korean pop music is bizarrely popular for how really terrible it is. The lyrics are often shockingly trite and simple, the beats are usually the opposite of innovative, and the singers are nothing to speak of as far as their actualy singing abilities are concerned. So why is it so popular?
The answer is noraebang. (maybe.)
If everyone likes the same songs (or at least knows all the words to the same songs) then noraebang is more easily facilitated and everyone can feel like part of one big tae-han-min-gook (대한민국, the Korean Peninsula, used as a synonym for the great big family of the Korean people) rather than a bunch of individuals with differentiated tastes.
in and out, in and out. in korea you are in, you are accepted, you are part of the family... or you're out and you're so far out there's no need to even identify who you are, you're simply out.
drinking is like this, eating is like this, jobs, friends, family... if i want to be in at noraebang (or, expanding this, in all of korea) i better know the words to this handful of songs (i better learn this crazy language, eat these intensely spicy foods, drink too much alcohol with new friends/co workers, follow these customs... etc.)
possibly this is completely wrong. i'm in a generalizing mindset because of MiSuda.
It's amazing the degree to which most people seem to have sort of signed this social contract and agreed that yeah, the music might be bad, but it's korean music and dang it we're going to like it all together. (kimchi might be insane but we're all going to eat it three times a day, and so on.)
TV shows are like this too. (I don't really know that much about dramas yet, I'm talking about reality TV, talkshow/gameshow/ variety review type shows.)
There are (at most) 30 celebrities who basically comprise the entire face of Korean media. I don't know their names yet but they're everywhere all the time. You can switch from station to station and see the same people hosting a talk show, appearing on a game show, going on a trip with other celebrities and comedians, and interviewing some backwater haraboji about the jjigae he's been making for the last 50 years in Busan. They're one big media family and their antics are funny because the audience is automatically invested in and familiar with the regular cast of characters.
This isn't to say I don't have 60 terrible Korean pop songs on my iPod. I do.
I also just ate some incredibly spicy fish head stew. with kimchi.
I, too, have become invested in whether or not a piggie-back riding Lee Hyori will be able to eat the dried apricot dangling from a tree on Sollal.
I enjoy (love, am fascinated by) the customs and cultures and images that mark the edges of this place. I know they're media produced edges that don't naturally define anything but I still think they're indicitive of something about this place, even if it's an artificial sort of something foisted upon the Korean people by the people who produce what they're consuming.
Even that is something, right? That the broadcasting companies have so much control?
I'm thinking a lot about my own involvement in the circus, too. of course. I had this moment when I felt like a zoo animal as I was signing an autograph last night, and it wasn't fun at all. what makes me special? what makes me worthwhile, what would inspire any korean person to think twice about asking for my signature? Mostly it's because in some small way, even if I'm the cousin by marriage who no one likes or something, I've joined the "family" and I am now "in" in a way I wasn't before.
Or i'm lying to myself. Who knows. I'm praying a lot. We'll see.
yessica. have you ever thought of anthropology? you'd make a killer ethnographer--and my make, i mean you are a killer ethnographer, even if you don't know it.
ReplyDeleteethnographers are people who immerse themselves in culture, learn every intricacy of the language, the customs, the ideologies, yet always maintain a dichotomous distance and critique of the lives they so ingratiate themselves in. you have an inherent aptitude for this, a relativity of experiential incorporation yet separation. an eye and mind to see the beauty and question the normality of culture and thought. this is a distinct intellect that suits you quite well for ethnographic research.
i don't know if you've taken any anth classes at Yale, but you may want to contact some anth profs about doing some research while you're over there. anth is also SUPER flexible and you could probably talk to the DUS and figure something out major wise (because i don't know if you're still having major decision difficulties). Over half of the anthropology department (and it is a small department) do their research in Asia. People you may want to talk to:
People I know are awesome:
Karen Nakamura. I'm taking "Queer Ethnographies" with her right now. She's totally awesome. Cultural anthropologist. She studies Japanese culture, specifically disability in Japan. She also studies queer anth as an aside.
Helen Siu. I've never taken a class with her but I've talked with her a few times and she's also really fantastic. She studies South Asia, China, Hong Kong. Cultural anthropologist.
People I don't know but who do cultural anthropology based in Asia:
Erik Harms - cultural anthropologist focusing in S.E. Asia, specifically Vietnam
William Kelly - cultural anthropologist focusing on Japan
Kalyanakrishnan (Shivi) Sivaramakrishnan - India/S.E. Asia
They could also probably give you some great ethnographic readings about Korea/Asia to give you an idea of what ethnography entails. I'm reading an ethnography a week with Karen (she goes by Karen, not Prof. Nakamura, fyi) and have LOVED it. You really get an entire holistic sense of a group of people.
Of course, these are just ideas, to be considered, tossed around and either kept or thrown out. let me know if you want to talk more. I think it might be a fruitful path for you. Something you're doing already that you can get credit for.