By Jason Lim
Recent newspaper stories have cast dire warnings over the possible demise of hallyu (Korean wave), accusing the inferior quality of recent hallyu exports as the main culprit. But their hysterical diagnosis is not salient because it ignores that hallyu is a market driven phenomenon.
Market forces will dictate the quality of any product, including hallyu, without unnecessary hand-wringing from the critics. Eventually hallyu will reach a happy equilibrium between profit motive, quality, and demand, allowing it to mature as a commercial presence in Asia and perhaps even beyond.
Even more, all this fretting is useless because popularity of any kind is ephemeral by definition. Even the most celebrated trend is bound to wane, even if you are The Beatles, only to be brought back as ``oldies but goodies.’’ In short, hallyu as a popular phenomenon will take its natural course as dictated by how well it adapts to the changing market forces and people’s tastes.
However, histrionics over hallyu’s popularity should not be confused with serious debate over the possibility of hallyu’s influence. Although interrelated, they are not one and the same. There can be more to hallyu than merely a temporary spike in the popularity of Korean pop culture in certain Asian countries. Hallyu can also be an opportunity to influence the ``deep culture’’ of those countries.
David Dotlich, a renowned leadership guru, uses the image of an iceberg to explain ``deep culture.’’ If popular music, fine arts, and literature make up the visible one-tenth of the overall cultural iceberg, then things like the conception of past and future, patterns of handling emotions, notions about logic and validity, and ideas about the self are part of the ``deep culture’’ that make up the invisible nine-tenth of who we are. It is this ``deep culture’’ that primarily drives our collective behavior as a nation. And this is where the real exciting possibility of hallyu lays _ in changing how others perceive Koreans by influencing the ``deep culture’’ of another nation.
According to Yonhap, a recent Ph.D. thesis by Yoo Jae-woong, assistant minister and director of Korea Overseas Information Service, advanced the notion that the more people watch hallyu dramas, the more positive their image of Korea becomes: in thought, emotion, and intent. The connection seems obvious, yet very few academic studies have been done to confirm an empirical connection between hallyu and underlying shift in how other Asians perceive Koreans.
Yoo’s findings support the idea put forward by Park Jung-sook at the Hallyu Conference at Harvard in February of this year when she proposed that hallyu and changing popular perception of Koreans in Asia will positively influence the overall geopolitical process of the region. She credited this influence to the ``organic power’’ of hallyu in creating a common ``deep cultural’’ awareness of one another. Her suggestion takes on more weight because she spoke out of personal experience as a well-known MC and actress in the quintessential hallyu drama, ``Jewel in the Palace.’’
She expanded upon her Harvard presentation by speaking recently at the Top Seminar hosted by the Graduate School of Public Management of Waseda University. When asked pointedly by an audience member how she reconciles the political wrangling between Japan and Korea over Dokdo, comfort women and other historical issues with her optimistic outlook, Park upped the ante further by suggesting that hallyu dramas and movies should tackle precisely these historical issues and introduce an empathetic awareness of one another that can ring true in both nations. In other words, hallyu can shape a more constructive debate between Japan and Korea even on sensitive political issues by influencing our reflexive ``deep cultural’’ reactions towards one another. Whether Park is far-sighted or merely hopeful remains to be seen.
But international efforts like Park’s are positioning hallyu as a legitimate subject matter to be studied in major academic institutions around the world, not just by Koreans. Needless to say, hallyu has already been extensively studied. However, these studies tended to be largely domestic and focus on the mechanics of popularity of hallyu.
Park is globalizing the study of hallyu by presenting it as a cause of influence, not just an incidence of popularity. And in doing so, she is actually expanding the sphere of hallyu’s influence to include the academics. As Professor Carter Eckert of Harvard, the moderator of Harvard’s Hallyu Conference, opined: ``A lot of Ph.D. thesis can come out of today’s talk.’’ Ultimately, history will judge hallyu over how influential it has been overall, not just how popular it was at one time.
Jason Lim is a Fellow at Harvard Korea Institute researching Asian leadership models. He can be reached at jasonlim@post.harvard.edu.