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AnonymousEvery year, I do not fail to meet students who teach me and talk about K-pop. I believe students like k-pop because it seems foreign to them and that excites me. I have seen my students (mostly 7th and 8th grade females) talk about K-pop stars as if they truly know them. I am thinking of introducing a lesson by using a music video from one of the K-pop artist for the next school year.
AnonymousChina expands its soft power through Hollywood expansion. Kong Fu panda is one of the movies played in American movie theaters. The power of movies and media is to increase cultural influence. As China-US Hollywood collaboration grows, we'll see more Chinese movies and understand cultures more in depth.
AnonymousAs an economics teacher I found Aynne Kokas presentation "Hollywood made in China" quite interesting. We are truly fortunate to have a speaker so well-connected to such an interesting economic frontier. I might use clips from joint Chinese-American movies like Transformers and The Great Wall to engage students when covering topics such as Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), the role of the World Trade Organization (WTO), and Global Capital. I especially like the concept of the "Chinese Dream," its antecedents in our own "American Dream," and China's embrace of the original "Dream Factory" aka Hollywood.
AnonymousWhile reading the excerpt from "Hollywood made in China", I started to make some connections that I think are very interesting. In the article, Kokas talks about how it is in the interest of US studios to collaborate with Chinese studios in order to release films in China. My partner works in the animation industry and whenever they release a film, he always tells me how much money the movie made domestically and how much it made in China. Before this presentation/article, I had no idea why he was giving me these statistics, but now I realize the importance. This could be an interesting lesson for an economics class.
AnonymousThe more I pay attention, I realize that many movies are made in collaboration with Chinese production companies, reflecting sentiments in Kokas' "Hollywood made in China." I'm wondering how American movies will change as they are increasingly more tied to Chinese production. I also wonder whether the Chinese consider casting white actors in traditionally Asian roles is considered whitewashing, or whether they welcome the increased visibility a giant blockbuster star brings to the movie.
AnonymousI work closely on a curriculum for World Literature with a partner teacher. Towards the end of the year, he showed Rise of the Red Lantern and said his students responded to it really well. They were amazed with the way of life the movie presented. I unfortunately ran out of time to show the movie, but his test run shows a lot of promise for using it next year!
edited by lsetiarto on 6/15/2017
AnonymousThe utter implausibility of Boys Over Flowers is not important to its young viewers. It works on a subconscious/ emotional level designed to appeal to hopes and dreams, not reason. Many people want to belong to something bigger than themselves, something that gives their life meaning and purpose. Others want escape from drudgery and economic malaise. Popular culture fulfills this longing for many people, and its profit-driven nature ensures a continuous supply of new content, be it music, movies, or video games. The power of popular culture should not be underestimated either. I remember a history professor explaining the fall of the Soviet Union, "Although the arms race had a cumulative impact, it was really 'that,'" he said, pointing at a television, "that brought down communism ." Boys Over Flowers director Jeon Gisang feels that the popularity of his show will help contribute to North Korea following the fate of the former USSR. He stated in an interview that he thinks Boys over Flowers will help North Korea assimilate after the inevitable reunification, by offering North Koreans a glimpse of the life they could be having. However, Suk-Young Kim believes the popularity of Boys over Flowers in North Korea has less to do with the disparity between North and South Korea, but has more to do with North Koreans viewers identifying with the shows themes of "the merciless politics of money and insurmountable social hierarchy."
AnonymousLast week my husband and I watched a documentory on the high rise of plastic surgery in Korea. They showed several outcomes from both the positive and negative effects. They also spoke about the rise of women from other counties going to Korea to get work done. There is this area in the city where you can walk through a couple of blocks of pure plasitc surgery centers and spas. Some were very high end and others not so much. Many of these women that come from other countries came with idealistic views on their outcomes. the looked online for reviews of the centers and read so many positive reviews. In the doc. there was a man who was interviewed and he is someone who gets paid to made positive reviews online. So sadly, many if not most of the reviews are not to be trused. They shared one stary of a woman who came from China to get work done in Korea and sadly she did not get the results she wanted and was even left with one eyebrow lifted too high and she is now unable to close her eye. She cashed out all of her savings and is now working two jobs to pay for this surgery that she is unhappy with. From what the doc. said, this is a story of many people. Beauty is something that is severly fantisied over in Korea. Many people want that so called perfect face and most are willing to do anything for it.
Anonymous*Session 3: Kpop
I find it fascinating how Kpop has reached popularity in America through youtube/internet. It’s amazing to see how the Internet has brought such international flavor to different countries around the world. Things like this are happening more and more and I think it’s great- through this global international entertainment we get to see just how similar we all really are no matter where you are from around the world. I personally can relate and think its funny how through Netflix; I too was able to enjoy entertainment media from other cultures. I recently watched a Spanish drama series called ‘Celia’ on Netflix – and I am not Latin, nor do I speak Spanish, or listen to Salsa music. However, I really enjoyed watching that show on Netflix. I appreciate how global international entertainment can be easily accessed and is gaining more popularity.
When It comes to teaching this in the classroom with 1st graders, I would perhaps begin by mentioning some popular Kpop music that they may have heard- to grasp their interest, and use it to point out similarities and differences between American /Asian/Latin cultures...because the population of students I teach is mostly Hispanic (95%).
Anonymous*Reading Session 3
I found it very interesting how traditional Korean values are depicted and enjoyed in the Hallyu trend of drama, film, and KPop. These traditional values including family, patriarchy, respect, and filial piety are also very prominent in Korean literature as in the story of Hong Kiltong from our assigned readings. It is especially interesting that these themes in Korean drama are appealing points across Asia, due to lingering memories/residues of the class system that disappeared so suddenly in a fast changing world.
AnonymousIt was very interesting to watch the K-pop music video to understand why the younger generations of Koreans would be more drawn to this. It is currently what the students in American indulge in, also known as American pop culture. The girls are well dressed and they exuded confidence and glamour, very similar to pop culture in the states. Visually, it is appealing and very current with what is the latest trend.
edited by ahuynh on 6/18/2017
AnonymousListening to the presenter today, help me realize the fragility of the Sino-U.S. relations. I think that by showing two different versions of the same movie and having the students analyze the similarities and differences will spark a conversation as to the why and how. The challenging part might be getting access to the Chinese version of a film.
AnonymousFrom reading everyone's posts here I'm sad to have missed this lecture! I did go see Aynne Kokas give her preview talk about Hollywood and China, which was fascinating, but to have the rest of this, especially the K-Pop and the way that Korea uses popular culture to generate it's influence around eastern Asia (and the world!) would have been really fascinating to see. I have a number of friends who love K-Pop, and it's difficult to escape it's influence on a lot of asian culture, not to mention American culture now as well! I'm curious to see where this will trend in the future.
AnonymousWhat was very surprising to me was the restrictions that exist between Hollywood and China. I assumed that entertainment was pretty much a free market. I did not realize that it was so hard to get a movie played in China. When I took into consideration the implications of cultural exchange, I understood better.
AnonymousI think it is interesting all the similarities that cultures have around the world with their "spirits". So many civilizations use "shamanism" to connect to their ancestors. Although we learned about the Koreans, the Incas and other Meso-American civilizations also used shamans to speak to their dead family members. It is interesting to make all these connections so I can help my students make those connections as well.