ABSTRACT
Drawing on the concept of Genette’s (1997) paratext and reception studies, this chapter discusses paratextual formation and reception of the BBC drama Killing Eve (2018–2022), focusing on its official trailers and audience reviews left on Watcha in Korea. Killing Eve was produced by Sid Gentle Films for BBC America and BBC Three, based on Luke Jennings’s novel, Codename Villanelle, in April 2018 and distributed in June 2019 in Korea, as a Watcha Exclusive. Unlike the traditional configuration and curation of films in theatrical environments, audience reviews on streaming platforms constitute part of whole viewing experience, together with the filmic content, as peritext “located within the same volume” (Genette 1997, 4). As attractions and a form of persuasion, distributors strategically formulate trailers to suit audiences’ desires and help their decision-making. However, distributers in cross-cultural boundaries often reformulate and reconfigure such promotional narratives, as trailers are ideologically and culturally conditioned (Kernan 2004). Taking the case of Killing Eve, which includes a queer narrative, this chapter explores the extent to which the narrative of the original official trailer of BBC is adapted to the Korean culture and how Watcha’s initial promotion strategies shown in Season One evolve as the series unfold and receive fervent responses from the Korean audience. Based on the distributer’s evolving illustration of queer content through its promotional trailers and the analysis of Korean audience’s attitudes toward the two lesbian heroines, it suggests changing social attitudes toward queer culture in Korea.
