The Soft Power influence of East Asia Main Menu Index Post 1 Kung Fu Hustle Questions and Summary Post 2 South Korea/Hallyu Reflection Midterm Project Crooks Practice Pixlr Image Resume Pop Culture East Asia Photo Sources

Post 3

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I had not conceptualized or understood the possibility of Korean soft power until I was exposed to Korean popular culture in this class. Gangnam Style, BTS, and Meteor Garden prompted a very interesting response from me. From the get-go I did not want watch them and I did not think they would be of any interest to me. I couldn’t have been more wrong. I did not quite understand what they were saying (with the exception of BTS) but I felt a weird urge to continue watching or do further research on each of them. Because of this urge I found myself  thinking about Korean soft power as a whole and how Hallyu is starting to bleed into different digital outlets around the world. In the article “Catching up to Hallyu? The Japanese and Chinese Response to South Korean Soft Power”, Kyung Kim talks about Korea’s ability to mass produce their pop culture to the world and how it is essentially used as the key product that they export. With this thought in mind, I became absorbed into the stylistic approaches that Gangnam Style such as the wacky and craziness of the video that confused yet amused me, and the familial factors that made up BTS and separated them from other pop groups. I ended up enjoying each one of them because how weird, different, and visually stimulating each one was to me. But most of all I enjoyed how unique they are when compared to other videos or pop groups within their genre. Gangnam style was the most visually stimulating and equally comedic. It was something I had never experienced. BTS gave me an insight into the life of a K-Pop star and an appreciation of their community-based and compassionate ideals. They represented less of a capitalistic outlook on life and more of a utilitarian view on how to use their fame. I loved and admired it. Meteor Garden showed a very flashy side to Korean culture with the styles that were shown. I also enjoyed the cinematography and the plot. It was a way for me as a young adult growing up in America to find common ground through ideals and plot themes, with Korean culture.  

Through these media outlets I found myself thinking about how Kyung Kim talks about Korea’s foundation for the creation of Hallyu and how because they had a head start over countries like China and Japan in fostering their “creative industries and developing soft power”. This point is incredibly important considering how having that foundation will give Korea the tools they need to be able to adapt to the changing technological Pop culture environment. The remakes that Korea has developed such as Meteor Garden and the viral sensations they have produced such as PSY and BTS are a direct example of Korea’s skillfulness in creating the product that can be imported and loved by foreign countries. The fact that they have been able to evolve their pop artist over time to match social trends is what makes their foundation in creating Popular Culture so strong. It also led to Korean using Hallyu as a political tool to further their soft power influence over countries like the US, Japan, China, etc. The point I found incredibly interesting within the article was the fact that Korean Pop Culture is now driving the political agenda. That to me is the prime example of how one’s culture can be used as a source for cultural dominance and as a means of profit. I believe that China and Japan could not catch up to Korea’s soft power influence because of Korea’s early foundation of its pop culture.
 

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