K-Pop@SmithCollege

Korean Romance

2007-12-14T08:48:00.000-05:00

Did you ever notice how much romance plays a role in Korean Culture? Tv dramas, tv shows like love letter, movies, songs, and everything having to do with couples, like :trends on compatible blood types, couple outfits, couple rings, couple phone charms, and couple mp3 players. Is there a need for romantic spirit in Korea? Why is it so prevalent. Is this another aspect to what tourists find as so attractive?
I believe that it is. Korea does tend to have a romantic flare and want or more, the need for a fairytale story. Goong, Coffee Prince, My Boyfriend is Type B, all of these popular dramas or movies contain the happy fairytale ending. No, they might not own the world, but the couple pretty much always ends up together.
There is a heavy emphasis on being together in Korea. I know many women in Korea who have only just reached 25 years old and talk about how they need to find someone to marry and fast if they do not have a boyfriend. Is the need for couples based on Confusionism where family plays such a heavy role that people, especially women, find the pressure to start a family of their own?
Maybe I'm totally wrong because I think that America does have a sense of romance as well. Who wouldn't want to live happily ever after? The difference can be seen in the things that are so popular today in Korea like the dramas and game shows where they try to match celebrities up in couples, and the over abundance of couple everythings.

Here Comes Ajumma

2007-12-14T07:00:00.000-05:00

I watch AZN Television when I have time. AZN Television is a broadcasting station that targets Asian American people. This is channel #84 in Northampton area. It broadcasts Korean, Chinese, and Japanese movies, dramas, music, and news etc. I usually watch Korean news (it starts at 5pm). Right before the news, it broadcasts Korean morning drama called “Here Comes Ajumma(=married woman)” for 30 minutes. This drama is about the life of Ajumma whose name is Na Oh Nim, betrayed by her husband. She has made and sold Kim-bob in market place to make money for her family. Her husband did not make any money, he just studied. After 10 years of marriage, he betrayed his wife because there’s another woman who had betrayed him once. He loves this woman very much. She is a former TV announcer. She is pretty, smart and successful woman. Na Oh Nim, compare to her, did not get any education, and she is typical ajumma who devotes everything for her family, not for herself. After her husband’s betraying, she challenges for “queen of cook” and she gets fame. This drama was showed in Korea morning time, when only ajummas could stay home and watch. It was rated very high compare to other morning dramas because it depicts a woman’s life that a woman ignored her wills because of her life is focused on her family becomes successful. I think this drama gives dejected ajummas a hope and satisfies them indirectly. I like this drama because it does not focus on “Cinderellaized” which is not very realistic, but it is more focused on successful in realistic way. I think this is good drama for making oneself more cheerup and for a break from the stressed life. Channel 84, M-F 4:30 pm, watch it if you want some break or interested ^^

Change the Old for New

2007-12-14T05:47:00.000-05:00

In South Korea, the want for cosmetic surgery has increased alarmingly. According to Times magazine, about one in ten adults in Korea have received cosmetic surgery. The most common surgery is eyelid surgery. Genetically not many Koreans are born with double eyelids and in Korean society double eyelids are seen as a sign of beauty. Another popular cosmetic surgery is a nose job, where Koreans with a flatter nose will implant a pearl at the tip of their nose to make their nose higher. Perhaps this phenomenon is due to the influence of Western society for both double eyelids and high sculpted noses are Western facial characteristics. Whatever the cause however does not change the fact that cosmetic surgery has become the craze and trend in South Korea.
It is not only women who are taking part in cosmetic surgery, a large number of men in Korea are reported to receive cosmetic surgery. “South Korean Women have a reputation as the most striking in Asia. And the men are also shaping up. Korean actors are currently the region’s premier heartthrobs” (BBC News). The increase of cosmetic surgery and the concern for one’s looks can be attributed in large part to the big popularity increase of Korean popular culture. A large handful of Korean actors, actresses, and entertainers have received cosmetic surgery to improve their appearance and appeal to audiences. It is their images that are being reproduced in masses and being distributed to Korean society and to other countries where the Korean wave has swept. Due to the large number of cosmetic surgery in South Korea, Seoul, South Korea’s capital has a reputation as the place to go for a nip or a tuck. South Korea’s phase has even led to the creation of a new word called “ul-jjang” which can be translated to best face. A person in Korea who is judged to have a very good looking face is called an “ul-jjang.”
The rate at which Koreans are receiving Cosmetic Surgery is alarming. It is amplified by the rise of Hallyu, where actors, actresses, and entertainers who serve as beauty role models receive surgery and is seen desirable by regular people. It seems that with this increase of cosmetic surgery and the new definition of beauty, the oriental and traditional Korean/Asian beauty is lost. Koreans are reforming to a new look, shedding the old one. Can this be seen as an improvement or a crime where the old traditional look is being sacrificed and forgotten?

D-War

2007-12-14T05:35:00.000-05:00

I watched movie “D-War” few months ago. It became the center of public interest even before it was on at the theater, because its director was Shim Hyung Rae and this movie was known to be the first SF movie in Korea. Shim Hyung Rae is South Korean former comedian (everyone knows Yung-Goo). After he got interests on filmmaking, he directed several movies. His movie themes were usually the dragon. The most popular ones he directed so far were “Yonggary” and “D-war: dragon wars.” When “Yonggary” came out, he became the target of criticism. SF movie in Korea was just started and the technology in that field was very poor. Even he got a lot of criticism, he did not give up and brought new upgraded movie “D-war.” When it opened, it was very popular throughout Korea. Everyone claimed this movie. Because of its popularity in Korea, it sold all over the world. I do not think it was very well made film itself. However, it truly showed the future potential on SF movie. This movie is about tail of “Imugi.” And leading actors were all Caucasians. Shim Hyung Rae interviewed that he wanted globalizing Korean films. And casting nonkorean was the best way. In the last scene that Imugi was going up to heaven, he inserted Korean traditional song, Arirang as sound track. It touched Koreans’ mind. People said this part was most impressing scene of the movie. Even though plots were not very fluent, and some plots were poorly made, I enjoyed this movie a lot. I give him a credit for his effort trying new field, and stepping up the difficulties. I also hope lots of Korean movies can be spread globally.

Hallyu as a Window

2007-12-14T05:32:00.000-05:00

The Korean wave, also known as Hallyu, has proved over the recent years to be a powerful force to be recognized. It has not only touched South Koreans but people in Asian countries such as Taiwan, China, Japan, Hong Kong, and Singapore and even people in non-Asian countries such as Egypt, United States, Mexico, and Iraq. The influence of Hallyu has proved to be far reaching and not the least limited.
Now, the demand for Korean dramas, movies, and music is bigger than ever. Countries that have been swept by the Hallyu wave pay thousands of dollars to have the right to a drama or movie in order to screen it on their native TV channels. Their want for Korean media seems to increase as new Korean dramas or movies are produced and the popularity of Korean Pop Culture grows. Their want can be almost extended to be called a need. This need according to Youna Kim in The rising East Asian ‘wave’ is due to heart touching emotions that are depicted in the dramas and movies that is alien or not amplified enough in other countries. For instance, in communist China where people live in a rigid society, Korean media gives them a refreshing taste of unrestricted emotions which evoke people to cry and to laugh along with the actors and actresses. Korean media also reminds people from countries such as China and North Korea of the lost aspects in their lives. China under communism lost its traditional values and watching a drama such as Jewel in the Palace, they feel a sense of nostalgia. On the other hand, people in North Korea despite tight government hands smuggle Korean dramas into the countries to enjoy watching them and have a fresh breather from their communist society.
Korea’s influence on other countries and their society seems to increase without a stop through their popular culture. However, as the numbers of Korean media infiltrating other countries get alarming high, will the governments, especially of tightly communist governed countries, stand by and watch as their citizens are influenced by such democratic ideas or take action to ensure that there is more security and regulation against Korean media coming into their country? Moreover, if the government decides to take such actions against Korean media will they find their citizens consenting and following the new regulations? It is a possibility that in the long run the citizens will fight and maybe start a new phase against communist regime for they have been given a glimpse from their walled lives to a liberal world through a window known as Hallyu.

Asian Remakes

2007-12-14T00:54:00.000-05:00

I recently saw that they were remaking the Eye (a Chinese horror film) starring Jessica Alba. This started me on a train of thought of how many Asian remakes we see in the media these days. It all seemed to start with the Ring and then just continued on with the Ring's sequels as well as the Grudge series. A remake of an Asian movie, the Departed (remake of the Chinese Internal Affairs) even won an Academy Award for best film in 2006. They're even remaking Korean movies, with a remake of My Sassy Girl and a Tale of Two Sisters on the way.

The company remaking The Eye seems to have made a career out of remaking Asian films, based on this imdb page of their productions.

What do you all think about these remakes? Personally, I get really annoyed every time I see an Asian remake (especially horror films!) because it is NEVER as good as the original, no matter what. It makes me wonder why people are too lazy to go out and rent the original films, though I realize they must be harder to get ahold of than an American remake. Even so, I have had people tell me that they don't "feel like reading the subtitles" of foreign movies and prefer an American remake to the original. It just puzzles me that Asian media is often criticized for plagiarizing Western media ideas, but when the West does the same thing, no one cares. For instance, I know that Hyori was recently sued for using a melody from a Britney Spears song; however, when an American artist might record a song that sounds very similar to an Asian artist or when a movie is ripped off of an original Asian movie, no one seems to care.

However, I realize that I have a different perspective from most Americans because I've seen both sides of the argument. I've seen American artists sample Indian music or steal ideas from Indian music, but I've also seen EXTREMELY blatant plagarism in Indian movies (Oldboy/Zinda, When Harry Met Sally.../Hum Tum, etc). I just get irritated that a lot of American people will refuse to see the other side and admit that maybe the original Asian movie is better than the American remake.

What are your all thoughts?

korean are problem

2007-12-14T00:05:00.000-05:00

"Korean art problems"
this article we read is hard for me to relate to Korean pop culture. but when I was reading art part, one idea came up which is about Korean art problem.
recently when i was reading Korean newspaper in japanese, i can see this problem" Shim jung ah". She made up her education back ground and got trust with it. with that trust, she was making money to sell fake arts. this shim jung ah problem made a new problem about fake arts in Korea. I dont know about him at all but according to news, lee jungsub who is a very famous artist in Korea, his drawings of 75% were fake.
this shim jung ah's problem became social problems in Korea I think

Cyworld or Facebook?

2007-12-13T23:54:00.000-05:00

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the site, "Cyworld" is Korea's equivilent of America's "Facebook". I've been on the site only a couple times to browse through the features, and it seemed to hold a very different concept from the popular "Myspace" or "Facebook" that we use here in the United States. What I initially noticed about "Cyworld" was its small, photobook or album-like features; this was extremely different from "Facebook" with its full screen wall posts. "Cyworld" also offers little clickable tabs with labels like photos, bio, and more. "Cyworld" gives each of their users a little character of their own with his/her own "room" that you may choose to decorate, which many of the "Cyworld" users seem to take great advantage of. There were also things like a popularity/famous rate or kindness rate meters on the upper right hand corner of these "Cyworld" albums.

"Cyworld" is a little more to Korea than "Facebook" might be for an average American teen or college student, however. According to Erick Schonfeld's Cyworld Ready to Attack Myspace, an estimated 90% of Koreans in their 20s, and a grand total of a third of Korea's entire population is signed up for this virtual homepage. This was a shocking percentage, since neither "Facebook" or "Myspace" come near the amount of users that "Cyworld" apparently has. I am aware that even major Korean celebrities put up "Cyworlds" for use in public.

Erick Schonfeld's article was from July of 2007, which might be considered a little dated, but I was still excited to find out that Korea has opened up "Cyworld" to U.S. users as well. This U.S. version of "Cyworld" was opened up around mid-August, and apparently had a few technical problems near the beginning of its debut. But the main concern of opening "Cyworld" in the U.S. was whether the targeted audience (teens) would use this virtual site or not. It was clear that there were obvious cultural differences between Korea and the U.S. For instance, many were worried that the "cutesy" value of "Cyworld" would not appeal to American users as much as it may for Korean users. Also, although Koreans may be enthusiastic about spending money on buying their virtual homepages various decorations (i.e. furniture, tiles, curtaines, etc.), it was predicted that the U.S. version of "Cyworld" would most likely run on money from advertisements. For these reasons, the U.S. version of "Cyworld" was altered in a way that would appeal more to their tastes.

Schonfeld states in his article that, "The bulk of Cyworld revenue comes from the sale of virtual items worth nearly $300,000 a day, or more than $7 per user per year. By comparison, ad-heavy MySpace makes an estimated $2.17 per user per year." It amazes me that Koreans are so willing to use money on something they technically are unable to physically own. However, as I read further into Schonfeld's article, things made a little more sense. In Korea, "Cyworld" also represents a certain class status. If you keep your page blank, you're rated lower than others whereas you might attract many viewers if your page has been decorated to its fullest extent. I remember my friends in Korea were near obsessed with this "Cyworld", and they were constantly changing the music and designs of their homepages; even my mother and her friends were pulled into this craze for a while.

I found it interesting to see that these webpage obsessions exist in other countries as well.
Any thoughts about "Cyworld"?

By the way, this is the link to Eric Schonfeld's article: http://money.cnn.com/2006/07/27/technology/cyworld0727.biz2/index.htm
and the link to the U.S. version of "Cyworld":
http://us.cyworld.com/ as well as the link to the Korean version of "Cyworld", which may take a little longer to load (note the difference in profile structure for users in the U.S. and users in Korea):
http://www.cyworld.com/main2/index.htm

The New York Philharmonic to Play in North Korea

2007-12-13T23:26:00.000-05:00

The New York Philharmonic Orchestra is scheduled to play in Pyongyang, North Korea this coming February. This event is to symbolize a thawing within U.S.-North Korean relations. Furthermore, the performance is to mark the first performance by an American cultural group in the North.

However, there have been several occasions where an American orchestra has visited a Communist nation in order to help improve national tensions pertaining to politics. For instance, in 1956, the Boston Symphony has visited the old Soviet Union, and the Philadelphia Orchestra has visited China in 1973.

The concert was first proposed by North Korea in July when the U.S had talks in Berlin. The North Korean vice foreign minister, Kim Kye-gwan expressed that the country intended to invite the orchestra to with U.S. Assistant Secretary of State, Christopher Hill. Thus, in August, the North Korean culture ministry faxed an invitation to the New York orchestra.
The New York Philharmonic is composed of many members; eight of them begin Korean-Americans. I believed that this would be a problem; however, the North Korean authorities have been very “understanding.” The eight Korean-Americans will be granted entry along with foreign journalists. Furthermore, North Korea has even permitted to let the orchestra play the “Star Spangled Banner.”

North Korea is in currently disabling its nuclear facilities. This performance is supposedly going to speed up resolutions between the United States and North Korea. In fact, according to the North Korean ambassador to the U.N, this concert is to promote the friendship between the two nations. Christopher Hill, American nuclear envoy, believes that this invitation as a sign that North Korea now sees America in a different perspective. Thus, George Bush has sent a personal letter to Kim Jong-il, North Korean leader, urging a full description of North Korea’s nuclear plans. In his letter, he also hinted at a possibility of diplomacy pertaining to the two nations.

Though I believe that this is a very good effort between the two nations, I have many doubts that an American orchestral concert will ease the tensions between the two countries. North Korea and the United States have both gone back-and-forth on diplomatic matters by consistently “breaking their promises,” creating a gaping distrust between the two countries.

http://english.kbs.co.kr/mcontents/issue/1495553_11694.html

Korea's Growing Appetite for Fast Foods

2007-12-13T21:21:00.000-05:00

The increasing numbers of fast food "kingdoms" within America appear to be a prevalent issue and concern. This major concern appears to have leaked into Korea; fast foods from McDonalds or Burger King are being constantly imported into the contry, with obesity rapidly on the rise. It seems almost ironic that a nation so concerned about reconstructing outer beauty to what is considered "ideal", even through eating disorders, would have problems dealing with the other extreme as well, such as over-eating the suggested amounts of fats contained in fast foods.

When I was browsing through Chosunilbo for any interesting articles I could write about, I found one called Obesity Becomes Huge Problem in Korea (here's the link if anyone is interested: http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200502/200502130020.html). Im Ho-Jun, the author of the article, states, "Some 10 to 15 percent of people under 20 are overweight... 30.6 percent of adults were overweight and 36.2 percent suffered from abdominal obesity." This was slightly shocking to me, because I always had the impression that Korea mainly had a diet concentrated around healthy foods, that also had had numerous healthy benefits. For instance, I remember learning that kimchi helped heart problems concerning cholesterol (through garlic). With this newly learned percentage of obesity, however, my intial impression of a healthy Korea was slightly diminished. When further reading through Im Ho-Jun's article, I also found that Koreans spent an amount equivilent to approximately 1.43 billion USD in the year 2005, solely for medical treatments or problems concerning obesity. The government of Korea has yet to view this increasing rate of obesity as a major concern, however, as they have not yet considered it as any threat to the nation.

In a more recent article by Chosunilbo called No Trans Fat Does Not Mean No Worry, however, it explains that Korea has begun to take action to promote healthier living for the citizens of its nation. Major fast food and bakery companies such as Orion and Crown Bakery had rung in the new year (2007) with a ban on trans fats. What Chosunilbo is concerned about in its article, however, is that saturated fats have now taken the place of trans fat; they argue that these saturated fats can eventually become just as dangerous as trans fats quoting a Dr. Ha Jae-ho that, "Consumers should pay attention to more than just the amount of trans fat in their foods."

I personally believe that there is no possible way to completely eliminate harmful fats from anyone's diets. It is inevitable that even without fast foods or baked goods Korea would on the whole still continue consuming these harmful fats. However, I do agree that action taken against the rise of obesity wouldn't hurt Korea as a nation.

Response to 2002 World Cup

2007-12-13T17:57:00.000-05:00

The 2002 World Cup was a huge deal and brought together everyone in the country of Korea. Even beyond that, Koreans across the globe were connected through the success of their underdog team. The point was brought up that many Korean females were not involved or knowledgeable about sports till the world cup. I would like to point out that Korean females do know a thing or two about sports, they just happen to be non-contact sports. I do agree that the 2002 World Cup opened the eyes of females in Korea to contact sports because it was a time when Korea unified.
Korean females have been most involved in three sports, speed skating, archery, and golf. I would actually like to talk about golf and explore the topic a bit because it is a huge trend in Korea to play golf, whether you are male or female. Golf is a sport that many Korean Women are seen in, and making quite an impression. A few of the well known players are Sae Ri Pak, Aree Song, Jeong Jang, and of course, Michelle Wei.
Just recently Sae Ri Pak was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame. She was the first to really make a scene on the LPGA and at a very young age. Why do I know all of this? Mainly because my father and every relative I know in Korea wanted me to play golf when I was younger, and I did.
"Pak's accomplishment has greatly encouraged the Korean people, and she serves as a role model for young golfers at home. I hope she will continue to win titles and help elevate the honor of Korea," said Korean President Roh Moo-hyun.
Is this need for honor the key to the golf craze in Korea? There are now 45 Koreans in the LPGA when in 1998 there were just 3 Koreans including Sae Ri Pa. Perhaps golf was a sport that females in Korea could participate in and because of their great success, use it as a sort of feminist tool to push women to do better and better in golf. That may be a stretch, but I believe there must be some reason why golf is so big in Korea, especially for women.
Do you have any ideas on this?

Movie Culture

2007-12-13T15:39:00.000-05:00

On Joongangdaily.com, I came across an article that described the last one-screen theater to exist in Korea. Hwayang Theater was built in 1964 and was renamed to Dream Cinema in 1999. The article discusses how cinema culture has changed throughout the years in that movie theaters today show/screen more than one movie at once. The Dream Cinema plays movies that have been released for a long time and about to come out on DVD. Recently, it has been decided that the movie theater is to be closed due redevelopment of the surrounding area. The closing of Dream Cinema is important because it is the closing of the “history of old-time single-screen theaters in Seoul”. Now that theaters today have become “state-of-the-art multiplexes” rather than theaters that screen single movies, it is understandable that the appeal for the latter has been diminishing over the years.

In order to celebrate the theater in the last months before closing, Kim Eun Joo, the owner, decided to play classic movies, such as Dirty Dancing, the Sound of Music, and Ben Hur up until the day the bulldozer arrives. The article discusses how the closing of Dream Cinema not only has an effect on the owner, but how it also influences the other workers that have been involved with the cinema for a number of years, such as the security guard, the projectionist, and theater sign painters.

This article had me thinking about a few things after. We can see that movie culture has changed throughout the years, but has it changed for the better or worse? The owner of Dream Cinema, Kim Eun-Joo, compared the “degraded culture of going to movies” to “going to a neighborhood supermarket wearing slippers”. The uniqueness and spirit of Korean cinema is being lost, as there will no longer be tickets that are thin and rough, as well as the irreplaceable theater posters which are drawn by hand. Are we sacrificing traditions and historical artifacts in place of other developments and advancements in society? I feel as though the article is an example of the struggle of balancing and maintaining the past while further progressing into the future. Some things are lost and some things are kept, but how and who determines such things?

http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2883587
Korea’s last one-screen theater about to close by Chun Su jin
December 6, 2007

KPop Celebrity Gossip

2007-12-13T02:22:00.000-05:00

What do you all know about the Korean entertainment industry? At the moment, I am talking to a Korean friend of mine. We're discussing different scandals and gossip in the entertainment industry, as well as the different media pressures on Korean pop stars. For example:

- Shinhwa boycotted the MKMF Awards show because of their old record label, SM Entertainment. SM pressured the producers of MKMF to cheat various members of Shinhwa out of well-deserved awards as they back the awards show financially.
- The same company, SM Entertainment, has cheated former boyband H.O.T. out of a lot of money.
- SM Entertainment is also withdrawing a lot of money from current boyband Super Junior - it's said that they can't afford cars .

MKMF Awards 2004 or 2005 (where BoA performed My Name):
- BoA changed her image to a "sexier" image during this performance.
- BoA has been constantly pressured to lose weight by her record label; you can see a significant difference from her younger days and this performance. The pressures on her seem to be a strain mentally as well as physically based on the crying during her speech.
- Rumors that she has to sleep with Lee Soo Man (founder of SM Entertainment) for various purposes; some people speculate that this is why she has been in Japan for a long time and seems reluctant to return to Korea.

Of course, this is all hearsay -- have any of you heard rumors similar to this? Any disparate rumors? I find all of this extremely interesting, though some of it may be extremely far-fetched to someone who knows the Korean music industry well.

To me, it seems that the Korean music industry is different from the American music industry in that even established, wildly popular artists such as H.O.T. or BoA don't have a great amount of control over their record label or their music. This may be naivete on my part, but while young and upcoming artists may have difficulties with their record labels, popular American artists such as Beyonce or Britney Spears seem to have a good portion of control over their careers. Do any of you have articles related to this issue?

Power of Sports in Korea

2007-12-13T00:54:00.000-05:00

After watching the YMCA Baseball, I found it a coincidence to find this article on joongang daily.joins. com. The article, written by Pat King Deputy Editor, discussed one of the most crucial, momentous, monumental moments in Korean sports. It wasn’t the World Cup in 2002 or the 1988 Olympics. The important event which he mentions is the 1936 Olympics which took place in Berlin. This momentous occasion was also described in Gwang Ok’s book, “The Transformation of Modern Korean Sport: Imperialism, Nationalism, Globalization”, which focuses on the connection between sport, religion, and nationalism and how sports evolved during the times of “Japanese invasion, oppression, and control”.

King writes that sports, to Koreans, were more than simply games but rather a means of preserving their nationalism, individuality, Korean identity, and independent spirit. The article highlights the 1936 Olympics when a Korean marathon runner named Son Gi-jeong won first place. Still, the event was not all happy for Son as he recounted the award ceremony with resentment due to the fact that he was forced to wear a symbol of the Japanese flag on his uniform. He stated later on that he felt “desperate and ashamed. . . wearing a shirt with the Japanese rising sun on the left chest” . The Korean citizens were bothered by this as well and we see this when the Dong-a Daily, a domestic newspaper, publishing the same picture except they altered the Japanese flag on Son’s uniform. Gwang’s continued to identify himself as a Korean and this act against “Japanese propaganda”, provided as almost a “moral-booster” for the Korean citizens. The Korean people were able to recover “much-needed national identity” and pride in their nation. Gwang also mentions in his book how modern day sports has been influenced by Christian missionary schools, YMCA, foreign language schools, and the “opening up of Japan in the 19^th century”. This part was also interesting since it was related to what we watched in the YMCA Baseball movie where Europeans came into Korea to teach the people the game of baseball. I have become increasingly aware of the power of

Gwang further writes that sports were a means for Western cultural imperialism to counterbalance Eastern political imperialism. Sports were not always popular, however, especially when it was first introduced in Korea. As time slowly progressed, sports became more widely acceptable and popular to young men, and then to girls and women. It is interesting to see how the power of sports to unify a nation and how it has evolved into such an integral part of Korean society as we see it today. It was also intriguing to see how sports were used to give purpose and identity to the Korean nation during the turbulent times of Japanese colonization.

Pat King Deputy Editor

http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2882843

November 17, 2007

YMCA

2007-12-12T19:22:00.000-05:00

After I have read the article" Japanese YMCA Cultural IMperialism in Korea and Manchuria after the Russo- Japanese War" by jon Davidann, I just found some interesting points for me as Japaneses I guess. during 1880s or 90s, people thought chiristans were western culture for Japanese and some people did not want it. I think people in Samurai position are the ones who didnt want but according to the article, many who had converted to chiristianity were former samurai.and also on pg 255, " Japanese Chiristians set forth to missonize Korea and Manchuria" this is interesting to me because I have seen so many Korean Christians but not Japanese here.Young Men's Christian Association,YMCA is a nonprofit organization but it was used as a tool of getting control in Korea. For example, Koreans used YMCA to agitate for Korean independent. I guess that is because member of YMCA came from elite yangban.

Hallyu

2007-12-12T19:19:00.000-05:00

KOREAN WAVE"Hallyu"Korean pop culture became so popular about 10 years ago. Korean entertainment companies exported a lot of dramas, movies, music to some Asian countries such as taiwan, Japan, etc. in the example of japan, people did not know about korean pop culture at all before winter sonata was broadcasted in Japan. many old ladies became crazy about one actor "bea young jung" because he looks different from Japanese actors and looks smart. in fact he may be smart and he is making a lot of money nowadays. he even made a restaurant in japan. after winter sonata became popular in Japan, many dramas were on TV such as "all in". because of this Korean wave starting from winter sonata, many people got interested in Korea and Korean culture. they started to study Korean language or visit to Korea.we all can see the numbers from the reading of "The Rising East Asian Wave" so i quote from different reading we already did.in the reading" hybridity and the rise of Korean popular culture in asia" says Shiri earned 14 million at Japanese box office, Korean movies are popular in Japan too so japanese company imported a lot. like in 2005, 58 movies came to japan and in 2006 21 movies came to japan. do you think this hallyu last for long time? i dont think so. you can see this decreasing numbers of movies which are going to japan. japanese people like famous actors and actress so even if some moviews are popular in Korea, it can not be in japan. now I can see hallyu is going down in japan. and I want to see how hallyu will be in a few years.

Fashion Can Prolong Hangeul

2007-12-12T18:31:00.000-05:00

Korean fashion designer Lie Sang-bong is one of the few designers whose breach reaches beyond Korean. His clothes are developed through designs of red, violet, and ultra black while being inspired through old films, historical romances, ancient poetry, and most importantly, letters from the Korean alphabet, Hangeul. I believe that this is a perfect example of modernized tradition. He “modernizes” Hangeul in order to create a greater appeal on the world-wide spectrum.

His latest item – a design which incorporated the Korean alphabet as a pattern for the dresses – was a major hit at the Paris Pret-a-Porter Collection in February 2002. Ever since, his trend of Hangeul has spread to not only his clothing line, but also to bed sheets, cell phones, and other accessories. He will soon even design a cigar with his Hangeul design too.

He became inspired by Hangeul through letters from two friends, singer Jang Sa-ik and artist Lim-Ok-sang. “If Jang's handwriting is like flowing water, Lim's handwriting is like fire bursting with energy,” Lie said. Thus came his first 51 dresses embellished and empowered through the flowing Hangeul letters at his first Paris Pret-a-porter Collection entitled “L'ombre Lunaire” in February 2002. He received very commending reviews.

“Most foreigners don't know that Korea has its own writing system,” Lie said. “They believe we might speak differently from the Chinese but use the same Chinese characters. After all, not all nations are lucky enough to have their own letters.” Thus I believe that he modernized “old Korean writing” originally being on paper, into “new Korean writing” onto flowing fabrics of contemporary clothing.

His design of incorporating Hangeul onto dresses has created the 2006 Hangeul Exposition: “Hangul Mode” in Who's Next & Premiere Classe. This exposition was composed of more than 40 designers, including those from overseas, developing their own ideas and designs pertaining to the Hangeul dress.

“Sooner or later you'll see foreigners wearing clothes that bear Hangeul all over the world,” Lie said. He then came to explain that celebrities in even Russia now wear clothing with Hangeul letters. Another Hangeul fashion show of his is the “Swinging East.” This show demonstrates the goodwill for Korea-China cultural exchange through. The clothing is composed of long dresses, decorated with Hangeul and Hangja, Chinese characters. He also includes a black dress in the hanbok design and belts with the traditional mother-of-pearl patters. While the models strut down the runway, the background music of this show is composed of traditional Korean drums, which add to the East Asian “mood.”

Lie stated a quote that really struck me for it was very relevant pertaining to our Kpop class. “It's fun working with Hangeul, which allows me to insert letters and poems. Then foreigners ask what all of these mean and I get to explain the content of the poem or piece of Korean history. I feel proud to have this opportunity to promote Korean culture. Koreans are so used to Hangeul that they've become dull to its true value and beauty. This is not so in the eyes of foreigners. The important thing is to re-create tradition in a modern way.”

http://www.korea.net/news/news/newsView.asp?serial_no=20070919013

On “The Rising East Asian Wave: Korean Media Go Global” by Youna Kim

2007-12-12T17:03:00.000-05:00

A straightforward read, I felt that this article would have been great at the beginning of the semester. It gave an overview of what this entire class is about! Starting from the explanation to how the Korean wave started, to even breaking down each section to surrounding countries and how they have been affected by Korean media and music, it was a nice way to sum up our class.

I was especially interested in Korean popular culture influences in Japan, since we’ve read articles and comics about Japanese detestation of Korean characters in pop culture works. Perhaps the article only chose to recognize a major Korean drama leaking into Japan and being a hit because Winter Sonata became well-liked in the surrounding countries in general. However, Kim writes, “This explosive popularity of the Korean drama has baffled the Japanese media, entertainment commentators and social analysts” (141) which shows that Winter Sonata in particular had this kind of effect on Japan in a way that probably would not have happened with other Korean media.

What was really fascinating was what happened after the explosion of popularity of this drama. It said in the article that Japanese women became attracted to Korean men and “Some Japanese women have even registered with matchmaking agencies to get a Korean husband…” (141). I actually remember coming across an article regarding the growing interest of Japanese women in finding Korean husbands. (check out http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/30/AR2006083002985_2.html).

Towards the end of the section, Kim writes that awareness and interest of Korean media has led to the interest of the culture as well, and has even led to the self-reflection of the Japanese. While this seems like a positive way to look at Korean-Japanese relations, is this really the overall indication of Japan as a whole?

“Art, Advertising, and the Legacy of Empire”

2007-12-12T16:19:00.000-05:00

Reading this article, I was reminded a lot of a book that I read part of a few years ago, although this article dealt primarily with racism and the piece I read was about female beauty ideals and portrayal. "The Beauty Myth" by Naomi Wolf has a great chapter on the way women’s images are used in advertisements and how this affects the way woman view themselves as a result. She gives numerous examples of ads printed in the past in high-end fashion magazines that depict nearly naked women in sexual poses or close-ups of women with overtly sexual expressions on their faces, even depictions of bondage-style violence against women, being used in ads for products such as designer shoes or handbags. Wolf uses the term “beauty pornography” to describe the imagery of women that we see opening up pretty much any magazine or by turning on the TV. The already “ideal” bodies of the models, who have had professionally applied makeup and styled hair, are further airbrushed to create an even more so-called “perfect” woman. No woman could ever possibly meet these beauty ideals, because they don’t exist—they’re created on the computer. Even photos of the celebrities that so many people worship—or at least are intrigued by—are airbrushed to make us think they look great all the time. When celebrity rags get “revealing” photos of stars without their makeup or looking saggy in their bikini, we are supposed to be shocked. But is this really such a surprise? What is this sick interest we have in exposing other people’s flaws?

This goes for the stereotypes given in television commercials as well. How many TV ads have you seen with a powerful woman taking charge of a situation and using her brains to solve a problem? How many have you seen of woman wistfully looking over a piece of dessert or acting embarrassed by their dry, dull hair, before they discovered the new no-guilt, low-fat yogurt that tastes just like key-lime pie or the new hair dye that brings shine and strength to their ‘do? How do you feel about the use of women in advertising? Are we supposed to assume that everyone who sees ads in magazines knows that the women don’t really look like way and that it is an unrealistic goal to try to look the same? Even if we do know that the images are airbrushed and unrealistic, can we truly stop ourselves from—even involuntarily—secretly feeling that those are images of true beauty and something to aspire to look like?

Korean Art

2007-12-12T11:30:00.000-05:00

I am taking a class that surveys Asian art. The class is broken into three major sections—Indian, Chinese, and Japanese art. One day was devoted to each Southeast Asia and Korea. When we covered Korean art, I noticed in the textbook how the examples of Korean art had been assimilated into the sections on Chinese or Japanese art. Because of the high influence of both countries on Korean culture (Korea was used as a mediator between Chinese and Japanese trade, Japanese colonialism, etc.), it is understandable that Korean artists would experiment with different styles. However, Korean art should be explored in its own right and not subsumed into Chinese and Japanese categories of art, minimalizing its importance in the survey of Asian art. One has to view works of art works in their own, larger historical and cultural context for it to be truly appreciated. Therefore, Korea seems to have been robbed of its art history.

"Thank You"

2007-12-12T11:29:00.000-05:00

I was watching a drama on the AZN channel entitled, “Thank You.” This drama is about a little girl who has AIDS and how she slowly breaks down stereotypes surrounding the disease. The little girl lives with her mother in a place called “Blue Island.” The only way to the mainland is by ferry. This island is a very agrarian area and, based on dialogue by the characters, if you need to do or buy anything, you have to go to Seoul. So, throughout the drama, there is a class tension between the characters and amenities in Seoul vs. the provincial, agrarian lifestyle of those who lived on Blue Island. Due to the lighthearted nature of the drama (the message of the drama is that if you are kind to people, they will eventually accept you), the class-ism is neither a main nor an overt theme in this drama. However, it was an interesting aspect to note in this entry.

This drama could also be labeled as a medical drama due to the fact that the main, male characters are doctors and there are several scenes that take place in the emergency room. What is interesting about “Thank You,” is that during these medical scenes, there would be subtitles that pop up, supplementing the dialogue with explanations of medical terms. Because of the seemingly educational effect of this drama in the definition of medical terms and the promotion of awareness about AIDS, “Thank You” goes against the postmodernist theory of popular culture.

Comfort Women

2007-12-09T17:18:00.001-05:00

I found an article a long time ago on Korea-Japan relations and I’ve been curious ever since on the Korea-Japan Normalization Treaty of 1965, which was mentioned in the article. Apparently, according to this treaty, Seoul demanded $364 million compensation for individuals who died or were used as laborers during Japanese colonization. The Korean government received $800 million of grants and loans as reparations from Japan. Korea’s president agreed that after this payment, citizens would no longer make individual claims against Japanese government. The issue is that President Park Chung-hee only paid $251 million to families killed by Japanese and 6.6 billion won to those whose property was destroyed… South Koreans conscripted into the Japanese military/labor force received compensation. This also means that none of the comfort women were compensated.

President Park Chung-hee decided to use the money, then, for public service projects—the construction of industries and transportation between Seoul and Busan.

The topic of comfort women is still a huge debate in politics, however. An article released on December 09, 2007 writes about how there is a new movement within the European Parliament to demand Japan to compensate and officially apologize to comfort women.

Here is the link to the article:

http://www.korea.net/news/news/newsView.asp?serial_no=20071209003&part=103&SearchDay=&page=1

However, I’m stuck on the Korea-Japan Normalization Treaty of 1965. Even though none of the monetary compensation reached the Korean comfort women, I can understand Japan’s “stubbornness” on this matter… Korea (or at least Park Chung-hee) had already agreed that individual’s no longer had a “right” to press charges against the Japanese government for what had happened… I feel like the Treaty was a stupid move on Korea’s part. Doesn’t this mean that it’s Park Chung-hee’s fault for agreeing to such conditions and not using the money to compensate all of the harmed individuals (even if it meant using it for “better” purposes)?

I’m confused. This treaty confuses me because I feel like it gives Japan a “right” to ignore the past, as if this treaty means that Japan is rid of all guilt. Am I missing something—can someone explain??

Andre Kim, "Improvement" Shows, and Low-end Products by Famous Designers

2007-12-07T17:32:00.000-05:00

Today when I was reading an article on Korean designer Andre Kim’s expanding fashion and home goods empire I was reminded of an article we read a while ago in High-Pop by Jim Collins. “Style and the Perfection of Things” by Celia Lury made me think a lot about the prevalent theme of “improvement” in the United States today, as well as the impact designers have in our society. It seems that US society today is obsessed with making everything perfect: their homes, clothing, cooking, bodies. Just turn on the TV and you will see a myriad of shows or commercials based on this “improvement” theme. There are home improvement shows (“Design on a Dime”, “Flip That House”, “Trading Spaces”, “Home Made Simple”), fashion makeover shows for your wardrobe, hair and makeup (“What Not To Wear”, “10 Years Younger”, “Fashion Guide”), shows to teach you how to cook like a gourmet cook (“Take-Home Chef”), and those examples are all from just one channel. Commercials tell you that you can have a better cell phone, a better cable plan, better clothes, even better dating options just by calling this number or going to this store or website.

Included in this whole phenomenon are high-end designers doing clothing and house wear lines for stores such as Macy’s and Target, and famous chefs that have shows teaching us how to cook simple yet delicious meals. It’s the idea of No-brow: “the space between the familiar categories of high and low culture” (Seabrook, 1999: 104). These are famous designers making low-cost items so that the everyday person too can have beautifully decorated homes and high-fashion personal style. Can’t afford to hire your own chef? Well, you can learn to cook just like them by watching their TV show. It’s the idea that everyone, high-income or –low, deserves to look that good or live that well.

It seems that Andre Kim is intent on following this path in Korea. He is already a revered fashion designer who has also produced wallpaper, jewelry, underwear, cosmetics, golf wear, eyeglasses, even interior design for apartments built by Samsung Corporation. Starting in 2006, when the article dates, he moved on to washing machines and refrigerators. I could not find any articles about Kim starting his own low-end clothing line for the everyday Korean, but I’d assume that if he hasn’t already, that would be his next step. He did once say, after all, that his clothes were for everyone (after Michael Jackson asked him to be his personal designer). And Kim does come from a lower class background himself: his parents were farmers in a rural town.

People who have been to Korea or are Korean probably know more about Andre Kim and Korean fashion than I do. Are there low-end clothing and home accessories lines by famous designers in Korea? And how do people feel about these “improvement” genre shows? Why are they so prevalent in today's society?

Acculturation in YMCA Baseball

2007-12-05T22:30:00.001-05:00

I should start out by confessing that the very first thing that struck me about YMCA Baseball was that it kind of reminded me of the premise A League of their Own. Admittedly, I have not seen the latter film, but the idea of people trying to start a baseball league during what seems to be roughly the World War II era and the struggles and pitfalls they have to go through, seems similar. It is worth mentioning that the cultural translation the Koreans experience is twofold as given to them by the Japanese who have, in turn, taken it from the Western Christian missionaries they encountered. Perhaps more to the point, the similarities between these two films illustrate the process of acculturation and how what seems normal in one context seems completely foreign in another. This can be seen at the beginning when the Korean men are holding the baseball and studying, examining it for its possible uses, as well, as when one of the men mistakes the baseball bat for a paddle. I think this concept is cleverly articulated after the death of that man, when the priest reads out what is supposed to be a eulogy to the chanting monks, but is actually, I think, the stolen love letter of one of the team players to the female coaching assistant, yet the monks mourn to it accordingly. I think the point is that things can be used in an entirely different context from the one they were meant for convincingly if one does not know their original intent; that purposes vary from culture to culture.

I find the way cultural translation is articulated in the film kind of ironic. In the United States, baseball (especially in this era) was played by men. Indeed, the Korean team members scoff at the idea of a woman being involved too, however, because the Korean woman studied in America, she is the main facilitator of the team effort due to her dual linguistic abilities. She also asserts ‘that doesn’t mean I don’t know plenty about baseball.’ Ultimately, I enjoyed this film and feel that it kind of showed on a microcosmic and very human level the macrocosmic and societal pitfalls that occur in the path of acculturation.

2002 World Cup

2007-12-01T22:23:00.000-05:00

2002 World Cup was one of the most unforgettable events in Korea. It displayed strong nationalism. People wore red shirt and gathered to support our team. Before 2002, we never have won that far. There was an excitement all over the country. People who didn’t have the ticket to World Cup gathered around a place where TV was available. City Hall was very crowded with people who wore red uniform. Whenever our team scored, people shared their happiness and excitement with others whom they barely knew. Whenever our team lost, we consoled each other. It was a great moment when Koreans united stronger once again.

Also, this event was remarkable on women’s participation on the sport. Unlike female students in USA, female students in Korea did not play sports actively. Therefore, they did have neither strong interests nor knowledge in sports. As 2002 World cup made an impact in Korea, women also started to show their interest in sports. Women gradually gained interest in sports. Soccer players became more famous, and all of them have been loved by massive female fans, just like the way most famous celebrities are treated.

2002 World Cup also developed Korean economy. Almost every single person bought red soccer uniform. So many products that symbolized team support were introduced and sold during the World Cup. It was a good source to advertise Korea. World Cup 2002 made huge positive changes in Korea.

Undercovered History

2007-12-01T21:58:00.000-05:00

Does anyone have watched “Silmido”? After watching “Heaven of Solider,” this movie came into my mind. I went to school in Korea before attending Smith. What we learn, and what I hear from the news are quite different from the actual history that I watched in “Silmido.” This movie starts with a scene of criminals getting executed, but the government keeps them alive and put them into secret military mission: Kill Kim Il-Sung. These criminals would be guaranteed new lives if they succeed the mission. So they are being trained intensely in an isolated island called “Silmido.” The government, however, cancels their mission the day before their mission. The government even attempts to kill all the criminals to keep the secret. The criminals find out the government’s plan, and they revolt. At the end, they die, and the government and media report that they were North Korean commandos. They keep this event secrecy. This movie was debuted in 2003, around 30 years after the actual event occurred (1972). Now, the media has more freedom of choosing the different types of movies to create. So those movies can be played. I really think it is possible to have a secret mission such as making nuclear bomb with both sides of Korea together as in “Heaven in Solider.” I also think some historical events we have been taught in our country might not be true. Yi Sun-Sin, our hero, might not be the person we have studied and imagined. He could have been the person we saw in the “Heaven Solider.” How can we be assured about what actually occurred if we were never there. I believe some heroes and historical events can be exaggerated to what we want to believe. Although I am very curious, I don’t believe I should argue about it. These are my thought after watching those movies.

North Korea travel

2007-11-29T19:01:00.000-05:00

When I was doing research for my mom, these were some of the links I looked at regarding visiting North Korea. The first is a FAQ answered by North Korea. The second is a North Korean tour group company, and the third is what wikipedia had to say about visiting (I realize wikipedia is not a reliable source, but the differences are worth noting). It makes you wonder what is really going on and who should we believe?

http://www.korea-dpr.com/faq.htm#1

http://www.koryogroup.com/index.html

http://wikitravel.org/en/North_Korea

2007-11-29T10:01:00.000-05:00

"A State of Mind" and our class discussion got me thinking, how much of a reliable source is North Korea? Everything that goes into North Korea is very censored and mediated and I assume that hold true for images and things which come out of the country. So, is what North Koreans say about North Korea true? Speaking out against Kim Jong-Il, North Korea, or its government is probably tantamount to treason, making people extremely cautious and weary about speaking out. In the film, many of the North Koreans seemed to be brainwashed and have completely internalized communist values and anti-Western sentiment, but I wonder how much they actually believe and what is being said simply because they know it has to be said. It's sort of similar to people in the US armed forces, they are not allowed to speak out against our president or the war effort, so when reporters ask, "How do you feel about the war and Bush Admin?" their answers are extremely predictable and make it seems as if all the soldiers are ready and willing to fight.

As far as North Korean and South Korean re-unification, I question how much the middle and upper echelons of North Korean society would be willing to re-unite, since they are not the ones really being effected by any poverty or poor living conditions. South Korea seems to have this almost condescending attitude towards North Korea, or it can seem that way. All those singers coming together for a re-unification song reminded me of Michael Jackson and his "We Are the World" thing back in the 1990s. Acting like North Korea is a helpless child that needs to be cared for might not be the best way to treat the situation, even if it is true.

This sort of, "we don't really need South Korea" attitude by North Koreans I think was SO obvious when we watched the video of Shinhwa perform. These wealthy(ish) Koreans probably were thinking something similar to "We need to be cultured into this?" or "This is what is the better way of life?" At least, that's what I imagine they were thinking.

On a seperate note, I had two interesting experiences over Thanksgiving. The first was over dinner when my mom told a story that when I was little I hated rice, something which everyone thought was really funny. The second was a friend of mine showed me "The Onion's Atlas of the World" which talked about South Korea being number 1 and being number 2, in other words, we are still always overshadowed by other Asian countries. This got me thinking about cultural expectations, what people expect or assume when you tell them that your South Korean. I guess this could relate to our discussion about Korean youth and their ethnic national pride, sort of embracing what Koreans are known to be. Anyone else have any interesting encounters with cultural expectations?

Reactions to "A State of Mind"

2007-11-28T15:51:00.000-05:00

While watching the fascinating documentary "A State of Mind," I became aware of how little I know about North Korea. Before seeing this film, I had no idea of the extent to which North Koreans are are brainwashed through CONSTANT propaganda (which is broadcast through their mandatory radios and their single television channel, in school, and through the ever present imagery of their "fathers" or "leaders," Kim Jong-il and the deceased Kim Il-sung. I was amazed to see the people of North Korea's manifestation of their communism through the incredibly elaborate dance shows performed during the Mass Games. I have NEVER before witnessed anything so precise and synchronized. Although Suk-Young Kim, in her essay "Springtime for Kim Il-sung" does not refer to the Mass Games directly (unless this event is part of the celebratory parades that she does discuss), she refers to several themes that are significant to examine in relation to the Mass Games that Hyon Sun Pak and Son Yun Kim prepare for so tirelessly.

Suk- Young Kim writes, "North Korean stage productions are dedicated to providing an accurate depiction of Pyongyang, while at the same time preoccupied with presenting the prescribed utopian vision of the North Korean capital...the overriding mission of every North Korean stage production is to simulate this ideal world as if it were already a part or reality, a phenomenon epitomized most conspicuously in revolutionary operas" (26).

Like these operas, the Mass Games gymnastic performances attempt to depict North Korea and its capital, Pyongyang. Although this depiction is not a representation of the physical city, it is one that strives to depict North Korean values. By performing so in sync as a group, with no solos or other moments of individual expression, these gymnasts are portraying the communist ideals of team work and unity. The Mass Games also serve, as phrased by Kim, to "...display an image of an invigorated North Korean economy to the outside world" (35). From watching the mesmerizing dances, one would never imagine North Korea to be a country plagued in recent years by severe famine. The dancers appear to be healthy and happy (they are constantly smiling!) The documentary "A State of Mind" reveals the opposite, by showing footage of the girls' grueling rehearsals- without gymnastic mats.. ouch, revealing comments made by the gymnasts about the amount of pain they are experiencing due to rehearsing, and by including interviews with Son Yun Kim's mother about the famine period.

Kim's statement, "Clearly the regime is more interested in staging a show than caring for its people," (35) is clearly seen in the this documentary. The most heartbreaking moment of the film was when it becomes known that Kim Jong-il did not attend the first Mass Games performance, nor did he attend any that occurred twice a day for almost a month. Although Hyon Sun Pak accepts his absence (for she believes he is attending to important business), it is a clear example of the misconceptions and false hopes that so many of North Korea's citizens have for their leaders.

Perspective of the Youth

2007-11-27T17:31:00.000-05:00

Sook-Jong Lee’s article “The Assertive Nationalism of South Korean Youth: Cultural Dynamism and Political Activism,” revealed a surprising generational gap between Koreans in their twenties and those older. While generational gaps are expected in any country, Lee’s article made Korea’s seem especially pronounced. I was surprised in particular by the different statistics on Koreans’ views on the US. I did not expect such a large difference, or inversion even, between the views of younger and older generations. I was also surprised at the level of negativity for Koreans in their twenties. Having now read about the impact that American culture has had on the youth of Korea, it was surprising to see the level of political disagreement (though it is understandable). Likewise, I was surprised that the older generation found the US so much more favorable.

How strong, then, is the connection between Hollywood and US pop culture and our foreign policy? Does disagreement with the government lead to backlash against American movies, music, and stars? We have read, for example, about the prohibition of Japanese culture following colonialism, but this was state-initiated. Since American doesn’t experience the same influx of foreign entertainment, it’s difficult for me to fathom how much a country’s politics impacts their cultural exports. Based on the statistics from the article, I would assume that among the younger generation there is a greater popularity of Korean movies and music compared to Hollywood products, but this is pure speculation.

Also, given the support for Korea’s unification among Koreans in their twenties, it seems that reunification may become more possible as this generation continues to age and gain gravitas within Korea’s political landscape. I’m unaware of the limitations in Korea regarding running for office, but again, as this generation ages it seems likely that their perspectives and values will shape Korea’s future policies. With Korea’s younger generation holding so many different views from the older generation, it will be interesting to see whether they keep these views in opposition to the older generation as they gain sway over the country.

Fascism Paints Its Own Face

2007-11-24T20:34:00.000-05:00

The article on The Cultural Politics of the Red Devils inspired me to think a lot about the spaces between voluntary patriotism and as Jeon and Yoon describe it, “fascism without a face” (Jeon & Yoon, p. 78). When people rally around any accomplishment of their country: be it a win in an Olympic decathlon, the invocation of a past tradition as was the case in Im Kwon-Taek’s Sopyonje, to what extent is that an appropriate display of nationalistic pride and at what point does it become an unhealthy manifestation of totalitarian ideology. The fact that an American wins a medal in swimming or figure skating at the Olympics hardly implies that I, myself, am a champion swimmer or skater, yet I still celebrate and feel proud at their achievement. Such pride is encouraged with the practice of singing national anthems at sports games. The question is: where does the individual person start and the national identity leave off?
It seems that victory in a contest against the Other is a rallying point that brings many people in a country together regardless or racial, religious, or cultural divides and clearly nationalism is to the benefit of any government trying to maintain its power. However, I found it intriguing that the authors emphasized that the Red Devils, although peaceful in their demonstrations, were hardly passive ‘Gookmin.’ Particularly in the instance of the female demonstrators, who came out of their houses clad in tight jeans and signature red t-shirts, flaunting their bodies and sexuality, “breaking down the traditional, moralistic code of ‘being Oriental girls’ (Jeon & Yoon, p. 81-82). Thus, the authors make the point that people can engage in nationalistic, semi-fascist displays while still maintaining autonomy over themselves.
The role of the media and educational institutions in the instillation of what I would term ‘soft totalitarianism’ is another issue that merits consideration. The intellectual theorist Noam Chomsky, for one, has been vocal about his belief that these two forces are more successful in the inculcation of ideology and fascism than are repressive regimes. Indeed, it seems that in the latter case, when people are aware of censorship they become incensed and resistance groups often form. However, the ostensible premise of freedom combined with the promises of capitalism leads to a media that can be bought, bribed, and intimidated without any actual violent force or coercion, meanwhile the common person, ignorant of this exchange, accepts the news they are served passively. Yet conversely, the article cites the activities of the Red Devils as a way for spectators to reject the passivity of television at home and become an active spectacle themselves (Jeon & Yoon, p. 81). Ultimately, it seems the line between personal autonomy and state-sponsored mass infatuation is a fine one.

Korea is #1!!!

2007-11-19T21:44:00.000-05:00

My brother sent me this and I think it is HILARIOUS! I hope that no one finds it offensive ... it immediately made me think of this class.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Ptyzc4BQliY

There is talk of the rivalry between Korea and Japan, nationalism, and "Koreaness." It's pretty ridiculous.

Arirang and Korean History

2007-11-15T10:03:00.001-05:00

Here are the links to SG Wannabe's Arirang MV (It's in 3 parts since it's over 20 minutes long... ^^;)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rd3yizwdAas
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eiwb-O-89z8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hMlbqF9kmQ

I've noticed that a few of Korean music videos are very long and aren't even "music videos" anymore. On the contrary, they look more like movie trailers or movies themselves. SG Wannabe's music video seems to be a prime example of this trend. I mean, it's twenty minutes long! Furthermore, there are breaks when the music does not even play, but goes into "movie-mode" where the actors will actually have a script to read. Actors are another thing--this particular music video actually features two actors, Ju-Hyun Ok and Bum-Soo Lee.

I think the music video allows the viewer to expand his/her understanding of the song. With just the song itself, I can make out a faint connection its original folk song counterpart with its emotion and the theme of a separation between two lovers. Watching the movie, however, I understand a strong sense of nationalism that I felt in Arirang songs such as the Gyeong-bok-gun Arirang along with the sorrow and grief of the Gin Arirang, for examples.

Also, from the music video, I feel a strong sense of dismay about the fact that Koreans are separated between North and South. The movie about General Yi also seemed to have this theme. Over the summer I watched a movie that had this same subject matter, called "Underground Rendez-vous" (만남의 광장). The movie tells the story
of a family that was separated by the North-South boundary. The film is packed with
comedy, the movie opens with a scene where the family actually helps the Russians
and Americans put up the barbed wire and fence, not knowing what was actually going on.
When finished with the work, the family on the "South" part of the fence calls
the family on the other side of the fence to come back to their side to go back home.
Of course, the Russians and Americans stop them as it is official that no one can
cross over the fence, now.

History is such an integral part of Korean culture that it dominates Korean film, music, and
other forms of pop culture media.

Here's a trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZGlfScwDag

EPAKSA

2007-11-14T16:04:00.000-05:00

Naotaka and I also had a really hard time imagining what a t'urot'u performance on a bus tour would be like. However, while meeting for our presentation preparation, we came across this video on YouTube and thought that you all might be surprised, and pretty entertained:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yoFtymTkZs

In Son's article, he writes: "The typical recording [of disco t'urot'u medley] here consists of ten to twelve similar t'urot'u songs laid over the same rhythmic accompaniment: that is, pseudo-disco" (63). Epaksa is a t'urot'u medley singer who was a highway bus-tour guide. This video shows Epaksa performing his disco t'urot'u medley. It starts off with Epaksa infront of a tour bus with a key board accompanist performing a very familiar song "YMCA" to Korean lyrics. The song then proceeds into another song, that is introduced with a picture of himself and the title of the new song.

As each new song is introduced, the video seems to become more and more crazy, which makes you wonder how and if this style "should be understood as a musical, metaphorical, and physical expression of the modern South Korean identity" (52) and if this performer and genre could be taken seriously. However, there are references to taxi cabs, busy streets, stands that sell cassettes, all places that Son referred to in his article that currently holds and plays t'urot'u music. Despite the silly character of Epaksa, it was surprising to read that he was signed by a major record company and his first mega cassette tape had sold more than 400,000 copies.

(by Naotaka and Young Ju)

Reinventing Tradition: T’urot’u and "Highway Star"

2007-11-14T14:32:00.000-05:00

I found this week's readings and audio samplings to be fascinating, and each piece was very much connected. A main theme running through all of the essays and music is the idea of "reinvented tradition" that is so prevalent to all of the texts in our class. T’urot’u, for example, is a music style that has been reinvented with each generation since its formation in the 1920s. Whether infused by the sounds of Japanese popular music or American rock, t’urot’u has been reinvented many times, and has been able to maintain some form of popularity in Korea. In "Regulating and Negotiating in t'urot'u, a Korean Popular Song Style," Ming-Jung Son writes, "t’urot’u has had different meanings and different sounds throughout history, and these have been negotiated within the relationships existing between the music, politics, and the public consciousness" (73).
I found the trend of t'urot’u bus performances during highway tours to be particularly interesting. Not only did this phenomenon reinvent and repopularize t’urot’u, but it also connected turot’u with pride and appreciation for the Korean landscape, which was once war torn and inaccessible for Koreans to see. By developing this association between t’urot’u with Korean landscape, t’urot’u became clearly established as a uniquely Korean art form, despite the outside influences that played a role in shaping this musical style.

The idea of performers singing t’urot’u and dancing up and down bus isles perplexed me, and I really wanted to see what this looked like. Unfortunately, I was unable to find any videos of this on the Internet, but I did come across a trailer that I find very interesting! Thus trailer is advertising a Korean film from 2007 titled "Highway Star." Here is the description I found of the film on global.yesasia.com:

Stuck in a small town, aspiring rocker Dal Ho (Cha Tae Hyun) makes a living reluctantly playing trot at local clubs. When small-time recording company head Jang (Lim Chae Moo) offers Dal Ho a contract, he eagerly grabs the opportunity, believing that his time has finally come. After he signs, however, Dal Ho discovers that he won't be rocking after all. Instead, he will be singing trot. Unable to back out of his contract, Dal Ho takes to the stage behind a mask to hide his embarrassment, and ends up an overnight sensation. The wannabe rocker seems to have found his true calling, but doing music he dislikes. With the help of Jang and a certain cute trot singer (Lee So Yeon), maybe he'll actually learn the passion of trot.

This film description provided me with information that I did not get from Ming-Jon Sun's essay. Although I realized from her reading that t’urot’u is associated with an older generation, I did not get the sense that this music is stigmatized as being "dorky," maybe in the same way that Americans of our generation find disco (no offense to disco lovers) ?

The trailer to this film can be found at this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oniAAqMVTVM. Although it is Korean without English subtitles, something major comes across- the background music is OPERA! It is Bizet’s Carmen. This is an example of opera being used in popular culture, and being taken out of the realm of being solely for the upper class. But why use this song in a Korean film trailer? Both opera and t’urot’u are cultural traditions that have been around for generations. Could it be that the filmmakers are suggesting that like opera, t’urot’u is associated with an older, (stuffier, stricter?) generation, but is possibly making a comeback? "Highway Star" is another example of t’urot’u being reinvented- now in the media of popular film. An entirely new generation will experience t’urot’u through this film. Similarly, the use of opera music in the trailer reinvents opera. It is not an art that is reserved for rich, white Americans, as it once was, but is now being exposed to Korean middle-class audiences.

Korean Pop Music

2007-11-13T12:34:00.000-05:00

One of the things I was immediately struck by while listening to all this music was the sampling of American recording artists. Seo Taiji Boys had some Flavor Flav/Public Enemy in their song and it sounded like one of the songs posted here by Drunken Tiger had some DMX in it. Crying Nut's music and melody also seemed to sound alot like old punk/The Ramones at times. I know we talk alot about globalization and importing vs. exporting culture, so it got me thinking why do so many people/groups emulate American artists? A perfect example would be the group Drunken Tiger, where did that gansta image come from, from America? Or did a similar stereotype of rappers being gansters already exist in Korea? Do Koreans recognize this as being a sampling of American-style rap (or music in general)?
I'm not sure if this is always true or still holds true today, but I believe that back in the 1990's and maybe early 2000's, bands were often "tested" in Asia, seeing what people liked and didn't like. So I can't help but wonder if this sort of created this imposing American influence that still hangs over Korean pop music. Do you think Korea will ever be able to export its own version of music that'll become popular elsewhere? I also wonder why exactly doesn't Korean music become popular in America, it can't simply be a language barrier because lyrics can be translated. Maybe if Korea is always following suit, it'll always seem like old news in America, seeing how fickle music and pop culture can be...?
A final question I had while reading "Exploding Ballads" was, how come trends go global? For example, in the reading they talked about how ballads were so popular in the 80's, which seemed really similar to rock ballads by hair bands in the 1980's in America. So which came first, American ballads or Korean ballads? And what does it mean from one country's music to emulate another? (My guess is American ballads came first and was later copied by everyone). I guess this ties into our sort of on-going discussion about globalism and how we import or export certain cultural items and why doesn't Korea export more of its music to America.

I'm A Cyborg, But That's Ok

2007-11-12T16:31:00.001-05:00

I recently watched the Korean film "I'm a Cyborg, But That's Ok," a film by popular Korean director Park Chan-Wook and starring the pop star Rain. This movie was interesting because it is more in the vein of artsy directors like Michel Gondry(Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) and Jean-Pierre Jeunet(Amelie), in contrast to historically based movies we have watched. "I'm A Cyborg.." does not really have historical, nationalist, or political themes in it. I believe that the experiemental nature of the film made it less accessible to the Korean population - this is proved by it's relatively poor showing at the Korean box office. While Rain and the director make it a talked-about film in Korea, I wonder whether the movie was more intended for the artsy international audience that our readings have brought up. The movie made the festival rounds and had good critiques, including one in the New York Times.

While the film was not the typical romantic comedy or historically based drama seen in Korea, the inclusion of Rain and the overtones of filial piety made it more characteristic of a Korean product. The main character's problems stem from her sense of duty to her grandmother, which is very reminiscent of traditional Korean values. While other relatives seem to neglect the mentally ill grandmother, the grandaughter is distraught that she cannot help her grandmother. I believe that had this been a movie made in the US, it seems much more likely that the main character would be fixated on a lover or sibling, rather than have that deep sense of connection to a grandparent.
Second, I found Rain's participation in the movie fascinating, because it vears so far from his usual arena. In "Full House", for example, Rain played a pop star, and as is common for singers turned actors, the acting wasn't a great stretch. For "I'm A Cyborg" though, Rain somewhat alienates his audience, because the movie isn't straightforward, and Rain's character is psychologically complex. However, I found it interesting that the movie still featured Rain as an entertainer, because he does sing in one scene (perhaps in a kind of fan service).

Overall, I found "I'm A Cyborg, But That's Ok" to be a great look at what a more experimental Korean film looks like. It doesn't have the characteristics of a blockbuster, and yet shows the talents of a famed director and pop star. I believe it's the kind of movie that is meant for an international audience while at the same time maintaining strong Korean characteristics.

P.S. (The movie is availible on YouTube in clips if anyone's interested)

some music links

2007-11-11T15:56:00.000-05:00

I'm sure a lot of people are already familiar with Epik High and Drunken Tiger, but I thought I'd post some links to songs anyway.

Epik High - Fly

Drunken Tiger - Good Life

Epik High - Love Love Love

There's a few similarities between Epik High and the Japanese group, m-flo.

m-flo - Astrosexy

Anyone got any other bands?

My Delightful Girl Chun-Hyang

2007-11-01T03:49:00.000-04:00

Yesterday afternoon I had some free time during my lunch hour and decided to watch a little of the drama My Delightful Girl Chun-Hyang. I already knew a little about the drama from wikipedia and friends who had already watched it, so the beginning sequence threw me off. The beginning sequence showed the setting to be a historical one, and at a very dramatic part of the Chung-Hyang story - where she is about to be killed for her actions. However, unlike Im Kwon-Taek's Ch'unghyang, the actions in this historical sequence are extremely caricatured and melodramatic. Instead of being realistic and seriously portrayed, Myong Ryong's cronies are flying kung-fu masters who leap over walls in an unrealistic manner. In this way, the drama has more similarities with CLAMP's Chun-Hyang in that the action is very fantasy-oriented and unrealistic.

As the episode progressed, it was clear that the drama wasn't a historical one at all, and actually based in the modern world. I don't know why the producers decided to have the historical sequence be a lead-in to a modern day teen drama, but I can guess. They might have wanted to emphasize the cultural importance of the Chun-hyang character, that she wasn't just another run-of-the-mill protagonist. It actually reminded me a lot of chapter seven in High Pop, "Film, Fidelity, and Literature", because it was so much like the many film examples cited in that chapter, such as 10 Things I Hate About You. Chun-hyang is an old legend and was adapted to modern-day settings to draw younger audiences in and to make Chun-Hyang that generation's "own" legend, regardless of the drama's fidelity to the original tale's plot and purpose.

I noted some more similarities between this Chun-Hyang tale and the other two we have studied in class. Like in Im Kwon-Taek's Ch'unghyang, Chun-Hyang and her mother are considered visibly lower class. Her mom is an entertainer in various nightclubs, which resonates strongly with the kisaeng role. Like in the CLAMP manga, this Chun-Hyang is a feisty, hot-tempered girl who is fiercely against "perverts". Early on in the episode, Chun-Hyang gets into a conflict with Myong Rong over being a pervert and taking inappropriate pictures of her. This misunderstanding leads to a mutual dislike, which is perhaps similar to the beginning of Im Kwon-Taek's movie.

Unfortunately, I only got to watch one episode of the series, so I don't know if they continue with the historical lead-in sequences in other episodes, or if there are any traditional themes "reinvented" in the drama.

If anyone is interested in watching this drama, you can find it here.

Chun Hyang and the Stereotype of Women

2007-10-31T10:18:00.000-04:00

The legend of Chun Hyang is a story of a commoner named Chun Hyang that attracted the attention of a yang bang’s son, Mong Ryong. During Mong Ryong’s quest for Chun Hyang, they fell in love. However, Mong Ryong had to go away for three years to study for his scholarly test, promising Chun Hyang he would come back and telling her to wait for him. During his time away though, a new tyrannical yang ban came to reside in town. He desired Chun Hyang but Chun Hyang refused him repeatedly which resulted in her sentence to prison.
Chun Hyang is a renowned tale in Korean society, where a woman is made famous and celebrated because of her unwavering loyalty to her husband and unwaveringly honoring her marriage. Chun Hyang is viewed as a great woman figure that is looked up to and glorified. Why is this? Perhaps this is because Chun Hyang reflects Korean society’s value in women. While it is great for a man to be a famous war hero like Yi Sunsin and dedicate and sacrifice his life for his country, in comparison it is considered great for a woman to remain loyal to her husband and honor her marriage unconditionally.
This reflects the stereotype of women in general. Traditionally women are solely supposed to be wives and mothers; their dedication is to be to their family. Korean Society’s stereotypical view of women is portrayed through the legend of Chun Hyang. This legend which reflects a traditional view of women originates from a long time ago in history. Nonetheless, this legend is still popular and used frequently in media. Why is this so? Why does a legend that is old fashioned and stereotypical still hold a large popularity? Does the continuous use of the legend of Chun Hyang mirror modern Korean society and perhaps imply that modern Korean society still thinks of women in a traditional stereotype?

Challenging Channeling the Inner Feminist

2007-10-30T21:58:00.000-04:00

Although llankhof makes some good points I would like to clarify some things and defend Chunhyang as an independent female hero.
First off the "independent woman is not one who just has power, but also knows how to deal with that power and with her own emotions as well" is a tall order to ask of any woman at all times let alone a fourteen year old.
Could it be that Chunhyang, like you pointed out is only fourteen years old and does have the emotional issues of most fourteen year old girls. She is a wonderful role model for younger girls because of her wit and how she stands up for what she believes in. It is true that she is a bit immature with her emotions, but that makes her more relateable to a young girl. The point made about her physical ability is, I believe, shed under the wrong light. In the first chapter of the manga it shows a girl who took revenge by killing the man (the yang ban) responsible for her mother's death. Later on in the manga it shows her as a young child fighting with imperial guards for freedom (of using a playground, but it is freedom nonetheless). This girl is an independent girl who is out traveling, has power, and has some emotional issues but is strong and consistent in her beliefs and morals.
The Yang ban woman that took over a town with the help of her Mudang is not very strong physically. While this is true, the Yang ban has emotional control over her Mudang which I'm assuming is her lover as well as her personal warrior. I do not agree with taking complete control over a man, but the yang ban manages to do exactly that. She is not independent in the sense that she can do it all on her own, but she takes control and does what she needs to do. She's a woman in control. She not only has great control over her own emotions but the emotions of a man who does her ever will. (Besides the points made before, I feel like this whole issue of the female Yang ban not being an independent woman, as defined by llankhof, does not really matter because she is the villain and not the hero or role model to be followed.)
ChunHyang's mother is least emotionally weak of all. It is true that she kills herself, but that is not because she could not defend herself from the Yang ban, but because it was the last thing she could do to preserve her beliefs and the safety of others.
The manga Legend of Chung Hyang portrays multiple women who are independent both physically and emotionally who are perfect role models for the girls reading the mangas.

Similarities Between "Sassy Girl Chun Hyang" and "Goong"

2007-10-30T19:35:00.000-04:00

Although the television show “Sassy Girl Chun Hyang” is based on a fairy tale and “Goong” is based on the popular manhwa by Park So Hee, I found many similarities between the two when I watched at least one episode of each. This lead me to believe that many Korean TV dramas, or at least the ones directed at teen girls, are very similarly formulated.

“Sassy Girl Chun Hyang” is based on “The Song of a Faithful Wife, Ch’unhyang” in the same way that the American movie “Clueless” is based on Jane Austin’s Emma-- that is, very loosely and in a modern sense. “Sassy Girl Chun Hyang” takes place in modern day Korea and the main character is a fashionable, fun-loving teenage girl. High school plays a large role in the series, as do her friends and boys. Everybody has already seen the first episode of “Goong”, but I will sum up “Sassy Girl Chun Hyang” for anyone who hasn’t seen it.

Chun Hyang is a very smart high school-aged girl living with her single mom (her dad is dead) who has trouble paying the bills. One day she jumps over a high wall into a local garden and lands on top of Mong-ryong, the rich son of a police officer who just moved to town. He accidentally takes a picture up her skirt with his cellphone so she breaks it by stomping on it. He steals her phone in revenge, and that is the start of one bad interaction after another until they both hate each other. Then it turns out that he is in her class at school, and all her female classmates think he’s very attractive. One night Chun Hyang is sick and her mother has to go out for the night, so Chun Hyang’s friends Dan-Hee and Ji-hyuk come over, and Mong-ryong, who is good friends with Ji-hyuk, tags along. Mong-ryong ends up drinking an entire container of what he thinks is juice but what is really plum wine, and becomes very drunk. He falls asleep outside in a corner and Dan-Hee and Jo-hyuk leave, thinking Mong-ryong has left before them. During the night he gets cold and crawls into the house, strips down to his boxers, and crawls into Chun Hyang’s bed and under her blanket. She is still sick and asleep and doesn’t realize he is there until her mom returns in the morning and finds them sleeping there. Their parents don’t want to be dishonored, and Chun Hyang and her mom can’t move away because her mom would have to find a new job and Chun Hyang would not be able to keep her place at Hanbok University. So Mong-ryong’s parents and Chun Hyang’s mom decide that their kids will get married even though they are still in school. That way Chun Hyang will be able to go to the university, and Mong-ryong’s dad is convinced that she will transform his slacker son into a respectable man.

As you can see, this story line is similar to “Goong” in many ways. A fashionable, funny, cute yet strong-willed teenage girl who wants to be a clothing/accessories designer is the main character. She and a rich, handsome teenage boy meet accidentally numerous times through a series of incidents and soon begin to hate each other. Then their parents announce that they must get married and the girl must move into the boy’s house, even though it is modern day and they are still in high school. In both stories the girl’s mother or parents have trouble paying the bills and making ends meet. I think these stories play into the theme that we discussed in class a while ago, the “every girl/woman’s fantasy”, where a poor but intelligent girl gets married to a rich and handsome man, and although they hate each other at first, they end up falling in the love and living happily ever after. Since all of these “teenage love” shows are turning out to be so popular, it really must be something that many Korean women are interested in. Why is this type of show so popular in Korea, yet we have little or nothing (I don’t think-- I don’t know much about popular TV shows in the US) of that genre in the United States? If TV producers here tried to make a modern TV drama out of Cinderella or some other fairy tale, would people be interested?

Male Femininity and Female Dominance

2007-10-29T20:43:00.001-04:00

Korea seems to have begun a new trend where stereotypical gender roles have been swapped. Korean men who were previously viewed as the typical "macho" man (i.e. strong masculine features, number one in the househould, the family's "moneymaker", somewhat emotionally indifferent, etc.) are now beginning to focus on the latest fashion trends (metrosexuality), and sharing the work in households with their wives; these were traits in men that Korean society had previously labeled unnacceptable a couple years back. Similar "backward" trends can be observed in contemporary women. Women of Korea are no longer excpected to be the fragile, innocent individual obiding by their husband's rules and needs before their own. Women can now be strong, independent, high-powered career women without being considered too "masculine". It has also become more lenient as to what age women are to be married; women can also choose whether they want to marry or not a little more freely than in the past. But why is there this great forward movement in Korean culture?

This might be a bit of a stretch, but I believe this trend is due to Korea's efforts in globalization. Koreans might believe that following the trends of other powerful nations could keep their nation considered just as successful. Korean male teens have begun following high fashion trends of American or European apparel, wearing what westerners might wear, like the "skinny jeans": http://image.auction.co.kr/itemimage/017/27/96/0172796192.gif. There are also numerous fashion magazines now dedicated for men, as well as women. Women are also no longer restricted from working as well as housekeeping. Just out of personal experience, my mother's friend is a professor, and another is an insurance agent. They are actually admired, not discriminated against, for being able to keep two jobs: being a wife/a mother, as well as keeping their current occupation in the work field.

However, as much as Korea may be progressing towards change, the population is still wary and cautious. The men still "...worry about what those around them might think"* if they were to act more like a housewife than a business man, as is expected of him. Also, if I remember correctly, Chae-Gyung's parents (from the drama "Goong"), who have reversed roles in the household, were quite poor and amongst the lower class. Could this be suggesting something to the public? For instance, could this mean that Korea isn't quite ready to completely accept the idea of reversible gender roles ("androgynous", as Chosunilbo describes the matter)?

*This is the article I found the quote in, if anyone is interested: http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200412/200412260015.html

Channeling the Inner Feminist – Manwha & Manga

2007-10-29T00:21:00.000-04:00

Something that bothers me the most about romantic manhwa and manga is the way the “strong female” is presented. Not because I have a problem with there being strong females, but because no matter how “strong” the female is, she is portrayed as emotionally weak and unstable underneath it all.
The reason I bring this up is because of Clamp’s “The Legend of Chunhyang.” While this piece may seem to portray women in a positive light, there is something that really bothers me about the story. It just seems to me that, even though the women are so seemingly independent, the men often become the dominant figure in the end. Clamp’s Chunhyang is young and high-spirited, but is only really able to channel her emotions through violence. I know the violence is essentially there for comic relief, but I find it all extremely annoying. I realize I’m asking a lot of a thirteen-year-old girl, but it really bothers me that women are often portrayed as emotionally unstable and immature. Chunhyang can deal with matters easily when the right and the wrong are so obviously defined, but when it comes to confusing emotional matters she either breaks down or kicks somebody or both. Not exactly what I would call a role model. Not to mention that when it really comes down to a trial of emotional and physical strength, the Am-Hang-Osa has to help her out. Chunhyang is not the only case of this in the comic, either. The female Yang Ban in the second scene seems like an independent (albeit a bit corrupt) woman, but in reality she can’t really do anything without her male Mudan. This can be seen in the scene where Chunhyang and the Am-Hang-Osa confront her after defeating her Mudan. She calls for him, and when they tell her that he is no longer there for her, she breaks down. Again, not my idea of an independent female.
I think I feel this way because my idea of an independent woman is not one who just has power, but also knows how to deal with that power and with her own emotions as well. Ninety-nine percent of the time, the leads in romantic comics don’t know how to do any of that and they come off as blubbering, whiny, violent and apparently “cute” and it just frustrates me to no end.

Globalization vs. Nationalism

2007-10-28T19:36:00.000-04:00

We discussed the two ideas of nationalism and globalism in previous classes and I was glad to find a few articles in the news that somewhat demonstrated these ideas. The first article I read discussed the rise of imports with the simultaneous decrease in exports and of the Korean “Hallyu” Wave. Over the past few years, there has been a significant spreading of the Korean culture through various goods and other representations of the Korean pop culture such as soap operas, television dramas, and popular music, which later on extended into films, computer games, musicals, and sports.

However, despite the spread Hallyu Wave in the previous years, it seems as though nowadays, the imports from other countries are more noticeable than the exports going out. American TV shows such as “Sex in the City” and “Prison Break” have also become big hits in Korea, as well as Japanese dramas like “Nodame Cantabile” and other Japanese music. Globalization seems to be occurring more so in Korea, rather than the spread of Korean culture into other outside countries.

Another article described the growing emphasis that is being placed on the English language in the education system in Korea. The demand for English is high and so children are being taught the language beginning at elementary schools. In addition, some forms of the English study comes at a cost whether it is through private school tuitions and the money it takes to attend tutoring sessions after school (hakwon). This importance placed on the English language is due to Korea’s eagerness to “conduct business” in the global market. It has come to the point where fluency in English is now often required for jobs. This could perhaps show globalism of the Western culture into Korea.

In the final article I read “The nation’s profile is changing”, it introduced a man named Syedanjum Hussain, who faced discrimination in the workplace and society due to his skin color. Hussain, a Pakistani man married a Korean woman. As a result, he was fired by the owner of the factory where he had been working. Cho Won-Ki, the secretary general of the Korean Migrant Worker Welfare Society described discrimination as being the result of “deep-rooted pride Koreans have in their racially homogeneous nation”. It was also noted in a magazine that Koreans often use the term “pure-blood” to describe their nation. The mixing of cultures in the future seems inevitable, but with these notions of “pure-blood” that still remains in Korea, how far could globalization go? Also, can there be globalization of Korean culture out into the outside world without the globalization and integration of the outside world into Korea? Or, can nationalism and globalism coexist together and if so, how would that balance be maintained?

Kayageum vs Beatbox

2007-10-28T01:18:00.000-04:00

I was browsing around some Korean commercials, and came across a particularly interesting one promoting some Daelim (a company name) Korean apartments called "e-pyunhan-saesang".

This is the link if anyone's interested in watching; it's only 3~4 minutes long, so it won't take up much time!:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtaMH9d3B2Q

I found it intriguing that several women were playing their "kayageum", a traditional Korean intstrument, to the sound of beatboxing and DJ record scratching. The kayageum vs beatbox, traditional vs new. It was also interesting to see that the women playing their kayageums were all in a more traditional black uniform, while the hip-hoppers were in a more casual outfit. It was as though not only their instruments, but also their styles of practice and living were fused together in one commercial. Once again, I thought of the matter of simultaneous nationalism and globalization.

This reminded me of something that Gi-Wook Shin stated in his article, "The Paradox of Korean Globalization". Shin stated that, "...English is considered the necessary means to secure Korea's position as a first-rate world nation... all of the school's courses, except Korean language and history, are taught in English. KMLA (Korean Minjok Leadership Academy) stongly emphasizes the cirriculum aimed at enhancing Korean national identity."(Shin, 5). I know we discussed this a number of times in class, but I wanted to expand on this a little more. Korea is so keen on saving its traditional values, but at the same time is equally keen in keeping the nation just as developed as other countries. Like in KMLA or the kayageum vs beatbox commercial, they try to blend together two large concepts that, as Shin's title suggests, creates a great paradox.

I understand Shin believed that globalization and nationalism are not paradoxical, but in fact "compatible". However, I still don't understand how a nation could thrive with both concepts so strongly in mind. Wouldn't the population lean a little more towards one or the other? According to Shin's statistics, I found that the majority of Korea appears to lean towards nationalistic ideas. For instance, more of the population in Korea could not use computers skillfully (something that could arguably be considered a more recently developed task, and not much of a "traditional" task). Also, although most agreed that English should be the second language of Korea, most everyone would defaintely agree that English should not replace Korean (Shin, 14&18).

In conclusion, this brings up another thought in my mind. Perhaps Korea isn't trying to blend globalization and nationalism together. Maybe they're actually trying to buffer the globalization, which inevitably occurs within every country, with some nationalistic ideas. Maybe the commercial attracted so much attention because the director found a way to incorporate more recent trends of hip-hop and breakdancing with the traditional ways of the kayageum.

Any thoughts?

Goong: A Fairy Tale for All

2007-10-26T23:11:00.000-04:00

Soo Hee Park’s manga, The Royal Palace Goong, portrays a young girl who obtains a twisted fairy tale in real life. Goong is about how a high school girl must marry the crowned prince of Korea. Crowned prince of Korea? This may sound a bit awkward for Korea, today, has a republic, not a monarchy. However, Park spins a tale of fantasy where an everyday girl has a chance to become royalty. The main character, Shin Chae Kyung, finds out in her senior year of high school that she must marry the rude crowned prince, Lee Shin, who also attends her high school. At first she downright refuses for she overhears him proposing to another girl and she also realizes that he has a repulsive personality. However, after realizing that her family is in a swirling amount of debt, she agrees to marry the prince. Then what about the prince? Doesn’t he like another girl? However, the prince also agrees to marry her for he states, “Why would I subject a girl I like to a life living like a doll in the palace?” Chae Kyung replies, “What about me?” Shin then answers by saying nonchalantly that he agreed to this marriage for he doesn’t care about her. The story progresses from there. The wedding is set and Chae Kyung is to become the next royal princess of Korea by marriage. This manga created a huge sensation in all of Korea, it appealed to not the typical young girl, but also to adults, even grandparents. I believe that this manga appealed to such a variety of ages for it appeals to the aspect of a normal, everyday girl experiencing a fairy tale of where she becomes a princess, just like Cinderella. However, this storyline possesses a twist, for where this is not a marriage out of love. It is a symbiotic relationship in which marriage will give both characters a source of benefit. Chae Kyung’s family will no longer be in debt. Prince Shin will obtain a wife who he does not care about in the least, but will be protecting the girl he likes and at the same time, preserve the royal bloodline for the generations to come. However, though this marriage is first spun out of complete apathy for one another, involving no romantic feelings, their relationship begins to blossom as they both realize that there is much more underneath than what meets the eye.

Chun Hyang: Im Kwon Taek vs. Clamp

2007-10-26T20:52:00.001-04:00

Unlike, Im Kwon Taek’s movie, Chun Hyang, Clamp’s manga, Legend of Chun Hyang, portrays Chun Hyang as a woman and heroine of strong independence and skill. In Im Kwon Taek’s movie, Chun Hyang, she is portrayed as a passive and docile woman, who only stands up for herself when she must preserve the dignity of her husband. However, within Clamp’s version of Chun Hyang, she is an extremely independent woman, who does not ever depend on men. She possesses extreme martial arts skills that frequently defeat men in combat. She is almost so strong-willed to the point of being frequently “violent.” For instance, Mong Ryung, her “companion,” would always say, “I keep asking you, if you’re going to use violence, you really have to warn me” (Clamp 95). I believe that these two differ extremely as a result of the difference in time period and target audience. By Im Kwon Taek staying true to the folk tale of Chun Hyang, he portrays the tale within the time period of the 18th century. During this time period, Korean women were very subservient to men for Korean was predominantly patriarchal society. I believe that Im Kwon Taek did not have a specific target audience. I believe that he tried to appeal to the older and younger generation. By creating a historical drama, it would tend to appeal to the older generation. However, by also incorporating teenagers as the main characters, it would also attract the younger generation. Clamp is a manga that targets young girls, such as teenagers. If Clamp stayed true to the original Chun Hyang, a person who tends to be very docile and subservient would not appeal to young girls. Therefore, they create a drastic change in Chun Hyang’s personality. She is a fighter who is very independent. She is a heroine who defeats evil with good and avenges her mother’s death. Also, she frequently rescues the villagers from the tyrannical rule of the yang-ban, a person sent by the government who is to become ruler of that certain location. I believe that it is these characteristics that appeal to young girls and make Clamp so successful, for it is the ideal idea of independence from men that is so alluring, for the majority of societies today are mainly patriarchal.

Keeping the Culture Alive

2007-10-26T00:11:00.000-04:00

Up to this point, many of the blogs posted thus far have dealt with matters, theories, and topics that we have studied in class and read in the books. Therefore, I thought it’d be interesting to share with a post that is a little different. What is happening today in the Korean news? What is the culture like today? As I was browsing the news, I was surprised to discover a number of articles that were relevant to the things we discussed in class.

In the first article I read was titled “A Life Dedicated to Pansori”. I immediately noted the “pansori” in the title and so I was drawn into the article. The article followed a woman named Ahn Sook-sun, who committed her life to practicing and perfecting pansori beginning from the age of nine. The article about Ahn Sook-sun depicted her immense love for the art of pansori. The article listed the extensive music al background which Ahn Sook-sun came from, which included a second cousin, who played the daegeum, an uncle who mastered dongpyeonje, as well as an aunt who mastered gayageum. The article also described the enormous amount of practice that Ahn Sook-sun undertook. In order to perfect the sound of Korean classical music, Ahn Sook-sun took extreme measures. She recalls memories of practicing so much until the point where even her physical well-being was in jeopardy. Ahn dropped to a mere 39 kilograms (about 86 pounds) and at her first encounter with the gagayeum, Ahn played until her fingers bled.

In another article that was posted on joongangdaily.com,I read about a man named Kwon Moo-suk who had also dedicated himself to a practice: Korean archery, also known as gakgung. Similarly to Ahn, Kwon grew up with a background in gakgung. Kwon is part of the 17^th generation of a bow-making family. However, Kwon is different from Ahn in that he did not plan on doing gakgung; gakgung was not his original passion and he refused to learn the skill at a young age. Kwon held a job as a government official before he dedicated his life to gakgung. Kwon decided to give up his former life as a government official when his brother announced at a family gathering that he would be the last bow-maker in the family since his children refused to learn the skill of bow-making. What is most notable and admirable in these two articles is Ahn and Kwon’s extreme dedication and commitment to their art. Ahn expressed that she “felt as if the sky had fallen in if I wasted just one hour without practicing pansori”. Kwon, too, demonstrates great dedication by the act of giving up his previous life and job.

One thing I noticed through the articles about the lives of Ahn Sook-sun and Kwon Moo-suk was the fact that long-established traditions like pansori, other forms of Korean classical/traditional music, and gakgung, were kept alive by the passing them down through the family line. (This could perhaps be correlate with the scene of Im Kwon Taek’s Sopyonje where the father is critiquing and training his children in the ways of Korean traditional music.) We can see that any tradition can be a vital aspect of a country’s identity and so, it is certainly crucial to keep these traditions alive and well, the way Ahn and Kwon clearly have done. Their efforts have paid off. Various aspects of traditional culture and tradition can be spot in the news and media. An example of this could be seen in the obvious fact that articles have been written to highlight the lives of Ahn and Kwon. This could be considered as proof that there is appreciation and respect for Korean culture and tradition, as well as to those who have kept it alive throughout history. We can also see Korean culture alive and well through the various renditions of Chun H’yang seen on TV dramas and through plays, numerous renditions of the life of Lee Sun Sin in a countless number of books, and mangas and dramas about the fantastical life of the royal family.

(I have no idea...how it got this long. Sorry guys)

Pop Culture Establishing a New Reality

2007-10-24T16:25:00.000-04:00

I recently came across an article entitled, "Blood Type B Unlucky for would-be Korean Romeos," written by Jon Herskovitz, revealing that men with B blood types are being discriminated against in the dating scene in South Korea. Lee Sung-san, a 24-year old South Korean male with a B-blood type says, " 'I have had women tell me flat out they don't date blood type-B guys. They say we are selfish and hot-headed' " (Herskovitz).
In Korea and many other Asian countries, one's blood type is thought to reveal something about one's personality and the compatibility between two people. For example, people who have type-B blood are considered "goal oriented and strong minded individualists" and are compatible with other type-Bs or type-ABs. This phenomenon of blood-typing personalities is said to have originated in Japan in the early 20th century. However, it is only recently that that Type-B men are being discriminated against. In his article, Jon Herskovitz places blame for this new trend on Korean popular culture where Type-B men are portrayed as selfish, fickle and absolutely useless as caring and devoted boyfriends. They are seen as the "bad boys"--fun, but not suitable for long term commitments.
Kim Nang's book, "Dating a Type-B Man" is a guide for women of all blood-types on how to deal with the "pitfalls and pleasures of striking up relationships with type-B men." The 2004 song "Type-B Men," sung by Kim Hyun-jung, is about a woman who has a boyfriend with blood type B. From the lyrics, one concludes that Type-B men are "quick to get angry and quick to make up, but in the end, they will break your heart." The 2005 movie, "B-Hyeong Namja Chingu" or "My Boyfriend is Type-B" is a romantic comedy in which a Type-A woman and a Type-B man "meet by accident after a row over him ruining her cellphone. She believes they were destined to meet, but the problem is, he has blood-type B, making him spontaneous and emotional but unreliable" (www.imdb.com/title/tt0452972) .
Although the correlation between one's blood type and personality has been disproved, many still believe in the validity of this practice. This lead me to question, how can popular culture override a proven fact?
I think this could be explained by Dominic Strinati's "An Introduction to the Theories of Popular Culture." The mass consumerism of the book "Dating a Type-B Man," the movie, "My Boyfriend is Type-B," and the song, "Type-B Men" shows their appeal to the mass culture, which "celebrates trivial, sentimental, immediate, and false pleasures . . . preferring the undemanding ease of fantasy and escapism" (Strinati 14). This phenomenon also falls under Strinati's theory of postmodernism, where popular culture and mass media, ". . . govern and shape all other forms of social relationships" (Strinati 224). The reality of how we define ourselves and the world around us can become distorted through how the masses perceive the reality presented to us through popular culture (Strinati 224). Essentially, these forms of popular culture have shaped their view of male B-blood types and seems to have strengthened the idea of the blood-type personality theory into the consciousness of South Koreans.

Thoughts?

You can find the article at http://www.natashatynes.org/newswire/2005/04/blood_type_b_un.html

Heaven's Soldiers 2

2007-10-24T14:28:00.000-04:00

As I watched “Heaven’s Soldiers” I was reminded of some of the material we read earlier this semester. In “The Past Within Us”, the author mentions “in Southeast Asia, the start of the twenty-first century has seen a boom in the popularity of movies depicting formative moments in national history,” while Thai historian Charnwit Kasetsiri states that there is “mass public enthusiasm for these popular representations of historical consciousness”. While Lee Soon Shin is not a formative moment in Korean history, he is a famous historical figure and thus “Heaven’s Soldiers” plays into this new wave of Korean films. As Jim Collins puts it in the introduction to High-Pop, it is “making culture into popular entertainment”.

As Malika mentioned, there is also the idea of national identity and national pride, and I think “Heaven’s Soldiers” has plenty of that as well. Lee Soon Shin is a national hero and by bringing him to a popular film and therefore a younger generation, his story continues to be passed on, but in a way that teenagers would probably find more interesting than a textbook reading in school. It is made additionally entertaining by the spin on the movie, where the viewers are seeing Lee Soon Shin before he is famous and when there is a possibility that he may never be, based on the interactions between him and the time-travelers from the future. However, the director does not take for granted that all viewers of the film would already know the story of Lee Soon Shin, as you can tell from some of the script (such as when the character says his name, that he did not pass the military test, etc. and the modern-day characters dramatically gasp and exclaim, “Lee Soon Shin has that family name and did not pass his military test either!” for the viewers who don’t know that already and might be so slow that they haven’t guessed it yet.) Or perhaps they are just putting lots of emphasis on the historical details so it is really drilled into the heads of the audience.

That being said, I think it would be interesting to look at the gender roles in this film. From my point of view the only woman in the movie was a comical character based on her actions and expressions and was kind of whiney, although she was also the smart one who figures out when the comet will return. I feel like the men, on the other hand, have a sort of male honor and bravery thing going on where in the end they all return to fight with Lee Soon Shin and die in a spectacular battle against evil. Any thoughts?

Heaven's Soldiers

2007-10-24T00:44:00.000-04:00

Watching Heaven's Soldiers was an interesting insight into the Korean perception (though I'm not rushing to assume that all Koreans think this way) of Korea: North Korea, South Korea, and Korea as a united country.

The North Koreans in this movie were often portrayed as sometimes blind, but staunch and admirable followers of their leader (as exemplified by one of the North Koreans' ignorance of who Lee Soon-Shin was), whereas the South Koreans are portrayed as more friendly and humane. For instance, when the North Korean leader is attempting to weasel out the information from Lee Soon-Shin, they were clearly going to use violence, whereas the South Korean leader steps in and uses more humane tactics to persuade Lee. However, in the end, they all ended up fighting and dying together, which perhaps shows the underlying desire of "all" Koreans to finally have a united Korea.

Another thing I realized after watching the film was how nationalism is passed on to newer generations. Throughout the film I found myself laughing at many parts, and was often confused by the genre switching - from a war film to sci-fi to comedy and back to a war film again, but I enjoyed the experience. There wasn't any point in the film where I felt that I was watching a documentary or something "educational" - it felt like pure entertainment to me. However, I did feel a very strong sense of nationalism/pride emanating from the movie. If nothing else, I could at least understand that Lee Soon-Shin was a national hero who symbolized a united and strong Korea against a powerful and intimidating enemy. The director utilizes pop culture in order to inspire a new generation to be proud and fond of this legendary figure and to make him their "own" Korean hero - instead of him being an unreachable, detached figure in the distant past.

What do you guys feel about the images portrayed in Heaven's Soldiers? Or how nationalistic pride was shown in the movie?

Korea's Image of Women: Endurers of Suffering?

2007-10-17T15:39:00.001-04:00

I found an interesting correlation between the portrayals of women in the forms of Korean media we have studied thus far. It's pretty neat because it seems so different from what one would expect of a Korean (or any culture's) image of women… As the article on Feminism focused on "how and why popular culture and the mass media have dealt with women and their representations in an unfair, unjust and exploitative manner" (Strinati, 160), one might think of the usual stereotypes—domesticated house wife, dependent on males, helpless, weak, their bodies depicted as objects, etc.—of women. It's amazing, however, that I did not necessarily find these stereotypes as apparent in Chun-Hyang, Goong, and Soppyonje.

I was first struck by CLAMP's comic book rendering of the story of Chun-Hyang. The yang-ban’s son says "She may be the honorable mudang of koriyo, Wall Mae… but she is still just a woman" (CLAMP, 48), an obviously sexist thing to say. Immediately I thought, 'Is this the image of women in Japanese or Korean society?' But I came to realize that there was a whole different image contradicting this. An obvious side is how Chun-Hyang is illustrated as defying all cultural or stereotypical norms of a girl—being rambunctious, outspoken, daring, and independent… but that may have just been the comic book version of the story. From what I know of the "actual" (I don't know if there even is an "actual" story, hence the quotation marks, since I know so many different version of the story exist… so correct me if I'm wrong but…) tale, Chun-Hyang is forced to endure a lot of pain and suffering for choosing the "righteous" path—that is, remaining loyal to Mong-Ryong despite his absence and despite the temptations presented to her by the other government official. Also presented (in CLAMP's version of the story) is a parallel theme within Chun-Hyang's mother; despite the death of Chun-Hyang's father, Chun-Hyang's mother chooses to remain chaste, preferring suicide over remarriage.
Anyways, what I'm trying to get at is that there is this ongoing image of women and how they, throughout history, have had to endure much suffering (' han'?). More than having a typical sexist view of women as inferior, I find that a lot of the Korean media we have looked at in this course have, on the contrary, revered women for their strength and endurance of the sufferings and oppressions they have faced.

Look at another example, Goong. We have already discussed the element of self-sacrifice evident in the main heroine's decision to marry the prince, against her will, for the benefit of her family. This image of the female character is more respectable, than degrading (despite her having to live a "domestic" life in the palace or, in the drama's case, give up her dream of becoming a fashion designer).

Im Kwon-Taek's Soppyonje, I feel, epitomizes my observation. We see the dramatic climax in the final scene between Song-hwa and her brother and, as we discussed, the meaning of the word 'han'. I'd like to draw attention mostly to the parallel between her and her singing the p'ansori version of the Korean folktale of Simchong. Both Song-hwa and Simchong submit to a sacrifice of some sort in order to fulfill the duty of a filial daughter. It's interesting how in this tale, and many other Korean folk tales, women are portrayed as heroines or main characters (ex. Chun-Hyang or Chae-Kyung). Simchong They are regarded as heroines for their endurance and for their strength in the face of adversity.

I'd like to tie this in with a book I've read by Sook Nyul Choi, titled "Year of Impossible Goodbyes". Perhaps some of you have heard of it or even read it… if you haven't, I HIGHLY recommend it, it's a really easy read (I read it back in elementary school) but it's both interesting and informative. If you're into Korean history, it's definitely a must-read! ANYWAYS… to give you just a gist of it, the story follows the life of a young girl in Korea during Japanese colonization and all the adversities she and her family faced during this time. Her brothers are off at a training camp and her father is away at some resistance movement while she is at home with her mother and her aunt. Despite all the cruelties the Japanese soldiers impress upon them, these women endure and continue to struggle to survive without the presence of men to protect them. One scene in the book describes how the Japanese deceived the Korean citizens by selling them a sack of rice which was actually half filled with sand, making the sack seem heavier and more valuable. Throughout the story, the Japanese soldiers constantly harass the girl's mother and the women working in their sock factory, and in the end the women are taken away to be "comfort women"… etc… The novel is fiction, but the events are also autobiographical, which brings me to my next point.

In Korean culture, because of its history and background, there is an underlying understanding of the importance of women to society… perhaps the general population as a whole has a different outlook altogether compared to cultures that have not experienced these same events in their pasts.

What is Im Kwon Taek's deal?

2007-10-16T22:59:00.000-04:00

I am completely shocked and appalled after watching Chuhyang the movie. I was excited after reading the comic – the Chun Hyang character so feisty and strong, portraying such a positive image of women. I was not expecting what I saw in the movie. I am hoping the different direction the movie took from the comic book is due to the need to please an older age group. Assuming that the movie was targeted to an older crowd (looking at the sex scenes), perhaps Im Kwon Taek thought in order for the storyline to be more relatable to his audience, stereotypical gender roles would have to be followed. This is good news for the younger generation, whereas in the comic book more pro-feminist characters are written.

In the comic book I was impressed that the two main female characters are indeed strong role models for girls. The mother is a highly respected medicine woman. She is extremely kind, opening her home to Myong Rong, and consistently supportive and affectionate of her daughter, Chun Hyang. The mother asserts herself and her own self-respect by killing herself when faced with the Yang Ban’s foreseeable rape. She raised Chun Hyang to be a strong, self-reliant girl even at a very young age. Never to be pushed around, Chun Hyang is always willing to speak up or physically fight when she does not agree with what is going on.

Unfortunately these powerful characters were not translated to the film. The mother is not a medicine woman, but instead a courtesan, a less than honorable position. The warmth of the comic book mother is gone, and she constantly reminds her daughter to submit to men in powerful positions. Chunhyang complies with her mother when Myong Rong asks her to marry him. She does not seem interested in him, pushing him away, having him forcibly remove her clothing. What surprised me the most was after they had sex, Chunhyang was suddenly in love with him! This sends a very dangerous message to viewers that there is nothing wrong with violence against women and that “no” really means “yes.” Along with their morbid courtship, I was sickened to see Chunhyang completely fall apart when Myong Rong told her he had to go to Seoul. She was weak, whiny, and perpetuating the stereotype that women are “emotional” and “crazy.” The only time Chunhyang had any strength in the movie was while being beaten for not sleeping with the new governor, she did not break down and give consent. Her strength came through her love and “duty to serve” her husband. The Chunhyang character sustains that women are subordinate to men, modest, and chaste.

What a disappointment the film was. Although I already speculated before why the comic book and movie contain such different storylines, why else would Im Kwon Taek choose this route?

Goong's Popular Wave

2007-10-16T22:58:00.000-04:00

The fictional story of Goong is one that fascinated and enthralled Korean media viewers and readers with no prejudice to age. It is a story that "re-imagines" Korea, pretending that the Japanese Colonial period did not exist and that the Korean monarchy still reigned. This fiction glorifies what once used to be the Korean monarchy and with it the treasured but often neglected traditions of this prideful country.
It evokes nostalgia and pride for the older generation as they reminisce the time before they had to endure intrusion of the Japanese in their country. There is still a large number of Koreans who still feel passionately hateful towards the past Japanese Colonial period and wish that it had never happened; Goong fulfilled that wish. It is understandable why the older generation that would be expected not to be so zealous towards a drama or a comic book to be so heartwarming towards Goong and feel it to be such an endearing story.
Although the older generation feels a connection to the story of Goong, the younger generations who were born much after the Japanese Colonial period and would only learn of it from their parents or from textbooks were also intrigued with the drama. Of course they were attracted by the attractive actors in the drama or the beautiful drawings of the comic book and their generation is highlighted by the active media in their society, but if the content of the drama or the comic was substandard it is unlikely Goong would have drawn so much attention from them. The reason behind their adoration for the story could be traced to a trigger in their interest in their country's history for it arose not in the context of a tedious textbook, but a drama and a comic book, which they take up on their free time for their own enjoyment.
Goong called into importance the history of Korea, catching the attention of a wide range of audience. The older generation who remembered the Japanese Colonial period and wished to erase it from Korea's history felt a special connection to the story. The younger generation's interest was stirred by the resurrection of a distant time in their country's history they did not relate to and only learned about from older generations and from their schools. However, would this interest still be the same if the story of Goong was presented in the future when the older generation that could relate to this story was no longer existent and the younger generation no longer even heard about it from older generations? Would the younger generation feel it is too much of a distant past that does not seem relevant to them or even real to them? Also, is the story of Goong just something of a temporary interest like a new pop song by a new debuted artist?

Coffee Prince: Views on Gays in Korea

2007-10-16T20:43:00.000-04:00

Just recently I finished a drama series that many people have heard of including my mom. (She's the one who suggested it to me.) The series is called "Coffee Prince" and is pretty much follows the (love)life of a girl who many mistake for boy and the opening of a coffee shop called the Coffee Prince.
This is a typical drama in the sense that there is a complex web of who likes who and the conflicts between all of those relationships. The twist in this movie is that the main character, who is a girl, is mistaken for a boy. A wealthy man (Han Kyul), who originally hires her Eun-Chan (thinking she's a man) to be his lover to get out of blind dates his grandmother sets up, hires her again (not knowing she's a woman) to work at Coffee Prince, and then falls in love with who he thinks is a man. Han Kyul is not gay but is falling in love with Eun-Chan thinking she is actually a he.
So Han Kyul tries to get over Eun-Chan because he doesn't want to be gay, but ends up professing his love to her. While the two are together Han Kyul still struggles with the fact that Eun-Chan is a man, but because he loves her so much, he's happy anyways. Then, he finds out that Eun-Chan is actually a girl. Of course he's initially upset because she lied to him about being a male so his trust in her takes a blow, but eventually he's happy to be with her as a woman. He keeps on saying "I'm glad you're not a man." when he finds out about her real gender.
I know Korea to be not conservative to gays, and I still think that generally holds true. Although Han Kyung professes he likes Eun-Chan when he thinks she's a guy, he's very relieved when he finds out otherwise. Yes the drama brings being homosexuality into the forefront, but it is something that seems to be dreaded in the drama as well as in the Korean culture. The drama shows that Korean pop culture has started to be more aware, but I have yet to be convinced that the culture is accepting of homosexuality.
What do you think?

Chastity and Chun Hyang

2007-10-15T23:33:00.000-04:00

I found Clamp’s The Legend of Chun Hyang to be a fascinating representation of a Korean tale about chastity and loyalty. I was unsurprised to find that Chun Hyang had been injected with brimming self confidence and combat ability, because this makes her a classic comic book hero/heroine. However, I was somewhat puzzled by the manner in which the authors dealt with themes of chastity in the traditional telling of Chun Hyang. I was surprised that the authors chose to make Chun Hyang so young (fourteen), because her young age itself justifies her attitude towards sex in the comic book. When Mong Ryong (who is given no age but appears 5-10 years older) flirts with Chun Hyang, she seems perfectly justified in retorting the advances of this older guy. Chun Hyang’s reactions to Mong Ryong in relation to her mother and the bathing sisters make her appear juvenile more than they construct her as a role model. I have to wonder whether the authors consciously made Chun Hyang laughably disgusted with sex in parody of the traditional tale.

By contrast, in Im Kwon Taek’s film about Chun Hyang makes the themes of the tale more heartfelt by fleshing out Chun Hyang’s character. In the movie, Chun Hyang has the life of an ordinary person, and she is not above the actions and emotions of an ordinary person (as displayed by the sex scenes). What makes Chun Hyang a heroine is her ability to stay true to her emotions in spite of what other people try to force her to do. Im Kwon Taek’s film is primarily about loyalty and staying true to one’s values more than it is about sex.

On another note, after watching the movie of Chun Hyang, I noticed that the main character of the movie really seems to be the governor’s son, and that I felt much more in tune with the emotions and thoughts of the governor’s son than with Chun Hyang. I felt like there were more close up shots of the male characters, and that Im Kwon Taek revealed the governor’s son’s thinking and personality more than that of Chun Hyang. Did Im Kwon Taek have a reason to do this?

Asian Images

2007-10-13T13:31:00.000-04:00

As I watch Breakfast at Tiffany’s and write this post I can’t help but think about our readings and discussions of the relation of a text and image. What exactly happens when we bring a piece of literature to the screen or television? Do we lose or do we gain? And what remains of the literature that was adapted?

Timothy Corrigan talks about fidelity to a text in adapting literature to a film. Adapters often want to create or recreate their own interpretation while still maintaining some semblance of faithfulness to a text. In looking at the difference between the films discussed in Corrigan’s essay and the T.V. series adaptation of Goong, I can’t help but wonder if the same standards of fidelity apply to TV as to film. Goong the comic book has so many images and details that it’s hard to image a completely faithful representation of the book on screen. Comic books may be excluded in this since the images are already interpreted for us by the drawings (where as in a novel there are no pictures). Do you think a lot is lost in the translation from one medium to another? Do we look at Goong the same after see the images interpreted for us on screen? And if we did create Goong into a film, would it bring a piece of literature in a “low culture” as Corrigan suggests? Would this be making the assumption that all literature is high culture or is only classical or canonical literature high culture?

Another note on images, when we read a piece from NYT a few classes back, the article mentioned that Japanese characters were drawn with Caucasian features, something we noted was true for the characters in Goong (big round eyes, lighter hair, etc). Characters that were bad or needed to be vilified were drawn with Asian features. So in adapting Goong for TV, shouldn’t the characters be much more anglo-looking? If Caucasian features are considered most desirable, then why don’t directors use more anglicized characters versus very Asian characters? Are the characters we saw on the Princess Hours considered anglicized Asians?

Breaking Down Goong as Pop Culture

2007-10-10T23:38:00.000-04:00

I have to agree with Melanie in that, I am also very glad Goong was included in the syllabus for us to study. It was obviously very pleasurable to study as I had absolutely no problem “taking a break” from my other school work to spend extra time to finish the first episode on YouTube, and was able to breeze through the comic. :)

Throughout watching and reading Goong, the answers that came up in class regarding the question “What is pop culture?” proceeded to turn up in my mind. The mediums in which Goong is presented not only are forms of current Korean pop culture, but the very plot itself can be thought of as a result of pop culture.

We identified pop culture as something that is mass produced, and accessible to the general population. The forms of comic and television drama in which Goong is presented are clear mediums that are examples of this. We also defined pop culture as something that is directed toward a specific age group or group of people. My guess is that Goong is most appealing to the pre-, adolescent, and young adult populations, as the characters fashion current styles and use certain contemporary lingo and slang. And Goong is most definitely a work that evokes pleasure and a realm of escapism, as the story starts off with the creator allowing us to imagine a modern Korea with a monarchy. “Yes, let’s imagine… …Instead of an empty, cold palace… …One that is made vibrant by the lives of the royal family” (Park 3).

I guess what intrigued me the most, regarding the works of Goong being pop culture, was applying Raymond William’s definition of culture- defined as “a particular way of life of people or period of group”- to Goong. The story of Goong includes a historical culture of the Korean monarchy, and it’s interesting to see how the writer/creator incorporated this “particular way of life” into a modern time setting. For example, such traditions as the queen’s quarters being separated from the king’s quarters, and the formal discourse and language style used by the royal family are kept within the plot. But contemporary dress is combined with traditional dress, as the men seem to consistently wear suits, while the royal women are in tradition clothes. This merge of folk/historical culture and modern culture gave me a clearer idea of what pop culture could be defined as. If taking William’s definition into the context of Goong, it could be seen as taking a historical way of life and merging it with a contemporary way of life that creates a certain fusion that could be called pop culture. .?(Or am I stretching it a little too far?)

On another note, did anyone else have a hard time getting through High-Pop, “Style and Perfection of Things”? I really struggled with the text... hopefully we’ll cover it in class?

Goong: Gender, Tradition, and "Koreanness"

2007-10-10T16:50:00.000-04:00

I am SO glad that Goong, both the graphic novel and the television show, were included on the syllabus! I found them both to be very enjoyable, funny, and fascinating to study. The issue of gender that was brought up in class (regarding the HOT and g.o.d music videos) is also relevant in relation to Goong (in both mediums.) In the comic, the young male characters are physically portrayed as feminine. Prince Shin Lee’s long, styled hair, his well-shaped eyebrows, long eyelashes, and voluptuous lips are all feminizing features. His cousin Yul is drawn similarly. However, the older men in the comic, such as the King and Chae- Kyung’s father, are portrayed as masculine. What does this say about what younger generations find attractive? During the counter culture revolution in America in the 60s, it was stylish for men to grow their hair long, as a form of rebellion and going against the grain. Is the same true today in Korea? Is appearing feminine a way for a younger generation of men to set themselves apart from their parents? Perhaps it is also a reflection of South Korea’s political situation. Unlike in previous eras, this generation of Korean young men are not growing up during wartime (such as the Korean War), or during major upheavals (like the Kuanju riots). Could the popularity of a feminine look for males stem from the fact that they are not being asked to prove their “manliness” through fighting in a war or demonstrations? This idea may be a bit of a stretch...

In the television version of Goong, it is true that both Prince Shin Lee and his cousin have long hair, but in appearance, they do not exude the same kind of femininity as they do in the comic book; however, it is still interesting to examine how some of the male characters act. Chae-Kung’s father is the most gender-bending character in the show. He wears a flowery apron, pink cleaning gloves, and is domineered by his over-bearing wife. The fact that his wife is supporting the family and he is the one who is responsible for their debt exhibits un- stereotypical gender roles for television. Goong the television show is very much female-centered, and has many powerful female characters. Chae-Kung’s mother leads the family, and only empresses rule the palace (excluding the Princes, all of the male royalty is dead). In the comic, Chae-Kung’s grandfather is alive and involved in the marriage arrangement, but his character is absent from the television show. Maybe this change reflects modernity- where as historical monarchies were usually very male centered, this monarchy reflects modern Korea and women's emerging power?

This leads to thoughts about “Koreanness.” Although Chae-Kung’s father is depicted as a bumbling, silly character on the television show, both versions of Goong express the traditional Korean value of filial piety. The reason for the Prince and Chae-Kung’s marriage is to honor a promise made by their grandfathers; yet, simultaneously, Goong also exhibits the idea of changing Korean values. Doobo Shim, in Hybridity and the Rise Of Korean Popular Culture in Asia, writes, “The fact that Seo Taiji was a high school dropout but managed to earn a social respect and succeed financially influenced parents’ ideas about stardom. In a country where the average family viewed university entrance examinations for children as being of utmost importance, stardom came to be considered a new option for success” (37). This phenomenon is reflected in the fact that in both the comic and the television show, Chae- Kung is a very poor student, and in the television show, she attends an arts school for those wanting to be artists, fashion designers, dancers, and filmmakers.

- Melanie Lubin

Populist-Elitist Paradox

2007-10-10T16:12:00.001-04:00

While reading An Introduction to Theories of Popular Culture by Dominic Strinati this fall break, I began to wonder if the theories of populism and elitism are not a contradiction, but instead a paradox in constructing popular culture. The author describes that through populism, popular culture is not viewed as “an imposition, but as a more or less genuine expression of the voice of the people” (234). Populism understands popular culture gives the public what they are asking for. On the contrary, elitism is one theory that perceives the public as powerless to the influence of the media and popular culture. Strinati states “[elitism has] often seen audiences as full of passive unthinking dupes, open to manipulation and ideological control by the mass media and the culture they spread” (236). Through the elitist lens, there is a shift of power from the public to the media. Now we are amidst a battle – who is in charge of popular culture?

The new idea is that both, ordinary people and the influencing media are equally powerful but perhaps each group vests their interests in different aspects of popular culture. Strinati argues in a postmodern world, “we increasingly consume images and signs for their own sake rather than for their ‘usefulness’ or for the deeper values they may represent” (207). As a whole style and aesthetic appeal have become more and more important, swaying the public in what they choose to consume or not to consume. Possibly in packaging is where the “voice of the people” is being heard and represented. We want beautiful, thin, flexible pop stars. In our favorite television dramas, the characters are well-dressed and live in equally trendy apartments. The packaging has embodied exactly what we would want for ourselves. But as Strinati questioned earlier, what about the content?

As the public has created and satisfied itself with a lovely sense of style, I suggest that the mass media and larger institutions of power (government, churches, etc) have been able to fill are beautifully crafted vessels with whatever they choose. Popular culture in America is still loaded with messages promoting a patriarchal, white dominance. That issue is too large to delve into here, but in the diverse culture we live in, I question that those are messages the public demanding. It seems like an ideal opportunity for the dominant culture to sneak in and fill the empty space with its own agendas.

The populist-elitist paradox is maybe nothing more than supply and demand. It will be interesting to see whether the public takes complete control of popular culture, fully realizing the populism theory, to demand more than good-looking outer appearances.

Modern Concepts and Traditional Views - Personal Contemplation

2007-10-09T22:39:00.000-04:00

“If the Pop Art period was, to a great extent, a matter of academy-trained artists taking forms of popular iconography into the rarified realm of museum art, high-pop represents the reversal of that flow by transforming Culture into mass entertainment” (Collins, 6).

As I read this statement in Jim Collins’s High-Pop, I immediately thought of G.O.D.’s music video of their song To My Mother. As Im Kwon-Taek used Sopyonje to acknowledge and modernize p’ansori, it seems that G.O.D. is using their music and popularity to keep Korean tradition alive. The song’s undertones of Confucianism, a defining part of Korean culture over the centuries, mixed in with the very urban, hip sounding music results in a unique Korean ‘high-pop’ sensation.

Contrast that with H.O.T.’s Candy. It obviously has no cultural significance, only aesthetic appeal… Right? I may be looking too far into this, or giving the boys more credit than they deserve, but I think that they’re almost a rebellion—straying as far from the cultural norm as acceptably possible (they don’t want to be too extreme, though, that would lose them their audience). First, take a look at the group members. Do any of them look masculine at all? No. One of the most appealing features of H.O.T. is their androgyny. Even the female that appears in the music video for Candy looks somewhat androgynous, with a curve-less body and a masculine jaw structure. Not to mention the western origins of the woman. It seems to me that Candy’s music video is the antithesis of translation tradition, nationalism, etc. in Korean culture.

With that in mind, I find it slightly ironic that H.O.T. and G.O.D. were rival boy bands. It’s almost as if the bands represented different political standings of that decade’s youth. G.O.D., the slightly conservative conformists, and H.O.T., the rebellious counter culture.

Differing Definitions of Nationalism in the Global Age

2007-10-09T22:09:00.000-04:00

The content of the article read in class about Japanese comic books portraying Chinese and Korean populations negatively ties in a lot with chapter five of Im Kwon-Taek. In the age of globalization, the Japanese response has recently been to try to prove their own culture’s worth by painting other nations as inferior to them. In this way, Japan attempts to define its own sense of nationalism in a fast-paced and competitive industrialized world by claiming that they, as Asians, are far more like Western nations; therefore, they are superior to other Asian nations, and worthier of the fruits and successes of Western living. The negative effects of this course of action are that it is ironically degrading to the entire Asian continent, the Japanese included. In essence, rather than trying to define themselves as differentiated from (though perhaps not superior to) other Asian countries, the Japanese are insisting that they are really a part of the West, thus denying their heritage to a certain extent. In this way, they consider the attainment of Western ideals to be their goal, thus implying the West’s superiority.
The Korean nationalism described in “Sopyonje: Its Cultural and Historical Meaning” runs in a direction that is both diametrically opposite yet strangely similar in its ideology. The movie Sopyonje inspired “nostalgia for ‘our culture’” (p. 140) in Koreans at a time, the 1990’s, when the Korean movie and television industry had experienced a decline (p. 137). However, with this nostalgia comes the temptation to define one’s culture in ethnocentric terms of what the West does not have (p. 142-143). In this way, one still allows culture to be controlled by the Other. If all Korea can aspire to be is what the West lacks, then there can hardly be any room for original development and Korean identity becomes merely a silhouette of opposition to the West. Furthermore, what about all of the positive technological advances being imported from the West? Are they to be shunned by the Korean population? Doing so perhaps implies that technology and modernization are distinctly Western in character and cannot be comprehended by Koreans, rather than that Westerners merely invented some tools first which can then be expanded upon by Koreans.
In essence, it seems that a culture must be developed in independence of but not isolation from those of other cultures. A country should not try to instate an identity based on the denigration of other countries, especially those that share commonalities with it. Doing so merely implies that the Western identity is the more favorable one and that only the “fittest” Asian culture is worthy of that identity. A country also must not define itself in opposition to the West as that also gives Western ideals hegemony, in that they dictate what is not allowed in Eastern cultures. Ultimately, a culture should strive to see itself not in terms of what is Eastern or Western about it, but rather try to harmonize between modernization and tradition, retaining what it prizes while shifting to accommodate progressive changes that will benefit its people economically and technologically.

Traditions, Globalization, and Nationalism

2007-10-03T18:21:00.000-04:00

Inventing Traditions by Eric Hobsbawm was an extremely interesting article and gave me a lot to think about in light of the other readings. Cho Hae Joang’s article on Sopyonje stated that “…the desire to find tradition and, within changed circumstances, revive it.” (138). This made me think, can a tradition that was “lost” be found and revived in the customary sense or does it become an invented tradition?

It’s important to define invented tradition, which Hobsbawm says is something which invokes or represents the past but is presented in a novel or new situation. A custom would be more of a historical ritual without the change in context. Does this mean that reviving p’ansori in a new and globalized culture makes it an invented tradition?

Also intriguing is the desire to revive a dead or dying custom at all. Like the step son in Sopyonje, it can seem pointless to perform an art which there is no longer a demand for. The art may have changed or disappeared completely, but there is no reason to continue a medium which essentially doesn’t exist anymore.

I think that the almost-debate going on here about nationalism and globalism can sort of be understood through the idea of invented tradition. As globalism takes hold, a nation and culture changes. This in turn can inspire a revival for more traditional culture, inventing traditions if you will. People begin practicing their old traditions in a new environment and perhaps in a modified way (for example, using modern amplification techniques when performing p’ansori) and invent a tradition. You can celebrate your national culture and identity through this created ceremony. It’s sort of like the hybridization that we read about a few classes ago. I don’t think nationalism and globalism have to be at odds.

But this does raise another question, if it is true that when an environment changes and a new tradition is revived or invented which invokes or represents the past, can we really hang on to any of our customs in their true forms?

Any thoughts?

Analyses of P'ansori Contradicting Gi Wook-Shin's Paradox of Korean Globalism

2007-10-02T22:55:00.000-04:00

Contrary to Melanie, I actually found it even more difficult to agree with Gi-Wook Shin’s The Paradox of Korean Globalization after reading Im Kwon-Taek. Shin’s argument is basically that Korea’s desire to globalize goes hand-in-hand with Korean nationalism. Shin’s point on “nationalist appropriation of globalization” discusses how nations aim to globalize is, in Social Darwinist terms, a way of ensuring well-being of the nation… meaning that these opposite ideas are both goals of the same journey. Yet the two ideas are such polar opposites that it is not paradox but impossibility... It makes sense, yes, but it just seems far-fetched. It’s like saying, “I do not enjoy tobacco. I will rid the world of tobacco by smoking all the cigarettes in the world until there are none left.” (Excuse my lack of a better analogy…) Is Shin arguing that the two concepts of globalization and nationalism can be one in the same? Because I can still only think of the two different entities as black and white with no grey area in between.

In Chapter 5 of the reading in Im Kwon-Taek, we learn a little more about the movie and its plot in more detail, beyond the short clip we’ve seen in class--which shows the boy and girl being trained by their father. We learn that the boy leaves home because he sees p’ansori as financially unbeneficial and a way of the past, while the daughter/father remain faithful to the art. The boy holds the mindset of those in favor of globalization in a gradually westernizing society. In a sense, the boy can represent globalization as a whole while the girl represents nationalism--sticking to her roots and traditions. The two are separate, conflicting entities.

The movie then follows with the brother’s search for his sister again… After having been torn from his roots (the nationalism symbolized by the girl), perhaps he understands that there is something missing from his life, a part of him he left behind when he left his family. On a larger scale, it means that with globalism, it is inevitable for a piece of one’s national identity to be lost in the process. Yet in the end of the movie, the brother and sister part without even knowing one another’s identity… in the end, they are not united even after the brother’s search for her. It is a strange ending, yes, but it makes sense in this interpretation. Ultimately, the brother and sister cannot live an existence together… their values, their beliefs, their beings are too different. They cannot coexist.

I do, however, understand and agree Shin’s argument that “globalization can also awake people to their own local/national culture” (Shin, 9), as in the case with Im Kwon-Taek’s film. The boy’s search for his sister is a result of his decision to sacrifice his past way of life in order to start a new “modern” one. But can anything be done about it after the deed is done? Indeed “National identity becomes more important as globalization proceeds” (Shin, 9). This argument is legitimate, and even confirmed by what we have read from this week’s reading of Im Kwon-Taek. However, my interpretation of this relationship between the two ideas differ. While Shin argues that Globalization can promote Nationalism, the only way I can see that happening is if people realize how detrimental the former can be to the latter, leading to an attempt to counter the process of globalization as a whole to return to one’s roots. In this case, the two ideas are still contradictory… they may share a cause-and-effect relationship, but never a unified, mutual relationship.

Availability and High Pop

2007-10-01T11:00:00.000-04:00

After reading High-Pop: An Introduction, I became much more aware of the integral part that marketing techniques and accessibility play in creating popular culture. Author Jim Collins explained how the manner in which products and people are marketed in combination with technology creates culture that is popular due to its availability. I was especially struck by Collins’ example of “opera stars…promoted like pop stars but singing the classical repertoire”(Collins 8). Classical music is a prime example of the elitist culture, which is seemingly completely contrary to popular culture. However, performers within the realm of a roped off culture can break into the mainstream with the right marketing techniques. Without a website, print stories, and music in digital format, any artist would have trouble succeeding in today’s market. However, by utilizing the available technology and putting products out in the public’s view, artists that would have been ignorantly passed over can reach out and develop a fanbase. In fact, classical music has been able to thrive online with the help of music download services like iTunes. Sales statistics have shown that classical music has been able to increasingly turn a profit because the Internet makes it more accessible.
(See http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/28/arts/music/28kozi.html?_r=1&oref=slogin).Without high ticket prices and social stigmas, the Internet has make listening to classical music an equal opportunity pastime.

Additionally, I believe the example of classical music can be easily translated to the so-called “Korean wave”. Marketing and the Internet allow Korean artists to project their work out into the world and find audiences beyond their home country. The film Sopyonje made p’ansori performances more marketable, thanks to Im Kwon-Taek, who made a touching, well made film that found audiences across the world. By using a mainstream medium, film, to raise awareness about p’ansori and Korean traditions, Im Kwon-Taek successfully made those traditions more appealing to his audience. The example of the film Sopyonje makes me think that seemingly any tradition or product can be made popular with the right approach. I am much more aware that it may not be the products or ideas themselves, but rather the way they are marketed which determines their popularity, and the manner in which they are regarded by the masses, the elite, and the critics.

National Pride, Globalization, and Im Kwon- Taek

2007-09-26T02:05:00.000-04:00

As I read the first chapter in Im Kwon- Taek: The Making Of A Korean National Cinema , I found myself perpetually thinking back to Gi- Wook Shin’s The Paradox Of Korean Globalization. In her essay, Shin argues that globalization and nationalism in Korea are by no means contradictory phenomena, but rather, the two forces coexist and compliment each other. Shin writes, “Koreans see no inherent contradiction between nationalism and globalization… Koreans initiated and pursued globalization from with a clear nationalistic agenda from the outset” (Shin, 6). She goes on to explain that expressions and feelings of national and cultural pride go on the rise as a response to a globalizing society. In Korea, this has surely been the case. Reading in depth about Im Kwon- Taek’s success helped me to better understand Shin’s theory, for the popularity and hype over his period-piece films exemplify the cohesive relationship between globalization and national pride.

Having never seen a film by Im Kwon- Taek (excluding the clip of Sopyonje shown in class), I am eager to after James’ and Kim’s descriptions of some of his works. In particular, I am intrigued by the Korean landscape shots that Im is known for. These shots are mechanisms not only for beautifying the film, but also for “showing of ” Korea’s natural attributes, and therefore eliciting pride from the Korean audience. These shots do not included foreign cars, McDonald’s, or skyscrapers in the background, but instead, bring viewers to a “less threatening”, non globalized world. Im’s most famous works (and most popular with the people of Korea) are his period pieces, films that transport the audience to simpler time. James et. al states this perfectly: “Im’s field of dreams was not the future but the nostalgic past, a pre modern universe where the values of tradition, nation, and family remained intact and united” (37). It is explained in Im Kwon- Taek that many of Im’s famous historical works were released after 1986, the year that foreign film companies were allowed to set up shop in Korea, thus creating an influx of Hollywood films. I believe that this information solidifies the thesis presented by Shin, for Im’s pride-prompting films gained popularity at a time when Koreans were being bombarded with outside information and imagery.

On a completely different note, I would like to add to Beth’s discussion on pop culture and pleasure. In Watching Dallas, Ang writes, “No attempt will be made to give the definitive answer to the burning question: why is Dallas so popular? Instead, I want to concentrate my attention on a phenomenon, one aspect of popularity which is in itself complex enough: pleasure” (6). I suppose the question now becomes, “why do certain cultural products/ media forms illicit pleasure?” In terms of Korean cinema, I believe Im Kwon -Taek’s films were pleasurable not only because they were expressions of national pride, but also because of the escapism that they provided (perhaps the same escapism that Dallas provided for fans all over the world?) In Korea, for example, harsh times coincided with the popularity of film. James et. al write, “Cinema was the most popular cultural medium of nationalist expression during the Japanese colonial period” (20). Perhaps retreating mentally to another (better?) place or time is a driving force behind popular culture.

- Melanie Lubin

Meaning and Pleasure

2007-09-25T21:27:00.000-04:00

Brian Longhurst’s article on “Text & Meaning” in Popular Music and Society and Ien Ang’s piece Watching Dallas have an interesting point of intersection in that they discuss the two most fundamental points of evaluation for cultural material: meaning and pleasure. To begin with, while Longhurst states that his article “is concerned with the ways in which pop music creates and conveys meaning” (Longhurst, 158), he does not give a definition of what meaning is, but rather seems intent to challenge how meaning is evaluated and analyzed through the decoding of structure and content of a cultural medium. Ang, in contrast, gives the sociological definition of pleasure as “the experience of satisfaction whenever a certain pre-existent need is fulfilled” (Ang, 9). Her article is more oriented with why so many people find Dallas pleasurable to watch. More provocatively, Ang then goes on to explain her “ambivalence” about soap operas such as Dallas due to her intellectual and feminist sensibilities, while also admitting that she has always enjoyed such shows (Ang, 12). She feels that she should not find pleasure in Dallas because it does not contain enough “meaning”. Thus, Ang’s definition of meaning seems to be related to the degree to which a particular medium has substance and divorces itself from the realm of superficial.

Longhurst takes up this point in his article when he discusses “value-laden terms” in musicology” (Longhurst, 158), which despite having the same definitions as other standard terms while carrying more favorable connotations. In this way, certain genres of music, namely Western classical music, have been traditionally deemed to have more meaning than other genres such as popular music. The very nature of being classical implies that something has some special meaning which has enabled it to endure the passage of time and still be present in culture. The nature of something popular implies pleasure; it must be enjoyable in order for mass consumption to occur. Yet the question remains, must a cultural artifact have a certain level of intrinsic meaning in order for it to be popular? My own mind is not yet made up, but it is certainly a notion worth further consideration.

Reading Comics response

2007-09-23T23:25:00.000-04:00

Reading Comics by Mila Bongco has really got me thinking. Has the dominant culture created popular culture, using popular culture as a control device to keep itself dominant in society? Popular culture is not taken seriously – it is discredited due to its consumerist rather and artistic interests and its lack or rebellion of “standard American” morals and values. Popular culture, like comic books, is aimed towards the masses and as Bongco explains that “its generally accessibility (contrary to catering to a ‘cultured’ or ‘cultivated’ few) […] is characterized as unsophisticated and hence easy to cater to” (25). Popular culture is again devalued with the notion the mature and intelligent would not be bothered with such related mediums.

Combining the unimpressive packaging and delivery of popular culture with messages that contradict the ideology of the dominant culture, it is easy for the messages to be swiftly discredited as well. Bongco leads me to question that perhaps popular culture “[has been] ‘framed,’ their voice and arguments distorted and labeled as deviant and wrong, in such a way as to depoliticize them” (26). If values and ideas of popular culture are dismissed and presumed as immoral and incorrect, it can be assumed that the opposite values and ideas, or the values and ideas of the dominant culture would in fact be true. By placing oppositions and arguments against the ideologies of the “standard American” culture in a forum that can be easily challenged then rejected, the dominant culture can be perceived as superior by default.

Could this be the purpose for popular culture and not for the mediocre entertainment it is projected to be? Even the question reminds us to continue to think critically and examine more closely what the media, government, or other institutions are handing us. Quoting Bongco one last time, why aren’t we questioning “other major institutions of communication such as the Church, or the Law, whose legitimacy and responsibility seem to be taken for granted” (31)?