Abstract
As fictional narratives are usually based somewhat on reality, fictions can reflect how we conceptualize reality. In the process of globalization, many fiction-based cultural products, such as mangas and dramas, have been adapted into a multitude of new texts, though with various degrees of commonalities, circulating in a wide range of markets regionally and globally. Through this route, concepts and ideologies can travel across time and space. This study follows the curious journey of Boys Over Flowers, a Japanese manga first published in 1992, reborn as Meteor Garden (a 2001 pan-Asian hit TV drama from Taiwan), a 2009 Korean remake of the TV drama (titled Boys Over Flowers), and a 2018 remake of Meteor Garden in China, an unprecedented pan-Asian hit that triggered more remakes of the drama across Southeast Asia. Based on the notion of traveling concepts and ideas, the project analyzes how, through various adaptations, values transcend geographical boundaries yet simultaneously reflect local socio-cultural contexts. While the drama’s ability to enhance cultural exchange should be celebrated, one mustn’t ignore another force at play. For example, the inclusion of product placement in this drama seems to be consistent across all adaptations, no matter the origins. Scripts are inevitably modified to weave sponsors’ products into the storylines. It appears that cultural production can’t escape the power of commercialization and capitalism. Can we, and how should we, preserve timeless popular media productions as cultural products with meaningful social contexts without surrendering them to the power of global capital?
Presenters
Shu Ling Chen BerggreenAssociate Professor, Media Studies, University of Colorado-Boulder, Colorado, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Theme
2024 Special Focus—Traveling Concepts: The Transfer and Translation of Ideas in the Humanities
KEYWORDS
Meteor Garden, Traveling Concepts, Popular Culture, TV Drama, Cultural Products, Cultural Exchange, Shared Values, Asia, Commercialization, Capitalism, Globalization
Digital Media
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