Korean Popular Culture

Since I have been living in South Korea for more than 3 years now I have become somewhat familiar with a handful of celebrities in Korean popular culture. Some of these stars I like and admire and some of them just sort of annoy me.

On Korean TV there are a number of American Prime-time TV shows that are screened in English with Korean subtitles. This makes it easy to watch my favorite shows from back home in Canada. Usually the shows are a season or two behind but now that I've been in Korea for so long it doesn't matter cause I am as behind in watching the shows as the Korean TV stations are in airing them [and if you think about it - it makes sense that their is a lag time because it would take time to translate and subtitle each and every episode of a TV show - I can imagine it's a pretty labor intensive activity].

If you watch TV in Korea at all you will find yourself seeing the actor 이 준 기 [Lee, Jun-Ki]. He is popular for having played in a popular and famous Korean movie called 와의남자 [Hwa oi nam ja which translated means "The King's Man"]. Now he is on TV hawking pomegranate juice for the Lotte Company.

He is such a girly looking man. He is what they call in Korea "a flower boy". But his styles goes way beyond metro sexual. The first time I saw him I thought I was looking at a Korean style Michael Jackson only prettier. In one of the commercials playing on TV right now he kisses a glass or mirror and leaves behind his lipstick prints.

There is even a song that goes with the juice. It says basically "This juice makes you beautiful and then when I look in the mirror I am happy." The fact, that I know the song and can sing it amazes my students. The song is so catchy but now because of over-use it is so annoying that I cringe whenever I hear it.

Here are the lyrics to the song:

미히녀는 석류를 좋아해~ [mi hi nun sak ryu jo ah hae ]["I like beauty pomegranate Juice".]

자꾸자꾸 예뻐지면 나는 어떡해! [ja kku ja kku ya bba ji myeon nan un oh ddoe kay]
["Over and over, I get prettier. What can I do?"

거울 속의 나를 보면 정말 행복해~ '[ka ul sok oi nan un bo myeon jang mal haeng bok hae]["When I look in the mirror I am very happy."]

At this point the song just starts all over again. The kids sing it all the time and it has become "The Never-ending Song".

Below are pictures of 이 준 기 [Lee, Jun-Ki]. They say a picture is worth a thousand words and I think these photos will illustrate better than I can say just how feminine looking he is. However, all the young school girls and even twenty-some women are just crazy over him.



This picture shows him holding a bottle of the pomegranate juice he is advertising on TV.

This is him sitting at a piano surrounded by pretty girls- one is left to assume that they drink the juice and that it is the juice that makes them pretty. Quite a brilliant advertising strategy when your target audience is young girls.

This is a close-up picture of 이 준 기 [Lee, Jun-Ki] showing his face. See how much make-up he is wearing and how "girly" he looks. I dare you to look closely and his lips and tell me that he isn't wearing lipstick.

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I just don't get the fascination with this man. I don't feel he is attractive at all - at least not for a man! I could never date a man who is prettier than I am [or wears more make-up than I do]. Also, since I have been in Korea the majority of my boyfriends have been American military guys and I find that I like my guys clean cut and rugged.

There is a web blog that spoofs Korean culture in the same way "The Onion" mocks Westerner culture. It is called "The Yangpa" which means onion in Korean. It's June issue spoofs 이 준 기 [Lee, Jun-Ki] saying he is the perfect spokesman for feminine hygiene products.

Here's the link to the site.

The Yangpa

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Also, on TV is a South Korean actress I do like. Her name is 문근영 [Mun, Kun-Young] and Koreans call her 국민여동생 [kuk min ya dong sang] Korean people's little sister. This seems to be the Korean way of saying she is "the girl next door". Everyone seems to like and admire her and in this case I whole-heartedly concur.

She is in a lot of advertisements from KTF [a cell phone company] to make-up commercials, however, my favorite ad is the one in which she promotes "Eye Pender" mascara. It shows her at a movie theatre surrounded by other Korean girls and they are all watching a sad movie and crying. However, since she is wearing water-proof mascara she alone doesn't have circles under her eyes. She looks around and sees the other girls who have turned into panda bears [cause their mascara ran]. It's a really cute and catchy advertisement.

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I wouldn't dare finish my post about Korean popular culture without talking about the soccer fever that has swept over Korea of late. I never watched soccer before but I found myself getting caught up in the fervor this year. I even have a favorite soccer player. He is 박지성 [Park, Ji-Sung]. He is a Korean Soccer player who now plays for the England team Manchester United. In the recent [2006] World Cup he played for South Korea wearing # 7.

Why do I like him so much?

Well not only is he an awesome soccer player but he seems to be very kind and polite.

I appreciate this quality in 박지성 [Park, Ji-Sung] so much more now that I have lived in his country! A country where a lot of the time manners are not displayed or appreciated at least not in public.

What do I mean by this?

Well, it seems that in Korea strangers don't exist. Unless you know someone they don't exist for the Korean population. Thus, it is normal to be bumped into with enough force on the street to almost get knocked down and never receive an apology. Don't expect to hear a "sorry" or an "excuse me". I have been told it is because Korea is a Confucian society where one's role is society is strictly defined by age, and gender. Even the Lonely Planet guidebook on Korea says that "This structuring of relationships is very important in Korean society. All relationships require a placement in some sort of hierarchy for one party to determine how to behave with respect towards the other. The middle-aged male office worker thrusting ahead of you to pay for a Coke at the 7-Eleven does not even register your presence. You have not been introduced and he has nowhere to place you on the scale of relationships. An introduction and an exchange of business cards would immediately place you into a category that would demand certain behavior from him."

Well, I still like and admire the courteous treatment of strangers in public and 박지성 [Park, Ji-Sung] seems to feel likewise. Maybe it is because he lives in England now that he plays for the Manchester United soccer team and therefore he has become more "westernized". I noticed his manners right away. After Korea lost to Switzerland [2-0] he exchanged his soccer jersey with a Swiss player [something I saw no other Korean player do]. Moreover, whenever he collided with other player on the field I saw him extend his hand to help the other player up. I think 박지성 [Park, Ji-Sung] and his behavior gives Koreans a good reputation with people around the globe. Kudos!

Here is a picture of 박지성 [Park, Ji-Sung].