The Reach of the Korean Wave
2011-01-13 02:31 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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omonatheydid
A reporter for Time magazine was driving through the Gobi Desert in Mongolia a few years ago when he got stuck in the sand. He walked to a yurt he spotted far off in the distance and asked for help. The owner of the yurt said, "I'm watching 'Jewel in the Palace' right now, but I'll help you in half an hour." The Korean soap opera about a court chef during the Chosun era was a hit in many countries. It recorded a 90 percent viewer rating in Iran. When I visited Tunisia two years ago, people would walk up to me in the street, shake my hand and say "'Jewel in the Palace' from Korea is the best!"
In northeast India, near the border with Burma, lies the mountainous province of Nagaland. It is a remote area two hours by plane and another two hours by jeep from Calcutta. But in 2008, a Korean music festival was held there. Nine people who passed a qualifying round stood in front of 10,000 spectators and sang Korean songs. When Korean pop singer Ilac took the stage, female fans screamed and cheered. And in Chile, there are more than 50 fan clubs dedicated to TVXQ, Girls' Generation and other K-pop bands.
The so-called "Korean Wave" has spread to Central Asia, the Middle East, Latin America and even Eastern Europe. Yet it spread the slowest to Taiwan, which is much closer to home. Taiwanese were hooked on Japanese culture until early 2000, when Korean TV soaps were aired there for the first time. Until then, the only image Taiwanese people had of Korea was of a war-ravaged country. But all that began to change, and when "Jewel in the Palace" aired in 2003, the Korean Wave took off.
But now the Korean Wave is still going strong in Taiwan despite an outbreak of anti-Korean sentiment last year following the disqualification of a Taiwanese taekwondo athlete during the Guangzhou Asian Games. Five TV channels air nothing but Korean dramas. Among them, GTV, Videoland Drama Channel and Eastern Television rank among the top three in the country. They only air Taiwanese shows during the holidays, except at prime time, because of a law requiring 20 percent of their broadcast content be homegrown.
Taiwanese lawmakers submitted a bill just a few days ago to boost the ratio of Taiwanese dramas to at least 40 percent. Government officials favor the bill, which is widely expected to be passed. The move is aimed at stemming the explosive popularity of the Korean Wave. It is surprising because it shows just how powerful the lure of Korean pop culture has become. This should serve as a cue for Korea to become more humble, diversify the range of content, boost the quality of Korean cultural products and lower their prices.
Source: Oh Tae-jin @ The Chosun Ilbo
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Ohhh Koreans, come down to earth
Date: 2011-01-13 04:57 pm (UTC)I love Kpop and dramas but to say that k wave has reached out of Asia is a stretch and calling wondergirls and especially rain world-star, yeah right!!!Kathy griffin is way more famous and she is on the D-list
Re: Ohhh Koreans, come down to earth
Date: 2011-01-13 05:03 pm (UTC)I can't even remember the last time I saw a Korean on TV, let alone k-pop.
Re: Ohhh Koreans, come down to earth
Date: 2011-01-13 07:05 pm (UTC)Re: Ohhh Koreans, come down to earth
Date: 2011-01-13 08:02 pm (UTC)Re: Ohhh Koreans, come down to earth
Date: 2011-01-14 11:21 pm (UTC)(Side-eyeing my country with "the best singers in the world" when all they can cough out of their voiceboxes are covers, or "world-class citizens" who cannot even make their country prosperous.)
Re: Ohhh Koreans, come down to earth
Date: 2011-01-15 02:20 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-13 05:01 pm (UTC)Movie theatres were lawfully required to show a certain percentage of Korean films.
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Date: 2011-01-13 10:17 pm (UTC)..I'm venting my anger because this happened to me a few days ago.
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Date: 2011-01-14 02:15 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-13 06:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-13 06:26 pm (UTC)hearing about Southern American countries makes me jealous..
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Date: 2011-01-13 10:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-13 11:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-14 04:59 pm (UTC)and i can't walk anywhere without hearing a kpop song :|
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Date: 2011-01-14 05:20 pm (UTC)That's totally creepy that they're stanning for the managers. WTF is that about???
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Date: 2011-01-14 05:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-14 05:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-14 06:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-14 06:04 pm (UTC)What's the age range of kpop fans in Malaysia? Kpop was a thing that I initially got into because I wanted to have something that I could use to connect with my students on a personal level, but then things just spiralled out of control and now if there is an activity or test at our school that mentions anything to do with kpop (for example, there was a question in their monthly test that mentioned Big Bang), my kids are like, "Teacher, you made this, didn't you," all super judgmental and sarcastic lol.
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Date: 2011-01-15 07:01 am (UTC)a few years ago, i used to go airport stalking. there i've often met 40 something year olds. and at concerts i've seen 11 or 12 year olds. two days ago at the cube concert a group of maybe eight 13 year olds made a huge ass banner of beast and got on the kbw 9 o'clock news (i know, because i sat behind them and heeeeey, I'M on the 9 o'clock news haha). there were a lot of women in their 40s/50s at ss501/jyj/leeminho events especially, because they fell in love after watching dramas. people tend to start early and stick around till their 20s. i started when i was 13 and i turn 18 this year :D
and rain has appeared in my test papers a few times. i think my teacher is a fangirl.
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Date: 2011-01-15 07:04 am (UTC)that means i can't badmouth anyone in korean anymore ;A;
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Date: 2011-01-15 02:22 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-14 02:33 am (UTC)The truth is, people in Taiwan like the music and the drama. They however, couldn't care less about Korean culture. I would say Japanese entertainment is still bigger in Taiwan.
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Date: 2011-01-15 02:22 am (UTC)