One of the recent crazes has been Rosé and Bruno Mars’ song Apt. It topped the Billboard Global 200 Chart for several weeks, and also entered the top ten of the US Billboard Hot 100 as well as the UK singles chart in what is yet a further sign of the globalisation of the K-pop industry. 

The song, which brings together Korean and Western culture has put the spotlight on the drinking game “Apartment” that it is inspired by.  YouTube videos have popped up with fans of the song playing the game that sees the leader calling out a number and then the players begin removing their hands one by one starting from the bottom. Once someone says that number, they have to drink up. 

The song has once again highlighted Korea’s already famous drinking culture that’s evident in the films – the green bottles of Soju and Korea’s Makgeolli (Rice wine) are synonymous with the work of Hong Sangsoo, while a film like My Sassy Girl (2001) would be very different if it wasn’t for Korea’s famous liquor. 

In light of the success of Apt., this week we will examine Korean content that incorporate traditional Korean culture and games. This will begin with Im Kwon-taek’s Sopyonje (1992) before it then moves on to Jeongnyeon: The Star is Born (2024), The King and the Clown (2005), Memories of the Sword (2015), The Shaman Sorceress (2018), Cicada (2020) and Squid Game (2021).

Sopyonje  – Pansori

In the latter half of Im Kwon-taek’s career that spans more than a hundred films he has turned to traditional Korean culture. This is evident in the 1990s and 2000s with films such as Sopyonje, Chihwaseon (2002), Chunhyang (2000) and Beyond the Years (2007).

Sopyonje is one of the most significant of these titles becoming the biggest hit ever at the time selling over one million tickets in Seoul. Told in flashbacks that is characteristic of the work of Im Kwon-taek, it’s based on the novel by Lee Chung-joon about a Pansori master (Kim Myung-gon) who travels around the country with his two adopted children, Song-hwa (Oh Jung-hae) and son Dong-ho (Kim Kyu-chul). It’s told over a period of 30 years (between the 1940s and 1970s).

Sopyonje as an art form usually consists of a vocalist and drummer and is a traditional form of storytelling. In the film, we see how it was having to compete against the more popular Western culture that was changing the country. It was released at a time when the country was entering a new democratic era as it saw a shift from the past to the new.

Jeongnyeon: The Star is Born – Yeoseong gukgeuk

One of the dramas to have resonated in the fall of this year was the tvN series Jeongnyeon: The Star is Born starring Kim Tae-ri. Based on a Naver webtoon of the same name, Kim plays a young woman who enters a Yeoseong gukgeuk troupe. Rooted in Pansori, gukgeuk is a traditional Korean theatrical form that brings together singing, dancing along with acting. Yeoseong that translates as female refers to how gukgeuk is exclusively performed by women.

With average viewing ratings of 17.1 percent in the Seoul Metropolitan area, and a nationwide average of 16.5 percent, the tvN drama evidently struck a chord and reignited interest in gukgeuk with veteran gukgeuk performers being rediscovered, according to the Korea JoonAng Daily. The Korea Heritage Agency also staged the gukgeuk performance, Princess Seonwha, at the Folk Pungryu theater located in Gangnam, Seoul in December where tickets were sold out within minutes. 

The series didn’t just perform well in Korea, it also topped the TV chart on Disney Plus in Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan.

The King and the Clown – Kwangdaenuri & Namsadang 

Lee Joon-ik’s The King and the Clown (2005) also highlights some of Korea’s cultural heritage in the form of Kwangdaenuri & Namsadang that are forms of entertainment where clowns perform various acts; it might be spinning plates or performing acrobatics, dancing as they amuse audiences – similar to some of the performances at a circus. Readers might be familiar with such acts being performed at Korean cultural festivals around the globe. 

In The King and the Clown, during the reign of King Yeon-san (Jung Jin-young) two clowns played by Kam Woo-sung and Lee Joon-gi perform a satirical play of the monarch and are subsequently arrested for treason. Their only way to get out of the situation is to perform to the king and make him laugh. They are successful, but the king soon takes a liking to the attractive young clown. 

The film was notable for its homosexual themes, which was unusual for a mainstream Korean film that went on to sell over 12 million tickets sold after its release at the end of December, 2005.

Memories of the Sword - Korea’s tea culture 

While tea culture is often associate with countries such as the UK, China, Japan and India, Korea too has its own tea with tea houses located in areas such Insa-dong and Ikseon-dong in Central Seoul where there are also shops selling items relating to traditional Korean culture. 

In Park Heung-sik’s Memories of a Sword (2015), tea is commonly seen throughout the narrative with characters sipping tea. It follows three warriors of the Goryo dynasty who lead a revolt but the betrayal by Deok-ki (Lee Byung-hun) results in the death of Poong-chun (Bae Soo-bin). The other swordman, Seol-yang (Jeon Do-yeon) flees and later seeks revenge. She takes Poong-chun’s sword and daughter (Kim Go-eun) who she then trains, while working as a manager at a tea house.

The film is sumptuous in its production design but it failed to impress audiences upon its release in the summer of 2015 selling just 431,000 tickets.

The Shaman Sorceress – Gut (Shamanic ritual) 

A recent trend in Korean cinema is the rise in films centering on religion with a particular focus on shamanism, and the occult. The shamanic ritual known as “Gut” in which shamans officiate a meeting between humans and the dead have turned into iconic scenes in Korean films such as The Wailing (2016) and Exhuma (2024) that are intense.

The musical animation The Shaman Sorceress directed by Ahn Jae-huun also features a “Gut” scene that is at the beginning of the film. It takes place in a forest, where the protagonist, Mohwa – a mother and shaman – is dressed in a white Hanbok (traditional Korean dress). Based on the short novel Munyeodo (1936) (also the Korean title of the film) written by Kim Dongni, it’s set during the Japanese colonial period in the 1920s where the mother comes into conflict with her son after he becomes a committed Christian.

The film was produced by Ahn’s animation studio Meditation with a Pencil. 90 percent of the scenes were drawn by hand with 10% put together digitally. It was the studio’s final film to be drawn by a pencil. It won the Contrechamp Jury Distinction Prize at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival in 2020.

Cicada – Jindo Dasiraegi 

When someone passes away in Korea, the funeral will often feature a number of cultural practices. This can vary depending on religion, or even the area. On Jindo Island (located off Korea’s Southwestern coast), for instance, villagers come to the funeral to console the family while entertainers perform all night. This custom is referred to as Jindo Dasiraegi. 

This is the subject of Lee Chung-ryoul’s feature film who also made the box office hit documentary, Old Partner (2009). It centers on the master of Jindo Dasiraegi whose daughter returns home one day heavily in debt. She is struggling to come to terms with the death of her mother and resents him for being so dedicated to his performing.

The film premiered at the Busan International Film Festival in Korean Cinema Today.

Squid Game – Children’s Games 

Hwang Dong-hyuk’s Netflix series starring Lee Jung-jae, Jung Ho-yeon, Lee Yoo-mi, Lee Byung-hun and Anupam Tripathi was, of course, a global sensation in 2021, becoming Netflix’s most popular show. The second season that drops at the end of December is one of the most highly anticipated shows of the year with the marketing campaign having already kicked into gear. 

One of the key factors behind its success lies in its game format that has long been popular on television in countries like the US and UK. The games in the show are ones that Korean children are familiar with; Ddakji – the flipping of square origami - Sugar Honeycombs, Tug of War, and Red Light, Green Light where children walk until a leader with their back to the wall finishes the sentence: “The Rose of Sharron has Bloomed” (translated). Anyone left moving is eliminated.  In the drama, these had deadly consequences, which made the series all the more intriguing for many viewers. 

The series became such a phenomenon that fans of the show across the world were also keen to attempt these games with videos appearing on YouTube. Like Parasite, while its genre elements did add to its global appeal, it was the local nuances that also played a role in its extraordinary popularity.

Written by Jason Bechervaise

Editted by Shim Eun-ha