The global success of Psy’s rap could be traced back to the dramatic rises and falls in fortune that have characterised Korean history (the peninsula has been invaded and colonised many times, without ever encroaching on its neighbours). After the Korean war, South Korea was ranked among the poorest nations in the world. With a mixture of authoritarian repression and collective will, the “hermit kingdom” had by the late 1990s turned that around to look like a tech and manufacturing success story. That rise came to an abrupt end with an economic crash in 1997, when the Korean government was forced to ask the IMF for an emergency loan of $57bn. The day of that request is still known as the Day of National Humility. In order to pay off the debt there were many collective sacrifices (including a drive for gold that saw tens of thousands of ordinary Koreans donate wedding rings to the national cause).
https://amp.theguardian.com/world/2022/sep/04/korea-culture-k-pop-music-film-tv-hallyu-v-and-a
Tag Archives: south korea
In South Korea, wearing hair rollers in your bangs in public signals a major shift in how women react to the pressure to be perfect.
https://www.insider.com/wearing-hair-rollers-public-hot-gen-z-look-south-korea-2022-2
“Traditional Korean society was very rigid when it came to gender roles, and when women tried to maintain their beauty, it was always done to please others.. But young women in contemporary Korea are a lot more independent and prefer to focus on themselves. They’re not overly conscious about how they are perceived by people they don’t know.”
How the ‘Garlic Girls’ Overcame Abuse to Return to the Olympics
Seoul will be the first city government to join the metaverse
https://qz.com/2086353/seoul-is-developing-a-metaverse-government-platform/
The South Korean city is planning to use artificial intelligence to monitor its sewers and water waste centers. An AI chatbot serves as a public concierge, fielding public questions and complaints related to everything from parking violations to covid-19 protocols. Earlier this year, Seoul rolled out plans for a public internet of things network—a series of sensors and base stations throughout the city that collect data on things like traffic, public safety, and environmental metrics and feed them into a central operations platform managed by city workers.
A viral TikTok claims that the subtitles for the Korean drama are misleading, but it’s not quite that simple
https://www.dazeddigital.com/film-tv/article/54384/1/the-botched-squid-game-subtitle-saga-explained
However, more significant parts of the script that add nuance to her character are also missed. In one scene Mi-nyeo is trying to convince another contestant to continue the games with her. The subtitles read: “I’m not a genius but I can still work it out”. However, what she actually says is “I am very smart, I just never got a chance to study,” according to youngmimayer.
“That is a huge trope in Korean media, the poor person that’s smart and clever, that’s a huge part of her character, but almost everything she says is being botched,” she adds.
South Korea’s rapid rise to global pop cultural dominance will be explored in new Victoria & Albert Museum exhibition
Gentle Monster to launch dessert brand Nudake in Seoul
K-Pop has been a good predictor/signal of less obvious cultural shifts in South Korea and Asia more broadly #semiotics
Teenagers have projected their dreams onto k-pop idols for years. But bts are not your average k-pop band. Although their output has all the trappings of the genre—slick production, perfectly choreographed dance routines, rap interludes and ever-unconfirmed rumours about band members’ relationships—they do not conform to the stereotype of the flawless, manufactured idols who are expected to serve as blank screens for fans’ projections.
Analyzing Trends with Tim Stock 