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| Kim Dong-won, center, vice president of Taewon Entertainment and CEO of Yoondang Arthall, speaks during a roundtable discussion on hallyu at a cafe in Seoul, Dec. 10. Kim Hyun-hwan, left, director general of the Content Policy Bureau at the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, and Lee Gyu-tag, assistant professor of cultural studies at George Mason University Korea, also joined the discussion. |
Pandemic affects K-pop, cinema differently
By Park Han-sol
Hallyu reached another milestone last year with the rare, dual success in music and cinema. BTS became the first K-pop act to be nominated for a Grammy, while Bong Joon-ho's "Parasite" rewrote Korean film history by winning four Oscars.
The remarkable accomplishments of hallyu raised key questions: Will it last? If so, for how long?
On Dec. 10, The Korea Times invited three experts ― Kim Hyun-hwan, director general of the Content Policy Bureau of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism; Kim Dong-won, vice president of Taewon Entertainment and CEO of Yoondang Arthall; and Lee Gyu-tag, assistant professor of cultural studies at George Mason University Korea ― to discuss the durability of K-pop and Korean cinema. They presented their analysis of the pandemic-driven shift in hallyu and how the year 2021 will evolve for Korean pop culture overseas.
Among other things, they said the pandemic-created boom of over-the-top (OTT) business has had a different impact on Korean pop music and cinema.
They clashed over the role of government in hallyu after the culture ministry created a division in charge of hallyu in June last year. Some experts voiced concerns about its role in cultural content, saying it could backfire as fans overseas could conceive it as an attempt for government to intervene in the production and promotion of music and films.
Director General Kim stressed the ministry was well aware of such concern, noting that as its motto "policy support without intervention" suggests, the government had no intention to intervene in the cultural content production.
Q: Hallyu began with the popularity of Korean dramas in Japan and Asian fans' attention subsequently switched to K-pop. Korean cinema is the latest cultural content that garnered global attention after "Parasite"'s stunning success overseas. Has there ever been a precedent before hallyu, where foreign fans' interest in a certain genre or medium has expanded into overall pop culture?
Lee Gyu-tag: Not that I know of. There has not been an instance where a wide range of pop culture content from a single country spreads in all directions like hallyu. What's even more significant is that it came from a non-English speaking and non-western nation. For example, the success of the so-called "British Invasion" is partly owed to the fact that songs are, after all, in English and the boom in Hong Kong culture in the 80s and 90s has been largely limited to the East Asian region. That's why the Korean Wave is seen as such an interesting phenomenon for scholars studying popular culture.
Kim Dong-won: When Hong Kong cinema made its way to Korea, many of the movies were action films. For Japanese music, it was mostly heavy metal. So usually, when the culture from another country becomes popular, it's limited to a particular niche genre. However, hallyu has been spreading simultaneously across multiple cultural fields. And the fact that it has been going strong for the last 20 years despite some experts having dismissed it as a short-lived phenomenon is noteworthy.
Kim Hyun-hwan: For us policymakers, it is important to find ways to sustain hallyu and expand it even further in the right direction. So, we unveiled the New Hallyu Promotional Policy back in July that aims to focus on three areas. First is the diversification of hallyu content. Because people quickly get tired of one form of pop culture, we wanted to bring out other traditional cultural content with great potential. Second is targeting relevant goods and services industry sectors through the Korean Wave, including tourism, education and medicine. Lastly, we aim to properly manage and deal with possible anti-Korean sentiment that can arise along with the rise of hallyu.
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| Kim Hyun-hwan, director general of the Content Policy Bureau of the culture ministry / Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul |
Kim Dong-won: I think what the government can do is indirect support mainly through budget. In this period of global OTT platforms dominating the content industry, the government's proper policy support and strategic budget allocation are now more crucial than ever. Hallyu content is certainly making a mark on the OTT industry and at this point, amid the drastic shift in the production environment after the pandemic, I think strategic and speedy decisions are necessary.
Lee: I think the active role of government in cultural content could backfire because it can be seen as the government flexing its muscle in the production of movies or pop music in its favor. As we've seen in the success of global streaming platform Netflix, which initially started its business as a DVD rental company, the culture industry should be led by the private sector, not the government.
Kim Hyun-hwan: I would like to highlight that the culture ministry has a motto that serves as a prime guideline for our policies: "policy assistance without intervention." I should admit that it's easier said than done. But there are areas that necessitate the active role of government. Market failure, for example, calls for government intervention. Independent films and music are the areas that need policy support because without it, it's tough for such filmmakers and musicians to survive. Their presence is critical to thriving pop culture.
Moreover, financial assistance is obviously pivotal. In 2006, we created the Korea Fund of Funds, where the government provides seed money to create the fund tasked to finance films with high potential which then attracts private sector investment, resulting in a total of 2.7 trillion won worth of investment so far. For high risk projects, the government newly established a risk fund last year. Besides financial support, the training of necessary human resources is also important. That's why we created a training program for professionals who can translate Korean content, including movies and web comics, into English and other languages.
Q: The pandemic was a game-changing event for hallyu as it triggered the popularity of online platforms. K-pop is said to have benefitted from YouTube and other social media. But the story between movies and Netflix seems to be different. What's the nature of K-pop and movies' relationship with their respective platforms?
Lee: K-pop and its online platforms, such as YouTube and social media, are interdependent. This is especially the case for Twitter. Twitter began losing steam in 2010s, and what revived it were K-pop fans. They shared and discussed K-pop content on the platform. Fans uploaded various secondary creations, such as parodies, cover versions of dances and music and reaction videos.
The main consumers of K-pop are Gen Z, who not only watch the media content but also voluntarily produce, edit, upload and discuss their own versions. YouTube and Twitter became a kind of a giant K-pop online community in that way.
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| Lee Gyu-tag, assistant professor of cultural studies at George Mason University Korea / Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul |
Film, from its narratives to mise-en-scene, is a medium that makes the cultural difference and barrier visually apparent, thus making it difficult for global viewers to fully appreciate it. For this reason, films are rather vulnerable to cultural discount.
Kim Dong-won: For K-pop that revolves around idol stars and songs, utilizing YouTube and other global OTT platforms can result in its rapid growth. On the other hand, what dictates the film market is the sheer amount of capital. Because the world of cinema has been rooted in and headed by the Hollywood industry for a long time, it heavily centers on the American market and its demands, with Korean content naturally pushed aside. However, as we all know, "Parasite" has made history with its win at the Academy Awards. With such a cinematic breakthrough along with the mega-group BTS, this has certainly become a turning point for hallyu in its global recognition.
Kim Hyun-hwan: Speaking from my experience serving as the former head of the Korean Cultural Center in Japan, cinema is a perfect medium for introducing different aspects of Korean culture including tourism, food and lifestyle to international audience. If the films have already been screened in that country before, subtitles would be available to obtain by simply paying the copyright fees. Overall, film and dramas are an advantageous tool in terms of sustaining hallyu and expanding its scale.
Q: What is the future of K-pop in the post-BTS era? Would K-Pop still hold the current scale of global influence?
Kim Hyun-hwan: According to the book "K-Pop Innovation" by Lee Jang-woo, people in the K-pop industry are described as the embodiments of Joseph Schumpeter's idea of entrepreneurship and innovation. Because they continue to find new markets and production system, they come up with one improved version after another. The current trend is dictated by the mix of culture and technology, including AI, immersive VR and AR. This year, the K-pop industry was able to lead the market by hosting the world's first paid online concert. With all these characteristics, I believe K-pop will continue to grow and sustain itself.
Kim Dong-won: I definitely think that K-pop will keep reinventing itself and expand even further in the future because it is using its diverse strategies to the fullest extent. Just by looking at BTS, we see how their content works as strategies that effectively work for domestic and overseas fans alike. K-pop industry players are trained and experienced, making them experts in the market, and utilizing global OTT platforms like YouTube will continue to work in their favor.
Lee: I've actually been asked the same type of question multiple times for the last 20 years. From early 2000s when H.O.T and NRG gained popularity in China, in 2010s when BIGBANG and Super Junior blew up, now to BTS, everyone kept asking whether this will last. I think it is perfectly fine to expect that K-pop will remain strong if it has been for the last 20 years despite the skepticism. As other speakers have said, many people in the industry are very open to trends in media, fashion and culture and are not afraid to fully utilize them to create something new. Although considered a one-hit wonder, PSY's "Gangnam Style" still opened a new road for K-pop in 2012, and BTS was able to concretely pave that road. With this channel now in place, others can continue to benefit from it by following in that direction, which is what BLACKPINK and other popular groups have done.
Q: How do you envision the film and theater industry in the post-pandemic era? Will there be Korean movies that can attract 10 million viewers once the pandemic is over? Will audiences return to theaters?
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| Kim Dong-won, vice president of Taewon Entertainment and CEO of Yoondang Arthall / Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul |
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