미국 TV 드라마의 인기 요인으로서의 할리우드 스토리텔링

Hollywood Storytelling as a Popularity Factor of American TV Dramas

According to statistics, there has been a strong wind from American dramas since 2000 in Korea. The most frequently mentioned popularity factor is their diverse subject matters and the solid story structure. This paper is to examine the strategy of Hollywood storytelling and then to confirm if it functions as a popularity factor of American Dramas. First, American dramas have diverse genres, which make each genre hold fixed viewers. Moreover, recent dramas are devised to enlarge the number of viewers by hybridizing genres. Even within one genre, the diversification of subject matters is the strategy to enlarge the number of viewers as well. Second, to make a solid story structure, Aristotle's traditional three-act plot and the plot formula by theme have been faithfully followed by Hollywood. Analysing the American hit drama, Prison Break (2005-2009), which successfully brought the heat for American dramas in Korea, helps us understand the characteristics of American dramas: diversity of genres, hybridization of the subject matters and faithfulness to both the three-act plot and the relevant plot formula. Accordingly, we can conclude that Hollywood storytelling plays the role of primary popularity factor in Korea.