Second wave of'hallyu'

By Bernard Rowan

One of my daughter’s friends is a visiting student from Liaoning, China, a very bright and talented young lady who excels in nearly all that she does. And like so many young people, she has the latest iPhone and spends a lot of her spare time transfixed to it. One day, I asked her why on earth she stays glued to the screen so intently (I had to repeat myself!), and she answered that she was watching Korean dramas. She loves K-Pop and Korean television programs.

My son does as well, telling me about various singers such as Girls’ Generation, Rain and Super Junior. In the 1990s, when I first visited South Korea, I was struck by the ubiquity of Bae Yong-joon’s image. He might be the first in a long line of Korean “hallyu” stars.

One symptom of having become an advanced nation is when a country’s culture begins to diffuse and to attract attention, admiration, criticism and imitation in other countries and their cultures, including when a culture encourages, supports and sponsors the process. This is valorized, positively and negatively, according to the actions and intentions of the agents of diffusion.

Countless articles are written about hallyu, it has its own Wikipedia site (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_wave), and it continues to grow as a component associated with South Korea’s trade, tourism, and economy (The Korea Times, Feb. 24, 2013). Hallyu actors and actresses, singers, and their products of artistry proliferate. Korean cuisine is found in major cities and suburbs around the world. Psy’s viral international popularity is only the most recent visible sign of hallyu’s staying power.

I would like to suggest it is time to focus even more on conceptualizing what might be termed the second phase or second wave of “hallyu.’’ I am not referring to historical periodization, or to what is called Hallyu 2.0. Instead, I think hallyu should evolve to deepen and sophisticate Korea’s cultural currency. Hallyu should include efforts to spawn growing interest in learning about Korean culture more generally, its language, its traditions, and how they can be adapted to and from a bridge to new appropriations and instantiations today.

In this sense, the first wave or phase of hallyu as contemporary cultural diffusion approximates the idea of “food, folks and fun,” with all of the positive and limited qualities associated. Eating a Korean meal, visiting Korea, wearing recognizable Korean clothing styles and clothes, and watching or listening to Korean popular entertainments are healthy activities in themselves. They lend themselves to commercialization. This can and has resulted in certain negative consequences, like most mass marketing of individuals and productions, but overall the first phase of hallyu must be counted as a positive development.

This first wave of cultural diffusion is limited in its capacity to spark international exchange and learning. It will continue to exist, as it should, but the second phase should situate different phenomena. As other columnists have written, it is time to see more concrete national investment in Korea’s culture to see its listing diversified beyond pop culture (The Korea Times, Dec. 20, 2012). Citizens of Korea and the world should require more from place tourism of its diverse regional and local sites and their rich cultural contexts, as an example. They may enjoy BoA, but they also should understand “munmyo jeryeak’’ more widely, visit the shrine at Sungkyunkwan University and tour the Museum of Korean Traditional Culture in Gangnam, for example. They may really like the dramas “A Wife’s Credentials’’ or “Answer Me,’’ but they also should see the films of Im Kwon-taek. Korea is expressed in his depiction of the thousand-year crane’s flight at the conclusion of his film, “Chonnyonhak,’’ and in the music of the daegeum. The raw dignity of pansori, shared in many of Im’s films can open the vista of traditional Korean music and the idea of harmony amidst dissonance.

I do not wish to romanticize Korean culture, certainly its neo-Confucian patriarchal elements, historical legitimation of non-democratic authority, and its own instances of cultural limitation, hierarchy and intolerance. (All of which could describe nearly every culture on earth in historical context.) But if hallyu betokens Korea’s entry to the current global environment and culture, it should begin to reflect and include the less “soft” aspects of learning and knowing about Korea’s language, history, customs, technologies and cultural treasures, including those relating to philosophy and ethics.

As Korea continues her advancement this century, hallyu should become a fuller phenomenon. It should become more than a phrase to stand for the 21st century analogue of “Land of the Morning Calm” or “Asian Tiger” as a descriptor of Korea’s outward focus and status. It should begin to associate with and elicit a period of Korean emergence in global culture as a broader force that captivates the minds of the young and not-young, as a meta-technology for sharing Korea’s cultural treasures, most of which are not reducible to pop icons and entertainment, and many of which are intangible.

Bernard Rowan is director of assessment and program quality, professor of political science and coordinator of international studies at Chicago State University, where he has taught for 19 years.