Anthony FungAlong the lines of the televised conflict is the magnification of the social class difference (Fung
and Choe 2013). One classic plot is about the affluent leading actor experiencing the grassroots
life of the leading actress, demonstrating the contradiction in daily life between the rich and
the poor. The concrete comparison of the size of the grassroots family’s house to the size of the
wealthy family’s bathroom highlights the huge gap between the two social classes in Korea. Like
the Taiwan version, all of these socioeconomic differences are ironed out and resolved by love
between the couple. Probably due to shared social values, both the Korea and Taiwan TV ver-
sions of Meteor Shower treat love as the solution for all class contradictions, and through love the
couples live happily ever after. With such a mode of adaptation, transnational transaction results
in more or less the same televised values.
With its own local modification, China’s version results in a remarkable difference in terms
of the portrayal of the upper class (Fung and Choe 2013). The previous Taiwan, Korea, and
Japan versions of Meteor Shower highlight the social differences, whereas the China version
emphasizes class harmony. China’s version, Let’s Watch Meteor Shower, minimizes the labeling
of differences in social status, and even the rich people are shown as having a good personality.
For example, real estate developers are portrayed as people keen on stabilizing the capital
market system and supporting the development of the country, whereas the original deceitful
portrayal of the rich is downplayed. Such a form of popular cultural text legitimizes the status
quo of China.
With the unrestrained modification, Let’s Watch Meteor Shower not only promotes a sense
of harmony, but also constructs a narrowing of social differences, which is something oppo-
site to reality. In order to disseminate the sentiment of social cohesion to the audience, the
Chinese version removed the part about the rich leading actor deliberately experiencing the
life of the poor. China’s state-owned television channel in fact joined hands with the cen-
tral authorities to tone down the sensitive issue of social class so as to avoid reflecting social
problems of inequality. In addition, the Chinese version was also aware of the hatred of the
rich class in China. Unlike the original Japanese version, which described the opulence of
the rich by portraying the large number of maids and bodyguards, Let’s Watch Meteor Shower
downplayed it.
In a nutshell, this research has proposed a theoretical framework or continuum of inter-Asia
popular culture that could further advance our understanding of the globalization of media text.
While the globalization of TV is often referred to as the international flow of TV programs, this
chapter illustrates the rising concern of intra-Asia mobility of media products. More developed
broadcasters are choosing to purchase and adopt programs and formats with relevance to local
culture and political sentiment, further modifying them to match the taste of local audiences,
advertisers, and broader social institutions. This is the idea of transnational transfer. At the same
time, bordercrossing is a direct, relative, quick, and dirty way of filling air time. Today, active
audiences not only rely on broadcasters for importing these foreign dramas, but also explore the
virtual Internet to grab and watch their favorite shows. The latter mode, under the backdrop of
web 2.0, speeds up the bordercrossing of TV programs.
In the wake of the extreme competition that still exists in the TV market, local producers—
in particular those that are not well-developed or are pre-mature, may incline towards a local
modifi cation or copying and blending of the plot, narrative, and style of programs from TV
stations overseas at the expense of originality and creativity. With a similarity in language,
Confucian cultural values, and the imagination of modernity among countries and regions in
Asia, it is foreseeable that in the future there will be more variations or derivations of these forms
of inter-Asia flow of TV programs.