Aileen Liang
December 11, 2017
The Cultural Globalization of Korean Phenomenon: Korean Pop Music
Multicolored pants, synchronized leg and arm movements, doll-like features, and screaming fans – at first glance of a 2012 performance of “Gee”, 9-member girl group Girls’ Generation appear as your friendly girls-next-door. Upon further research, it becomes apparent that this South Korean girl group ranks as one of the highest revenue-earning legacies in girl group history, earning over 21 billion won in the first three quarters of 2011. Alongside Girls’ Generation, comedic singer Psy’s “Gangnam Style” music video has generated 2.5 billion views and Korean boy group Big Bang has generated a revenue of 44 million dollars in 2016. The rise of the Korean pop industry and global phenomenon is most notably attributed to several factors: creators, distribution, consumers, and content. Most interestingly, the prominence of K-pop music and artists on consumer goods, advertisements, social media, and daily life, has profoundly influenced ideological standards of domestic and international culture. With technology, social media, training programs, and international popularity, the Korean pop music industry has played a significant role in shifting consumerism, standards of beauty, gender and societal roles, music production trends, international culture, and the future of the industry as a whole.
South Korean popular music, or K-Pop, is a musical genre that has risen tremendously in
Previous research reveals that Korean-Americans are considered the most separated from the rest of the society, both culturally and ethnically. Study used Berry (1997)’s strategies of assimilation, integration, separation and marginalization and three main dimensions of cultural orientations; language, identity and behaviors (Choi et al. 2014). Study included youth who are highly integrated in society; born in the US or immigrated at a young age; proficient in both English and mainstream behavior practices whereas their parents known to be culturally separated and the family socialization processes largely Korean (combination of high acculturation and high enculturation, characterizing integration). Researchers used years of residence and nativity
I have not participated in any Korean extracurricular clubs because of the fact that I participate in many other clubs such as chess, health and fitness, code interactive, and board game club. However, I have participated in Ms. Kang's Movie nights in 9th grade. In these movie nights, we would watch Korean movies in order to expose us to Korean lifestyles and improve our ability to better listen to Korean. Through these movie nights I learned of the vast differences between Koreans and Americans. One very important difference being Korean’s importance in respect. Korean people are respectful to everyone they meet and are happy to do so. There are even two ways to talk in Korean that are considered respectful, those being informal polite and formal polite. In my everyday life I see Americans disrespect one another for the smallest things such as a little accidental push, or forgetting their name. However, in these movies I noticed how passionate and excited both are on their culture. Korean people become siblings in their Chuseok, just as Americans thank everyone and everything for their lives in Thanksgiving.
When Athenians first saw playwright Aeschylus’ The Persians, they did not cheer at the tragic fall of their sworn enemies. They did not yell in a heightened euphoria of victory, nor did they stamp their feet in chanting triumph. Instead, they wept. They wept for their enemy’s tragic, human flaw, and for their resulting demise. When I learned of this, I was utterly confused. Why would one be sympathetic toward an adversary, let alone during a time of war? I then realized that the Athenians were capable of compassion because they were able to look past their perceived enmity with the Persians, no matter how briefly, and relate with them through a common human fault. This led to a fundamental change in my sense of identity and how I viewed other people. I
Gangnam is the financial district in the capital of Korea, Seoul. Gangnam residents are infamous in Korea for being philistine with property well above ten grand per square meter. This notion of “Gangnam Style” was less popular before PSY’s hit song, but it was formed to describe the materialistic nature and pride that Gangnam residents had in their monetary class. PSY, once less known, is one of the only K-Pop artists who writes and choreographs for his own music. This freedom to produce his own work allows him to add hidden messages that most people do not pick up.
Instead, hip-hop should be deemed fake or real intentionally based if it’s as a product for market or playas’ personal expression. According to Lee’s study, there was a common theme found in playas’ lyrics and suggested that, “South Korean hip-hop playas’ practice of keepin’ it real demonstrates global-local syncretism.” S. Korea are not using their own ideas and concepts, but global elements and characteristics are also incorporated too. This incorporation was evident from S. Korea playas use of English, hip-hop clothing, costumes, and similar concepts. It’s already not pure because these characteristics are not original, but the differences are it intention. Critics may argued that hip-hop is dead or is no longer real because of globalization and diffusion. These playas are still rapping about their country’s problems and personal issues, but how do people know if it’s real or fake. Since globalization is a major component of blending hip-hop globally, music corporation are largely affected the quality and authentic of contemporary hip-hop. Playas are in this business to make a living, and often don’t have control of their choices from these corporation. Lee talked about the Korean Wave, and its influence to international audiences. At large, the Korean Wave is carried by Korean-pop music, but Korean hip-hop
In South Korea like any other nation, Religion is a very delicate area that needs to be considered before embarking on business opportunities in that nation. Because of the sensitive nature that Religion brings to business, when considering a country to do business in, one must tread lightly, being careful not to infringe on a group of peoples Religious rights. As it relates to South Korea, it is made up of various Religious groups, and there is a little over 65% of the population of the Republic of Korea that are members of an organized religion.
Culture is defined as the characteristics or complex whole of a society. Culture is what separates and gives each society its unique identity. Furthermore, The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea although shares its borders with China, Russia and South Korea. It has its very own unique cultural characteristics. These Characteristics can be defined as History, Political, Social structure, Development, laws and beliefs. Viewed from a westerner's perspective The country known as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is shrouded in Mystery. North Korea is considered “One of the world’s most secretive societies” according to BBC news network, a title rightfully earned. Throughout its short existence the totalitarian state has been on the
worldview. Although you might not know of very many people who listen to K-pop, it's insanely
Western popular culture has changed significantly over time. In the 1920’s and the 1930’s, radios, dancing and feminism were all trends, and most popular music was jazz and folk (Prezi, 2017). Now, in the 21st Century, phone apps, social media and mobile phones are the biggest trends, and the most popular music genres are pop, rap, and music made by boybands (Prezi, 2017).
“Pop Goes the World: The Globalization of Media and Popular Culture” by David Grazian discusses about the spread of culture throughout the world due to globalization. The article begins with the discussion of shopping malls. Although, shopping malls exists throughout the United States, most of the largest shopping malls exist abroad in Asia. This is ironic as America has many shopping malls, but, it does not have the largest. The concept of globalization is not new but it has involved over the years to define it around culture.
After this period of music came to a conclusion, more modern genres of music developed like jazz. Ever since there have been different eras of popular music like: Jazz, Blues, Rock, R&B, Hip-Hop/Rap, and most recently Pop. Not only has music become much more diverse, yet it has also turned into a gigantic multi-billion dollar industry. According to Select USA , the music industry reached 15.1 billion dollars in 2013, and according to Billboard, a superstar artist can earn anywhere from 14 to 70 million dollars a year. This shows that music is greatly influencing our society, however recent studies have found that it's also a considerable influence in our
Thirty years ago South Korea was still recovering from an intense war and could barely stand by itself economically, fast forward to today they are one of the top exporters of pop culture to the U.S. So how exactly did they advance in such a short period of time and how did they take over an industry the U.S. has dominated for decades? The answer lies in the country's harsh history. After being ripped apart by a brutal war they tried to rebuild themselves only to be torn down again by the Asian financial crisis. Reinventing their whole country was out of pure necessity. Still, why pop culture? What caused Korea to focus and put most of its government funding on something as intangible as culture? Euny Hong, writer of "The Birth of Korean Cool"
Late in my high school career I pretendent to like certain kind of music just for the sake of appearing to be cool. All that change the day I discover K-pop. I think the K-pop industry has of the most overproduce type of artist in the world. Everything in K-pop is about the visual and hooks and the really good choreography. But there’s one thing that K-pop always see to get is that sometimes music forgets something can only be just fun and its all the matters.
Although music has always personified the culture from which it originated, it has also been the most freely shared mediums between cultures. As new instruments and techniques are embraced by musicians; they are synthesized with the artist’s own styles and music genres then form or evolve with each generation. Musical globalization has been evolving for centuries. The process has just more rapidly developed over the last 50 years with the advent of modern transportation and electronic communications.
South Korea is one of the most homogeneous countries in the world, in which it has its own culture, language, and customs that are different from other Asian countries. In South Korea, the citizens greatly value hard work, filial piety, and humility in their daily lives. South Koreans are very proud people in which they pride themselves in their traditional culture and their financial success.