What is the main difference between K-drama and drama?

In recent years, South Korean series have become increasingly popular around the world, breaking audience records on streaming platforms. With the growth of their popularity, the productions came to be known by many as “doramas”, and their fans as “dorameiros”.

Although the term “dorama” has existed for years, did you know that this is not the correct way to refer to series produced in South Korea? Don’t worry, RECREIO explains it to you!

Difference between drama and k-drama

The correct way to call South Korean series is k-drama, an abbreviation of the term “Korean drama”, or “Korean drama” in free translation. As reported by the Jovem Nerd portal, these productions emerged in the 1960s, influenced by Japanese soap operas from the 50s, with “Gukto malli (국토만리)” being the first k-drama to be shown on television in South Korea, in 1962. , on broadcaster KBS.

Among the most popular K-dramas, we can mention “Round 6”, “True Beauty”, “Landing in Love”, “Queen of Tears”, “Descendants of the Sun”, “An Extraordinary Lawyer”, “Boys Over Flowers”, “Twenty-Five, Twenty-One”, among others.

The word “dorama” is used to refer to productions made in Japan, including series and soap operas — which have a format similar to classic Brazilian soap operas. The term came about as a result of the Japanese pronunciation of the word “drama”, which sounds like “dorama”, and ended up becoming popular internationally as a synonym to refer to any type of series coming from East Asia.

Some of the most famous dramas are: “Alice in Borderland”, “An Incurable Love Affair”, “Good Morning Call”, “Consumed by Fire”, “Wives of Aquarius”, and others.

It is also worth highlighting that, although, nowadays, it has become common to call k-dramas dramas, and many people believe they are “the same thing”, the Brazilian Association of Koreans considers the act to be prejudiced and generalizing, as reported by the newspaper Estadão last year.

This is because, in 2023, the Brazilian Academy of Letters (ABL) added the word “dorama” as part of its official vocabulary, being defined as “Audiovisual work of fiction in series format, produced in East and Southeast Asia, of genres and diverse themes, in general, with a local cast and in the language of the country of origin”.

According to Estadão, the South Korean association that is represented by professors from USP and UFF, I defend the fact that, as it is a word with Japanese origin, it should not be used to refer to productions from other countries on the continent.

The confusion between the terms also brings back troubled historical periods between Japan and South Korea. This is because, between 1910 and 1945, Korea, which was still unified, was occupied by the Japanese, in a regime based on violence, terror and cultural repression, where people could not even use their own language or names of Korean origin.

The Japanese only left the country in 1945, with the end of World War II, after Japan surrendered to the Allies. Years later, the Japanese government apologized for all the crimes committed at that time, however, many residents of both countries still harbor regrets from this period.