Love Alarm: Netflix’s new Korean series depicts chaos triggered by dating app
Love Alarm is the first original Korean TV series to be broadcasted on Netflix- as from 2018- in more than 190 countries. It is a drama revolving around the problems that a dating app entails. The application can alert users of the presence of potential lovers within the distance of 10 metres. Even if such an app may enrapture many lonely hearts, it can easily create absolute chaos.
The application disrupts the normal course of people’s lives
The 12 episode action series is being created on Kye Young Chon’s famous webtoon bearing the same name, Love Alarm. The story is about an app developer who releases an application allowing the user to track down people- within a perimeter of 10 metres- who have romantic feelings for the app user. Nonetheless, the app ends up disrupting the normal societal ecosystem and evolution.
The principal female character is the archetype hardworking girl, caught in a love triangle, with the main male character being cold from the outside but having a soft heart; and his classic, nice best friend, who ends up becoming his rival.
Transmitting emotions visually is a major challenge
One of the challenges the venture producer of Netflix, Jaemoon Lee, revealed is to add visual dimension to the panoply of emotions. His plan is to render these emotions as lively as possible to transmit the original vision of the famous storyteller Kye Young Chon as faithfully as possible. Collaboration between the latter and the ambitious producer promises to offer a wild imaginative and high-quality series around the world, targeting the 86 million Netflix members.
While Kye Young Chon is renowned in Korea as the most eminent graphic novelist, Jaemoon Lee, from Hidden Sequence, has equally proven his talents as a marvelous producer with previous megahits like Signal and Misaeng that are equally dramatic series, and Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated amongst others.
Spreading Korean pop culture around the web
The new series is also an opportunity for Netflix to promote the Hallyu trend, that is, the wave of Korean pop culture. This phenomenon refers to Korean entertainment and popular culture with pop music, dramas and movies. This trend appeared in the 1990s, starting in Asia and spreading around the globe. Today, apart from the pop culture and music, Hallyu encompasses Korean food, literature and language as well, attracting even more enthusiasts.
Netflix is offering a viewer-friendly approach
All 12 episodes of Love Alarm will be streamed at once, unlike the usual trend of streaming over one or two weeks. This decision has been taken to render the series as viewer-friendly as possible, according to Netflix.
