Response to 10/29 Class

I found the discussion about the cross-cultural appeal of pop culture to be interesting. I would have liked to see something about the backlash against this phenomena, especially against Korean culture. The videos we watched made it seem like Korean culture was universally appealing in the rest of Asia, but there has been some hostility. I believe China made efforts to restrict the amount of Korean dramas playing on television so that they could support their own programming. As well, there was some comic released in Japan that was titled "Hating the Korean Wave". Even though South Korea is not a threat to either country, there is still lingering nationalism among people in Asia that will prevent Korean culture influencing other Asian countries to the same degree as American culture has influenced them. I also question the argument that this culture is an alternative to Western culture. Korea's industrialization has produced a society that isn't very different from the west. I also wonder if the "Korean wave" is sustainable. I was reminded of the "British invasion" in the 1960s where British musical acts became popular in America for a few years before losing popularity. Japanese culture used to have the position culturally that Korea has now, but its popularity has since waned. People in the rest of Asia may become interested in Korean culture because it is something new to them, but perhaps when it becomes familiar and ordinary to them, the wave will die down. This wouldn't mean the end of Korean culture abroad, but of where it is easily available but so mainstream that it becomes boring. We no longer think of Hong Kong kung fu movies as exciting anymore because Jackie Chan is in plenty of American films, for instance.