你遭到韓劇熱的影響了嗎？韓國肥皂劇為何廣受世界各地觀眾的喜歡？英國人喜歡北歐犯罪片是什么原因又何在？
It may not be a real illness but K-drama fever is sweeping1 Asia with as much force as an infectious disease. The latest hit show to come out of South Korea has already claimed over 440 million victims in China alone, where its being simulcast. Many millions more are glued to their screens across the continent.
Descendants of the Sun is the latest in a long line of TV dramas to come out of Korea which have taken Asia by storm. The usual theme of star-crossed lovers is still very much there but theres a twist which many of its fans say gives this drama a distinctive2 flavour. Its a military romance which is set in a fictional3 European country.
Ms Gao from Beijing said, The military theme does not usually appear frequently in TV shows so combined with the romantic theme, this is not like other Korean soap operas.
The female lead, played by Song Hye-kyo, is a surgeon, while her male counterpart, played by Song Joong-ki, is a special forces captain.
Unlike most Korean dramas which are about a rich guy who falls in love with a poor, golden-hearted girl, the story feels more like the love story of two evenly-matched adults, says Chen Yuanni, from Beijing.
But its not just Asia which has seen a boom in the popularity of foreign-language TV dramas in recent years. Since the Danish crime drama, The Killing4, was first aired on the BBC in 2011, the nation has been gripped by so-called Nordic Noir. What surprises some is that its not only thrillers5, such as The Bridge, which have captured the imagination of British viewers. There have also been ratings successes for shows such as Borgen - about coalition6 politics and 1864 a drama about an obscure 19th century war between Denmark and Prussia.
So why do these international dramas appeal when the cultrual references are so remote from the experience of the viewers? Perhaps the answer lies in this piece of advice for aspiring7 scriptwriters from the BBCs Writersoom: Engaging characters are at the heart of all good drama, no matter how mainstream8 or unusual your idea may be. So if the characters are strong enough, it doesnt matter if theyre from Sichuan, Seoul or Sweden.