The Korean Cultural Industry - Report Example

TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 1.0 Introduction 1 2.0 Success of Korean Wave 2 3.0 Reasons for hallyu success 3 3.1 Government policy 3 3.2 Media 4 3.3 Market supply side 4 4.0 Uniqueness of Korean Wave 6 5.0 Conclusion 7 1.0 Introduction Korean wave, commonly known as “hallyu” in the Korean language is basically a forward movement in the visibility of Korean culture (Hanaki et al., 2007). This surge began in 1990 in the East Asia and recently is taking shape in the United States, Middle East, parts of Europe and in Latin America. Cho, 2008 states that the “hallyu” gives an image of unprecedented frame of popular Korean culture both in the commercial nationalism and Korean media. Due to this commercialization, the Korean wave has been seen in the regional cultural trend which simply signifies its success among different cultures. Korean wave also refers to the rapid increase in the popularity of Korean culture and entertainment industry both nationally and internationally. The development of Korean wave is as a result of development of cultural policies in the creativity and cultural industry (Hanaki et al., 2007). The idea of cultural industry stated way back in the 19th century when the society began commercialization of their cultural production which was later boosted by media in its popularity (Cho, 2008). Building from this history, this paper seeks to explore factors which have led to the success of the Korean waves. 2.0 Success of Korean Wave The Korean firms and companies have managed to develop their cultural products in many ways and also expanded the exportation of these products (Choi, 2003). They first penetrate the Chinese market with dramas in televisions; they explained what love is about and the star in my heart increasing their popularity in the East Asia (Choi, 2003). Other popular programs developed include Stairways to Heaven and it was basically talking about a young couple who have fall in love and got married. This was sold to Japanese in the year 2004 and 2006 (Cho, 2005). Other success stories include winter Sonata which was about love story of a woman and her boyfriend. They were both suffering from amnesia. The development of Sonata becomes popular also owing to the fact that they talked about real things. Daejanggeum became popular within and outside South Korean and literally, sent a strong wave in the cultural set up of different people of the world and in Korea specifically. The total number of television programs being exported increased to over 150.9 million by 2007 up from 5.5million by 1995 (Cho, 2008). Most of the Korean cultural products were majorly consumed in Asian China and Hong Kong. Dramas were the major export among other television programs (Cho, 2008) 3.0 Reasons for hallyu success The success of Korean wave can be attributed to four major factors. These include; i. Government policy ii. Media iii. Market supply iv. Market demand 3.1 Government policy The role which has been played by the government in the success of hallyu is actually undisputed. This was necessitated by the fact that government was striving to divert the attention of its citizens from politics and engage them into busy activities like baseball, watching movies and television; they could not have time to demonstrate (Iwabuchi, 2002). There was also realization by the Chun government that engaging citizens would open its markets to American. The government promoted the Another aspect that led to its popularity was that Korea own movie industry through converting all television network to be fully owned by the government. By doing this, the government was in a position to influence the type of movie and shows on television. In the early 1980’s, love and historical stories were widely watched in Korea televisions channels, the basis of these dramas were laid by the government in early eighties and still in 2012, these two types of dramas are still widely watched hence government through promotion and commercialization of Korean culture has contributed towards the success of hallyu (Kim, 2011). 3.2 Media In the year 2001, the Korean media started writing about the Korean wave. Initially, the people were so amazed with these kinds of news reports and they questioned their validity simply because the media could not give a proper reason why the dramas of South Korean were so popular both in Japan and China. The Korea began believing in the wave stories when Winter Sonata became a hit and many photos began appearing in the country especially during the anticipation of Bae Yong Joon where most Japanese women were ready waiting for his arrival (Cho, 2008). With this development, the popularity in writing about the Korean culture in the overseas media developed. This made the news about the Korean actors and idols to be written in other countries. In addition, scholars and politicians were often interviewed on the Korean media about the hallyu phenomenon which further made people interested. Media also ignored the negative aspect of Korean wave and only concentrated on the positive side of the phenomenon; hence media help and contributed in the success of Korean Wave (Iwabuchi, 2002). 3.3 Market supply side By the beginning of 1980, the South Korea did not have its own independent Music industry; the musicians from South Korean majorly depended on the local media for exposure and marketing of their music product (Iwabuchi, 2002). By 1987 when the government opened up the market, the country was exposed to foreign music and culture. This coupled with increased living standards made people afford basic commodities such as satellite TVs and could easily access the television channels from Japan (Kim, 2011). This increased the knowledge of global trends among the South Korean. With increase in education and migration of people from America to South Korea, many people who could work as a music producers, video editors and video directors changed the whole music in South Korean. The immigrants were also involved in the production of cultural goods which increased the diversity and the production process hence success in the Korean wave (Kim, 2011). The success of the Korean wave can be summarized in a diagram explaining a culture as technology which has three phases. In the first phase is the export of culture, second phase involve working with local industries to promote local culture while the third stage involve using technology to promote and market the local culture. 4.0 Uniqueness of Korean Wave The concept of hallyu is unique by itself and throughout the world it is only in South Korea where the wave has taken place (Gans, 1999). The uniqueness of this concept can be discussed in the approaches which have lead to its success and development. First, the main intention which made the government to develop and encourage it was to divert attention of people from engaging in unnecessary demonstration and idleness (Gans, 1999). As other countries were undergoing revolution against the government, South Korean government was busy diverting the attention of its citizens from demonstration through creating and developing entertainment industry therefore Korean wave is unique to itself and throughout the history of the world it is one of its own (Gans, 1999). The second aspect is that while many countries and government were struggling with industrialization, the Korean government was struggling with promotion of its culture so this brings the uniqueness of the concept (Hanaki et al, 2007). Thirdly, by 1980’s many undeveloped countries were importing cultural product to their countries. South Korean on the other hand was busy exporting their culture and both the media and politician were involved in the marketing of hallyu concept. Linking the above expression with its uniqueness, by 1990’s there was world wide expression on the independency and freedom of media, many activist were championing for the freedom of press yet at the same time the media and television channels of Korean were being controlled by the government who could greatly influence the programs to be aired, created and shared among people (Choi, 2003). This was quite unique and different from the other parts of the world. Furthermore, other waves have tried to emerge in other parts of the world but Korean is still unique in the sense that it was characterised with biasness unlike other waves. Generally the Korean wave can be termed as unique to it self and can only be realized within the South Korean but not any other part of the world. 5.0 Conclusion Generally, the Korean cultural industry has evolved for several years and the rate at which it is developing surpasses other cultural industries. The government has played one of the major roles towards its development. This has been done through encouragement of the media to advertise it and discouraging importation of culture. The Korean culture more so the movie and drama industry has sent a wave to the whole world with many programs sold in international and local markets. The presences of technology assisted to a greater extend, the diffusion of the wave to other parts of the world. The wave is real and it has succeeded mostly in South Korean with the product being consumed all over the world. References Cho, H. (2005). Reading the Korean wave as a sign of global shift. Korea Journal, 45: 4, pp. 147- 182 Cho, Y. (2008). Broadcasting Major League Baseball as a governmental instrument in South Korea. Journal of sport and social issues, 32: 3, pp. 240-254 Choi, I. (2003). Korean diaspora in the making. Its current status and impact on the Korean economy. In: Bergsten & Choi, I. (ed.), The Korean diaspora in the world economy. Massachusetts: Peterson Institute Gans, H. (1999). Popular culture and high culture. An analysis and evaluation of taste. New York: Basic Books Hanaki, T., Singhal, A., Han, K., Kim, K., & Chitnis, K. (2007). Hanryu sweeps East Asia. How Winter Sonata is gripping Japan. International Communication Gazette, 69: 3, pp. 281- 294 Iwabuchi, K. (2002). Recentering globalization. Popular culture and Japanese transnational’s. Durham: Duke University Press Kim, J. (2011). Korean wave in China. It’s impact on the South Korean-Chinese relations. (Master’s thesis, University of British Columbia, Canada). Retrieved from https://circle.ubc.ca/handle/2429/39363 Kim, M. (2011). The Role of the government in cultural industry. Some observations from Korea’s experience. Keio Communication Review, 33, pp. 163-182 Read More