Lean back, lean back

Hello class. My apologies for the late post. Due to the Spring Fling festivities and keeping true to my Korean nature of alcohol consumption, I was mentally, physically unable to submit a coherent post yesterday. Anyhoo, let me just say Wow. I can’t believe we spent over 40 hours talking about Korean popular culture. To be honest, like Teresa, I enjoy the consumption of Korean pop culture and did not expect to extrapolate deep meaning from them. However, Jina totally pushed me to my academic limits with this class. I guess since I am a science major and the farthest I’ve digressed from science intensive classes would be like a writing seminar, I never really took these deep thinking almost philosophical classes. I mean that Cultural Theory was so convoluted to me. No matter how many times I would read Storey’s book, I was completely lost on what he was talking about. I’m still unsure about post-modernism vs modernism. With that being said, I can definitely say I’ve learned a new aspect of learning. Instead of learning concepts and remembering how things work like in the science world, I was exposed to an abstract thinking type of class which I am still in the process of learning. I mean who seriously watches “Jewel in the Palace” to extract the significance of the plethora of Korean food presented in the film and relate that to Korean nationalism? Personally, I saw the food and just wanted to call mommy and tell her to have that pahjun made when I arrive home. But no. I am an edumacated college man now. I shall try to see beyond the food and try to see why this food is being shown so ostentatiously. Is the government trying to impose some new culture on us in a form of Marxism? So yea. To make a long entry short, I just want to say after taking this class I’ve learned to look past the entertainment factor in Korean popular culture. Sure, Korean popular culture is addictinly entertaining; however, leaning back, stepping back and examining why it’s popular and digesting concepts like Hallyu will enable me to learn about the society that I live in and about myself and my interests. I know am not gifted with So-Jin’s articulating skills or Geoff’s audacity to comment on everyone else’s comments, but I hope what I tried contributing to our discussion in my vernacular form didn’t detract from all your guys’ learning experience. With that said, there is only one last topic we haven’t covered: Korean soju. Let us take full advantage of this Spring Fling atmosphere and experience first hand this great beverage that is not only part of high Korean culture but with the low as well. One shot homies! Thanks for a great semester!