Growing Trend of Westerners on Korean TV

We've been following the trek of many Korean celebrities into Hollywood, the music scene and other venues of American entertainment, but it seems like Koreans aren't the only ones venturing overseas these days. The number of foreign residents in Korea passed the million mark in recent years, and as more non-Koreans establish their roles in the Korean entertainment industry, viewers are have begun to embrace and accept them into Korean society.

23-year-old Pierre Deporte, more commonly known as Hwang Chan-bin, hails from France and made his acting debut on August 8th in MBC's new romantic comedy, Tempted Again (Shipwrecked, Tamra the Island). Though born in France, this model-turned-actor has spent a good fraction of his life in Korea - when Hwang was six, his father remarried a Korean woman, and they soon moved to South Korea for much of his youth. Hwang returned to Korea after graduating from university and has also appeared on the KBS's Global Talk Show back in 2007.

Based on a manwha (comic) of the same title, this miniseries is produced by Group Eight and directed by Yoon Sang-ho (Legend). Set in the seventeenth century, the plot revolves around the young William (Hwang), an English castaway in Korea. Shipwrecked on Tamna Island (present-day Jeju Island), William meets Beo-jin Jang (Seo Woo), a young female diver, and Park Kyu (Ju-hwan Im - you know, Kim Bum's brother in Boys over Flowers), and, inevitably, a comical love triangle follows. From the trailer, this drama's shaping up to be the next Pocahontas, Once on this Island, Robinson Crusoe, etc... so if you're into the village-girl-saves-foreign-castaway-then-falls-in-love plotline, this series may be for you! Not really my cup of tea, but whatever floats your boat (no pun intended).

Deporte isn't the only one trekking into Korea these days - on September 5, American Michael Blunck will appear in the new weekend drama Assorted Gems, starring Lee Tae Gon, So Yi Hyun, Jung Yoo Mi. He's someone that I've never heard of, but I'm anticipating this guy's Korean language skills! Since he's been a resident of Korea for fifteen years, Blunck's TV appearance will be one to look out for.

With Global Talk Show (Misuda) and other programs that feature foreigners exclusively, Korea's perspective of the foreign actor seems to still be as "the other / outsider" instead of a "natural" member of society. Hyun Taek-soo, sociology professor at Goryeo University, says, "In order to become a truly multicultural society, we have to move past curiosity to understanding and natural harmony. In the States and elsewhere, they don't have programs like Misuda, whose perspective on racial prejudice is so severe. In multicultural societies, they aren't 'others' but members of society."

Hopefully all this results in better things, as Asians try to break down barriers and make it in Hollywood, and like-wise for Westerners in Asia.

Source: Dramabeans

Check out the trailer for Tempted Again here: