The Korean Wave celebrity and the birth of the K-drama conglomerate

Abstract

Existing research on Korean Wave celebrities has focused on their transnational character at the expense of a thorough consideration of the phenomena’s emergence as part of the wider transformation of the Korean broadcasting and entertainment industry. This article draws on the analysis of existing literature and in-depth interviews to demonstrate that Korean Wave celebrity emerges as a result of the flexibilization in the Korean television drama industry’s production process, which in turn is the product of globalization and financialization of the Korean broadcasting industry from the late 1980s and 1990s, respectively. The combined effects of these processes led to the creation of the K-drama conglomerate. Korean Wave celebrity is central to this system, with the celebrity image functioning as fixed capital and rendering invisible the very real labour performed within the K-drama conglomerate. That being so, the K-drama conglomerate and the Korean Wave celebrity are excellent examples of capitalism’s latest manoeuvre: the creation of intangible commodities capable of expanding the channels of profit by attracting attention and rendering related labour invisible.