Masculinity in Korea

The blogsite on Seo Taiji and masculinity provides a very detailed and comprehensive discussion on the masculinity vs. feminism dichotomy, with most of the material provided by the author’s personal interview with fans of the singer. For those that did not have the time to browse through “Janet’s Thesis,” the site is essentially a progress chart of her thesis, which aims to “…examine how South Korean popular culture, namely Taiji’s songs and performances, deal with “being a man” using non-verbal modes of signification (primarily aspects of music but also dance and so on).”

I did not read through her entire blog with detail or with care, but I found it to be rather interesting as the field of Korean pop culture sorely lacks significant scholastic contribution. For those that have the time, I think this might be one of the more interesting researchers pertaining to this field.

It is quite amazing to see how Taiji’s career took flight during a period of liberation, if you may. It was in the early 1990s, President Kim adopted a liberal policy in guiding Korea’s political, economic and social visions. Taiji was seen, according to Janet, as a pioneer or gang leader in pushing Korean youth towards a new platform of openness, in some ways, challenging the prescribed social order. Indeed, Taiji’s legacy according to Janet, lies not only in his songs and singing, but also his impact on the mentality and outlook of generations.

But on the issue of masculinity, which is central to the thesis, Taiji might not have represented the quintessential ideals of masculinity. In fact, to me at least, Taiji’s outlook resembles his Japanese counterparts – vanguards of metrosexuality (One might remember the wave of metrosexuality that swept the Japanese archipelago in the 1990s, when perfectly sculpted eyebrow is not a choice, but a necessity). What the West would perceive as literal sissies were in back then (maybe now too? Not too sure). Indeed, even some of the fans interviewed in Janet’s thesis seem to struggle with his androgynous appearance, but many divert their focus more to the strength of his music.

Interestingly, there seems to be a move from this androgynous outlook towards an embrace of what is regarded as more traditional stereotypes of masculinity. Pop stars and movie actors in Korea today spot a much more athletic build. Kwon Sang Woo, who single-handedly inspired the term mom-chang (몸짱), created a wave of obsession amongst Korean males with their physique. Even Bi, who seems very mild-mannered in interviews, has an element of masculinity to him due to his built.

How does one evaluate masculinity? Can one with feminine characteristics still exhibit elements of masculinity? Fans of Taiji seem to think so.

- ARC

Japan 6, South Korea 0

We'll, I guess things were too good to be true for the South Korean baseball team. Though having already beaten Japan twice in the World Baseball Classic, Team Korea could not pull the same luck on Saturday. Their first loss in the tournament, Team Korea unfortunately will not make it to the final match this Monday. Though disappointed, we have to realize that Korea, like in the World Cup, was the underdog of the tournament. To have reached the semi-finals is already a great achievement. Although winning would have been great, it, nonetheless, exposed the rest of the world to an Asian nation that is often overshadowed by China and Japan.

Korea should be especially proud as China and Taiwan (Chinese Taipei) were knocked out almost immediately from this tournament. And ofcourse, their is the United States; despite having invented the game and sporting the nation's top paid players, they did not even reach the semi-finals. Is baseball still the American past time? I think the World Baseball Classic has shown that other nations are not catching up with the United States, but have already caught up and are exceeding them. Another good example would be in the Athens Olympics, when the supposed Dream Team of basketball performed its worse ever. I think now is a wake up call for the US, that they are not always going to be the superior to other nations.

Being the ultimate front runner, I probably will be cheering for Japan on Monday, as it will still be great to see an Asian nation win. ^^

- Alex Liu