum KTV where K-pop fanatics can sing their favorite song hits. There are also numerous schools and universities which offer Korean Language classes. Korean Language Culture (KLC) Training Center in Guadalupe Nuevo, Makati and the Department of Linguistics, U.P. Diliman are some of those institutions that teach Hangul (Mr. Go 2014). Next is the Kikay fix. When it comes to Korean fashion, one can also find stores like Forever21 that sell Korean outfits inside Manila. Beauty shops and salons (Park Jun’s Beauty Lab, Lee Chul Hair Kerker and Etude House to name a few) offering a K-pop look can also be found. Last is the food fix. Korean meal shops are just around the corners. Filipino won’t have to go to Korea to taste kimchi, which is a staple food in Korean cuisine and a traditional side dish made from salted and fermented vegetables, most commonly napa cabbage and Korean radishes, with variety of seasoning including chili powder, scallions, garlic, ginger and jeotgal (salted seafood). Korean restaurants and groceries are always there to cater those Filipino Korean fanatics who idolize even their idols’ favorite foods (Bautista, 2013). Korean dramas in the perspective of media The economic impact Korean dramas have on Asian countries makes it worth delving into their influence from the perspective of media content, culture shock, marketing, and film and television production. In the past, many media scholars who are interested in cultural influences explored the cultural changes that the international television industry produced through foreign programming (Tian 2014). On the local level, media scholars such as Tian Yi Lee (2014) believe the global spread of international media content may eventually lead to the loss of autonomous culture. The Taiwanese media scholar Hsuan Hao Chang particularly worries that the rise of Korean drama is culturally invasive. However, since both Korean and Taiwanese cultures have heavy Confucian roots, many of the deeper cultural beliefs are already similar. The invasion of contemporary commercialism does not impact the philosophies of the people in depth. Other scholars observe that Korean drama is a harmless cultural innovation that also exposes the problem of domestic television programs not being able to meet the contemporary needs of the audiences (Pan&Hsieh, 2013). Straubhaar (2012) suggests in 1992 in his study about cultural proximity that people prefer to watch foreign television programs from countries with cultures similar to theirs. His study finds found out that this occur particularly often when domestic television programs do not fulfill their expectations and desires. In other words, they dislike television programs with completely different cultural backgrounds. The most important factor for determining program preference is language. Other important factors include the appearance, gestures, story pacing, religion and musical traditions in the program. Such cultural references play an important role in the acceptance of international media products by local consumers. Their cultural nearness is seen through the signs of cultural similarity. These connections extend to seeing themselves in similar cultural values, such those deriving from Confucianism, which has a base in both Taiwan and Korea. Confucian values are exemplified by filial piety and obedience, rigid gender roles and respect for ancestors. Cultural values form a way of understanding a culture, and a basis for social behaviors (Kuo, 2013). In addition, values are concerned with how a person will behave in certain situations whereas ethics is concerned with how a moral person should behave (Mintz, 2015). According to Yosefina Tobing (2013) Korean dramas have an interesting story and fun to watch. Korean drama are also preferred by teenagers and youths. The teenagers love Korean Drama because they can watch their favorite actors or actresses. Korean drama is the best popular drama in Asia, more than Indonesian drama. Korean drama or K-Drama refers to television drama in the Korean language. The Korean drama is made in South Korea, and mostly in a miniseries format with distinctive features that set it apart from regular Western television series or soap operas. Korean drama can set in contemporary times or in historical settings, and we can say it with sageuk. Different genres apply to these two types, from romantic comedies and action series to fusion science fiction dramas (Yosefina Tobing 2013). CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION The results of the study generated the following conclusions: Central Luzon State University students are very active viewers of Korean Drama and are highly exposed to its influence based on the result. Notably, female viewers of Korean Drama are dominant compared to male viewers. On the other hand, the respondents prefer watching Korean Dramas using their personal laptops and via offline streaming through complete download of series since Korean Dramas that are aired in Philippine television is bounded by time schedule and usually is Tagalized. Korean Dramas were able to sustain the interest of the respondents because of its entertaining storyline, and inspiring theme and characters that is relatable to youths considering that most genre of Korean Drama is romantic comedy which is fit to the culture of the young generation. Korean drama is considered an audio-visual craft, hence, brings influence to the respondents via visuals and auditory. Respondents are highly influenced by attributes that is visually oriented like body language and fashion statement. Korean language, on the other hand, is also influential due to presence of songs, accent, and famous expressions as perceived by the respondents through audio. what makes foreign media attractive for Filipinos. The researcher highly recommends for the future researchers to study on how siblings not only the parents affects their sibling’s behavior and how significant their role are in influencing their younger sibling’s choices. In addition, parents should be wise in terms of choosing TV shows to be watched by children. They should also consider that it should be that parents watch what their child watches not the other way around. In addition, parents should try to do things that their children are doing for them to understand their child. Because sometimes there are things that parents can’t understand and it often ends up to having misunderstandings, maybe because of the digital gap. Furthermore, TV stations should add programs that can be appealing for all ages, for television can be an activity for bonding the whole family. BIBLIOGRAPHY Anjaiah, 2012, Korean cultural field retrieved from Recommendations Considering that the research study was conducted during summer class, the researcher suggests to consider conducted related study during regular semester to facilitate possible correlation of variables. Moreover, the researcher also recommends for the future researchers to tackle the cognitive and behavioral effects of foreign media content, such as K-drama to the Filipino viewers. The same theory could explain the effects of uncontrollable viewing of K-drama content on the student actions, personalities, lifestyle, and values that may affect their culture. Moreover, broader study such as analysis content to further understand http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/109439/ filipinos-attracted-to-korean-culturek-pop-koreanovelas B. 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