Reading a book on BTS by a Seoul National University professor of cultural studies, and it’s really interesting. She had published a book back in 2013 about the so-called Hallyu/Korean Wave, before BTS had debuted, but right after Psy’s Gangnam Style had broken all sorts of records on YouTube. She’s been studying the topic since the early 2000s which is the very start of the Hallyu Wave so she has a ton of insights on the unique global rise of BTS.
This is already a fascinating read!
One of the best classes I took in college (late 90s) was called Race & Gender in Asian America. We examined our identity & representation through the lens of media: books, movies, tv shows, and music.
I loved this class—and the other classes I took w/ the same Asian American history professor—because it taught me so much about how I view myself, how society views me, and how history shaped both.
I wonder what it would be like to take a similar class right now, with the meteoric rise of K-pop.
“Chapter 6 is […] about the new masculinity and new gender sensibility that BTS brings. A new masculinity is being shaped by the Korean Wave, K-pop stars, and now BTS-which emits a sense of liberation to the young generations of the world. This chapter will argue that around the world young people are reappropriating the masculinity displayed by East Asian entertainment cultures. As a result, a new identity and sensibility is found at the intersection between races and genders.”
Fucking yes! 👏🏼
Such a huge part of the western narrative about East Asians is that the women are demure & obedient sex kittens and the men are emasculated, unattractive, undesirable, backwards caricatures to rescue/white knight the women from.
That’s been going on for generations. Fuck that narrative.
This book is just the right level of wonky & pop culture-friendly. It is now talking about early Japanese manga & anime fan translations and early Japanese idol systems and how they informed what happened with early K-pop and what is happening now with fandoms.
This is like the easiest to munch popcorn for someone who loves pop culture, sociology, entertainment, history, and ethnic identity. Chomp chomp chomp 🍿
Omg, now she’s diving into how the Marvel Cinematic Universe works as something she calls a “transmedia” experience, as compared to how narratives in Korea, China, and Japan have traditionally been more “One Source Multi Use” (OSMU).
Utterly fascinating! This is her context for deconstructing BTS’s transmedia approach and why/how this finally succeeded in a k-pop group breaking through to western audiences when many prior attempts by much more established bands w far more resources failed.
She’s covering the Spice Girls, One Direction, reality competitions, and Beyoncé’s incredible Lemonade visual album (which I loved!).
lol my main mastodon account almost became a BTS stan account, but instead it’s now a Seok-Kyeong Hong stan account. 😂
eingy