The Korean Wave and Cultural Exchanges

The Korean Wave and Cultural
Exchanges
Doobo SHIM
Sungshin Women’s University
Topics to discuss
Advance of Korean pop culture abroad
 Globalization
 Cultural exchanges

Korean pop culture going
abroad
b d
it kim chic. All things Korean
Korean--from
from
food and music to eyebrow-shaping and
shoe styles
styles--are
are the rage across Asia
Asia, where
pop culture has long been dominated by
Tokyo and Hollywood”
Hollywood (Associated Press)
“Call
Call
“Korea
has transformed itself from an
embattled cinematic backwater into the
hottest film market in Asia” (Hollywood
Reporter)
the Korean Wave





TV drama What is Love All About?
Winter Sonata, Dae Jang
g Geum (Jewel in
the Palace), Boys over Flowers
Media liberalization in Asia & International
market conditions
H O T Ahn Jae
H.O.T.,
Jae-wook
wook, BoA
BoA, Bae YongYong
joon, Wonder Girls, Girls’ Generation
Shi i JSA
Shiri,
JSA, My
M sassy girl
il
• Winter Sonata
• Jewel in the Palace
-7-

“Dear Mr. President, Please send Ahn Jae-wook oppa to here in
M i ” (2005)
Mexico

Watching of a TV show analyzing Kpop
p
p fandom ((length:
g
5.30 min.))
Three strains of
“Gl
Globalization”
b li ti ” di
discourses
Source: Shim, Doobo. (2006). Hybridity and the rise
off Korean
K
popular
l culture
lt
iin A
Asia.
i Media,
M di C
Culture
lt
and Society 28(1): 25-44.
1) Outgrowth
g
of cultural imperialism
p
Globalization = American (or, Western)
subjugation of weaker, national/cultural
identities
 Resonated
R
t d within
ithi d
developing
l i
countries
ti
 Criticism:

Being overly simplistic
 “active
active audience theory”
theory
 Increasing contra-flow in global cultures”

2) Outcome of modernity project



Globalization
Gl
b li i
= “the
“ h spread
d off the
h culture
l
off
modernity itself…. of ‘development’, of a
global
l b l movement towards
d … capitalism”
i li ”
Supported by neo-liberal theorists
Criticism:


Conflation of modernity with capitalism is wrong!
The 18th century French bourgeoisie … fought for
universalism and human emancipation. On the
other hand, the main aim of capitalism is not the
improvement of humanity, but the improvement of
property.
3) Cultural hybridity





Globalization = Cultural hybridization
Theorized by Postcolonial critics
Hybridity reveals itself as new practices of cultural
and performative expression in post-colonial perio
d
“Locals appropriate global goods, conventions,
and styles including music
music, cuisine
cuisine, cinema
cinema,
fashion, and so on, and inscribe their everyday
g into them”
meaning
Local peoples are encouraged to appreciate their
own culture, which were forgotten during
development
Korean Wave,
stronger
t
than
th diplomacy?
di l
?
When President Roh Moo-hyun invited Vietnamese
Pi
Prime
Minister
Mi i t Phan
Ph Van
V Khai
Kh i and
d hi
his d
delegation
l
ti
ffor a
luncheon meeting last September, something unexpected
happened.
Af
After
a moment off calm,
l
the
h Vi
Vietnamese officials
ffi i l stood
d
up one by one and started to line up in front of a woman,
asking her to sign their menus. The woman was actress
Kim Hyun
Hyun-joo,
joo heroine of the SBS TV drama Glass Shoes
(Yuri gudu), which had been shown on Vietnamese
television in May 2003. The actress had become wellknown in Vietnam after the drama became a big hit there
there.
The commotion settled down only after a Korean
general promised the actress’s autographs for everyone
after lunch.
lunch The center of attention during the luncheon
apparently was not President Roh or Prime Minister Khai,
but the actress, Kim, showing that perhaps the “Korean
Wave” is stronger than diplomacy
Wave
diplomacy. (2004)
Cultural Formations in Asia
“Asia
“A
i iis an area without
ith t an id
identity,
tit a
region incapable of imagining itself as a
community”
it ”
 “American culture,, the common
denominator of popular culture in Asia”
 “Identity
Identity construction through daily
rituals of media consumption”
 Korean Wave laid the foundation for
more active cultural exchanges

Thank you
very much
for
your attention^^