Life is beautiful: gay representation, moral panics, and South Korean television drama beyond Hallyu

Critical attention on Korean popular culture, particularly outside of Korea, has focused upon the Hallyu cultural phenomenon at the expense of sectors of the Korean creative industries that have sought to actively engage with their social and cultural environment and challenge the status quo. Politically charged, countercultural or just distinctive and/or original, non-Hallyu cultural artifacts have been and continue to be born out of a desire to be creative, to comment on or to create social change. This article focuses upon one such critically overlooked South Korean cultural artifact, the audacious and genuinely groundbreaking television drama "Life is Beautiful" (SBS 2010), which motivated an immense amount of critical and social reaction within Korea and yet has barely featured in English language analysis of Korean drama because it has not been classified as Hallyu. This is in spite of it being a finely produced and performed series and one written by the most prolific, longest serving and commercially successful of all Korean writers of Hallyu drama, Kim Soo-hyeon. In addition to its impressive production credentials, "Life is Beautiful" is also notable for being hugely controversial at the time of its broadcast due to its boldness in tackling the subject of Korean prejudice towards homosexuality

The Power of Representation: Korean Movie Narrators and Authority

In Korea, movie narrators enjoyed the admiration of people across class and cultural differences based on their ability to guide audiences through the many novel, foreign images on screen. But despite the prestige of the narrators' profession, it was a demanding one. They had to deftly maneuver between what would entertain and be appropriate for the people of various social classes and cultural backgrounds, while also complying with the demands of public scrutiny and the many regulations regarding public order. Although it has been suggested that the narrators had some authority on matters related to modernity, it is unlikely that they were ever able to rely on that to escape the reality of the sociopolitical status quo. This article analyzes what factors determined the status of movie narrators in the silent film era. It explores to what extent narrators would have been able to claim authority in the position of both pop star and colonial subject and argues that power effectively relies on the perceived value of the assets one commands

There is No Amen in Shaman: Traditional Music Preservation and Christianity in South Korea

Since 1962, when it enacted the Cultural Properties Preservation Law, the South Korean government has made considerable efforts to preserve the Korean heritage. Among the many aspects it has funded and promoted are the performance and teaching of traditional music. Over the years, the system has often been criticized, mostly in regard to its selection of specific traditions or people, but in recent decades it has faced a new challenge. A small but growing number of Christians have begun to renounce aspects of traditional music that they consider to be superstitious. Although at first most of those involved were outside the traditional music scene, in recent years even a number of senior musicians have begun to express their dislike of the superstitious aspects of their art. In this study I discuss the history of the intolerance and examine its potential implications for the authenticity of traditional music

Dirt, Noise, and Naughtiness: Cinema and the Working Class During Korea's Silent Film Era

Because mainstream cinema is largely driven by major industries as opposed to individuals, the experience of film has often been tied to Marxist notions of production and hegemony. During the Korean silent film era, a time of rapid modernization, social hierarchies were arguably much more complex than they are today, due in part to rapid industrialization, the growing presence of the Japanese colonizers, and the traditional class distinctions Koreans continued to uphold. As part of an extensive and stringent cultural policy, the Japanese government-general controlled the selection of movies, their content, and the conditions under which they were shown; and yet the majority of the movies showed that Europe and the US comprised modern, "high" cultures worthy of emulation. With reference to the applicability of Gramsci's concept of cultural hegemony in the context of the Korean silent film era, it is important, therefore, to consider the various notions of hierarchy and cultural supremacy. Although this study considers the applicability of Gramsci's concept in this particular context, its primary aim-and as such another step towards a better understanding of the positions of power in Korea under colonial rule-is to understand how the Korean working-class experience of cinema differed from that of other classes

The Faux Cosmopolitanism of Korea's Early Visitors: Albums That Picture the Home Audience

Since the late 19th century, the number of foreign settlers in Koreaincreased fast. The photographs they took and collected bear witness notonly to the daily life of Koreans at the time, but also to the visitors’ ownbackgrounds. They reveal their status as outsiders, who used photographyas a form of visual documentation for the organization that fundedtheir travel, and in part to make up for a feeling of exclusion by imaginingthe home or peer audience. This study examines whether photographicrecords of foreign encounters shed light on the notion of cosmopolitanism. It argues that cosmopolitanism associates an imaginary globalrealm where people actively play down national, local conditions in pursuitof symbolic capital, which, ironically, is likely to have the highestvalue back home. It concludes that while the collections of photos byKorea’s early settlers comprised elements of conformity, much like themajority of travel diaries today, their physicality made them more personaland thus more convincing potential symbols of cosmopolitanism

Hallyu, Hype, and the Humanities: The Impact of the Korean Wave on Korean Studies

The success of South Korea‘s popular entertainment both domestically and across East and Southeast Asia over the past decade has driven many socio-cultural changes in the region. This, in turn, has led to increased academic enquiry into the realms of activity associated, such as fashion, cosmetic surgery, and the Internet. Although the phenomenon is spurring much academic interest, it remains unclear to what extent it will generate a more profound interest in Korean culture among the general public. Despite the fact that the number of students signing up for courses in Korean studies continues to grow fast, the majority of students appear interested in learning the Korean language only. Perhaps because they wish to separate work from pleasure, or because they have no professional interest in the humanities, or simply because their degree structure does not allow it, for most of them learning Korean is a way of improving their understanding of the entertainment they and their peers enjoy, and rarely a first step towards further analysis. It is important, therefore, to recognize that although the Wave has generated a much greater interest in Korea, in order to promote the study of Korean culture and society, Korean studies departments must tailor their course offerings carefully