Posted here, an idealized image of a Korean "talent" ( a singer or actor, or, just wonder celeb) with an admonition below telling us "No Korean Wave".
As I am sure most of you DON'T know, there is a "Korean Wave" going through Asia. As of late, it has seen resistance in China and Japan. It seems that the market for Korean love ballads, slapstick comedies and post-op movie stars is about saturated.
In and of itself, this is not so interesting, especially for an American, who is accustomed to going around the world and being the receptacle for everyone's love/angst for the supposed representatives of my culture, or, what's worse, me.
The interesting part is the reaction of Koreans. While some have been stoic, maintaining that the Korean Wave must continue, despite all the recent negativity (anyone heard that in the US press?), other people have expressed sadness, anger and complete befuddlement. It has been wildly reported in the press here, and most people are shocked to hear that this cultural export can possibly produce almost as much antipathy as it does sympathy.
If my darkest desires come true, two positives that might come out of this. One, the broader Korean public might come to understand how fun, freaky and disturbing it is to see random, nonsensical English printed on clothing and signs all over a foreign country. A Korean friend who recently went to China observed Chinese people donning meaningless jumbles of Hangeul on clothing and only commented "I had a very strange feeling". The second area of light is that, one day, Koreans may come to see that all the crap that comes out of a country does not necessarily represent each individual of that country.
In the meantime, the next time I hear someone ranting about the cross-country consipiracy to rig the Olympics for Anton Ohno's (check out the death threats) benefit, Oprah's plastic K-girl crusade or the stereotypes in that one James Bond movie, I will know what to say:
HANRYU GEUMJI!!!! (한류금지!)
