Jung-Kim - The Korean Wave (Wed)

[Anonymous]

I find it interesting that the rises of K-pop is closely tied to popularity of Youtube. Granting viewers full access to the content may be the more effecitive model, but I am curious as to how the copyrights challenges will be addressed in the future.

[Anonymous]

Interesting ideas about East Asian competition and Korea's potential as a counterbalance to China dominance in Africa. Korean television drama is on par with the Mexican novella for entertainment value and not surprised it is being discovered throughout the world. Nice way to compare and contrast the soft power of this small nation with smaller European nations like the Nordic zone and the Netherlands.

[Anonymous]

It appears that the spread of K-Pop has its positives and negatives. K-pop appears to be the medium through which many people are being introduced to Korea and its culture. Additionally, k-pop seems to be the marketing platform launching other other korean products into foreign markets. Some detractions of k-pop being a representative of Korea concerns people's perceptions of Korean culture may be limited to k-pop and nothing more substantial or meaningful. This is similar to the concept of many foreigners judging the U.S. through its most pervasive global products (McDonalds, Coca-Cola, and Starbucks).

[Anonymous]

Whether it's a cultural phenomena or a multi-institutional campaign, my mom and sister and (now my wife) can't get enough of the Korean dramas. My mom says it's the similarity in cultural values, my wife says it's the romance, and my sister claims she's just keeping my mom company, but they all can sit through hours of it like nuns in mass at the Vatican. I don't expect the interest to die down any time soon, and just as those in the Rock and Roll world who were predicting the fall of hip hop and rap, to their dismay, watched it get even more popular. I think Korean popular dramas will be a mainstay for spreading Korean cultural around the world for quiet some time.

[Anonymous]

The hard power/soft power analysis of South Korea is on point. The article reveals that perception is powerful, and coupled with hard power can produce a formidable force. I will
have to view some of these Korean Dramas mentioned in the readings, as I am ignorant of this particular popular culture phenomenon. I am already more attracted to Korea.I am impressed the strategy to improve their "Brand" to the world. The continuation of transcultural collaboration and the development of cultural industry departments at the universities is too cool. I disagree with the author that Korea is not big enough to become one of the worlds great powers?

[Anonymous]

K-pop culture has been becoming very popular in Asia. Young Chinese population are obsessed with Korean pop musics, TV shows, movies, cosmetics, and also plastic surgery. Now Korean wave is expanding its boundary from Asia to Europe and North America. Many of my students know Korean pop stars, like Korean BBQ and fashions. LAUSD offers Korean/ English immersion programs in elementary schools.

[Anonymous]

In the Hallyu 2.0 reading, on page 36, there is a flow map that I find very interesting. I find this flow map interesting because it makes me think of the several students I had in the past two years who have been surprisingly interested in Korean culture. This past school year I had two students who were extremely well-versed in K-pop knowledge; one student knew nearly every single K-pop boy band, including their individual names! The flow map , to me, shows the importance of introducing diverse cultures to our students. It may not seem that important, but as the reading and chart shows, listening to K-pop can lead to great things. Who knows? Maybe the students' interest in Korean culture will lead them to work for companies like Samsung or LG. If we can use music and videos to enhance our students' learning and knowledge, why not incorporate it more into our classrooms?

[Anonymous]

I find it interesting how the social media wave across the world has really helped to influence our generations and future generations. I think K-Pop is awesome and music is a great universal language so seeing all cultures express different genres of music is great. I wonder though how does the older generation view K-Pop? Are they more so for it or against this new type of exposure for Koreans.

[Anonymous]

K pop soo amazing. What I found interesting is that the Korean government sponsors K-pop starts. I wasn't entirely sure why, but my guess will be to sell Korea around the world, which will help with business and tourism.

[Anonymous]

It's funny to hear all this about K Pop music. I've heard many presentations over the past few years from my seniors at LACES who talk all about how the labels own them and how they are pretty much used up & spit out. It's not funny haha but hearing more about it makes me look forward to seeing my students again & listening to the stories of some who really want to become rappers or K Pop stars. It really is amazing how they've managed to manufacture a western style in the music while keeping a Korean identity in many cases.

[Anonymous]

LOVE the information on Confucius. I've been teaching it for a long time & getting a deeper understanding of it is right up my alley. I'll definitely be bringing this to my classes, especially the new 7th grade "honors" group. I'll ask them to read selections from the Analects and have them apply to their lives & why they are still important even though the ideas are over 2600 years old. Moreover, I'll ask them to observe the differences between Confucian ideals to those of America & see how we can better our own society if we slowly adapt the most important ideas such as rectifying the names, propriety, rites & music, and how we may become "superior people" (not just men).

[Anonymous]

Yes, K-wave has put South Korea in the minds of millions of people in the world. However, now I'm wondering, does this wave actually portray the culture of S. Korea in accurate manner? Are their true values shown through these dramas and pop-singers/band? I think it would be interesting to read about not only the wave that's going around the world but read about what non-pop koreans are doing and saying.

[Anonymous]

I am a closet Kpop and Kdrama fan. I started watching kdrama about twenty years on VHS with my Korean girlfriends. The subtitles were horrible but my friends and I didn't care because we were more focused on the male actor. I believe Korean drama craze didn't influence among my Vietnamese friends until about 10 years ago. I mean ALL my girlfriends were watching some kind of Korean drama and/or music. We would get together and just talk about the drama. It's a phenomenon that came and is going strong. (my favorite is Secret Garden :secret Just FYI, you need to watch pass the first few episode before it gets really good.

[Anonymous]

Something that Jennifer Jung-Kim mentioned in regard to her presentation that resonated with me was based on the chart she showed representing how “we” learn about Korea. I just thought it was so humorous that K-Pop was the first interaction or knowledge that people experience in regard to Korea. It is funny because it is true. Being a history teacher, I of course have a background knowledge of Korea’s history, but when talking to students the first conversation about Korea will be about K-Pop. Every year my students do a project in pairs on a country of their choice, and with about 20% of my students being Asian one group always wants to cover Korea. Even though the project focuses on history, geography, politics, etc...the Korea project is guaranteed to have at least a 2 minute clip from a K-Pop video on YouTube. The students always giggle as the video plays and the presenter makes a point to say it can’t be skipped when presenting on Korea.

[Anonymous]

You are absolutely right! I definitely plan to use the youtube links that were shown today and other similar videos in my class! They were great and I know our students will enjoy them.

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