The Birth of Korean Cool

Posted on 25 October 2017 by Euny Hong

A FRESH, FUNNY, UP CLOSE LOOK AT HOW SOUTH KOREA REMADE ITSELF AS THE WORLD S POP CULTURE POWERHOUSE OF THE TWENTY FIRST CENTURYBy now, everyone in the world knows the song Gangnam Style and Psy, an instantly recognizable star But the song s international popularity is no passing fad Gangnam Style is only one tool in South Korea s extraordinarily elaborate and effective strategy to become a major world superpower by first becoming the world s number one pop culture exporter.As a child, Euny Hong moved from America to the Gangnam neighbourhood in Seoul She was a witness to the most accelerated part of South Korea s economic development, during which time it leapfrogged from third world military dictatorship to first world liberal democracy on the cutting edge of global technology.Euny Hong recounts how South Korea vaulted itself into the twenty first century, becoming a global leader in business, technology, education, and pop culture Featuring lively, in depth reporting and numerous interviews with Koreans working in all areas of government and society, The Birth of Korean Cool reveals how a really uncool country became cool, and how a nation that once banned miniskirts, long hair on men, and rock n roll could come to mass produce boy bands, soap operas, and the world s most important smart phone. Download The Birth of Korean Cool – kino-fada.fr Breezy, cheesy, wheezy it s an OK book but due to the memoir ish nature of it, doesn t actually get into the details of Korean Cool as much as you d expect I mean she does get into those details, but it s all presented through this lens of personal experience that I didn t find that compelling The whole thing just felt a little too light weight, e.g it annoyed me that there s a chapter on The Birth of Irony where she argues that irony is only present in wealthy c...Journalist Euny Hong s highly praised and much discussed new book is part memoir and part socio cultural investigation into South Korea s rise to international cultural prominence through Hallyu The Korean Wave In her introduction she laments that Korea was not cool in 1985 1985 being the year when, as a fully Americanized 12 year old Korean American girl, she was uprooted by her family from Chicago and taken to Seoul Initially excited to escape America and leave behind classmates who wou Journalist Euny Hong s highly praised and much discussed new book is part memoir and part socio cultural investigation into South Korea s rise to international cultural prominence through Hallyu The Korean Wave In her introduction she laments that Korea was not cool in 1985 1985 being the year when, as a fully Americanized 12 year old Korean American girl, she was uprooted by her family from Chicago and taken to Seoul Initially excited to escape America and leave behind classmates who would call her Jap or refuse to believe she wasn t Chinese, Hong was immediately shocked by the cultural differences she witnessed in the country around her She me...I was taken completely by surprise by The Birth of Korean Cool I don t know what I actually expected, as one with only a passing interest in Korean pop culture I ve seen some Korean reality shows, followed some bands and drama Mostly for the heck of it, and as a result of a general curiosity And while I have grown critical of what I suspected was the machinations of a well oiled fabrication process, I lacked the cultural and historical context to fully comprehend it Euny Hong has rectified I was taken completely by surprise by The Birth of Korean Cool I don t know what I actually expected, as one with only a passing interest in Korean pop culture I ve seen some Korean reality shows, followed some bands and drama Mostly for the heck of it, and as a result of a general curiosity And while I have grown critical of what I suspected was the machinations of a well oiled fabrication process, I lacked the cultural and historical context to fully comprehend it Euny Hong has rectified that in a marvellous fashion.In The Birth of Korean Cool she serves up well a well written context and explains how the past and future aspirations create what is the current state of the cultural industry in Korea And industry that is dominated by large companies who are obedient servants of the Korean state She effectively de...I ve been a fan of South Korean Entertainment for around a decade and like many others around the world I ve seen it gain popularity steadily, then rapidly and now exponentially However trying to understand a culture through media and TV alone is unsafe, na ve and short sighted Euny Hong provides not only the background to South Korea s seemingly rags to riches story but her own personal musings about how it came about for those not inclined to believe in fate Euny Hong s writing style is elo I ve been a fan of South Korean Entertainment for around a decade and like many others around the world I ve seen it gain popularity steadily, then rapidly and now exponentially However trying to understand a culture through media and TV alone is unsafe, na ve and short sighted Euny Hong provides not only the background to South Korea s seemingly rags to riches story but her own personal musings about how it came about for those not inclined to believe in fate Euny Hong s writing style is eloquent I often forgot that I was reading a piece of non fiction, as facts are told with wit and unique notes The writing flows well so that it is a delightful read sprinkled with a good amount of pop culture It is...This is a well paced and personable look at the K phenomenon, nicely augmented with that outsider insider angle that comes from Hong having spent most of her childhood in the US and where being Korean was once embarrassing, not hip It s pretty useful on Korean culture in general I love the idea of shame and rage han being the engine of so much ambition and progress I find myself thinking of Korea at moments as the Asian answer to Ireland or perhaps Poland dicked around by boorish neigh This is a well paced and personable look at the K phenomenon, nicely augmented with that outsider insider angle that come...I won a copy of this through Gooreads First ReadsI really hope Hong plans to writebooks in the future Her writing makes you feel like she is sitting across the table from you and speaking to directly to you There were only a few spots were I felt like I was actually reading a non fiction book Besides explaining how Korean Pop Culture has spread through out the world, she also lightly touches on S Korea s economy right after the Korean War, the social changes the country has seen in j I won a copy of this through Gooreads First ReadsI...This book was published a few years back, and I m fairly sure it wouldn t have been without the popularity of the song Gangnam Style by Psy I m really glad it was, though it s a fun and fascinating read Hong writes about her own experiences of her adolescence in Seoul, about historical and present day South Korean culture, and about the country s state sponsored entertainment industry I knew a little bit about state sponsored industries in South Korea from the book Bad Samaritans, but I This book was published a few years back, and I m fairly sure it wouldn t have been without the popularity of the song Gangnam Style by Psy I m really glad it was, though it s a fun and fascinating read Hong writes about her own experiences of her adolescence in Seoul, about historical and present day South Korean culture, and about th...Setelah tertunda tunda dengan bacaan lain bukan berarti buku ini jelek, bagus bahkan karena entah PR atau apa, buku ini tamat dengan cepat setelah seharian saya kunyah Saya yang belakangan mungkin dimulai dari dua tahun terakhir memilih drama korea sebagai hiburan ketimbang nonton televisi kita, merasa yakin bahwa Korea punya rahasia dan sejarah panjang akan k pop nya.Dua drama yang membuat saya ngeh, bahwa being k pop idol bukan seperti artis di indonesia Ada aturan mengikat, dan tata kel Setelah tertunda tunda dengan bacaan lain bukan berarti buku ini jelek, bagus bahkan karena entah PR atau apa, buku ini tamat dengan cepat setelah seharian saya kunyah Saya yang belakangan mungkin dimulai dari du...This ispersonal than strictly research based like some other books on the topic as such it has a lot of the author s opinions in it For example the artist PSY doesn t have the best of relationships with his father, which has been mentioned in several interviews But according to the author of this book in the western media, the press wouldn t write about this even on a slow day Or, continuing the theme, PSY has a song called Father but the author states that no western pop icon w This ispersonal than strictly research based like some other books on the topic as such it has a lot of the author s opinions in it For example the artist PSY doesn t have the best of rel...update ex update ex 3

25 October 2017

Euny Hong