Transnationality of the ‘Korean Wave’ and ‘Reverse Media Imperialism’ Thesis (2018.03)
2018.03.01
- Author : Doo-Jin Kim
- Journal : The Journal of Asiatic Studies
- Publisher : Asiatic Research Institute, Korea University
- Volume : 61(1)
- Publication Date : March, 2018
- Abstract : The Korean Wave often argues for faster and stronger invasion into East Asian countries, further European countries in cultural sense. K-pop has often come to the logic that Korea has finally entered the Center. Until most recently, combined with the controversy on a more aggressive cultural imperialism, it is assumed that the Korean wave has an aspect of ‘reverse media imperialism,’ reflecting a new dichotomy of us/center and them/periphery. Some argue that the Korean Wave may be seen as a new cultural dominant at the international dimension, thus paving the way for cultural hegemony even in Europe e.g. the UK. The orthodoxy in popular music studies has supported cross-fertilization through the process of hybridization or transculturation between the global and the local. We posit that the Korean Wave is considered another type of glocalization/hybridity deriving from the dominant mode of cultural flow in advanced countries. In the light of ‘British Invasion’, the Beatles was crucial in establishing the importance of rock as a social phenomenon as unprecedented or overwhelming rather than a transient cultural force in the UK. The Beatles still tends to enjoy a canonical status as ‘zeitgeist’ consisting of British social culture as a whole, proving their durability as leaders that has served as a vehicle of British cultural imperialism. The Beatles legacy continues to endure, because the music itself has a quality of timelessness that allows it to be passed from generation to generation. while the Korean wave may be seen as a new dominating core of cultural flow even in the UK, the potentials of British imperialness on the post-Beatles should be carefully considered.