UNDERSTANDING KOREAN POPULAR CULTURE
Was born in Vietnam, I have interacted with the different form of Asian popular culture. To understand more about it, let’s trace back to the past when the roots of Asian cultural products were planned in Vietnam. During 1975, the South has observed the remarkable number of consumer goods, it was flooded with products from Hitachi, Sanyo, and Honda (Thomas 2002). Despite that, the North was prohibited from the consumptions of goods which is why they were shocked by the consumption culture of the South (Thomas 2002). Moreover, with the reason that consuming East Asian technologies will threaten to the commitment of Socialism which is why technologies and cultural life occur before 1975 have been banned (Thomas 2002). Still, the desire for these products has never stopped which leads to the change in East Asian exports: the occurrence of many of Taiwanese TV series, Hong Kong films, Japanese games and Korean soap operas (Thomas 2002). It clearly shows that the exchange of cultural products in Vietnam was due to the process of globalization since the 1980s (Burbules and Torres, cited in Le 2008). We can see the result of globalization in many aspects of life such as the influence of Confucianism from China, Western classical from the French colonist and the dominant influence of Asian popular arts on entertainment industry of Vietnam (Le 2008). However, being born in 1996, I was fascinated with how the Korean culture products had affected the Vietnamese fan. Therefore, I will narrow down the topic and critically examine the effects of Korean Soap Opera to Vietnam.
Nation Branding
The past decade has shown the remarkable increase of popular cultural products from South Korea (Vu & Lee 2013). This phenomenon is known as Hallyu (Korean Wave) that spread to many countries including Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam, etc (Vu & Lee 2013). Korean Wave refers to the fast-growing popularity of Korean popular culture in many Asian countries (Ryoo 2009). The swept of Hallyu has changed the perception of the international audience about South Korea, bring Korea to the world (Vu & Lee 2013). The Korean Wave is not just a phenomenon but it also serves as the soft power that contributes to the nation-building process (Kim 2013).
This promotes the national image and also raise the awareness of people about Korean products (Kim 2013). Korean products such as mobile phone, electronic devices, clothing, etc have witnessed a significant increase due to the Korean wave (Kim 2013). In Vietnam, Korean dramas had been loved by the huge number of audiences, their trendy images which leave impacts on Vietnamese youth(Kim 2013). For that reason, a Korean cosmetic company has developed into the international market leader in Vietnam (Kim 2013).
Vietnamese Audience Love Korean Dramas
Not only in Vietnam but Korean soap operas have also been favored in many other East Asian countries. The concept “pan-East Asian identity” could be used to explain the widespread of Korean popular products (Chua 2010). This concept promotes the idea about the audience might feel that it easier to relate to the on-screen character, the theme, and the story since they share the similarity which is being Asians (Chua 2010).
To illustrate, such movies that about triangle love or the mean mother-in-law will be more appeal to the public that US drama which often contains violence (Lee, Park & Yeon 2004). Because the TV series had their target of women, the male character in the movies also been portrayed as a very sensitive, attractive personality and also have good looks (Vu & Lee 2013). This character portrayal has strengthened the positive image of Korean men among Vietnamese.
To illustrate, such movies that about triangle love or the mean mother-in-law will be more appeal to the public that US drama which often contains violence (Lee, Park & Yeon 2004). Because the TV series had their target of women, the male character in the movies also been portrayed as very sensitive, attractive personality and also have good looks (Vu & Lee 2013). This character portrayal has strengthened the positive image of Korean men among Vietnamese.
Response of Audience To Korean Soap Operas
Being a consumer of Korean popular culture, I consider myself as a fan. My first encounter with Korean dramas is the TV drama ‘Boys over flowers’ which caught my attention and lead me to become a fan of Korean culture. Fan culture is a complex phenomenon which involved many forms of engagement (Lent & Fitzsimmons 2013). With the development of new technologies, it allows consumers to recirculate different media content. Hence, making it no difference between producers and consumers (Lent & Fitzsimmons 2013). As far as I remember, the series was a huge hit. During break time, there will be the discussion about the content of the movie, small groups of girls talking about the appearance of the four main male characters. Not only that, in the online community like youtube, you will see many comments from the fan asking for the subtitle or the new episode (Zheng 2011). They helping each other subbing the dramas and upload to another website so that more and more people can get access to the drama (Zheng 2011). I have observed the impact of the hairstyle and clothing of the movie on my peers. They begin to take care of their look and going to Korean haircut shops. Korean masks and cosmetic have been loved more than before.
Reproduced from: Drama Wikia 2009
Just like that, fandom becomes the normal aspect of our daily lives (Zhang & Mao 2013). Fan slowly become the small societies of people with knowledge that have the ability to reconstruct from the current media text (Zhang & Mao 2013). It clearly shows the large number of “Boys over Flowers” parody that had been posted to the Internet (Zheng 2011).
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Not only create fan culture, Korean TV series also shape the thinking way of people. To be specific, I often see a lot of news article talking about the marriage of Vietnamese women and Korean men. It was not a coincidence that there were so many transnational marriage cases like I have always thought. After learning about the impact of Korean cultural products I have come to realize that it was because of the exposure to television. In particular, the cultivation theory proposes that after being exposed to drama series for a long time (Vu & Lee 2013). They tend to believe that the society in real life is similar to the unrealistic portrayal of the world in movies (Vu & Lee 2013). It states that the inaccurate perception about the Korean man is because of having low education level, not enough information and having too much exposure to Korea TV series. Since Korean dramas usually telling stories about the successful man like doctors, lawyers, etc which brainwash the image of Korean man (Vu & Lee 2013).
Through on-screen characters, they raise their expectation of getting a good looking and nice personalities Korean man (Vu & Lee 2013). The presentation of love stories in dramas normally very relatable and emphasize with beautiful scenery and attractive actors (Lee, Park & Yeon 2004). With all these aspects, it’s easy to understand that Korean soap operas could create a fantasy for Vietnamese women who want to improve their financial status by marrying Korean men (Vu & Lee 2013).
Reproduced from: Thanh nien News 2015