[Taylor Bub]

I agree with your comment regarding how men are seen as babysitting rather than expected to parent.  I know that this is something that is especially relevant in American culture, where women are expected to stay home and care for the family, while men are expected to provide.  I think about how men are celebrated and praised or even regarded with surprise when someone finds out that they participate in the parenting of their own children, as if caring for and helping around the house is some great extra thing that they should never have to do.  It seems fairly close minded, but it had never dawned on me that these cultural 'expecatations' of men to not participate were so prelevant in other cultures.

[Taylor Bub]

This class has been so interesting and has given a great insight into Korean Pop culture and how it has swept across the world.  In my teaching, I want to incorporate more aspects of different cultures into my instruction.  Within my AP Psychology class, we discuss in depth the effects that media, and pop culture have on everyday life.  Specifically, I want to utilize  the article from Week 3, which discusses how the female gaze is utilized in different K-dramas, and how this ‘female gaze’ is specifically defined by white heterosexual female perspectives.  We discuss the ideas of femininity and masculinity within my Psychology course, and one thing that we do discuss in particular is the male and female gaze in movies.  One thing that I discuss with my students is that it is important to look at who is defining each gaze - and they typically realize that it is most often men that are the people creating these definitions, so they understand that in many cases, the ‘female gaze’ is actually what men think women are looking for.  This is especially prevalent in Korean Dramas, where the male characters often take off their shirts and are met with the women in the show staring and losing the ability to concentrate. This would be a great way to demonstrate to students that these ideas permeate into all cultures, and not just American culture.  Another thing that we focus on is the Social-Cultural Perspectives and how they might affect people living and growing up in those societies and cultures.  It would be so great to have students analyze different types of media from different cultures and compare and contrast how they might create differences in the populations and individuals within their society.

[Taylor Bub]

I agree that it seems like such a dramatic assumption to make.  When I was growing up, we only ate food like hamburgers and chicken and pasta, and any type of 'foreign' food came from places like panda express or americanized mexican restaurants.  I wasn't exposed to other types of food until I met my best friend, who is Salvadoran, and we started eating at more traditional places.  I find that it is so much better that I got to be exposed to so many new types of food.  This also reminded me of the idea that the whole reason that Europe began looking to venture out into the world was partially to look for spices to change up the blander foods that they had.  And, while having food brought into your country is very different than going to a country to find new foods, I agree that having experience with different types of foods and flavors is something that we might be more cognisant about, but also we should understand that it enriches our experiences.

[Taylor Bub]

In class we talked about having students analyze different shows or advertisements to understand the culture that each particular clip comes from.  In my AP Psychology course, my students study social-cultural psychology, which discusses the idea that we are psychologically influenced by the culture that we are raised in.  It would be interesting to have students identify different potential societal/cultural pressures within different cultures.

[Taylor Bub]

I think it is so interesting that in Korea, they prefer to play together in person instead of simply over the internet.  I also think that it is great for those who participate socially.  This reminds me of the videos we see online of young kids saying really awful things to each other and really bullying each other online because they arent good at whatever game they are playing, and I think it stems from them not having to physically face the other person; by playing online where you never meet in person it makes them feel as though they are not talking to a real person.  I wonder if this form of online bullying does not happen as often in Korea. (obviously it still happens, but maybe it isn't as prevalent?)

[Taylor Bub]

I know that right now Korean beauty products are so extremely popular right now.  I know a lot of people (including myself) that have switched from certain american products to Korean beauty products, and even huge magazines are writing articles about the best K-beauty products for your skin.  I think it is so interesting that these crazy skincare routines exist, when really people that have 'good' skin just wear sunscreen and avoid being in the sun for too long.

[Taylor Bub]

The articles reminded me of a case I heard about in China, where a woman had plastic surgery and became very beautiful.  She married a man and had children with him, but he did not know about her surgery and their children looked how she did before the surgery, and he sued her because of the China's strict laws on having children.  I wonder if this type of extreme plastic surgery might happen in other places, that don't have the same strict laws on children.

[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.

[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]

It is definitely intereasting that so many K-dramas are more about vengeance, however, I feel that the ending of Squid Game (SPOILERS) was actually a little bit hopeful.  Seong Gi-hun, the main character, that wins at the end, refuses to kill his childhood friend at the end because he is tired of the death and sadness all around him, and he only wins because his childhood friend sacrifices himself for Gi-hun.  I think this demonstrated that even with all of the terrible things that were happening, there was still good that could be found in the world.

[Taylor Bub]

I found it interesting that they portray eating more often as well.  I wonder if it has to do with a portrayal of being very healthy, and having an appetite is a sign of a person being healthy?

Also, I never knew that actors were actually eating in British TV shows.  It makes me think of shows like the bachelor or bachelorette, where they go on dates and have full plates of food set in front of them that they do not eat from.  I wonder if it is a more typically American thing to sort of encourage not eating as being 'normal'.

[Taylor Bub]

The article about why Squid Game became so popular really resonated with me.  In particular I have found that movies from other countries seem less 'cookie cutter' and less predictable to me.   I remember watching scary movies like Friday the 13th, and I found that when watching Squid Game, I would think I knew what might happen next, and then the complete opposite would happen and it made it difficult to look away from the show.  Specifically when the older man turns out to be the person running the entire game at the end, I found it to be so well thought out and carefully planned, so that when this secret is revealed, you realize that there were so many clues throughout the show that eluded to it.  I think that Squid Game did this so well compared to american shows.

[Taylor Bub]

One thing that really stood out to me from this article was the discussion of the female gaze presented in K-dramas.  The idea presented by Benson-Allott that this typical female gaze that is often referred to is specific to white heterosexual preferences and does not necessarily represent the feelings of the majority of the population.  I find it interesting that the influence and dominance of white heteronormativity is so prevelant in other cultures.  I always knew there was a strong influence, but I never realized how strong the influece was.  I also wonder how accurate this definition of the 'female gaze' is, as many forms of media show male actors as unemotional, physically strong and powerful, as if this is the specific desire of women.  However, I think that if we look at who is writing these characters, scripts and productions, it is usually men; so this idea of what women want is really what men think women want.

[Taylor Bub]

In class we discussed some different K-Pop groups and the typical rules they have to follow during their time with their groups.  One rule that really surprised me, was the idea that they are not allowed to openly date anyone so that fans can picture them as single.  As I mentioned before watching the documentary about BlackPink, the group was talking at the end of the documentary about their futures both with the group and outside.  One of the girls mentioned that they might all be married by that time, and having children.  It hadn't dawned on me at all that I never see articles in the news or entertainment (at least not where I get mine I guess) about certain members of BTS or 2NE1 dating people like you would see about more western artists like Ariana Grande or Selena Gomez.

[Taylor Bub]

I totally agree with you that the influence of these groups being seen as 'perfect' is worrisome.  I think that especially for young girls, I was watching the documentary on netflix about BlackPink and it made me wonder how difficult it must be for them to have these idols that are literally perfect.  They seem to have no flaws or blemishes and even when they dance they are so perfectly in synch it almost makes them look not human.

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