When I was thirteen, I took my first trip to Korea Town in Los Angeles. It was the first time I had ever really been immersed in Korean culture, other than things like Korean culture camp or my Korean dance group.
At the time, it seemed really cool for me and my friends to buy Korean cosmetics, get our hair cut and styled at a Korean salon and buy tons of CDs by Korean pop artists.
Fast forward about ten years, and I’m meeting new people in my Korean classes and they’re having similar urges to consume Korean culture.
Only, we aren’t in Korea Town anymore, we’re in Minneapolis.
Whether it’s drinking bubble teas or downloading popular Korean dramas from the Internet, it seems like Korean pop culture is slowly infusing itself into American life.
When I went to Korea for the first time, a friend asked me to keep an eye out for BoA, a Korean pop singer, and ask for an autograph if I met her anywhere. BoA had been one of my first Korean pop CDs but I hadn’t thought of her in ages. I certainly didn’t realize she had been all that popular among American kids.
In fact, I hadn’t really taken much notice of the hallyu, or wave of Korean popular culture overseas, until recently. In general, I had been aware of the lack of Korean, or even Asian-American, stars in American pop culture.
Movies like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon or The Last Samurai seemed to glorify the historical Asian-American cultures, but rarely touched on the life of those people in modern cultures.
The Korean dramas I’ve seen (mostly in my Korean classes) place the Korean people in everyday life. Some aspects of the plot lines are unique to Korean culture, such as the conflict between a teenage daughter and her filial duty to her parents.
In all honesty, I’m just too lazy to read the subtitles on the dramas and my Korean isn’t good enough to watch without them. I eventually lost interest in my Korean pop albums for the same reason.
I laughed when I saw that My Sassy Girl is being turned into an American-style remake. I’ve only seen parts of the Korean original version, and I’m not sure what to think of how the new one will be.
I have a friend who studies Korean language at her college in Hawaii, but her class consists mostly of middle-age women who just love to watch Korean dramas and want to be able to view them without the subtitles.
One of the best run-ins with hallyu and my own ignorance to it all, was when the popular Korean singer Bi or in English “Rain” came to the States for a concert in New York City. My mother pointed it out in the paper, asking if I knew about the Korean singer “Rain.”
I didn’t at first, because I had only ever heard him referred to as Bi, but it dawned on me that he had translated his name to English for the American tour.
As much as I love to see Asian-American stars in pop culture (apart from the stereotypical Asian nerdy kid or the foreign exchange student who doesn’t speak English well), I still can’t get my head around the popularity of hallyu.
6 comments:
bubbble tea came from Taiwan!
I guess 'Hallyu'' has it's good and bad points---the best being that has and will--help people understand parts of Korean culture--especially if they had more neagtive (sterotypical) ideas before.
I'm Caucasian, and I hit Hallyu--it didn't hit me. It's been almost 9 years since I found Korean music--and much more followed. The first historical drama I ever saw--I watched for two years--without subs. H.O.T opened my eyes to k-pop--and everything else followed. I started listening to the music because I liked the sound--then fell in love. Music is a universal language, and I could feel certain things expressed in some songs--but I wanted to know more. Still studying the language on my own, but at least I know way more than I used to. It's slow going, but I'll get there. ^^
I'm a long-time member of certain Korean music +entertainment forums. I was reluctant to post at first (this was about 8 yrs ago), but I decided to stop worrying--and just dive in. lol Most people were teens--but I was way past that. That started me on the road, and the rest followed. I'm a noona. And an official member of three small international'fan' clubs (sisters to the larger ones)--and work very hard (along with other non-teens and noona deul)all year on two forums for 2 very popular vocal groups.
The only thing I don't like about 'hallyu'--is that while it brings parts of Korean culture to people--I am worried about things changing to suit non-Koreans, especially Westerners. I don't mind remakes on the whole--The Lake House wasn't too bad--I liked Il Mare--but like you--I can't imagine how American writers or producers are going to redo My Sassy Girl--and have it mean the same thing. I'm not sure 'Do you wanna die?' would have the same impact as 'JOO GOO LEH?!' Not to say that the remake (or remodelling for American audiences) will be bad---but I still don't understand why movies are not just left in Korean--and subbed (I don't like dubbing in anything -.-). There's other things, too--but Ive taken enough space for one day. I like reading this blog, and your comments--it's nice to see thinsg from people who think before speaking or writing something. Nice change from some of the people I come across every day, esp. in the forums.
Wait, I know Boba Milk Tea came from Taiwan. Is bubble tea different from boba tea?
In terms of film and tv, I prefer watching all kinds of Asian stuff subbed and NOT dubbed. Although one subbed "Ong Bak" from Thailand had "screaming in Thai" and "whispering in Thai" as the subtitles...not very helpful :P
In terms of music, I feel like 99.9% of Asian and Asian-American music makes us look like posers. I love and support both Asian and Asian-American music (from Japan's Dreams Come True to Singapore's Corrinne May to San Diego's Jane Lui), but the lack of a true Asian and Asian-American sound in music makes us all look like posers. Like it would be awesome if an African-American plays the zither or shamisen or gamelan because modern African-American sound is internationally established. When modern Asian or Asian-American is doing hip hop or rock, it just feels weak because we don't have an established sound. We're just copying everyone else's sounds. We largely ignore our own heritage music in terms of integrating it into a modern style. I LOVE traditional Asian instruments and music, so I LOVE when those sounds and musical theories are integrated into modern styles. So I am SAD that there isn't more of it happening!
Even though I love Asian pop and rock etc., it makes me cringe how much it all just sounds like Western music with Asian language lyrics and an Asian face. Musically, there's practically nothing Asian about it. So even if Asian pop is growing in popularity around the world, I think the world kinda laughs at us and thinks we're just posers. Artists like Coco or Utada who try to break into the American scene fail because they don't bring anything NEW to the table and definitely not anything musically Asian. They just sound like any other pop artist but with an Asian face which just equals harder to sell generic music.
I know some people might be saying that we do have "world music" but that's a generic term that doesn't define "Asian".
I appreciate the 'wave' of 'Asian Mania' that is sweeping the world, in all its diverse glory, becoming more visually and culturally acceptable.
As an American Black, I've always been the odd one that enjoyed watching Asian movies, reading books and poetry by Asian authors, etc.
I am also aware that there is the worry among purists of 'assimilation'. That is often a real and constant fear for any culture that has become the 'It Factor', and right now, Asia is IT. However, I, as an outsider, don't feel so alone, knowing that what I've enjoyed for years is now in the pop culture eye and more commercially available. To discerning tastes, this opens windows and doors, and makes our world larger, rather than pundits saying the world is becoming smaller.
Now, as far as remaking the Japanese film "Shall We Dance?" with J. LO and Richard Gere, that I will NEVER forgive Hollywood for.
The concept of Bi's American crossover name with "Rain" in America is very similar to the way I felt about Jet Li when he crossovered to the US market or even Stephen Chow (as I only knew him by his Chinese name at the time). When word was getting around that Jet Li was on fire in the American film industry, I didn't know what the big fuss was all about for this person known as "Jet Li." At the time I had no idea who Jet Li was due to his "American crossover" name and a person that had hair. Then I've realized it's the same actor I've grown up watching in the Wong Feihong films, but it was more bald and his hair was different. On this day I am more in tuned with the issues that Asians and Asian Americans face in the film, music, and entertainment industries. Back in those days I was clueless and more ignorant of these outside yet relevant issues.
I think it's great that Asian influences are making their way to the Western world. I discovered Korean music and dramas a few years ago and really enjoyed them. I was also pleasantly surprised to find that I'm not the only non-korean that is interested in the korean culture. I've seen tons of forums with people from different cultural backgrounds who all like the same things I like.
I also noticed that Korea's not the only place getting attention. Japanese rock and visual kei is also pretty popular nowadays. Bring on the asian invasion! :)
now...if only there were some way to draw more attention the filipino singers/actresses..my life would be perfect.
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