Winter Wave : The Korean Wave And The Korean Wave

Scholars consider Mandarin popular songs as “the first kind of modern popular music developed in China” (Lau 106). These Mandarin pop songs were developed in Shanghai in the 1920s. In Shanghai, the “trendy Chinese in Shanghai mimicked the lifestyle of the city's foreigners, engaging in pastimes brought in from the West, and this was also

Popular music is often one of the best lenses we have through which to view our own cultural orientation. Many of the artistic and experimental shifts in popular music have mirrored changes in our own society. For instance, the emergence of Elvis Presley as a public figure would signal the start of a sexual revolution and the growth in visibility of a rebellious youth culture. Similarly, the folk and psychedelic music of the 1960s was closely entangled with the Civil Rights, anti-war and social protest movements. In this regard, we can view popular music as an artifact through which to better understand the time and place in which it is produced. In light of this, the state of popular music today may suggest troubling things about our society.

Not only has Hip-Hop had a major influence on society throughout the years, music as a whole has had impact on the world today and society within it. Music has been a powerful technique for stimulating social awareness throughout American history. Music simultaneously reflects trends, ideals, conditions in society, and encourages attitudinal progression and social change. To this end, Hip Hop in the United States can be perceived as “a blend of reality and fiction” insomuch that “rap music is a contemporary response to conditions of joblessness, poverty, and disempowerment… it is a rebellion against white America’s economic and psychological terrorism against Black people” 1.The increasing popularity of Hip Hop culture throughout the nineties can

Kim (2011) states in the essay, “We hip hop to Usher with as much enthusiasm as we have for belting out Korean pop songs at a karaoke. We celebrate the lunar Korean thanksgiving as the American on, although our choice of food would most likely be the moon-shaped rice cake instead of turkey. We appreciate eggs Benedict for bunch, but on hung-over mornings, we cannot do without a bowl of thick ox-bone soup and a plate of fresh kimchi” (pg.

American pop culture mainly revolves around the "streets" and how life is while living and going through it. So as the culture of gangs grew and became more popular so did the American pop culture. Now when you listen to pop music it mostly revolves around sex and drugs which is how the singer protrays gang life. People listen to the music because it has a "good" beat and they don't reallty listen to the words of the song, but the people that actually take the time to listen hear the story the singer is telling. That is how Gang culture has influenced Pop culture.ou over.

Thus, not only has the foreign-born break-dance influenced the flow of South Korean culture, but it has also developed in the new country reshaping the pop culture all around the world with Korean

Gangsta rap music, existing for a long time in America, has drawn much attention in contemporary popular culture compared with other genre of music. World wide albums of gangsta rap sold greatly and we could see growing popularity among gangsta rap singers. For example, Eminem is the best gangsta rapper and album selling singer in the first decade of 21centry. His worldwide albums sales stand at surprising 100 million, singles 120 million. Holding thirteen Grammy Awards, he has been praised for “The best Rapper Alive” by the readers of the Vibe Magazine.

2003. Voices from the straw mat: toward an ethnography of Korean story singing. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, Centre for Korean Studies.

When I was my 15 years, I watched my first Korean dorama. Then I did not know how it would exert an impact on my fate and view of life. This was the world-famous “Boys over flowers”, which became an occasion of my acquaintance with the country of morning freshness. I strongly believe that my life transformed for better and blossomed after watching this Korean dorama was watched by everyone, from the youngest to the oldest. It drew me in this world – the world of Korean drama, Korean pop and Korean cinema. Knowledge about Korea was increasing more and more gradually and new sides of Korea were opened. I found out the country is famous not only of the Korean wave, Hallyu, but also of kimchi, various traditional food, colorful nature and combination of tradition and modernity. And some pieces of the Korean culture and language are quite similar

Community, generosity, and cuisine in Korean culture are all entwined within each other. The food brings people together. People generously pay for the meals. Doing this deepens relationships. That then creates tight-knit communities. It's all

As I have stated earlier, the Chaebols have gained significant advantage to become the top class due to government control of the financial system in the 1960s. The power and wealth of the chaebol could be best explained by the music video “Gangnam Style”, produced by Park Jaesang, who is known as Psy in the video. As of June 2014, on the CNN Entertainment website stated that “Gangnam Style” has “charted a new record: 2 billion YouTube views” (Conlon, 2014) and has become the most watched video in YouTube history. The video is enjoyed enormously by the American public, which is kind of puzzling, because many do not know the Korean language, therefore, are unable to understand what the video is really talking about.

My return to Korea in the summer of 2001 was nothing short of a culture shock. I was in a country I thought I had learned by heart. It was the country I always rooted my identity and pride from. I wasn’t ready for the shock. I

Reality TV stemmed from Western countries, the source of Korea’s reality TV shows is also from Western countries. But Korea experienced imitation and study from the West, Reality TV this kind of programs has a new development. The main feature of Korea’s reality TV shows is celebrities participating. Television programme which is the outcome of culture and economic development influences people’s consumption and living concepts. Different cultures have their own characteristics of the ethnic culture, so adding these special properties into programmes’ design and production can make these programmes meaningful. Because of the geographical proximity and similar historical experiences of China and Korea, Chinese culture has higher degree of fusion with Korea’s culture than with Western culture.

“Korean wave (Hallyu) was coined in China in mid-1999 by Beijing journalists surprised by the fast growing popularity of South Koreans and South Korean goods in China.” However, the phenomenon of Korean wave flows into East Asia especially China during the early twenty-first century. Korean wave covers the craze for South Korean music, TV dramas, pop stars, but also for fashion styles, cosmetics and electronics. There are many reasons causing Korean wave being a popular mass culture in China. Korean wave spread so successful because of the Confucian themes that East Asian cultures are more familiar with, typically dealing with traditional issues such as family, love, and filial piety. China in particular share a similar history with Korea.

There were many things going on within week three because this class is coming close to the end, unfortunately. As I reflected back, I wished this class could be a semester long course, yet I could not control the situation. With this short period of time, I felt like I learned about Korean society that I never knew before. Prior to this class, I had never observed Korean society from the traditional perspective. However, I had a chance to explore traditional Korean music within this week. There were guests coming to show Korean traditional instruments (piri and haegeun), and perform pansori, traditional Korean opera. In addition to the guests, I also had a chance to view one of the most popular Korean movie directed by Kim Ki-duk, Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter… and Spring. Thanks to this week’s agenda, I was able to experience the traditional side of Korea, which I