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An Alternative Globalization of Pop Culture

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The Sociology of Hallyu Pop Culture

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Abstract

The domination of global pop culture has long been the sole purview of the Big Three (the United States, Japan, and Europe). Recently, however, new players have emerged, South Korea in particular, a country whose productions are fashioning a more multipolar world. By adopting the high-quality standards of the players dominating the cultural markets, and by showcasing innovation, the Korean Wave has mastered the art of hybridizing genres, as well as the process of glocalization, first regionally and then globally. Cultural despecification is accomplished without dilution. It is also achieved with a distinctive aesthetic signature which may be summarized as a never-ending quest for beauty which is the result of “body work” and which mobilizes all the techniques of image-making.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Wikipedia, “List of highest-grossing video game franchises,” consulted on 22 July 2020. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_highest-grossing_video_game_franchises

  2. 2.

    In Japan, “TV games” refers to video games.

  3. 3.

    France alone accounts for 40% of European production: https://www.lesmetiersdudessin.fr/cinema-danimation/

  4. 4.

    “List of animation studios,” consulted on 5 August 2020. http://www.filmsanimation.com/studio/

  5. 5.

    https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Box-office_des_films_d%27animation_dans_le_monde

  6. 6.

    http://data.uis.unesco.org

  7. 7.

    The South Korean cultural products referred to in this book and marked with an asterisk are presented in the glossary at the end of the book.

  8. 8.

    One may recall the famous thesis of historian Frederick Jackson Turner (1861–1932), who in a now classic work declared: “American democracy was born of no theorist’s dream; it was not carried in the Susan Constant to Virginia, nor in the Mayflower to Plymouth. It came out of the American forest, and it gained new strength each time it touched a new frontier” (Turner 1920 [1893]: 293).

  9. 9.

    It was not until 2018 that this character had the leading role in a movie devoted to him (directed by Ryan Coogler).

  10. 10.

    Again, we do not claim by all means that these values are the mirror of South Korean culture but that they are presented as such by the cultural products.

  11. 11.

    Oshin is a serialized Japanese morning television drama, initially broadcast in 1983 and 1984. It has 297 episodes, each 15 minutes long, and is set over a period stretching from the early 1900s (during the Meiji era) to the early 1980s. It is one of the most famous series in Japan and has been rebroadcast in 68 countries (including in many English-speaking and Arabic-speaking countries).

  12. 12.

    Astro Boy, known in Japan as Atom is a fictional superhero and the protagonist of the eponymous franchise. Created by Osamu Tezuka, the character was introduced in the 1951 Captain Atom manga . In France, it first aired in 1986.

  13. 13.

    Candy Candy is a Japanese series created by Kyoko Mizuki. The main character, Candice “Candy” White Ardley is a blonde girl with freckles, large emerald-green eyes, and long hair worn in pigtails with bows. It first aired in France in 1978.

  14. 14.

    Captain Harlock, also known as “Captain Herlock” in the English release of Endless Odyssey and some Japanese materials, is a fictional character and the protagonist of the Space Pirate Captain Harlock manga series created by Leiji Matsumoto. It was adapted into an anime television series and first aired in France in 1980.

  15. 15.

    Kiki’s Delivery Service is a 1989 Japanese animated film written, produced, and directed by Hayao Miyazaki, adapted from the 1985 novel by Eiko Kadono. It was animated by Studio Ghibli. The film tells the story of a young witch, Kiki, who moves to a new town and uses her flying ability to earn a living.

  16. 16.

    Pokémon, also known as Pocket Monsters in Japan, is a Japanese media franchise managed by The Pokémon Company, a company co-founded by Nintendo, Game Freak, and Creatures. The franchise was created by Satoshi Tajiri in 1995 and is centered on fictional creatures called “Pokémon,” which humans, known as Pokémon Trainers, catch and train to fight each other for sport. Games, television series (20 seasons, 1000 episodes in 169 countries), card games (30.4 billion cards sold), anime film series, books, comics, music, merchandising, and a theme park… all of these form the Pokémon universe, which has become the highest-grossing media franchise of all time.

  17. 17.

    There are four television channels devoted to them, and the scores of e-sports competitions are reported on the mainstream channels’ news segments, along with those for soccer and basketball.

  18. 18.

    In France it attracted more than 1.67 million moviegoers, making it the most viewed Palme d’Or winner in 15 years.

  19. 19.

    During the Japanese occupation, Korean women were abducted and used as sexual slaves called “comfort women” by the Imperial Japanese Army (Epstein and Joo 2012). The Japanese sexual colonialism inflicted upon Korea has never been fully recognized by Japan and it continues to be remembered to this day, as demonstrated by the fact that references to it are commonly made in certain K-dramas.

  20. 20.

    This trait is also meant to be safeguarded by the youth protection laws that were passed in South Korea in the 1990s, and which enforce censorship. For example, the song “I’ve Got You Under My Skin” by TVXQ! had to be changed to “I’ve Got You Under My Sky” for the domestic market, otherwise it could not have been broadcast on the radio or on TV. Artists are required to respect a form of puritanism.

  21. 21.

    https://www.letemps.ch/lifestyle/coree-sud-culte-beaute-conteste

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre Population et Développement, Université de Paris/IRD, Paris, France

    Vincenzo Cicchelli

  2. DEPS - Ministère de la Culture/Centre Max Weber (UMR 5283), Paris, France

    Sylvie Octobre

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  1. Vincenzo Cicchelli
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Correspondence to Vincenzo Cicchelli .

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Cicchelli, V., Octobre, S. (2021). An Alternative Globalization of Pop Culture. In: The Sociology of Hallyu Pop Culture. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-84296-3_3

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