Catherine Billings

Culture: Arts
Title Ideas:
Catching the Korean Wave
K-pop Goes Stateside
K-pop: Ahead of the Curve
Catch the Korean Wave
Riding the Wave All the Way to Korea
K-Pop, K-Drama, K-Invasion
Catch the Wave
The Crest of the Korean Wave
Following the Korean Wave
Korean Culture Shock
Korean Fever
Kpop Collective
A Taste of Asian
Dramatic Influences
Korea!!!!
Word Count: 816
Allotted Word Count: 500-700

ChrlsLlna Pall seems llke a Lyplcal 20-year-old. She grew up ln Lakewood, Callfornla, buL moved away
from home for college. She ls worklng Lowards a bachelor's degree ln psychology and en[oys _.
Powever, Lhere are some aspecLs of ChrlsLlna's llfe LhaL aren'L qulLe so Lyplcal. Per rlng Lone ls SPlnee's
8lng ulng uong." lcLures of 2M cover her lapLop. She recenLly sLarLed waLchlng roLecL Lhe 8oss"
sLarrlng Chol kang-hee and !l Sung. none of Lhese names sound famlllar? erhaps Cangam SLyle" wlll.
SouLh korean rapper S? released Lhe song Cangam SLyle" on !uly 13, 2012. A llLLle more Lhan flve
monLhs laLer, Lhe song's muslc vldeo made hlsLory as Lhe flrsL onllne vldeo Lo surpass one bllllon vlews.
Accordlng Lo 8lllboard, hundreds of Lhousands of parodles of Lhe vldeo have been uploaded Lo
?ou1ube," lncludlng a cover vldeo from MlLL 8omney. AlLhough Lhe "sy-nomenon" has led Lo lncreased
lnLeresL ln SouLh korea, mosL Amerlcans are unaware LhaL S? ls only Lhe Llp of Lhe lceberg. An lceberg
LhaL ls acLually a wave: Lhe korean Wave.
1he Lerm korean Wave" refers Lo Lhe spread of SouLh korean pop culLure across Lhe world. 1he Wave
spread flrsL Lo oLher Aslan counLrles, Lhen Lo Lhe Mlddle LasL, norLhern Afrlca, LaLln Amerlca, and
ulLlmaLely Lhe unlLed SLaLes. Accordlng Lo ual ?ong !ln, a professor ln Slmon lraser unlverslLy's School
of CommunlcaLlon, korean 1v dramas (korean dramas) are Lhe sole korean culLural producL LhaL has
achleved Lhls global peneLraLlon. Powever, even korean dramas have yeL Lo peneLraLe malnsLream pop
culLure ln Lhe unlLed SLaLes. CLher culLural producLs-lncludlng movles, pop muslc (k-pop), and onllne
games-are followlng Lhe paLh paved by korean dramas. Lven ln Lhe unlLed SLaLes, korean dramas and
k-pop are aLLracLlng Lhousands of dedlcaLed fans llke ChrlsLlna.
1he korean culLure ls a very dlfferenL culLure," ChrlsLlna explalns. 1he flrsL scene l saw clearly
demonsLraLed Lhls dlfference. AL flrsL, l LhoughL, '1hls ls Lhe welrdesL Lhlng l've ever seen. Who acLs llke
LhaL?' 8uL Lhen, l wanLed Lo know whaL happened nexL. lL hooks you." Carol Maynes, a 47-year-old
moLher of Lhree llvlng ln vancouver, WashlngLon, had a slmllar flrsL reacLlon, l was caughL off guard by
how effemlnaLely Lhe boys were dressed," she explalns. lL Look me a whlle Lo undersLand Lhelr humor.
SomeLlmes Lhe muslc lmplled LhaL Lhe scene was lnLended Lo be comedlc, buL l dldn'L geL whaL was
supposed Lo be funny." ulLlmaLely, Lhe lnLegraLlon of korean culLure lnLo Lhe dramas became one of
Lhelr charms. Accordlng Lo CrysLal S. Anderson, dlrecLor of Lhe kpop kollecLlve (a research lnlLlaLlve on
Lhe korean Wave), Lhe korean culLure exhlblLed ln korean dramas and k-pop ls parL of Lhelr appeal for
fans. ur. !ulle uamron, a professor on 8rlgham ?oung unlverslLy's korean laculLy, explalns, 1hey geL
aLLached Lo Lhe dramas, and Lhen Lhey sLarL Lo llke Lhe culLure Lhey see ln Lhe dramas. lrom LhaL, Lhey
wanL Lo noL only learn Lhe language, buL Lhey wanL Lo go Lo korea and Lo have korean frlends."
ur. uamron has noLlced a huge lncrease ln Lhe number of sLudenLs who are Laklng beglnnlng korean
over Lhe lasL four or flve years. She explalns LhaL Lhese sLudenLs declde Lo Lake korean because Lhey
waLch korean dramas and are compleLely engulfed ln k-pop." now, aL leasL half lf noL Lhree-fourLhs of
her beglnnlng classes Lake lL because Lhey love korean dramas and k-pop. 1hls phenomenon ls noL only
occurrlng on college campuses. Accordlng Lo CrysLal S. Anderson, dlrecLor of Lhe kpop kollecLlve, fans
also Lake korean language classes Lhrough korean culLural cenLers and Lhe lnLerneL. uamron explalns
Lhls lncreased lnLeresL, 1hey geL aLLached Lo Lhe dramas, and Lhen Lhey sLarL Lo llke Lhe culLure Lhey see
ln Lhe dramas. lrom LhaL, Lhey wanL Lo noL only learn Lhe language, buL Lhey wanL Lo go Lo korea and Lo
have korean frlends."
Carol's 14-year-old daughLer, Melanle, ls sLlll ln hlgh school buL has sLarLed Laklng korean lessons
because she wanLed Lo learn more abouL Lhe culLure she saw ln Lhe dramas and Lo learn Lhe language,
whlch she descrlbed as really preLLy." She ls plannlng a Lrlp Lo korea wlLh her frlend afLer hlgh school
graduaLlon and would llke Lo evenLually Leach Lngllsh ln korea. ChrlsLlna admlLs regreL aL noL havlng
Llme Lo learn korean, buL her younger slsLer-who ChrlsLlna lnLroduced Lo korean dramas-ls dead seL
on learnlng korean." ChrlsLlna would love Lo vlslL korea, she [oklngly menLloned LhaL she mlghL need
someone Lo hold up subLlLles so she could undersLand whaL everyone was saylng. lans lncluded ln
research done by Lhe kpop kollecLlve expressed slmllar lnLeresL ln Lravellng Lo korea.
AlLhough korean culLure may seem allen aL flrsL, you shouldn'L dlsmlss korean dramas and k-pop before
glvlng Lhem a falr chance. Who knows? Maybe you'll be ln a beglnnlng korean class nexL year.
Alex Simmons 10/14/13 8:46 PM
Deleted: :
Alex Simmons 10/14/13 8:49 PM
Deleted: (a research lnlLlaLlve on Lhe korean
Wave)
Alex Simmons 10/14/13 8:49 PM
Comment [1]: 1hls lnformaLlon ls glven ln Lhe
prevlous paragraph.
Alex Simmons 10/14/13 8:50 PM
Deleted: :
Alex Simmons 10/14/13 8:52 PM
Comment [2]: 1hls quoLaLlon ls used aL Lhe end
of Lhe prevlous paragraph as well. We wlll have Lo
deleLe one. l Lhlnk LhaL lL may flL beLLer ln Lhe flrsL
paragraph Lhan lL does here. WhaL do you Lhlnk?