[Kulture Issue] Korea-U.S. collaborations in culture and arts become new K-wave genre

South Korean President Lee Jae-myung and U.S. President Donald Trump will hold their first summit talks in Washington D.C. on the 25th of August.

Along with politics and diplomacy, cooperation between the two countries is continuing in the field of culture and arts.

Today, we want to examine Korean-American collaborations in dramas, films as well as the performing arts.

For that, we are joined by culture critic Professor Chie Hye-won at Kyung Hee University. Welcome back Professor Chie!

Recently, there has been a surge in creative collaborations between Korea and the U.S.

It seems that this has become a K-wave genre of its own over the past few years. What are your thoughts?

Let’s break it down a bit by category and start with productions for streaming platforms. This seems to be the field where Korea-U.S. collaborations are most active these days.

And today, this Friday, the South Korea-U.S. joint production "Butterfly" will begin airing in Korea. What are your expectations?

But I’m curious, how are these collaborative productions being made? And what do you think are the strengths of these collaborations in the streaming platform environment?

Next, let’s talk about performance arts. "Maybe Happy Ending", an original musical from Korea that won six Tony Awards is a wonderful example of collaboration between a Korean writer and an American composer. What other performances have been created through such collaborations?

Speaking of “The Great Gatsby,” it has all-foreign cast and has first toured in the U.S. and UK, so at first glance, it doesn't really feel like a Korean-American collaboration but it is considered one, right? Could you please explain.

Let's move on to movies. Made by directors with a Korean background, "Minari" and "Past Lives" capture both Korean and North American sentiments and have attracted worldwide attention. Why do you think that is? What was their approach?

What are some of the things that need to be considered for smooth progress when creators from different nationalities and backgrounds work together on one single project?

As the number of joint Korean-American content projects increases, so does the controversy surrounding creators' rights and revenue distribution. How do you think these issues should be discussed and resolved in the future?

Thank you very much Professor Chie for your insights. See you next time.

Bella, thank you as always, have a great weekend!

Thank YOU for spending the past half an hour with us on "the Kulture Wave".

Have a great weekend everyone. We'll be back next week, Monday to Friday, 2 p.m. Korea time.