Week 4 - K-beauty, K-fashion, K-food (August 23th)

[KeaneJerrica]

Interesting point! We were talking about colourism with students in Social Justice and the topic of colourism came up/ In particular, a student explained how media, photos and videos actually use filters to LIGHTEN the skin sahdes of BTS members and that you don't realize the actually have more melanated skin until you see them live. 

[KeaneJerrica]

Thank you for all the yummy recommendations! I'm going to plan a dinner 😀 

[KeaneJerrica]

I was surprised watching the ~100 years of beauty and how South Korean style actually tracks with the trends within the US during each decade. Additionally, the promotion of cosmetic surgery during the trailer for “200 pound beauty” is consistent with what we have read and watched over the past few weeks. It was interesting how after the main character completed her cosmetic surgery the music becomes more bubbly, brighter and she herself seems happier.  While I understand how this surgery could be empowering for a person, it is a form of internalized oppression in terms of beauty standards. This trailer makes me sad thinking about the pressure young people must face to look a certain way to adhere to the beauty standards. I noticed the before and after photos of a person who had surgery make the person look more “doll-like”. It reminds me of the discussion we had during the K-Pop week.  I’ve never heard of medical tourism and it makes me wonder how many other countries normalize cosmetic surgery. I am sure there are many more than I realize. I am curious how many men also undergo cosmetic surgery. Given what we learned about the male K-Pop stars and that men pay more on make-up products than anywhere else in the world, I would infer that it occurs a lot as well.

[Daniel Moon]

David Ralph Millard, Jr first popularized "Asian blepharoplasty" to "deorientalize” patients’ faces. This was done in order for women to appeal to the American GI's living on US bases (still in Korea). This is one of many examples of how Koreans' perceptions of beauty and their standards were influenced by outside influences, mainly colonial--both from the US and Japan. In Leem's article, she mentions that Koreans initially strived for sharp noses, which is "remnant of Japanese colonialism. Japanese people used plastic surgery to change their faces into Western shapes with prominent noses." In A Gastronomic Study of 20th and 21st Century Korea, we see that Kimchi, an iconic Korean food, was repeatedly shamed, especially for the Zainichi that continued to live in Japan after the end of colonialism in Korea. Although in the 21st century, food was used as a method to heal this painful past, the marks of colonialism are not easily erased.

[Cheryl Watson]

kimbap and jjampong,

I consider food as a way to embrace differences in other cultures. My consumption of foods other than those which are associated with my heritage, becomes an icebreaker at lunch or when sharing a meal.  The article, 

1. Annie Lee and Kate Leonard, "A Gastronomic Study of 20th and 21st Century Korea: Retracing Korean Food From Japanese Colonization to Modern Times," Story Maps (November 18, 2020), https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/545067250fb54025937084555246f728. 

surprised me in that Koreans had to contend with food that served as a reminder of Japanese colonialism, while forging its own Korean identiy.  What does not surprise me is the transnationalism of dishes in and around the Korean penninsula. Shows such as Anthony Bourdain's adventurous foodie romp with multicultural cuisines, piqued my palate. My taste in food, much like my taste in music, is eclectic. However, there are some foods that I refuse to consume: live octipus, silk worm larve (or any larve). If my food is fighting me, let it live. 

[BurkotEmily]

Something I have been considering this week is how much of Korean Pop culture is very stylized.  Whether it is the bright colors of Squid Game or the almost cartoonish speech bubbles and graphics in Korean reality TV, The "flower men" and incredibly precise dance steps in K-pop, or the step-by-step process of a K-Beauty skin ritual, it is often unmistakable as anything else.  I wonder, is this a concious decision to stand out?  Is this sort of stylization a historically Korean trait, or more of a modern decision to appeal to Koreans with a contrast to western pop culture?  I can't think of a style I associate with primarily western culture.  

I will also say that I'm impressed in the amount of beauty products that I use that I didn't realize were Korean companies!  There's a Tonymoly pumpkin jar sitting on my bathroom sink right now! 

[Jeanine Alexander]

This week's topic I focused on K-beauty because I am fascinated and quite disturbed about the trends in beauty throughout the world. I read the Gangham style plastic surgery article and now understand the disturbing trends in beauty by calling it a scientific problem. The trend has moved from nose and cheek surgery to chin surgery in order to achieve perfection. Like I said a couple of weeks ago, this idea perfection is disturbing because there is no such thing as perfection.

The idea in westernizing what are already beautiful faces is frankly depressing and I feel cpntributing to the problems young people have today with depression (unfortunately, us adult do too). Adults have a responsibility to teach youngsters they are all uniquely beautiful, but I feel we may be too late.

[Cheryl Watson]

Often times, plastic surgery is an attempt to meet a criteria that is forced upon us by another ethnicity or Western standards. Though its original purpose was to correct malformations from accidents, disease, or misshapen attributes, plastic surgery has trickled down to the masses.

Julie Chen, the wife of the former president of CBS, was criticized as an Asian American because she did not meet Western beauty standards. In an interview about her early days in American broadcast journalism, her supervisor said "...her eyes make her look like she is always tired..." Cultural pressures such as these led Julie to undergo radical facial surgery in order to appeal to Western audiences and thereby advance her career.

I have noticed, with the celebration of women's curves, especially fuller hips (gluteus minimus and gluteus maximus) that are celebrated on celebrities such as JLO, Cardi B, Meagan Thee Stallion, LIZZO, and Kim Kardashian, there has been some cultural spill over. Women of European and Asian decent are embracing implants for their hips in order to mimick the silhouette of popular music artists, which is something I never saw coming. Enhancment procedures usually take place in Mexico, Thailand, and other countries outside the US as it is exponentially cheaper to fly, reserve a hotel room, tour, eat, pay for the medical procedures and recover at a fraction of what it would cost in the US.

 

 

[ZhangTina]

"The continued consumption of Japanese soy sauce served as a reminder to Koreans of the trauma of Japanese colonization."

I think this is a little extreme, considering that food has been moving across borders ever since the beginning of man. If not for the movement of Old World foods into the New World, then the New World wouldn't experience beef, citrus fruits, coffee, sugar, and many other types foods. Does the consumption of coffee and sugar constantly remind the natives of the New World of their enslavement by the colonists? Perhaps. Then does that mean that they have to boycott these foods as well? Or is using these new foods in new ways good enough for people to consume them without guilt? Perhaps that's why Kimbap is so popular despite its colonial history. 

[Courtney Caldwell]

This actually stood out to me a lot as I was reading this article too. I found it very interesting it was referred to as a scientific problem. Additionally, that the science was helping to determine the perfect face. I remember questioning "well who decides what is perfect?" but it seems the belief here is that it is science (at least with that one doctor highlighted). 

I must say I did appreciate though that when people brought in celebrities photos, they actually steered them away from achieving someone elses face and went with a more "scientific" approach that would fit that specific person. Still, it makes me sad people feel the need to do this to achieve certain beauty standards. 

[Kara Schwartz]

Courtney I was thinking that as well . Plastic surgery must be very pricey, especially jaw surgery. 
 

I second your question. Is it the elite in Korea who are getting most of the elective plastic surgery?

[Kara Schwartz]

Tina 

 

you put a lot in perspective for me. I had probably too much meat growing up where my mom did not think it was a meal without meat. Chicken and beef were not too pricey growing up. I think I take it for granted the variety of food I had available to me as well. And I love Korean cooking a lot now, so I am less skeptical about spam in Korean food now. Perhaps with the right spices and flavors spam can be more versatile  than I thought 

[Kara Schwartz]

I think if a once colonized culture can refashion a colonial food and make it their own there is power there. Sure food and spices were shared by both trade and colonialism it does not mean that the entire cultural exchange is all about conquering

Like Tina discussed many places received food they n my au never have had before. But the transformation of those foods is a celebration of cultures

Bang mi is an example of a Vietnamese food that embraced part of its colonial past, only the culinary part, but they created a wonderful sandwich and the French influence in Vietnamese cooking is not a bad thing

Please note I am not advocating colonialism in any way.

 

 

 

[Taylor Bub]

The ideas in the first article regarding the "science" behind redoing a person's face to be perfect reminds me of the concept of the golden ratio.  We spend a little time on this in my physiology class, and I have students draw out a face that perfectly follows the golden ratio.  The images in the article reminded me of this and it made me wonder if this was where the facial proportions came from?

[Taylor Bub]

This really resonated with me as well.  It reminds me of the Brazilian Butt Lift surgery that became big for a little while.  It seems like plastic surgery kind of follows the same sort of trends as fashion; different things go in an out of style.  And, just thinking of how chin surgery works, most of the time if you are making it smaller you are literally shaving off bone, and that can't really be undone.  Similar to nose jobs, once there is not a lot of cartilage, there is not much that a person can do to put it back.  It makes me think about how permanent these things are.

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