Concerns Focusing on the Korean Culture - Essay Example

KOREA HISTORY Korea History In general, Korea is a composition of two s ly North Korea and South Korea and is located at the Korean Peninsula where it boarders China and Russia in the northwest and northeast respectively. Korea has a rich history ranging from its participation in the World Wars to the significantly many human civilization contributions it has made over the years. For example, there is a great deal of historic contributions embedded in the rise and fall of the Mongol Empire. Nonetheless, away from the political platform Korea has also a rich and intriguing history with major concerns focusing on the Korean culture that is marked by music, movie and drama. In relation to music, Korean pop (K-Pop) is arguably the closest and greatest integration of the Korean culture. K-Pop music started around 1885 with the settlement of missionaries that taught a mixture of American and British folk songs to Koreans. However, the songs were sung in Korean lyrics implying that K-Pop is an integration of Western melodies sang in Korean. However, at this time the name K-Pop was not used as in the modern day and the music was commonly referred to as ‘changga’. In the later years during the Japanese rule, K-Pop was used as a mode of expression mainly targeting the oppression of the Japanese rule. For example, the song ‘Huimangga’, meaning the Song of Hope, was quite popular during this period. However, the rapid advancement of K-Pop was derailed by confiscation of the existing K-Pop records such as lyrics books. Nonetheless, there were some developments such as composition of songs that were a mixture of Korean traditional songs and gospel music taught by the missionaries. After the liberation of Korea from the Japanese rule in 1945, Korea was divided into two with major western settlements such as US troops focusing mainly on South Korea. During this time musicians like Marilyn Monroe took some performances to South Korea where there was further integration of Korean and Western music. This saw the rise of new Korean musicians such as ‘The Kim Sisters’ thereby increasing spread of K-Pop to different parts of the world. In 1970s there was increased focus on the younger generation such as in Universities. The younger generation was heavily influenced by the Western culture leading to a transformation of K-Pop following incorporation of guitars and the American hippie fashion style. In the 1990s K-Pop musicians such as ‘Seo Taiji and Boys’ adopted some aspects of the like rap, rock, and techno from the American music style marking yet another transformation (Hartong, 2006, p.15). Although this transformation at first did not receive great acceptance, it led to increased spread and acceptance of K-Pop after some time. Moreover, the 1990s saw the rise of relatively many recording studios such as SM Entertainment hence propelling the spread of K-Pop even further. The 21st century saw even greater spread and acceptance of K-Pop with musicians such as Baby V.O.X gaining great popularity across Asia. With the recent global entertainment trends, popularity of K-Pop has undertaken a steady growth in recent years gaining coverage in Middle East, Europe, and the entire world. For example, Psy’s ‘Gangnam Style’ song received worldwide acceptance with over 2 billion views on you tube as of 2014. Korean movies have also formed a crucial part of the Korean culture and their development dates back to the 19th century. The first film in Korea was shot by Bulton Holmes as part of a travelogue program that he showed both abroad and to the Korean royal family in 1899 (James and Kim, 2002, p. 267). Dongdaemun Motion Picture Studio was the first theater to be opened in Korea in 1903 that was later followed by other new theaters thereby changing the formality of importing all films form Europe and US. Film advancements were followed by creation of documentaries and domestic films such as ‘Loyal Revenge’ that showed in the then new theaters. However, during this time all through to the 1930s film production was limited mainly by the Japanese rule with studios being operated by Japanese and were mainly silent films. 1935 saw the creation of audible films although they were basically meant to promote the Japanese culture in order to encourage assimilation. However, after liberation of Korea there were some developments where new entities such as Korean Motion Picture Promotion Corporation were established. However, the film industry was still strained by government censorships to ensure that films did not affect political aspects. In the 1990s Korean film industry experienced great development mainly due to government’s policies to promote domestic films. This has enabled the Korean film industry to compete with foreign countries such as US with some films such as ‘My Sassy Girl’ outselling some of Hollywood’s great productions such as The Lord of the Rings. Moreover, the Korean culture is portrayed through Korean dramas that are mostly broadcasted in radio and television. Radio broadcasting started in 1927 under the Japanese leadership hence the amount of Korean content aired was quite limited. Korean dramas such as ‘Cheongsilhongsil’ during the Korean War mainly represented the general mood and environment of the Korean people. In 1956, the first televised drama, ‘The gate of heaven’, was created following opening of new television station, HLKZ-TV. Although the availability of televisions was quite limited in the 1960s, this period saw establishment of major television networks such as Korea Broadcasting Station (KBS) hence the creation of television series. Like earlier radio dramas, the television series sought to give a reflection of the daily encounters and personal sufferings. In the 1970s televisions became more popular with programs featuring national heroes until 1980s when color televisions became available. Over the years in into the 21st century, Korean dramas have attained worldwide popularity with main advancements focusing on television series. For example, in 2006 Korean television series constituted a higher percentage of foreign programs on government networks in China than all other foreign programs combined (Faiola, 2006). Conclusively, the Korean culture is developed and portrayed through various forms such as music, movies, and drama. The most common music genre in Korea is the K-Pop that has undergone several developmental changes and attained worldwide acceptance over the years. In the beginning, Korean movies were restricted by the Japanese rule but over the years through government support have gained worldwide acceptance making them strong competitors for other nations such as the US. Korean drama is mainly advanced through radio and television broadcast such as television series. The recent years have seen increased development and coverage in different countries such as China. As such, there noticeable development in the major aspects of Korean culture. References Faiola, Anthony (31 August 2006). "Japanese Women Catch the Korean Wave". The Washington Post. Hartong, L. (2006). Musical terms worldwide: a companion for the musical explorer. Semar Publishers. James, E. & Kim, K. (editors) (2002). Im Kwon-Taek: The Making of a Korean National Cinema. Wayne State University Press. Read More