CHARACTERISTICS AND ROLE OF SUPPORTING CHARACTERS IN KOREAN DRAMAS Bianka Francistyová Abstract Korean dramas are an important part of global television production, as evidenced by the continued interest in these topics from the perspective of academia and audience preferences. Nevertheless, it can be said that the main focus of most academic papers is on the main characters of Korean dramas, but other characters, specifically supporting characters that complete the narrative, are overlooked. This article therefore aims to present a more detailed description of the nature of supporting characters and their role within the narrative of Korean mini-series. The paper employs a textual-narrative analysis of characters in Korean dramas with respect to the reflection of the characters’ nature. The mentioned supporting characters are evil paternal figure, good paternal figure, sibling, best friend, person who is in love with the main character and god paternal-like figure. Keywords: characteristics of supporting characters, Korean dramas, main characters, the role of supporting characters, supporting characters 1 INTRODUCTION The main characters are always at the centre of the Korean series. It doesn’t matter if it’s romance, action, detective or other genres, the main characters are always the most important part around which the plot centres. The leads of Korean mini-series in particular, but can also be makjang serials or morning dramas, are often characterized through a stereotypical grasp that fixes them within their role and predetermines their character. Typically, female protagonists are described as hardworking, determined, courageous and fearless working- class women (Lee, 2012; Ju, 2019), determined to fight against injustice and any negative (social) acts by standing up against evil. Evil is usually represented by a higher-ranking person (Francistyová, 2023). On the other hand, the same character set-up makes them clueless when it comes to love (Lee, 2012); they lack nunchi 1 in love. At the same time, the male protagonist is also stereotypically grasped often as a social elite. Typically, he belongs to Korea’s most famous and lucrative corporations (Ju, 2019), of which he is in most cases the heir. He is wealthy, intelligent and represents the masculine ideal (Lee, 2012). With the passage of time and the impact of changes in society, the characters have been shifting or updating themselves and to some extent have been breaking out of their set-ups in recent years. Although the main characters in Korean mini-series, or dramas, are comprehensively grasped and it can be said that there is an ongoing effort to document their development, other characters remain insufficiently covered within the academic community. It is important to note that although the plot of the series could in many cases be based on the interactions of the main characters alone, these would not be diverse contents that would bring satisfaction to the audiences through their elaboration in the form of ever-changing contexts. Bang (2022) notes that supporting characters are characters that walk the path with main characters, but also antagonists. Interesting enough, they also tend to have their own storyline (Bang, 2022). Ju (2020) mentions that in Korean dramas, supporting characters have more 1 Nunchi can be understood as social awareness. A person who can read the atmosphere in a room and respond to it promptly is considered to have nunchi. - 437 -