| Television drama has been an important cultural force that exerts a considerable influence on people’s daily lives and shapes cultural beliefs and values.As a direct carrier of the "Chinese story",cross-cultural communication of Chinese TV series plays a vital role in projecting a positive national image.In recent years,a growing number of Chinese modern romantic TV series,represented by "Nothing but Thirty" and "A Love So Beautiful",have gained popularity in South Korea due to their compelling storytelling and appealing visual effects,and have amassed a large fan base.Through spontaneous activities such as interpersonal recommendations,social media promotion and fan art creation,fans can play an important role in the spread of TV dramas,especially in overseas communication.However,few existing researches focused on fan groups in the target country,especially in South Korea,the neighboring country and important partner in entertainment industry of China who shares the same culture root with us.This thesis aims to shed light on the reception process of Chinese modern romantic TV series among South Korean fans,including their reception situation,motivations,and effects,by utilizing schema theory and the model of susceptibility to imported media proposed by Elasmar(2003).Chapter 1 introduces the research background,significance,and structure.Chapter 2 reviews the previous studies about the reception of TV series and overseas communication of Chinese TV series,and then proposes the research questions and objectives.Chapter 3 explains the theoretical framework,research methods and technical route of this thesis.Chapter 4 analyzes the composition,watching behaviour,and preferences of the South Korea fans by conducting descriptive statistical analysis bases on the questionnaire survey,and adopts K-means clustering to classify their motivations for watching Chinese modern romantic TV series into five categories.Multiple regression analysis is employed afterwards to reveal the relationship between the preexisting psychological schema of the audience and their motivations.Chapter 5 analyzes the impact of Chinese modern romantic TV series on South Korean fans from three aspects:evaluation,cognition,and attitude,through in-depth interviews and descriptive statistical analysis.The thesis reveals that South Korean fans of Chinese TV series are mainly composed of women in their twenties and thirties,whose main watching channels are international streaming media and resource websites.The main sources they get information about Chinese TV dramas are online forums and social media platforms,and their motivations for watching Chinese dramas are potentially driven by the appeal of the story,cast,leisure,interest in learning,and social needs.The thesis shows that,on the one hand,there is a correlation between the existing psychological schema of South Korean fans and their different motivation for watching Chinese modern romantic TV series.Among them,the schema of indirect experience in China and preference for China-related projects explain the impact on their watching motivations most,showing a strong positive correlation.On the other hand,the Korean fan group consider "the characters are stylish and good-looking" and "the theme and story are attracting" as the strongest advantages of Chinese modern romantic TV series.In addition,according to the result of the in-depth interviews,Chinese modern romantic TV series have a positive impact on Korean audiences’ attitudes and perception towards China.The findings of this thesis not only contribute to the understanding of the reception of Chinese modern romantic TV series among South Korean fans,but also provide empirical findings with new data and practical suggestions for the television export industry. |
