GE Elect 3 Lesson 4 - C.eastern Pop Culture - JPop

Lesson 4:
P O P U L A R C U LT U R E A R O U N D T H E W O R L D
B. Eastern Popular Culture
(Japanese Popular Culture)
A decade on, and the English-
speaking world remains dominated by
American-made music, films and
television.
Yet, there's been a noticeable shift:
a steady rise in the influence of
South Korean and Japanese pop
culture exports.
In 2019, Japanese consultant Marie Kondo
taught us how to declutter our lives in her
Netflix hit "Tidying Up with Marie Kondo."
South Korean pop groups BTS and Blackpink

showed us big-budget, action-packed music
videos -- and smashed YouTube records in
the process.
Also, "Parasite" became the first South

Korean film to win a Palme d'Or and an
Oscars-- and then the film's director Bong
Joon-ho appeared on "The Tonight Show
Starring Jimmy Fallon" speaking mainly in
Korean.
That capped off a decade that's seen the
rise of East Asian pop culture in the West,
including the catchy "Gangnam Style" by
flamboyant South Korean rapper PSY (2012)
and the glacially-slow romances in Japanese
reality show "Terrace House" (which came
to Netflix in 2015).
Top English-language fashion magazines like

"Vogue" and "Elle" now regularly feature
South Korean beauty products, apparently
endorsed by actresses Drew Barrymore and
Emma Stone.
"Asia is becoming an increasingly significant cultural force,"
consulting firm McKinsey noted in a 2019 discussion paper.
"In contrast to the past when the region was largely a

recipient of Western culture, with Asian citizens enthusiastic
consumers of Hollywood movies and British pop music, for
instance. Today, cultural flows go in both directions."
B.1 The Growing Influence of East Asian Pop Culture
A decade ago, Japanese anime like Pokemon and
Digimon was already a fixture in the West.
Hong Kong martial arts stars Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee
were household names. Analysts were already using
the phrase "hallyu" -- or "Korean wave" in Korean -- to
refer to the spread of South Korean fashion, beauty
products, television dramas and music in other
countries, especially in Asia.
Accordingly, 'the East is coming.' In fact, it has been for

a while," said Anthony Fung, an expert in pop culture at
the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
B.1
But in the past decade, East Asian pop culture -- particularly from South Korea --
has really taken off. Now there's not just one Kung Fu star or one anime, but a
range of different East Asian exports.
Jung-Sun Park, a professor and coordinator of Asian-Pacific studies at California

State University at Dominguez Hills, says social media and the internet have
"totally transformed the transnational flows of pop culture."
The various social media platforms have revolutionized the ways in which
individuals encounter and consume pop culture and have greatly diversified the
routes of pop cultural flows and influences (Park, 2019).
In the past, traditional media platforms like television and radio stations have
controlled what we see and hear.
B.1
East Asian pop culture also offers something else: Diversity.
Susanna Lim, a professor of Asian studies at the University of

Oregon, says Western fans are demanding greater diversity than they
did in the past. She points to K-pop fans as an example, noting that
many are from diverse backgrounds, and may also feel marginalized
by American mainstream culture.
"The growing interest in East Asian pop culture reflects these

changing demographics and cultural awareness in the US and the
West," she said. K-pop is packed full of Western influences, so it can
feel both familiar and unfamiliar to Western audiences, Lim added.
B.2 The effect of the East Asian spread
Western fans of K-pop and other cultural products
might initially be drawn in by flashy dance moves and
edgy fashion, but it's having a ripple effect in other
areas.
Enrollments in Japanese and Korean programs in the

United States increased between 2013 and 2016,
according to a study by the Modern Language
Association of America.Enrollments for Korean
language programs rose by 13.7%, by far the largest
increase of any language being taught.
K-pop is also boosting tourist arrivals to South
Korea.
According to Korean think tank Hyundai Research

Institute, K-pop group BTS helped inspire an
estimated one in 13 tourists that visited the
country in 2017. That same report found that, if
BTS maintain their popularity, they will contribute
a projected 56.16 trillion South Korean won ($48
billion) to the country's economy by 2023.
Jo Elfving-Hwang, an associate professor of Korean
Studies at the University of Western Australia, said that
Korean Australians she had interviewed hadn't been
interested in Korean pop culture, but started paying
attention after being introduced to it by their non-
Korean friends.
"This is an interesting example of global popular culture

that has been driven by external recognition of the
cultural attractiveness rather than a push by local
diasporas (Elfving-Hwang, 2019)."
B.3 What the Future Looks Like
Experts say there's every reason to think Japan and
South Korea's cultural exports will continue to have an
impact in the coming decade. The big question mark is
over China.
Although China's rising economic and political influence

has made it much more prominent on the world stage
than it was a decade ago, it has barely made a dent on
the West's pop culture landscape.
B.3 What the Future Looks Like
Fung says China's limited impact is partly because
there's less of an economic need for Chinese
entertainment companies to look abroad -- it's the
most populous country in the world, so there's already
a huge domestic market.
Another reason, though, is the strict control that

China's Communist Party imposes on Chinese media.
Regulators have banned actors with tattoos and
censored song lyrics. Chinese state media outlets have
also criticized male celebrities who appear effeminate
or not manly in appearance.
OVERVIEW
Professor Elfving-Hwang says it's "harder to
imagine" the Chinese music industry ever having
the same international appeal as K-pop. "But you
never know," she said.
In the next decade, Elfving-Hwang thinks East Asian

pop culture will keep going strong -- and she sees
that as a good thing.
"If K-pop can actually make people curious enough

to take quite a big step like learning a language,"
she said, "And then through that gain more
understanding about the culture ... I think that will
have a really significant impact on how we can
communicate in the future."
END.
Reference:
https://edition.cnn.com/2019/12/28/entertainment/ea
st-asia-pop-culture-rise-intl-hnk/index.html

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Lesson 4:

South Korean pop groups BTS and Blackpink

Also, "Parasite" became the first South

Top English-language fashion magazines like

"In contrast to the past when the region was largely a

Accordingly, 'the East is coming.' In fact, it has been for

Jung-Sun Park, a professor and coordinator of Asian-Pacific studies at California

Susanna Lim, a professor of Asian studies at the University of

"The growing interest in East Asian pop culture reflects these

Enrollments in Japanese and Korean programs in the

According to Korean think tank Hyundai Research

"This is an interesting example of global popular culture

Although China's rising economic and political influence

Another reason, though, is the strict control that

In the next decade, Elfving-Hwang thinks East Asian

"If K-pop can actually make people curious enough

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