Week 2_Toan Tran

      Personally, I view Korea as being quite "cool". Growing up, especially around the years of 2009-2012 when I was leaving elementary school and heading into middle school, Korean culture sprung up around my life in the form of Korean Pop music when a good amount of my friends began listening to it. It soon became an image of what was "in" at the time, and from there, Korea's cultural influence began being more and more prevalent around my life and inevitably in others' lives as well. This wave of Korean popular culture, or Hallyu, spread like wildfire. But it is almost unbelievable reading in The Birth of Korean Cool how Korea was not seen as "cool" back in the 1980s when it has gotten to such a high level of national aesthetics today. However, given Korea's long history, it is evident how it was seen the way it was back then. With Korea going through major economic and social reconstruction, it eventually branded itself by building up the network medium everything is broadcast through: the internet. I see the internet as such a great medium—although it does has its downsides—for marketing and Korea definitely took advantage of this as it made internet a priority of sorts for their people. For its long reaches across the entire world, even the little things such as a Korean popular culture hand heart has creeped into people's lives. Personally, I would not know how else they can maximize their level of national aesthetics, but I am now more intrigued in what we are learning and what we learn throughout this course.


References:

Hong, Y. Euny. The Birth of Korean Cool: How One Nation Is Conquering the World through Pop Culture. First edition, Picador, 2014.

Korean Pop with Heart - Google Search. https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C5CHFA_enUS789US789&biw=1440&bih=722&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=ej5GXMyXPMbYtQXmj4jAAg&q=korean+pop+with+heart&oq=korean+pop+with+heart&gs_l=img.3...5960084.5965571..5965973...0.0..1.624.1557.6j5-2......1....1..gws-wiz-img.......0j0i67j0i8i30j0i24.j4Wjp8GJUpY#imgrc=drmA4ySJtQdm1M: Accessed 21 Jan. 2019.