Analysis of the Interaction Between the Theme of Film and Television

Series and Social Background: Taking Korean Crime Genre Films

and TV Shows as an Example

Zihan Zhang

Shenzhen Hongling Middle School, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China

Keywords: Film and Television Industry, Korean Crime Genre Films, Korean Social Background, Policies of Film and

Television Industry.

Abstract: As the entertainment market grows, the film and television industry is gaining more and much power in

spreading a nation's unique culture and guiding society's values. This research is based on the linkage and

interaction of society and TV series and films, the author analyzed the factors of how TV series and films are

influenced by social background and how society can be changed through the TV series and films industry.

This research finds that TV series and films, and society, have a bidirectional linkage. Also, the broadcast and

popularity of the film and television series play a role in revealing, amplifying, and ultimately driving the

resolution of social issues. These two factors are tightly linked together. Based on the research above, this

essay points out that with proper guidance and intervention, the two factors above can form a virtuous cycle

of mutual promotion.

1 INTRODUCTION

With the development of the internet, the reach and

influence of television series and films are

continuously rising, deeply embedded in daily life.

Looking through all kinds, the crime genre films and

TV series cannot be ignored as they possess a huge

market and influence. It is important due to its

commercial success and how it leads to extensive

consideration of the current social situation. In which

the crime genre TV series and films from South Korea

are playing a role, particularly because of their unique

topic choice and main critical idea, and are gaining

popularity on an international scale. This leads to

many relevant research studies, which contain

opinions as follows: Korean crime genre films not

only have artistic attempts at dramatic tension, but

also concentrate on society itself. What's more, film

creators will illustrate their social perspectives

through telling stories based on and royal in true

stories themselves, which gives films the ability to

discuss real human nature (Zhang, 2014). Korean

crime genre movies and TV series are rooted in the

Korean ethnic group's unique "Hate Culture," which

has the characteristic of caring for society. They

express the criticism and reflection on human nature,

leading films from just reciting true stories to digging

out the facts of reality (Jiang, 2020). Based on the

research on Korea films' history of development, it's

easy to find that Korean films form a special kind of

film type that is deeply related to the country's history

and politics as long as people matched the social

changes with film industry's history together (Duan &

Hou, 2024). Due to this, this research hopes to discuss

and find out how social background impacts films and

TV series in their main topics' choosing, and how

society will be influenced by the popularity of this

type of work. This research will discuss the ideas

above based on the study of historical policies, taking

the development and characteristics of Korean crime

genre films and television series as an example. To

analyse the interaction of TV series and films'

progression and social background, and the

inspiration for their further development.

Zhang, Z.

Analysis of the Interaction Between the Theme of Film and Television Series and Social Background: Taking Korean Crime Genre Films and TV Shows as an Example.

DOI: 10.5220/0013988500004916

Paper published under CC license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

In Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Public Relations and Media Communication (PRMC 2025), pages 203-207

ISBN: 978-989-758-778-8

203

2 KOREAN CRIME GENRE

FILMS AND TV SERIES'

DEVELOPMENT AND

CHARACTERISTICS

Korea's crime genre films and TV series' development

has experienced many changes. After World War 2,

the Korean film and TV series industry gradually

recovered. In the 60-80s in the 20th century, under the

protection of "Screen Quota System" and "Film

Promotion Law", which are strategies like requiring

Korean cinemas to screen a certain number of

domestic films every year, provide policy support,

funding guarantee, and institutional framework for the

Korean film industry. Since then, the industry has

stepped into the initial development stage (Kim, 2007).

But due to the limitations of social and political

background, a strict review system, it was not many

crime genre films and television series than life

dramas with the theme of daily life. Till the generation

of the 90s 20th century, the Korean government set up

the Film Promotion Fund and the Fundamental Act for

the Revitalization of the Cultural Industry for Small

and medium budget films and new directors. Under

the social background of the accelerating

democratization process and policy support in society,

the censorship system has been relaxed. The film and

television series industry in Korea is beginning to

open up, and creators are exploring more diverse

themes (Milim, 2011). Beyond daily life drama and

love story, creators began to adapt scripts from real

historical events, which include adaptations from

historical cases. This was when crime genre films and

television series in Korea began to develop fast.

Stepping into the 21st century, Korea's crime genre

films and television series have entered a mature stage.

To encourage the progression of the cultural content

industry and to support Korean films to enter

international film festivals, the Korean government

established the Korean Content Revitalization

Institute and Support policies for the

internationalization of Korean films. These policies

allow Korea's crime-themed films and television to

gain much improvement in topic choosing, style

changing, and technique progressing (Song, 2006).

During this time, due to the unique topic selection,

Korea's crime-themed films and television have

distinct characteristics. For example, the amplification,

criticality, and impact on social issues, as well as the

significant enlightenment and influence on the

audience. This type of creation uses exaggerated

artistic expressions in narration, magnifying the main

conflict of social issues as a focused contradiction

point in front of society, and the creators usually use

metaphorical imagery to imply contradictory points

(Zhang, 2019). This allows the works to enrich the

artistic quality while providing the audience with the

possibility of interpretation from multiple

perspectives, which better leads the audience to

discuss the topic and further into personal thoughts.

3 INTERACTION ANALYSIS

3.1 The Impact of Society on the

Development of Film and Television

Series

3.1.1 The Impact of Historical Issues in the

Social Context on Film and Television

The history of Korea has been through many twists

and turns, and the development of the Korean film

and television industry was deeply impacted by the

country's history. The dissatisfaction and despair of

society, the sorrow and tragedy of personal life,

released from Korea's crime genre films and

television series originated from the culture of

"hatred" of the Korean nation over the years due to its

historical factors (Jiang, 2020). Centered around the

highly focused, exaggerated, and artistic imagery of

'hate', these are the characteristics that crime genre

films and television series, induced by the culture of

"hatred", have. It showcases the care of society,

criticism of human nature, and the reflection on

reality. Despite both individuals and society being

powerless to resist the tide of the times generated by

the collision of social background and

democratization wave, creators, however, conduct

their profound thinking about humanity, society, and

cinematographic art through logical composition and

work creation (Chen, 2020). Setting the story in a

turbulent era, hoping to showcase society's issues and

criticize negative social problems at that time through

the film, the creators guide the audience to learn from

the past, the present, and draw experiences for the

development of the modern era from the scroll of

history.

3.1.2 The Influence of Disciplinary Culture

in Social Context on the Development

of Film and Television Series

Korea, as a member of the East Asian Confucian

Cultural Circle, it was since the third century BC the

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Confucian culture entered with the introduction of

Chinese characters. Korea is deeply impacted by the

"discipline" consciousness inside Confucian culture

(Cao & Wang, 2019). It was widely promoted and

disseminated by the ruling class because of its

efficient usage in stabilizing the rule. Till the time of

the Goryeo era, Korea's absorption of Confucianism

was mainly Zhu Xi's "Neo Confucianism" theory.

Although it did play a positive role in the feudal rule

period, it also led to the issue of the theory's rigidity,

decay, and strictness. Among all the theories, the

"Three Obediences and Five Constants" ideology

proposed by the Zhu Xi school of thought has been

playing an important living rules since the Three

Kingdoms period in Korea. The violence and revenge

scenes shown by crime-themed films and TV shows

can be seen as a violation of norms and regulations,

which provide audiences with emotional outlets

under heavy social pressure. Audiences, as the

general public who grew up in an era with the

background of rapid urbanization and highly

socialized humans, are constrained by social norms

and seek release and relaxation in regulations. The

emergence of films and the television industry

provides them with a low threshold for personal

ability requirements for release and relaxation, thus

creating the worldwide popularity of this type of work

in the market (Yang, 2024).

In conclusion, social background has a profound

influence on film and TV series. The unique historical

and cultural factors have a significant impact on the

creation of artistic works like films and television

dramas, as they are closely linked to the creators'

emotions and topic choice, as well as the audiences'

acceptance and emotional resonance. Therefore, the

problems in society from the past to current present

can be reflected by films and television series, and

finally achieve a reflection on social reality.

3.2 The Role of Film and Television

Series in Promoting Social

Development

Firstly, film and TV dramas can provide audiences

with emotional release through showcasing social

issues, which play an important role in venting their

emotions. According to the 'cathartic theory', it is

believed that tragedy can help the audience purify

their emotions by triggering fear and compassion. This

theory has been deeper developed in Freud's

psychoanalytic school, which thinks that individuals

can reach psychological balance by expressing their

pressure. Crime genre films and TV series, due to the

profound linkage and interaction with social

background, can easily evoke emotional resonance,

release stress, and ultimately achieve personal healing

among audiences.

Secondly, films and TV dramas can provide

channels for the nation's culture. Take crime genre

films as an example, due to the criticism and resistance

towards reality, they are highly welcomed in the film

market. They also successfully drove consumption

and facilitated cultural circulation and dissemination.

Especially in the post-pandemic era, with the

characteristics of generally high psychological

pressure, globalization adjustments, and the

coexistence of national cooperation and competition.

As the requirements for maintaining society's stability

and promoting the nation's culture are becoming

increasingly strict, using these requirements through

films and television series is undoubtedly a very wise

choice to make (Kamon, 2022).

Thirdly, the films and TV dramas can have a wide

spread social impact and ultimately guide the

progression and innovation of social policy. The

writer will still take crime genre films as an example,

it will be greatly helpful for the audiences to find

social issues and for the attention of the public to the

re-discussion of marginalized and grassroots issues, if

they have a strong influence due to their critical

portrayal of reality. They may even have the potential

to impact social legislation. Take the movie Silenced

as an example. It attracted widespread attention from

society towards sexual assault cases after its release. It

has provided strong impetus for further improvements

in relevant policies of the government. Take the movie

Memories of Murder as another example, due to the

widespread discussion about the real case in history in

society, it led to the restarted of the investigation. The

truth of the cases was finally revealed decades later.

The director, Bong Joon-ho, stated that he has no

intention to create a traditional crime-themed film, but

hopes to explore more possibilities through the film

Memories of Murder. He combines crime films with

social criticism to discuss human nature, giving the

film a deeper meaning than just a creation of art. This

kind of innovation in social consciousness and films

and television genres is conducive to the maintenance

of the morality and dignity that humans should have,

and has a profound impact on social realism.

In summary, films and television series have a

positive impact on social development. It can not only

play an important role in the reflection in the

psychological healing of individuals in society, but

Analysis of the Interaction Between the Theme of Film and Television Series and Social Background: Taking Korean Crime Genre Films

and TV Shows as an Example

205

also provide direction for the required social

governance under appropriate guidance for its social

and discursive nature.

4 DISCUSSION

Crime genre films and TV series can have a profound

impact on society, but considering the agglomeration,

artistic, exaggerated characteristics it has, they may

lead the social discussion away from the actual theme

and actual response to an exaggerated result. What’s

more, the traffic-oriented and topicalization included

in the dissemination process make its audience's

perception more conflicting and stimulating.

Therefore, it may lead to negative feedback where

public discussion leans towards social panic rather

than social resolution.

So, how to guide the discussion generated from

films and TV dramas to the positive solutions

provided side and maximize the positive impact on

society? From the perspective of what society should

do, the government should guide the social

discussion's main point on solving the problem itself,

rather than focusing on what damage it has caused to

society. Stabilize social attention on caring for

marginalized groups and focus on humanized policy

improvements that can be made in society. The

government can update domestic film and television

policies based on the Regionalization Theory and

Localization Theory, using a graded guidance system

to ensure a more open range of topics allowed, to

promote the production of more excellent works.

Through the strategies above, they can reduce the

panic that may be led by the social discussion to the

maximum extent possible, maximizing the efficiency

of the positive influence of the public discussion

while guiding it towards a positive direction.

From the perspective of what film and television

producers should do: the film and television industry

should maintain the profound criticality and realism

of this type of film and TV series while expressing

them locally, seeking truth from facts, and guiding

positive discussions in society. What’s more, creators

should try to balance reality and assumptions while

expressing reality rationally. They should also retain

the beautiful theme of praising human nature while

respecting and being close to reality. It should be not

only expressing concerns for society but also

prompting audiences to deeply reflect on human

survival and liberation.

5 CONCLUSION

This research is taking the linkage between Korean

crime genre films and television series, and social

background as an example. This research discovered

that not only can the success of this kind of film and

TV dramas not be achieved without the sampling and

criticism of social background, but the social

background also plays a decisive role in films and TV

series topic choosing. The author thinks that there's a

strong bidirectional correlation between films and

television dramas and social background. The

interaction of these two factors can provide ideas and

directions for social reform, it can improve the

positive cycle efficiency of the film and television

industry and society, while guiding discussions

towards positivity as long as joined with proper

intervention. Further research can focus on how the

film and television industry can efficiently provide

social context with both efficient positive impact and

ideas for the positive cycle between the industry and

society. Expands the range of comparison involved in

the research instead of limiting the focus to just

Korean crime film and television series; Using big

data models to analyze the interaction between the

film and television industry and social policies, as

well as the relationship between social policies and

audience feedback scientifically.

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