HANKUK UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN STUDIES (HUFS)
2011 INTERNATIONAL SUMMER SESSION in KOREAN STUDIES
July 11-August 12, 2011
IS 207 KOREAN WAVE: Contemporary Korean Popular Culture
Instructor:
Class Meetings:
Instructor contact:
Sunny Jung, Ed.D.
Mon-Thurs 10:50- 12:30
jungsunjung@gmail.com
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
This course introduces major approaches to the study of globalization of contemporary
popular culture and the formation of Korean identity as expressed by the media. The
course consists of viewing and reading assignments, along with analysis and discussions
which explore ethnographic phenomena and cultural phenomena of South Korea as
presented in media such as K-pop, TV dramas and shows, films and other products of the
Korean Wave.
This course also investigates Koreaness in traditional value systems such as collectivism,
familism, fatalism, and customs, from the perspective of post modernity to Neoliberalism.
Limitations, backlashes, and future prospects of the Korean Wave will also be examined.
There are no prerequisites.
COURSE OBJECTIVES:
1. Students will learn theories of culture. The perspective taken is that there are no
superior or inferior cultures, but repeatedly flowering and withering cultures.
2. Students will understand Korean ethnographic data and cultural phenomena
– i.e. ethics and morals, value systems, family relationships, behavior at home and
in the work place, communication and emotional expressions (both verbal & nonverbal), thoughts and belief systems, customs, gender issues, class systems, and
aesthetics.
3. Students will understand ‘the self’ through Korean Wave in the map of cultural
anthropology. Students will develop analytical skills working on a flow chart of
‘my culture’ and ‘their culture’ which becomes ‘our culture.’
4. Through examination of exotic traditions and contemporary culture found in the
Korean Wave, students will better understand their own identity as this relates to
traditions vs. modernization, collectivism vs. individualism, and the politics of
cultural psychology.
COURSE GRADING AND REQUIREMENTS:
1. Homework assignments
2. Attendance and participation
3. Midterm: take home essay exam
4. Final Power Point research project (individual or a pair)
1) Criteria: creativity, rational, clarity, structure, interesting
2) minimum 8 slides and one moving video clip recommended
20%
15%
25%
40%
3)
4)
5)
6)
voice activation preferred
must include own opinion of criticism and/or the future prospect
one typed page summary with references
topics related to the students’ own academic major & Korean Wave preferred
REQUIRED CLASS MATERIALS:
Course Reader, by Sunny Jung, ed.
Korean Wave: Contemporary Korean Popular Culture
Audio-visual materials
Mandatory Viewing outside of class:
Drama (at least first two epidodes): Winter Sonata (2002), Stairs to Heaven
(2003), Daejanggeum (2004), My Name is Kim Sam-soon (2005), Goong(2006),
Joomong (2006), Coffee Prince (2007), Boy over Flowers (2009), and Iris (2010)
Movie: JSA (2000), YMCA The Baseball Team (2002), Empty House (2004),
Welcome to Dongmakkol (2005), The King and the Clown (2005),
Haeundae (2009), Mother (2009), Silmido, and Ajeossi (2010)
READINGS AND CLASS SCHEDULE:
(subject to change)
WEEK 1:
Introduction: Globalization of Korean Popular Culture
The Impact and Effects
A
brief history of Korean civilization and history
 Stephen Colbert vs. Rain - Dance Off
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5c7fj_stephen-colbert-vs-rain-dance-off_fun
Various news segments on Korean Wave at Europe, Africa, Middle East,
Asia, North and South America and beyond http://www.bada.us
 Readings:
Cho Hae-joanng:“ Reading the Korean Wave as a Sign of Global Shift”
Doobo Shim: “Hybridity and the rise of Korean popular culture”
Lee Byoung-Hoon: Globalization and Industrial Relations in Korea
WEEK 2:
 Who
K-pop: Dance March to Post Modernity, Visual Revolution
Recovery of Nationalism, Cultural Trading, and “Hard Work”
are the Koreans? More than two people gathering, Koreans are dancing,
clapping, singing and drinking – Ancient Chinese Book
 Rain, “I’m Coming”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zt1--e87ih4
Arirang, Pansori, from the Traditional Korean Opera to Hip Hop
BOA, HOT, Sonyo Sidae, Wonder Girls, KARA
 Readings:
Kim Eun-mee: “South Korean Culture Goes Global: K-pop and the KoreanWave”
Ronald Maliangkay “Global movement of K-pop Among Local & Overseas in
Taiwanese”
Shin Hyunjoon: “Have you ever seen the Rain? And who will stop the Rain?: The
Globalizing project of Korean pop (K-pop)”
 Review
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
WEEK 3:
assignment 1: due
Choose any one of Korean media for review
Criteria can be your own
Peer evaluation will be included
Submit one typed page summary
Must use a minimum of 3 references from the reading materials
Korean Drama: Cinderella Ambassor in the Middle of the Repeating
Five Thousand Years of History in the 21st Century
Recovery of Koreaness: Sentimentalism, Familism and Fatalism
 Effect
of dramatization of national character disseminated worldwide
 Lee Young-ae, Daejanggum, the cultural ambassador
http://www.google.com/search?q=korean+actress+lee+young+ae&hl=en&prmd=
Bae Yongjun, Won Bin, Hyun Bin, Jang Donggeun, Robert Lee, Jung Jae-hoon,
Kim Yunhee, Choi Jiwoo, Park Yong-ha, Kim Hyungjun
Viewing of two segments of My Name is Kim Samsoon (in class)
 Readings:
Angel M. Y. Lin and Avin Tong: “Crossing Boundaries: Male Consumption of
Korean TV Dramas & Negotiation of Gender Relations in Modern Hong
Kong”
Toru Hanaki:“Hanryu Sweeps East Asia: How Winter Sonata is Gripping Japan”
Kaori Hayashi & Lee Eun-Jeung: “The Potential of Fandom and the Limits of
Soft Power: Media Representations on the Popularity of a Korean
Melodrama in Japan”
Pak Won-suh, Short Story “Identical Apartment”
WEEK 4:
Cinema, Video Games, Fashion, Language, Internet Industry,
Food & Cultural Tourism
Management of Fans, Psychological Mechanization of Korean Wave
 I am your fan” Confession of a former Japanese Prime Minister to Choi JW
Wonder Girls – Nobody, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFjP-OJ7Bh4
KARA – Mr. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xeMR93F8qcU
Korean Ministry of Culture and Tourism (MCT) http://www.mct.go.kr
Korean National Tourism Organization (KNTO) http://english.tour2korea.com/

Viewing: Mother by director Bong Joonho 2009 (In class)
Viewing: Bizarre Food by Andrew Zimmen 2009 (In class)
 Review
assignment 2: due
1. Choose any one of Korean media genre different from review 1
2. Criteria and requirements same as review assignment 1
 Readings:
Kim Byeong-cheol: “Production and Consumption of Contemporary Korean
Cinema”
Kim Hyung-hyun, “Each Man Kills the Thing He Loves: Transgressive Agents,
Shiri and Joint Security Area”
Kim Suk-young: “Spring Time of Kim Il-sung in Pyongyang”
Shin Chi-yun and Julian Stringer: “Storming the Big Screen: Shiri Syndrome”
Shin Jeeyoung: “Globalisation and New Korean Cinema”, Seoul Searching
Han Kyung-koo: “Kimchi War in Globalizing East Asia: Consumption, Gender,
Health, and National Identity”
WEEK 5:
Conclusion: Korean Wave, Its Past Criticism and Future Prospects
Falling? Constant Re-Rising?
The World’s New Contact Zone: Neoliberalism of Korean New Wave
 Field
Trip (TBA) and discussion
 Final
Project Presentation
Q & A Sessions
(each student should prepare 3 possible Questions about their own paper and
turn them in before starting their presentation)
 Fri.
(8/12)
CLOSING CEREMONY