K-drama Narrates the National: Korean Identities in Crash Landing on You

Abstract:This article considers how a very popular South Korean TV drama, Crash Landing on You, both interprets and produces Korean identity through its imagining of the 'national'. We draw on constructivist literature that explores the biographical parameters of national identity narratives and their significance in global politics to examine changing representations of North Korea on South Korean screens. We analyze Crash Landing as a set of representations that mirror South Korea's construction of Korean national identit(ies), with real-world, sociopolitical consequences. We argue that nostalgic depictions of North Korea on screen situate it as the receptacle of a Korean past characterized by ruralness and intimate community life. In contrast, capitalist (post-)modernity is South Korea's inescapable present, signifying its material victory over the North by virtue of its developmental successes. Finally, reunification is the future-oriented project that unites the divided biographical trajectories of both Koreas but remains materially elusive.