JOHAN JAAFFAR: Korean Wave takes Asia and the world by storm

2009/10/09

Johan Jaafar

MY youngest daughter, Syahrain, like her two sisters, hardly watches Hollywood dramas and films or listens to pop music in English these days. Ask her about the latest hits in Korean dramas, she will give the names of such serials as My Fair Lady, Boys Over Flower, Beethoven Virus, Likable or Not and East of Eden.

Korean pop groups like Dong Bang Shin Ki, Big Bang, 2PM, 2NE1, Wonder Girls, Super Junior and SS501 are her favourites. The hottest solo performers? BoA and Rain. These are part of Hallyu or the Korean Wave that has engulfed Asia and the world.

I find it amazing that she even follows Star Golden Bell, a TV game show featuring young Korean celebrities. Even if the programme is subtitled, most of its original meaning is lost in translation. It is amazing that young girls and boys in Asia are watching a game show that hinges on the complexity of the Korean language. Many of its avid fans hardly understand a word of Korean, yet they enjoy it. Little wonder my daughters are picking up Korean just by watching and listening. Even Korean manhwa (comics) are massive hits among the young today. Goodbye Japanese manga, manhwa has gone chic. Animation-manhwa is a big industry in Korea.

Mark James Russell came out with an incredibly informative book, Pop Goes Korea: Behind The Revolution In Movies, Music, And Internet Culture. The title says it all: Korea is invading Asia and the rest of the world in pop culture. Korea has shown the world how culture becomes both the pride of its people and a rewarding economic activity. Korea is setting trends in film, music, TV drama, even comic books and online games.

Amazingly, it was nowhere in the 1990s. Korean pop culture was considered inferior to that of Japan, China, even Taiwan. How things have changed. According to Russell, at home, South Koreans watch far more of their own movies than Hollywood fare. They listen, dance and rap to their own music more than anything from outside. Foreign TV programmes are vanishing.

Just take a look at its films. The hottest film today is Huendae, an action movie set to ignite in a cineplex near you. Huendae is just another of the many blockbusters coming from Korea. The Host (2009) was the biggest hit ever in the history of Korean movies. Directed by Bong Joon-no, it is about strange creatures emerging from the Han River in the heart of Seoul. The King And The Clown (2005), a period play directed by Lee Joon-ik offered no stars. Yet, it is the second most watched local movie in history. Of course, Taegukgi (2004) placed the Korean film industry on the world map. It was Korea's most expensive film ever made, and it created so much interest when it was shown that almost half the population of the country must have watched it.

The director, Kang Je-Gyu, has a penchant for great story-telling. Taegukgi is an epic in itself. He used 19,000 military uniforms, 4,000 period costumes and 20,000 extras to tell a story of two brothers caught in the Korean War. Two of the lead actors are big stars -- the elder brother Jin-tae was played by Jang Dong-gun and Jin-sok, the younger brother, was portrayed by actor-singer Won Bin.

No one paid much attention to Korean films before Taegukgi. Few films made money. The quality was bad and the production haphazard. Before Taegukgi, perhaps only Shiri (1999), JSA (2000) and Friend (2001) were worth mentioning. Interestingly, Shiri was helmed by the same person behind Taegukgi. It was considered madness to invest in Korean movies before 2000.

When did Hallyu occur? Some said it was started by the teenage all-girl group H.O.T. or "Hi-Five Of Teenagers" back in 1997. The group sold more albums than any band in Korean pop music. They adopted the wildest styles that put the younger Madonna to shame. In fact, the term hallyu was made popular by the Chinese press when the group performed in Beijing in 1999. Hallyu had its varieties -- it is hanryu in Japanese and hanliu in Chinese -- to acknowledge that phenomenon of Korean pop culture. Then the TV dramas started to make their mark -- What Is Love, Firecracker and, later, Autumn In My Heart. Then came Winter Sonata featuring two of Korea's most enduring heartthrobs -- Bae Yong-joon and Choi Ji-woo. Winter Sonata caught fire almost everywhere it was shown in Asia. For the first time, Korean companies were using movies and TV dramas to gain access to outside markets. The concept of marketing "cultural content" is now becoming a reality. Surprisingly, even sageuk (historical dramas) are hits in other countries. Imagine Dae Jang Geum, a sageuk on TV, becoming a Number 1 hit in Taiwan and Hong Kong! It was to become the biggest Korean TV drama of all time all over Asia. The Koreans have arrived!

Naturally, with such successes, Koreans take popular culture seriously, in fact, too seriously of late. They have learnt how popular serials like Winter Sonata promoted a different Korea to the world. Korean manufacturers realised the importance of utilising popular culture to sell their wares. The establishment of the Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA) is a manifestation of how they view culture content as an integral part of promoting all things Korean to the world. The mantra is "remaking Korea as creative star of the world stage". They believe that in the 21st century, the "unlimited market of ideas" will move Korea ahead of its competitors.

KOCCA looks at "culture content" as part of the creativity and imagination that will bring benefits to the nation. They realise the need for cultural factors to be transformed into value-added content through creativity and technology.

The Koreans have shown the way. Perhaps there is no such thing as hallyu. According to Russell, "what we are seeing is globalisation in its latest iteration, and Korea was the first country in Asia to fully embrace the idea". Call it by any name, the Korean Wave is here to stay. We have a lot to learn from them.

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