K-Shamans: K-Dramas and Changing Perceptions of Mudang Credibility

Since 2020, South Korean spirituality has increasingly featured in a variety of television genres. The global appeal of K-dramas has the potential to turn mudang 巫堂 (shaman) into K-shamans, in the process creating idealized global spiritual leaders. This process is facilitated by the creation of trust in mudang, a trust fostered through specific cinematic features and narrative structures. Many recent television representations depict mudang as well-rounded characters with daily lives, family issues, and personal struggles. They are figures with whom the audience can sympathize and whom they can understand and even admire. This is in contrast to earlier media depictions of them as flat characters who perform bizarre rituals that affect the other characters in negative ways. Their spiritual work is now depicted in such a way as to enhance public trust in this tradition. Moreover, recent Korean television dramas have created trust in musok 巫俗 (shamanism) practices by featuring both authentic and fake mudang in parallel. In so doing, the dramas show that mudang work to appease angry spirits and alleviate human suffering resulting from supernatural forces. Such mainstreaming of musok positions the once stigmatized practice at the heart of Korea’s cultural identity. This article focuses on close reading of specific scenes from recent K-dramas.