Importance of Individual Artists in Context of the Korean Wave
Before viewing the South Korean television seriesWinter Sonata, I have never invested in, or felt the effects of South Korean Hallyu. I have never consumed any type of South Korean music, film, television, or internet products. However, “Winter Sonata” resonated with me in an interesting fashion. I spent some time contemplating why I was so engaged with this television show and how I had become subject to South Korea’s soft power. I decided to resort to the arguments presented in the article “Catching up to Hallyu? The Japanese and Chinese Response to South Korean Soft Power”.
The first explanation authors provide for the success of Hallyu is the belief that Korea’s culture is successful overseas because it is “inherently superior”. Admittedly, I was drawn toward the ability of Korean artists and consumers to oppose American sovereignty. However, while watching “Winter Sonata” I never felt the influence of political messages or superiority. The second argument relates the success of the Korean wave not to traditional Confucian values, but rather the symbols embodied within media sources that attract modern middle class capitalists. The focus on the importance of education and friendship provided initial engagement with “Winter Sonata”, but other alluring factors still remained.
I believe the arguments presented in Catching up to Hallyu? The Japanese and Chinese Response to South Korean Soft Power discredit the individual talents that contribute to Hallyu, and owe a majority of the success to the effort of the government. “Winter Sonata” was appealing because of the production, plot, and impression. Which can be attributed to actors, directors, and editors, amongst many others.
Even though this sense of attraction to South Korean media may be obvious, I find it interesting that when discussing Hallyu, authors fail to mention the high quality of the product itself and attribute all of the global success to political and economical explanations instead of the people who act as the face of the Korean wave. Private actors, not only state actors, contribute to the global success of the Korean Wave. The global reach of the Korean wave stems from the milieu of media content that appeals to individuals of different race, gender, and age. The development of connections to diverse consumers begins with the individual artists behind these sources of media, before political and economic forces shape them to fit their agendas.