Hallyu and its implications on the rising status of Korean men

I found a really interesting article in the Washington Post, and have included it below. I felt that it was a refreshing read and added another dimension to “Hallyu” and how it is infiltrating and taking Asia by storm. Traditionally, I thought the “Korean wave” was limited to popular culture such as music, drama serials and celebrities; I did not realize that Korean men themselves were idealized on placed on such a high pedestal. However, upon further examination, I realized that rather than being part of the “Korean wave movement”, this is more so a result of Hallyu: Asian women (or at least the woman alluded to in the article) are so enchanted (disillusioned even) by the glamorized, projected image of Korean popular culture, that they try (ludicrous, and somewhat desperate measures), and fail, to seek unattainable (debatable?) on-screen perfection in reality. There are many ways to look at it really. I also find it pretty paradoxical and interesting that an Asian race can have a fetish for another Asian race, it’s like an Asian fetish within an Asian fetish.

I’m curious to hear the different views the class has on the article.

Japanese Women Catch the 'Korean Wave'

By Anthony Faiola
Washington Post Foreign Service
Thursday, August 31, 2006; Page A01

TOKYO -- Thin and gorgeous in a slinky black dress, Mikimoto pearls and a low-slung diamond Tiffany pendant, 26-year-old Kazumi Yoshimura already has looks, cash and accessories. There's only one more thing this single Japanese woman says she needs to find eternal bliss -- a Korean man.

She may just have to take a number and get in line. In recent years, the wild success of male celebrities from South Korea -- sensitive men but totally ripped -- has redefined what Asian women want, from Bangkok to Beijing, from Taipei to Tokyo. Gone are the martial arts movie heroes and the stereotypical macho men of mainstream Asian television. Today, South Korea's trend-setting screen stars and singers dictate everything from what hair gels people use in Vietnam to what jeans are bought in China.

Yet for thousands of smitten Japanese women like Yoshimura, collecting the odd poster or DVD is no longer enough. They've set their sights far higher -- settling for nothing less than a real Seoulmate.

The lovelorn Yoshimura signed up last year with Rakuen Korea, a Japanese-Korean matchmaking service, to find her own Korean bachelor. And she is hardly alone. More than 6,400 female clients have signed up with the company, which says its popularity has skyrocketed since 2004, when "Winter Sonata" became the first of many hot Korean television dramas to hit Japan. Even in Shinjuku ni-chome, Tokyo's biggest gay district, niche bars with names such as Seoul Man have sprouted like sprigs of ginseng in a Pusan autumn.

"South Koreans are so sweet and romantic -- not at all like Japanese guys, who never say 'I love you,' " Yoshimura said as she waited for her blind date, a single Korean man, in the 50th-floor bar of a chic Tokyo skyscraper. A telephone operator who lives with her parents in Hiroshima, she has spent thousands of dollars on her quest for a Korean husband, flying to Seoul 10 times in the past two years and bullet-training to Tokyo for seven blind dates with Korean men.

So far, though, she hasn't found the one she's looking for.

"Maybe I'm living in a fantasy world," she said, pouting her blood-red lips. "Maybe I'm looking for the TV stars I can't really have. But we are all allowed a dream, aren't we?"

In part, the new allure of Korean men can be traced to a larger phenomenon known as the "Korean Wave," a term coined a few years ago by Beijing journalists startled by the growing popularity of South Koreans and South Korean goods in China. Now, the craze for all things Korean has spread across Asia, driving regional sales of everything from cars to kimchi.

Meanwhile, the number of foreign tourists traveling to South Korea leapt from 2.8 million in 2003 to 3.7 million in 2004. The bulk of the growth, South Korean tourism officials say, stemmed from Korean Wave-loving Asian women. Partial statistics for 2005 indicate the feminine tide has not yet let up.

For the South Koreans -- who have long suffered discrimination in Japan and who have hardly been known as sex symbols -- it all comes as something of a shock.

Korean male celebrities are now among the highest-paid actors outside Hollywood. According to the South Korean media, "Winter Sonata" star Bae Yong Jun -- whose character stood by his first love through 10 years of car accidents and amnesia -- is now charging $5 million a film, the steepest price anywhere in Asia. In a few short years, Bae is said to have accumulated a merchandising and acting-fee empire worth an estimated $100 million. At least nine other Korean male stars earn more than $10 million a year, according to a list published in June by the Seoul-based Sports Hankook newspaper.

In Seoul, the neon-lit streets are mobbed these days by visiting Asian women, many sporting rhinestone-studded T-shirts emblazoned with images of their favorite Korean stars. Some fans have been known to stake out famous eateries for hours in the hopes of catching a glimpse of their celluloid beaus.

"It's still a little hard to believe that it's gone this far," said tall, tanned Jang Dong Gun, now one of the highest-paid actors in Asia, during an interview in Seoul.

Jang said he was shocked when, during his first trip to Vietnam in 1998 to promote his new Korean TV drama, thousands of women mobbed his plane at the Hanoi airport and an armada of female fans on motor scooters chased his car all the way to his hotel.

In 2001, the Seoul-based manufacturer Daewoo Electronics hired him as its Vietnam spokesman. Over the past five years, the company said, its refrigerators' market share in Vietnam went from a blip to a robust 34 percent.

"If we can give them a little more joy in their life and show them another side of Korea, than I can only see that as a plus for us and them," he said.

In China, South Korean programs broadcast on government TV networks now account for more than all other foreign programs combined, including those from the United States and Japan, according to South Korean government statistics. Even in Mexico -- land of the telenovela -- a flock of local women stood outside South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun's hotel during a recent visit, holding placards with Korean stars' names. In the United States, the Seoul-based singer Rain played two sold-out nights at Madison Square Garden in 2005. Also last year, sinewy Daniel Dae Kim, the Korean-born actor from the hit show "Lost," was the only Asian to land a spot in People magazine's "Sexiest Men Alive" edition.

Entertainment industry leaders in Seoul credit the phenomenon to good marketing coupled with an uncanny response throughout Asia to the expressive nature of the South Koreans -- long dubbed the Italians of Asia. A hearty diet and two years of forced military duty, industry leaders and fans insist, have also made young South Korean men among the buffest in Asia. Most important, however, has been the South Korean entertainment industry's perfection of the strong, silent type on screen -- typically rich, kind men with coincidentally striking looks and a tendency to shower women with unconditional love.

"It's a type of character that doesn't exist much in Asian movies and television, and now it's what Asian women think Korean men are like," said Kim Ok Hyun, director of Star M, a major star management company in Seoul.

"But to tell you the truth," she said. "I still haven't met a real one who fits that description."

Though the Korean Wave hit Japan relatively late, washing ashore only within the past 24 to 36 months, the country has quickly become the largest market for Korean stars. Bae remains the biggest, but his supremacy is being challenged. Actor Kwon Sang Woo, for instance, is charging $200 for some seats at an upcoming "fan meeting" in Tokyo. Thousands of Japanese are scrambling for a chance to watch him play games with fans, chat and perform little song-and-dance numbers. Some tickets are going for as much as $500 on online auction sites.

Almost all the major Korean male stars have opened lucrative "official stores" in Tokyo. In the three-story boutique of Ryu Siwon, a baby-faced Korean actor-crooner who sings in phonetic Japanese for the local market, the top floor boasts a recreation of his living room, complete with a life-size, high-tech plastic model of Ryu lounging casually on a white leather sofa. It has become a meeting place of sorts for his Japanese fans, where a gaggle of women ages 17 to 61 sat and stared longingly at his statue on a recent afternoon.

Some call it a fad. But Yoshimura -- whose latest blind date turned out to be a slightly paunchy Korean computer programmer -- says she is nevertheless digging in her extraordinarily high heels for the long run.

"I intend to keep looking until I find the right one," she said.

Korea's Transition to Modernity and KDrama

Korea's Transition to Modernity by Carter J. Eckert explain's modern Korea's (both North and South) sense of "national entitlement and destiny" or in layman's terms its search and will (desire) for greatness. In this article, we look at the various world orders Korea has adopted in this search and we see the legacies of these orders in modern Korean society (though I will focus on K-drama) today.

The first world order the article talks about is the Sinitic world order which is based on the two principles of "revering China" and "expelling the barbarians". Though this order originated in China, it doesn't imply the indefinite political dominance of China (though Korea did have to pay tribute). Instead the heirarchy of this world order is defined by how close the nations follow the two principles where "revering China" means following the Chou culture (Confucian teachings) and trying to be as close to this "perfect" society as possible. Like the other world orders, this was a cultural heiarchy (higher = more civilized = greater) where Korea has the potential for and strived for greatness (ie. moving up, eventually reaching the top). In fact for a period of time the Koreans actually believed they were at the top since the Chinese were overtaken by "barbarians" or the Manchus and had "fallen".

Influences of this world order in kdrama is best exemplified by Sweet 18. Sweet 18 has alot of references to the older Korean generation's obsession with Chinese culture. The main girl fell in love with the main guy because he read 出师表 (Chu1 Shi1 Biao3) a work by the Chinese strategist/scholar/minister 诸葛亮 (Zhu1 Ge3 Liang4) from the Three Kingdoms Period. This is also shown when the main guy's grandfather wrote Chinese calligraphy and the focus on family lineage and responsibility (both main guy and girl are descendants of Confucian scholars and possibly yangban class).

The second world order mentioned is the Social Darwinism world order perpetuated by Korean reformers in response to Western and Japanese influences. This world order is based on the Western ideas of rationality, science and sometimes Christianity (cultural manisfestations of west). This order is also hierarchal in order with the rank determined by level of enlightenment (or level of westernization) with the most enlightened countries being "masters" (chuin), semi-enlightened countries being "honered guests" (pin'gaeki) and the unenlightened countries being "slaves" (noya). However, like the Sinitic world order, the Social Darwinism world order isn't static as since countries can become more fit and move up the heirarchy by modernizing. If fact the main architect of this idea Yu Kilchin saw potential for Korea's greatness in the technology advances in the past (celadon ceramics, ironplated ships, metal movable type...though I thought this was Chinese) and stated that if Korea only made the effort, it could go from being a "slave" to a "honered guest" and then eventually a "master".

Direct influences of this are hard to find in the Korean dramas but I think any of the ones with a European setting/influence might fit like Lovers in Paris or Lovers in Prague. Possible implication that European = sophisticated?

The next world order mentioned isn't really directly named and defined like the ones above but is instead implied when the Koreans tried to carve a place for itself under Japanese rule. The name that Japan gave for their rule is the Greater East Asian Prosperity Sphere and is founded on the ideas of Japanese racial superiority and political dominance. Though this order is restrictive in that no matter how hard Koreans try, the racism of the Japanese will prevent them from reaching the top, many Koreans tried to improve themselves on an individual basis by excelling in their field and accumulating personal wealth. On a societal basis there was the Korean Ilchinhoe "Advance in Unity Society" which tried to make Japan assume the role that China assumed in the Sinitic world order and hoped that this cooperation will lead to home rule or at least a special place in the postwar Japanese empire (which didn't happen b/c Japan was defeated).

References to this in Kdrama (that I've watched) is even harder to find but we can see influences of this in the 21st century where the new Korean multinationals battle the older (I think) Japanese multinationals. For example, Samsung directly competes with Japanese electronics companies like Sony, Panasonic, Sharp, etc and Hyundai and Daewoo which directly competes with Japanese auto companies like Toyota, Honda, Mazda, Mitsubishi etc.

Unlike the previous world orders the next two world orders are actually simultaneous because they were followed by two simultaneously existing Koreas. They are the post-1945 Pax Americana World Order and the post-1945 socialist world order followed by North Korea and South Korea respectively.

For South Korea, the post-1945 Pax Americana World Order is defined as one where it participates in the democratic industrialist capitalist civilization of west which is centered on the US. Similar to the Social Darwinism world order, modernization (upward mobility) is the goal though it is unclear on what aspect South Korea should focus on modernizing (philosophical/moral, economic or social/political). The politicial changes of South Korea reflects this going from democracy (that emphasized moral/philosophical modernization but economic failure) to military rule (that emphasized economic development but authoritarian) to democracy (that emphasize social/political freedom) again.

Influences of a post-1945 Pax-Americana world order can be best exemplified by the Kdrama Love Story in Harvard. This is a drama that I haven't watched but which's title implies the allure of American institutions, culture, etc to Koreans. Also, things to think about are the American influences in the Korean music scene, namely the rap and hiphop genres (Though I'm not a fan...I remember a Korean rap duo that was popular in Taiwan in the 1990s called Ku4Long2).

For North Korea, the post-1945 socialist world order is one where the member countries pledged allegiance to an international socialist vision and community centered on the Soviet Union. This is one where socialism is offered as an alternative economic development option to capitalism and promising the participants of this order "economic prosperity and justice". Though originally Kim Il Sung tried to follow the Salinist approach, eventually the socialist world order for North Korea came to take on the form of Kimilsunglism. Kimilsunglism is communism - Korean style, based on the philosophy of chuch'e sasang or "self reliance or independance" or a "notion of self-defined autonomy where Koreans were masters of their own destiny and all Korean thought and action should be based on national needs and goals". This order measures greatness by how closely a country follows Kim's ideas with North Korea naturally being at the top since it is the land of Kim Il Sung.

Influences of this in kdrama...I'm not sure but Kim's egotistical personality is parodied in the American movie Team America.

To conclude this very, very, very long entry, the main point that I wanted to make is that I learned alot from reading this article and it put alot of things in perspective for me in terms of Koreans modern historical development and the references in Kdramas or popular culture that I have seen. It makes me wonder if the recent surge in Korean period pieces is in fact trying to assert its greatness by showing how "civilized" they were back X00 years ago. The modern Korea (or South Korea), I feel, is on the pathway of its past, striving to achieve greatness by playing the culture card (ie. I have more/better culture or follow the current world order closer = I am more superior).

What is "popular culture?"

After reading the first chapter of John Storey's book Cultural Theory and Popular Culture, I realized that "popular culture" was much more difficult to define than I had initially thought. Storey outlines six different definitions of pop culture, all of which I thought were relevant and accurate, but also cumbersome due to the sheer quantity of different interpretations and potential applications. I'd like to try to create a more concise and unified definition based on my own personal experiences which might hopefully be useful to us as a class.

My first real recognition of "pop" culture as being something other than "real" culture occurred when I came to college. My freshman year hallmates loved to tease me for my horrible taste in music, since at that time the majority of the music in my collection was from pop artists like Britney Spears, NSYNC, and a multitude of other artists which I am going to decline to name for the sake of my own pride. At that point it had never occurred to me that the music I listened to was of any less worth than other types, and while I had heard plenty of other artists and styles of music, pop just tended to suit my tastes the best, so that was what I listened to. My friends quickly made it apparent, however, that my choice music was "fake", "manufactured", "juvenile", and just overall distasteful for any seemingly "cultured" person to listen to. Soon they moved on to critiquing my taste in movies, which was similarly pitiful, since romantic comedies and blockbuster adventure films apparently also do not count as "culture." Needless to say, my tastes in tv shows, plays, museums, travel destinations, and books ("Harry Potter isn't good literature??") eventually came under the same barrage of attacks, and I quickly learned to keep my entertainment choices to myself (at least until sophomore year when I decided I didn't really care what anyone else thought of my love for pop culture, and by an odd coincidence actually began to enjoy some of my forays beyond the sphere of boy bands and pop princesses).

Based on that experience, I believe that to most people, pop culture is defined by the following qualities:
1. Any medium (be it a song, book, movie, television show, etc.) which is agreeable to many, but is dismissed by the nameless "elite," and is therefore also dismissed as worthless by those who wish to be "elite" (I'm sure you know quite a few of these people...)
2. Any medium which is perceived as being produced with profit - not art or a message - as the main motivation (You often hear fans complain of artists "selling out" to the mainstream.)

While this definition is much more simplistic than Storey's, I also feel that it can be helpful in that it provides a quick litmus test when trying to decide if a particular medium is "pop" or not. If you enjoy a particular medium but feel you might be embarrassed to admit it to someone whose opinion you value and who you view as being more "cultured" than yourself, then it is probably pop.

This is by no means a rigid definition and I'm sure it excludes some media which we would all likely consider pop culture, so I'm definitely open to suggestions of how to improve! Also, as I grew up in the US, I am only really familiar with American pop culture and am not sure if this definition would apply as well to Korean popular culture. Please use the comments section to add to and refine my definition so that is it better suited to our studies of Korean pop. Thanks!

A glimpse of American Culture in Korean Popular Culture (or not)

Assimilating to a global setting is one of the discourses of Korean popular culture as we have discussed in our first class. Seen from Rain’s new music video, “I’m Coming,” the usage of a war torn setting and the resurgence of “boy band” style of music echo the essence of American culture to a certain extent. For one, the images that are reminiscent of war remain as a sensitive topic to many Americans. Second, boy bands, at least in the mid to late-90s resided in the heart of many teenagers.

Besides Rain, other artists and dramas have also integrated the ideas and themes prevalent in America and other countries’ media. For instance, a new drama called “Surgeon Bong Dal Hee” has been stirring up a new array of controversies even before the show aired. The critics of this show argue that this drama mirrors the cast of a show that enraptured the hearts of so many Americans – Grey’s Anatomy, which is an American cultural phenomenon. Dr. Bong Dal Hee is not only a first year resident but she gets romantically linked to a doctor who is a divorcee, who reminds the viewers of our beloved Dr. McDreamy. Furthermore, his estranged wife also works at the hospital; she is still in love with her ex-husband (sounds like Addison to me). A further dissection of the characters in this show will tell the viewers that a character played by Choi Yeo Jin is like feisty and assertive Dr. Christina Yang. Although the script writers and producers adamantly deny the accusations brought against the show, so many paralleled aspects of the characters leave you bemused. Although it is too early to judge the quality of this particular show, it would be interesting to examine the trajectory that the show takes in order to disengage itself from plagiarizing Grey’s. In addition to Surgeon Bong Dal Hee, another medical drama called “the white tower” is a complete remake of a Japanese medical show. Hence, one could argue that medial dramas have surfaced as a new leader in dramas just as they have in the U.S or in other countries around the world. Korea might be the newest member in this medical show bandwagon.

The adaptation of these elements from other media culture does not equal Korean pop culture devoid of originality and versatility. Therefore, one should be careful when extracting elements from Korean pop culture either to label it as a copy of an existing cultural phenomenon. When “Surgeon Bong Dal Hee” ends, one might be able to say that this show was able to thwart criticisms by manufacturing something inherently Korean built on top of American cultural sensation. We will just have to wait and see.

Some initial thoughts

Culture is a difficult word to define. Popular culture, as Storey notes in Cultural Theory, is an equally elusive concept. Inserting yet another word –Korean Popular Culture– adds another dimension of complexity. So how does one define Korean Popular culture? I submit two consideration that may be helpful in trying to discover an accurate definition.

The first is an idea alluded to by Carter Eckert. Silla, Koryǒ and Chosǒn all had extensive contact with mainland China, and thus participated actively in “Chinese” or “Sinitic” civilization. Eckert notes

<> “It is important to set off these words in quotation marks lest we fall into the modern fallacy of interpreting them in purely ethnic or national terms.”

When looking back on these old kingdoms, there is a tendency to project modern terms like nation or ethnicity. The “fallacy” is that the concepts of nation and ethnicity do not have modern definitions or widespread use until around the 18^th century. Korea, for instance, did not become an “official” nation until the events at Kanghwa in 1876. Adjectives like Sinitic, Chinese, and Korean are essentialist terms; the way we use these labels in modern times may be different from how these ancient people actually thought of themselves. This becomes highly relevant when asking the question “what is Korean culture?” A tantamount question would be to list the features that make something definitively and exclusively Korean. In the context of history, is it really fair to call both Silla and Chosǒn Korean kingdoms, even knowing how incredibly different they were? Further, the first inhabitants of the peninsula were a mix of Tungus and various Altaic tribes; would it be fair to call them Korean too? The point I wish to make is that an essentialist approach to defining culture may create more questions than it provides answers.

A second point and related point is that cultural diffusion is not, and never has been, strictly one-way. Korea provides a fantastic illustration of this point. Modern Korean culture has undoubtedly been influenced to a degree by American culture. So it may be a surprise to some Americans that the recent 2006 movie “The Lake House,” which had a domestic gross of $60m, is a retelling of the 2000 Korean movie 시월애 (Siworae). The Korean smash hit in all of East Asia 엽기적인 그녀 (My Sassy Girl) is currently being adapted and remade for Western audiences under the title My Sassy Girl, scheduled to be released in 2007. To generalize this point, culture is a mix of various sources and certainly does not travel in only one direction. If there is contact, there is sharing.

In class, the consensus was that Bi’s music video was derivative, a sentiment I am inclined to agree with. However, I think there is a clear, “Korean” feel to the Hwang Chini video, and even the Bi video. I admitedly know very little about Korean popular culture, but I think that the definition lies within that unique flavor of things the peninsula produces.