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| The Queen craze is rocking Korea. Courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox |
By Dong Sun-hwa
Since the notable success of the biographical film "Bohemian Rhapsody," a flood of content about legendary British band Queen has swept Korea.
Some inventive parodies have popped up on the internet and grabbed plenty of attention. For instance, Hankook Ilbo came up with a "Queen Medley Challenge" on Monday, where those working for the media outlet use "unprofessional" but "adorable" instruments to perform some of the band's flagship numbers.
Watch Hankook Ilbo's parody: bit.ly/2RR2EYv
Several well-known TV personalities, such as Yoo Se-yoon and Jun Hyun-moo, also imitated Queen's lead vocalist Freddie Mercury. In particular, Yoo's laughter-evoking parody disclosed on YouTube has achieved over 1.2 million hits.
Watch Yoo's parody: bit.ly/2Erdoty
The legendary band is not only dominating the online world, but also the small screen.
Broadcasters quickly took advantage of the movie's popularity by airing documentaries about the band and Mercury. MBC replayed "Live Aid" at 11:55 p.m. on Dec. 2 that features the band's charity concert gig at London's Wembley Stadium, which was held simultaneously with a concert in Philadelphia in 1985. Despite its late airing, the documentary recorded viewership of 4.1 percent.
KBS 1TV's "Global Documentary" aired a documentary titled "Freddie Mercury: THE King of QUEEN" on Sunday. It is from Britain's Channel 4 and shows the band on tour. The rating was 3.3 percent, which is nearly triple the viewership of the previous episode.
"Bohemian Rhapsody" has sold over 7 million tickets in Korea since its opening in late October.
Explaining its popularity, culture critic Ha Jae-keun said on Dailian that there has been a rise in the number of Koreans who love musical films.
"In addition, more young people these days can sympathize with the sentiments of 'social misfits,'" Ha said.
