East Asians toward Korean music and movies

(HK singer Juno Mak is famous for singing Yoo Seung Jun songs in Cantonese)

Although Korean dramas are sweeping Asia by storm, it seems that East Asians are still not willing to fully accept Korean music and movies. When asking my friends in Chinese speaking countries about this, they say they stay away from Korean music because they can’t understand it. I found that interesting because just a couple of years ago, Japanese music was tearing up the charts in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and literally every Asian country. In fact, the popularity of Japanese music was so intense, that many people were learning Japanese and flying to the country to attend the concerts of their famous performers.

Basically, I want to ask, how come Korean movies and music have not caught the eye of other Asian nations? The sad part is that, especially in Chinese speaking countries, Korean music is popular, just not in Korean form. Various Taiwanese and Hong Kong artists have taken the works of Korean artists such as Se7en, 1Tym, Yoo Seung Jun, Shinhwa, etc and claimed them as their own. In fact, one Taiwanese group called Energy’s entire first CD was composed of old Korean songs redone in Mandarin Chinese. Even their music videos were the same! It seems to me that other Asian countries are not willing to accept Korean language and culture because it is to foreign. My thoughts on why the dramas are so popular are because they are dubbed in the respected language of the country to give a domestic feel. My grandmother was actually very surprised to find out Rain was Korean after watching Full House!

I feel the same goes for movies; to me, there seems to be a sense of jealousy involved. Especially with the downfall in Hong Kong and Taiwan movies, these audiences would rather support a movie from Hollywood than Korea. To add fuel to this, Jackie Chan, stated last year that, “Korean films are meant for Koreans. Chinese people should support their own country.” Could this be why Chinese studios are remaking Korean movies now and (gasp) dramas? A China studio had bought the rights to Stairway to Heaven last year and was re-filming it with Chinese stars.

Regarding Hollywood, I think they acknowledge that Korean movies are good…..they just want to get rid of the Korean aspects of it. Here are some good examples of what they plan on doing with the rights of Korean films:

JSA: Re-shooting it to show the tensions between two American and two Mexican patrol men.

Old Boy: Re-shot with Nicolas Cage eating Tacos

My Sassy Girlfriend: Madonna (dealing with some short of mid life crisis) wants to star in the US remake

In addition, here are some links to show you how the Halyu craze is causing imitators:

HK singer Joey Yung:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQEjdR74sL0

Website of Zinda (can you guess which Korean film this is a remake of?):
http://www.zindathefilm.com/

- Alex Liu