[Taylor Bub]

I remember when the pandemic first hit and we went out of school I spent a lot of time watching netflix, and I remember watching a documentary on Netflix about the Korean Pop Band Blackpink, and how they became who they are today.  It was so interesting to see the amount of preparation and training they went through to become famous.  I think it is so interesting that each girl is essentially assigned a 'personality' and get matched together to form a band.  I think it is so crazy to see how these girls will literally leave their families to pursue a career as a K-Pop star, where sometimes they spend up to a decade waiting to debut, and many of them do not ever debut at all.  Its definitely different than how singers, and musicians become famous in America, by trying out for reality shows or playing gigs on tour with other bands until they maybe become big themselves.  

[Taylor Bub]

Hello I would like to receive salary points through LAUSD.  Is this still an option for this course?

[Taylor Bub]

In class we discussed how the different aspects of Korean films and why they have been doing so well in America nad other countries.  I think that American made films are very cookie cutter - in any romantic comedy, it is fairly obvious what girl will end up with what guy and so on.  For me, I found that films like Parasite and Miss Granny, the characters seemed to be more complex to me, where you tend to start to dislike the main character but there are some redeeming qualities.  I found that at the end of these movies, I understand the struggles and influences on each character and I can see why the characters may have made the choices they made, but I find myself not particularly liking those characters.  It creates a kind of conflict that resonates after the movie is over.

[Taylor Bub]

After listening to this lecture and reviewing some of the comments made below, I decided to watch the movie Miss Granny, to be more exposed to different types of Korean Pop culture.  Someone had mentioned in their comments about how many of the Korean movies or productions that become big tend to be darker in nature.  I had never realized this and wanted to get a sense of a different type of film.  I was so surprised at how wonderful the movie was.  Miss Granny seems to be so relevent in today's society, especially to women, where, in many cultures, women are valued for their beauty and youth and as they age they are thought of as nagging and annoying.  This is a struggle that seems so prevalent and I found that Miss Granny did such a great job in dipicting those struggles.  It made me wonder why movies like Miss Granny, which seem so relevant to today's society, would not become as popular as other movies like Parasite or shows like Squid Game that became a cultural phenomenon.

I think it is so wonderful that platforms like netflix make movies and shows like Miss Granny so much more easily accessable for everyone.  I wish they would include them more often in recommendations as well, because had I not taken this course, I would probably not have ever seen Miss Granny.

[Taylor Bub]

I 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.

[Taylor Bub]

I 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 Bub]

I 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 Bub]

Hi My name is Taylor Bub and I teach AP Psychology, Physiology and Biology at Kennedy High School.  I am taking this course to gain a greater insight into different cultures and am looking forward to learning about the influences of Korean Pop Culture on our students.  

[Taylor Bub]

This is an amazing concept.  I have mentioned before that I am super interested in having my students explore how they might reclaim old buildings that may not be being used anymore due to so many companies choosing to have workers work from home.  I think there will be a big change in what these spaces are used for and farming is something I never even thought of.  I definitely want to have my students research this more and see how it could be incorporated into our city and community.  They also are so beautiful and would add much needed greenery to our cities!

[Taylor Bub]

I found this seminar to be particularly enlightening.  This fall I want to incorporate teaching different cultures into my homeroom.  The curriculum project I designed is something that I want to implement and improve and I am excited to bring this to life in my classroom.  I want to have students complete this research on different architecture styles as an introduction to a bigger project that would involve how they might change their community for the better.  I found the discussions about architecture and how we might repurpose the many buildings we have that are no longer in use to be so fascinating and want to incorporate them into my teaching.  The different ideas that are incorporated into cities found in Southeastern Asia, especially the Zakkyo buildings, are such a great inspiration and I am looking forward to introducing them to my students, to potentially give them ideas for how they might change their community.  I intend to teach my students about these buildings and about the reclaiming of buildings and other structures into things like the High Line Park, and how we can pull from the influences of Asian architecture to bring nature into our buildings.  Then I want to challenge my students to come up with even more ideas as to how they might repurpose the many buildings that are now not being used by businesses that have moved their employees to work from home.  I think our students are going to be emerging from school into an entirely different world then pre-COVID, and I think that having them explore the brilliant ideas found in other cultures around the world, and showing them that they can fight for these changes to happen in their cities will be particularly empowering for them.  I am excited to share these ideas with my students, and I am excited to see how they might go out and change their communities for the better.

 

[Taylor Bub]

I love how you equate the ideas of Feng-Shui and balance with the structure and function within the human body.  This is a concept I would like to explore more and might be able to use in my Physiology course as an introduction.  It is great that you also relate it to nature and how it is so important in nature to maintain that balance.  This could definitely be used when discussing homeostasis in the body, as it is the maintaining of the balance within the body.

[Taylor Bub]

In class we also discussed how to combat gentrification in our society by creating more equal green spaces and by utilizing good design.  I think this is so important, that we understand that if we focus on creating beautiful, liveable, accessable and useable spaces in every city, there is no need for people to move to certain places that are considered 'nicer'.  I think about growing up in Santa Clarita, and I always lived in Canyon Country, which was the not so nice part of our city, where Valencia was the nicer area and there are more green spaces put into place in Valencia, and when I was a kid, they built paseos, which are pathways that connect homes all throughout Valencia through bike paths and walkways.  There are also parks and sports complexes built within those pathways for everyone living there to use.   It was always so strange to me as a child why they wouldn't also build those on my side of town, and then the city would feel so equal and everyone would have the same beautiful amenities.  I think this is something interesting to discuss with students as to how we might work to create these more accessable green spaces for everyone.  Professor Bharne also mentioned how in Tokyo there are parks being created on top of buildings and in Los Angeles there are plans to build parks along the river.  These are such interesting ideas to how we might bring in more green spaces.  It makes me want to build on a previously mentioned idea to have students explore how we mgiht bring in more green spaces to their community.

[Taylor Bub]

In class you mentioned how many of the tourist places that people like to travel to often become preserved and are labeled with the "World Heritage" label, and then the authenticity of the cities kind of goes away.  You also mentioned cities like Florence, where this has happened before.  I remember traveling through Italy, and in particular in Florence, my friends and I walked through an outdoor market, and I was very disappointed because many of the items that were being sold were things that were clearly manufactured (like t shirts and bags that were clearly made in factories).  I wanted to find places that were owned by families or smaller businesses in town to find things that were more authentic to the culture of the city I was in.  I have never traveled to any Asian countries, but the idea that there are places that still have this authenticity to them is inspiring and I want to travel to these places more than before to be able to experience the actual authentic culture of the area.

[Taylor Bub]

This is such a cool idea to have the students research and advocate for solar panels.  I grew up in the santa clarita valley, and all of the high schools there now have solar panels installed.  I think they were able to capitalize on solar when it first became big because it is a much wealthier area.  My principal has mentioned things like teachers writing grants for solar panels before, and your ideas on having students research how we could have solar installed and have the students advocate for this would be much more impactful.  I love the idea of showign students that they are able to make a difference in their community, especiallt now when so many crazy laws get passed and it seems as though they have no say or way to challenge things.   Our school has an environmental magnet and our students are very passionate about working towards saving the environment, so this would be such a cool project to have students look into.

[Taylor Bub]

I think it would be such a cool idea for a warm up to have students just simply view the image of the Town Hall in Mumbai, and maybe try and guess where this buidling is located as an introduction to your unit.  I imagine a lot of students would guess that same as you mentioned that it was located in Germany or some other Eurocentric area.  you could use this as a segue into students understanding how much of an influence cultures have on one another.  I think a lot of students would think this is so interesting because many of them (including us!) have the misconception that the architecture in certain places does not necessarily have outside influence.

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