Aesthetics of the “Hallyu Wave”
Why is Korean pop culture so popular internationally and domestically? Their music videos are the most obvious aspect of K-culture to analyze in terms of popular music.
Hey everybody! Today, we’ll be talking about Kpop and its rising popularity internationally. The “Hallyu Wave” has been an international phenomenon that really took off in the early 2000’s. It refers to the rise of Korean pop culture in global and domestic relevance. A lot of their well-known trends includes their dramas, variety shows, and music. Certain aesthetics are carefully chosen and presented in music videos in South Korea to appeal to a broad range of audiences. Often times, when people from other countries experience a music video from East Asia, they usually dismiss it as “weird” and “typically Asian” and move on. This habit has manifested a stereotype in which Asian music videos were made by people that may have been “high” or “on drugs”. It’s not cool to discredit all the work and effort made to make these videos as high quality as they are.
The first step in understanding the music videos better is being exposed to different kinds with an open mind! Please do the assignment below to be prepared to do a lot of discussion in class, and if you are interested in knowing other groups or songs after doing the assignment, DM me and I’d be happy to assist in recommending to you different groups or songs!
Assignment before Class (on 4/13)
+Watch the videos in this order:
+In a short blog post, explain what stood out to you (positively or negatively) in the music videos and why. In your response, please reference ideas from the TED Talk as you answer. What aspects did the MV’s share? What aspects did they differ in? Would you watch more videos or listen to more music? Be sure to tweet the link to the post on Twitter using the #wsp101 and #wspkpop101 hashtags!
+Look at this and watch the video that is affiliated with the musical group you are assigned! The MV is hyperlinked to the name of the group! You don’t need to do anything with this besides watching the video!
Have fun!
