Linus Senter

Heimsath - AS 100
Midterm 1

1) Rhoads Murphey includes three photographs of rice farms in the first chapter of his History of Asia
textbook. Discuss why he thinks rice is so important and how this representation may effect our own
consideration of contemporary Asia.

Rhoads Murphey, much like many other individuals, may link a word or phrase to a region, in this case,

he has drawn a clear line connecting Asia to rice (in addition to monsoons). Certainly, Asia’s history is

largely involved with rice and the production of other grains, it is a hallmark. But it is unfair to reduce all

of Asia to rice fields. The reason as to why he thinks rice is so important to Asia is because it is the

backbone of society, before one can begin to develop culture and ritualistic aspects of a society, they must

first be able to support themselves with food, consistently. With other cultures this is not the case, as rice

is much more difficult to produce in other regions as they may be too arid. This effect is the same when

applied to us students. When exposed to those three photos, one may subconsciously make the

assumption that Asia is less developed and primitive, even though that is not the case. Furthermore, even

if someone disregards the stereotype with the rice fields, the issue extends beyond that. When asked to

describe Asia in a word or a short phrase, it is guaranteed to be a huge simplification of Asian culture and

society, so much like Rhoads, we also depict a view of Asia that, for lack of a better word, may be

generic, or simply incorrect. To be aware of this consideration, is to be aware of our biases, and although

it is impossible to shed these, means to address Asia as a whole, in a more aware and accurate manner.
3) Euny Hong interviews a businessman who makes the point that with digital technology, “all copies are
perfect”. Explore the ways in which this idea of “perfect copies” might relate to Korean pop culture in
general with specific examples from the reading and/or videos.

To paraphrase Hong, Korea before and during the 1980’s, it was extremely desolate, comparing the

country to the general appearance of the Soviet Union, packed with blank, grey buildings. Korea was

perhaps decades behind other countries in regards to technological advancements. To advance

themselves, the Korean government heavily subsidized production and innovation in the technology

realm. By doing this, not only did they skyrocket themselves out of the stone-age, but became one of the

leading countries in technological innovation. This subsidization led to a level of quality and consistency

in Korean technology, which carried over to Korean society with the idea of “perfect copies,'' especially

in the 2000’s when Korea began to subsidize the bringing up of new popstars. Music became an industry,

much like technology, and so the Korean government had agency over what was cool, and what was not

cool, essentially. Pop culture in Korea was carefully crafted to be a certain way, to not be too rebellious,

to be clean, and to display the ideal Korean figure and image. This is apparent when watching a handful

of K-pop videos, as they all follow the same formula. All are heavily choreographed, but not extremely

difficult choreography, all of them feature a group dancing in unison, and the videos have innovative, but

not extreme costume design. These commonalities between videos sculpts the perfect image of a Korean.
5) Like Euny Hong in Seoul, Kimberly Hoang also studies the changes taking place in a rapidly
modernizing Ho Chi Minh City. Discuss three (3) points of similarity or difference between the two
author’s approach to their research and writing.

Kimberly Hoang and Euny Hong are authors concerned in very similar fields, they are both dedicated to

acknowledging and specific Asian social aspect, and then remarking on it. Yet the approach that these

two authors take in their evaluation of these social aspects varies. Both authors are Asian-American, and

are writing this text for a Western audience. Despite this, the tone adopted by each author is different.

Hong, talks in a negative and mocking tone about Korean social aspects. An example of this is when

Hong is remarking on the social hierarchy, talking about how age is very respected, and so people

commonly ask for other people’s age before engaging in conversation, in order to determine whether or

not they need to be respectful towards the other, or if they are the recipient of that respect. Hoang on the

other hand, takes a more academic approach, and attempts to limit her own commentary and instead

presents the information in a less bias manner. Another way in which they differ is that Hong talks about

how Korean things are ridiculous, in respect to American culture. Meanwhile, Hoang on the other hand,

finds the reasoning for why the girls subject the sex-industry, or why it is such an important aspect or

influencial business deals.

6) Look carefully at the image lifted from the cover of The Host DVD and discuss what it might reveal
about the relationship between the girl (Hyun-seo), the monster (goemul) and the city (Seoul).

When looking at the image of the monster grabbing the girl a few things come to mind. The first is

victimhood. Now victimhood comes in many different forms. The first of which, which may also be most

apparent that the captive is a girl. Now all things in the film are a stylistic choice, so going along these

lines, the victim was chosen to be a girl. This could be a parallel between the film and the book by

Kimberly Kay Hoang, ​Dealing in Desire​, in which girls are heavily subject to sex work. Another

relationship could be that which was mentioned in class, the clash between new and old. Old in this case

being the monster, and new being the little girl. Perhaps the little girls is overwhelmed by old traditions

and cultures, or she is victim to the old way, and this may be a big stretch, but an example of this would

be something like climate change, where younger people have been left this huge responsibility by older

generations. What is also interesting is that the clash between young and old is also presented with the

orphan taking the spot of the girl who died at the end of the film. A final relationship that may be drawn

could be a sexual one, as the monster’s tail may appear as a phallic object, and obviously the victim is a

female, which would also go back to the earlier point about Hoang.