I have enjoyed nearly every film we have watched this year; not necessarily in a traditional fashion meaning that I was completely entertained and blown away by every single one, but in a sense that I have been able to expand my understanding of Asian pop culture and the transitions that it has undergone through these movies. This, to me, is enjoyable. Expanding my consciousness through media is something I can always appreciate. With this being said, it seems counterintuitive that I would write my reflection about one of the articles that we read, but it seems as if I can draw the most analysis and personal and class-based reflection from the reading “The Origins of National Consciousness”. Within the part of the article we read, there is information regarding the importance of the invention of print, and the ability that this created for the people to create their own type of national “consciousness” or “culture”. Through the print, people were finally able to spread massive amounts of information easily through books so that the whole population has access. This created the ability for people to start different sub-genres and types of language and spread them to other people within their society, which created the very beginnings of pop culture. This is closely related to the invention of cinema and its take-off in Asia. Through cinema, Asian film makers and producers were able to take general ideas that exist within people’s minds and expand them to a nation-wide stage. This is a huge for the pop culture of a society. This creates a concrete basis for what the pop culture is. The different themes and storylines that exist within the films created are now officially part of the pop culture of that time. These movies will now forever be remembered as they were “contemporary” in their society and in the future can be analyzed from a historical basis for research, just as the original prints circulating in Europe in the 1500’s are to this day.

Post Number 3:
 

In this class, it has been interesting to analyze the different types of media that exist within asian pop culture and how that has an effect on the impact that it had. Marshall Mcluhan's idea that the media is the message is something that has stayed in my mind ever since I have understood the concept. One of the most interesting effects that the development of technology has brought is the types of media that the average person is exposed to. In one of the classes, we discussed the KPop group BTS and how they have been able to spread their message through the media. Back in the late 1900’s, music and music videos were not easy accessible. One either had to purchase a record, listen to the radio, or watch MTV to watch music videos. Nowadays, it is easier than ever to consume media from musicians. In my opinion, this has allowed BTS to skyrocket to the top of the charts and to gain popularity. Because their media is so accessible, whether it is on youtube, spotify or apple music, people are able to share it and spread it rapidly. This has lead to another topic we have discussed in chass: virality. Virality typically only happens through certain types of media, and is almost always referred something that becomes popular extremely fast on the internet. Without the internet, would virality exist? How would our view of bands like BTS be without virality? Would they even be popular? These are some questions that came to my mind when thinking about this. For BTS, the medium definitely is the message, and the message would not have even been heard without the medium. In Asia, censorship has had a large impact on the messages that can be perceived on the internet. With censorship on the platforms that people push information out on, there is a limit on the messages you can send. The relatively strict censorship that exists in Asia has had an impact on the way people can spread information, which has given birth to the grass-mud horse lexicon. This, in my opinion, is a way for people to get around the censorship that exists, which will allow people to spread the real message that they want to spread, and not one that is diluted by the platform that they chose to use.