CORDERO, R. 2025

The continual growth of the global visibility of Korean drama (K-drama) has spurred media and cultural scholars to investigate them. Based on the investigation, it was observed that the transcultural appeal of K-dramas stems from two main elements: their themes and structure (Worthy, Choe, Lee, et al. 2020). Yet, there are a limited number of published journals that analyzed how K-dramas are written and the plot structure they use – giseungjeongyeol (기승전결) and its key or core part, the third act. Hence, this thesis explores the nuances of the East Asian four-act plot structure, focusing particularly on the third act, jeon (전).

It examines the first four episodes of the K-drama Hospital Playlist (2020-2021) using the rational procedure for critical discourse proposed by M.H. Abrams. The Russian formalist terms syuzhet (plot) and fabula (story) are used in the analysis to further demonstrate the dynamic quality of the jeon with the other acts.

This study aims to describe, interpret, and evaluate the nuances of the East Asian third act of a K-drama as shown in the first four episodes of season one of Hospital Playlist. By focusing on the third act, jeon (전), this thesis theorizes on its techniques and key role in a K-drama syuzhet. Thus it answers: “What specific techniques and narrative devices characterize the jeon (전) of the Hospital Playlist ‘small stories’ that are aligned with the East Asian structure's contemplative nature on theme and plot progression?”; and “How does the jeon (전) of Hospital Playlist, particularly on contemplating on themes over escalating conflict, align with or deviate from the narrative functions of the Chinese (zhuǎn 转), Korean (jeon 전), and Japanese (ten 転) defined by other scholars? ”

Keyword: K-drama; Jeon; Hospital Playlist; fabula; syuzhet; M. H. Abrams; East Asian four-act
structure