Korean Popular Culture

Catalog description

This course critically engages with Korean popular culture in order to explore how an arena often dismissed as “mere entertainment” can act as an indicator of cultural values and a producer of cultural meaning. It treats works of popular culture as important economic, political, and social texts and asks us to reflect on how the production and consumption of popular culture shapes, and is shaped by, our lived experiences. Put another way, this course explores what popular culture says about society and, conversely, what society says about popular culture. Investigating diverse cultural forms, such as television, film, music, sports, advertising, and the Internet, we will struggle with the meaning of popular culture and its place in Korean society, both historically and within contemporary moments. The earlier weeks focus on topics characterized as framing, while the later classes are issue-based.