Menu
close
Home › Forums › Short Online Seminars › Understanding Korean Society through Popular Culture, Summer 2022 › Week 1 - Film (August 2nd)
ParkLisa.
Crystal Hsia
Kara SchwartzIn both Attorney Woo the series, and in Squid Game, I noticed the role color plays. I find the colors in Attorney Woo soothing. From the food she eats to her clothing; the colors relax me.
But, in Squid Game, I found the use of color jarring and it worked for the edginess of the series.
Is the use of color; a big part of Korean culture? Or should I say does what role does color play in Korean culture, Korean Pop Culture, and do certain colors carry certain meanings? I know in many other films color is used as a way to communicate in film. Most notably, recently Wes Anderson and in the past even in the Sixth Sense when red appears only when there are ghosts.
SungHelenI definitely feel the Korean Wave way more now than earlier in 2000s. The K pop and korean dramas have spreaded so fast during pandemic as people stayed home and watched more dramas. Dramas have go depth into culture of Korea such as language, game, food, cosmetics, and even fashions lately. These has brought many people's attention to Korea and planted a desire in their heart to go visit Korea. Their covenience stores also play a huge role in attracting tourists as GS and CU continously produce products/foods that go along with the trends. In spreading Korean Wave, Netflix and Disney plus have played a big role. They have set up platforms where all global dramas could be accessed by just a click. Now people don't need to go to certain websites to watch certain nation or country's dramas. Everything is on netflix.
Kara SchwartzYou are so right about films from Korea make viewers want to visit Korea!
I saw Miss Granny last night. One word: Epic. And yes, I would love to explore and discuss things I may have missed regarding Korean Culture. I liked it because it reminded me of Romantic Musicals from the Amercian 50s. The times of the big technicolor films. Also, it was so touching. I laughed and cried. I think I might want to save this for my review. But I highly recommned this film. And there is a KPop element as well. The lead Shim Eun-Kyung is also a KPop star. I will be watching this one again. And You are right everything is in one place. Go NETFLIX!
ShimJini- If I remember / interpreted correctly... (either from the lecture video or the article on Train to Busan) -- that the concept of Zombies have connections to Korea's concept of "han".
- That Korea's movie theater film quota policy started in the late 60s -- I thought it started much later, like in the 90s.
KeaneJerricaWhile I found many parts of the first article interesting, I found myself relating to comments by Blythe Worthy. In partiular her discussion of learning about different cultures through "a person". As she re-lives her experience with the arrival of Korean exchange student, Jung-Ah, I felt myself wishing everyone had both the experience of hosting an exchange student and being one. She highlights the vital importance of immersing yourself meaningfully into new experiences. I participated in an internship in Dresden, Germany and I recall the intense moments of culture shock, but also the wonder of inter-cultural connections. As described in the article, Jung-Ah's "dedication to exploring cultural difference" really stood out to the writer and lived on in the way Blythe continued to experience new ways of being. Ultimately this feeling of fascination, unknown and wonderment is a goal I hope all of my students experience. While physically immersing yourself in diverse places is ideal, I strongly believe teachers can support exploration and cultivate interest through texts, multi-media and of course, storytelling and oral history.
ParkLisaI thought it was interesting that the dark K-movies are winning the prizes and are so popular. Prof. Jung-Kim gave the definition of "popular culture" and I wondered why these movies are so popular - not just in Korea but all over the world. My light bulb moment was that question: why are the dark movies so popular not just in Korea but in the world? I've watched K-comedies/movies that are super fun with a good message, like Miss Granny, yet that movie is not trending on Netflix. People are not watching it as much as the dark movies/shows.
GianellaSandySince I’m lucky enough to live in the number one zombie movie creator of all times, George Romero, I had to look at the article about the Train to Busan.
In case anyone does not know George Romero – here’s a link to the original Night of the Living Dead. Romero made it independently and has an African American actor as the lead.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H91BxkBXttE
I first saw Night of the Living Dead when I was a young kid. I often wondered why zombies did not move very quickly after all, it really is possible to outrun a zombie. Just like the zombies, those disasters that cause the most damage are the ones that move slowly and integrate themselves without anyone taking much action. Then as I got older and learned that Romero’s vision of the zombies was to represent many of the anxieties of the world in the 1960s – one specifically mentioned was that the zombies represented racism and how the country could not (or would not) integrate (remember the lead actor is black…).
In Train to Busan, the anxieties are not racism or nuclear war, but economics where the class disparity continues to grow with little regulation and the safeguards in place for those of the lower classes are being stripped away.
A take-away for me was the explanation of the background of the word “zombie.” I thought it was related to voodoo however I was not aware of the other places where the idea of zombies existed. Also, unnerving is the relationship of the word with African Americans in the south.
As for the “contagion” aspect of the zombie spread, I think we all have a deepened understanding of the interconnectedness of the world with the spread of COVID 19. There is still much debate as to how the US as well as other countries were truly prepared to confront a pandemic much like the decontamination officers in the movie laughed and shrugged off evidence before their eyes that something was spreading.
Just like a virus, ideas can spread like a contagion whether well-founded or not, i.e., the Salem Witch Trials.
ShurongRegarding the Korean wave, a Korean drama Dae Jang Geum came out of my head. I watched this drama in the summer of 2005. This drama started to be very popular in China in 2003/2004. You could hear the theme song Onara very often in the mall and even today I still can hum the tune. Of course, I and one of my classmates were trapped in this Korean Hallyu. We liked the cuisine display, actresses' costume and hairstyle presented in this drama; we also liked the plot and the leading actress's character who was strong, patient, positive and diligent, so we stayed up overnight to finish watching this drama through DVD player.
Last night, I watched the film Train to Bushan. I don't have professional knowledge to interpret this film at all, but I was touched by the performance in which the major characters sacrifice themselves to save others when confronting dangers. It is hard for us uman beings to be humane,isn't it?
Nowadays, I enjoy having Korean food. I specifically like the side dishes Bachan.
The balanced combination of color, taste, and variety of these delicious dishes is a delicate art !
ParkSoseulI am not a cinephobia but it took me 3 years to finally watch the well-known movie Train to Busan. It felt weird to watch my hometown captured by the director and I was afraid to judge the fake Busan dialect accent by the actors. After finally watching the movie, I could recommend it to other people, saying "it was pretty entertaining".
For me, the articles and video were very helpful as I could clarify some vagueness of what is Korean culture and understand more about K wave. I definitely see why most of students love to talk about Kpop and drama whereas my colleagues like to discuss about Korean films. Then, it was interesting to think about how come so many people regardless of they have been exposed to Korean culture or not have told me how much they love Korean food. Probably, the stratification of Korean wave is being blended as it becomes more popular. I learned a lot from the lecture, especially, the history of the Korean movies and how they developed and crossovered. I am pleased to observe and learn more about the transition and success of Hallyuwood.
BurkotEmilySomething I found very interesting in the discussion of Miss Granny was the number of remakes for foreign markets. I feel like the Hollywood attitude is that everyone will watch our films just as they are (maybe with a dubbed audio track if they're lucky), and can't imagine a studio like Disney allowing multiple remakes of a title unless they are doing it themselves! Is the choice to allow these remakes a strategic one?
Taylor BubI totally agree with you the the Korean Wave is something that is way more prominent now than when I was growing up. I think shows like Squid Game, and movies like Parasite becoming global phenomena really added to Korean culture being more in the spotlight. I have definitely noticed a shift with my students being extremely interested in different anime. Currently I teach Anatomy and Physiology and I have a ton of students recommending that we watch Cells at Work as a part of the class. Last year we watched it at the end of the school year to decompress after finals. Your point about Netflix and other streaming services really playing a big role is so true! I remember that my sister has been really into different animes, but it has always been hard trying to find a place that is streaming them or where they could be downloaded because they were not really played on regular cable. Now you can just pull them up and watch whenever online, and that has definitely changed the accessibility of the shows.
Taylor BubI definitely agree with you that it seems for the general public, the darker shows seem to resonate more. I remember when I first was convinced to watch squid game, I thought it would be some drama or action show, and was shocked and enthralled when I watched the first episode. I also remember that I watched Parasite for a film review for another East Asia Seminar course, and as I am not a big film enthusiast, I expected it to be a boring slow drama movie. I can honestly say that after watching them, I was recommending it to everyone to go and watch. One thing that I have noticed for myself, is that because these shows and movies are available to be watched in their original language but also dubbed. I prefer to watch these shows in their original language, and turn on subtitles to read along as I watch. For me, this forces me to pay better attention and really catch on to the subtleties that I might not catch if I was listening to a dubbed version. Essentially I have to sit and physically watch to understand what is happening, and I cannot get up and walk around and have them playing in the background, as I might do with any other TV show in English.
Taylor BubI found this article to be so fascinating to understand how Korean cinema has evolved and become much more prominent today. I think that Sangjoon Lee put it best when discussing the future of Korean cinema as very bright. He also discussed the major influence of K-Pop music stealing the world's hearts and becoming so mainstream. I remember when I was in high school a friend of mine was super into K-Pop, and would play music from groups like 2NE1 and Girl's Generation and Big Bang. This was not something that was very common at the time, and I think it is so interesting that now, K-Pop is extremely popular and is taking over the music industry. It is really cool to see collaborations between bands like Coldplay and BTS, and the crazy popularity of groups like BlackPink. I am curious to see how this will continue to evolve moving forward.
MaruKimDuring the first lecture, Professor Kim asks what the “Korean Wave” means to you. I thought about it. As a Korean-American who has been living here in US for 20 years, there has never been any other days or times that I felt proud of K-pop and our culture more than I do now. Call me crazy, but the wild growth of Hallyu has affected me on a very personal level; I can be more of myself. I don’t try to be someone else since I’m proud of myself and my origin. The Hallyu has provided me with higher self-esteem. There were many times that I was reluctant to talk about my Korean side because not many people knew about Korean and Kpop, and it took me forever to explain my Korean background and culture since I had to start from where Korea is located and we are not China,Japan, Vietnam,and so on and so forth. Now, on the other hand, people come to me. I feel the power of the “Soft Power” of Hallyu every time my non-Korean friends approach me and share their experiences with K Pop here and there. Yes, it is rather a tsunami to me. Thank you, Hallyu.