Hybridity, confucianism, and ambiguity in the South Korean soft power model in Hallyu 1.0
This paper aims to analyze K-drama’s phenomenon as a popular cultural product that generated Hallyu 1.0 and South Korea’s soft power. Past literature suggests this manufactured television drama is a hybrid of ancient Eastern values and Western modernity that resulted in a female-centric and youth co...
| Main Authors: | , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Deepak Ranjan Jena
2021
|
| Online Access: | http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/97573/ http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/97573/1/ABSTRACT.pdf |
| _version_ | 1848862636238700544 |
|---|---|
| author | Loo, Fung Ying Loo, Fung Chiat |
| author_facet | Loo, Fung Ying Loo, Fung Chiat |
| author_sort | Loo, Fung Ying |
| building | UPM Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | This paper aims to analyze K-drama’s phenomenon as a popular cultural product that generated Hallyu 1.0 and South Korea’s soft power. Past literature suggests this manufactured television drama is a hybrid of ancient Eastern values and Western modernity that resulted in a female-centric and youth consumption. Confucianism and family values are discussed as a backbone of K-drama’s narrative. On the other hand, the “reserved romance” and conservativeness that led to a particular focus on gendering male K-drama actors invited much debate around the new label of “soft masculinity.” However, we question the absence of discussion and detailed analysis of major elements in the Korean popular cultural production that we found are similar to many identical Western models, including the theme song as the catalyst of Hallyu 2.0, “reserved romance,” and ambiguity in the discussion of image branding among male idols, that may not fully reflect claims of Confucianism. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-15T13:20:10Z |
| format | Article |
| id | upm-97573 |
| institution | Universiti Putra Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-15T13:20:10Z |
| publishDate | 2021 |
| publisher | Deepak Ranjan Jena |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | upm-975732022-07-27T02:36:25Z http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/97573/ Hybridity, confucianism, and ambiguity in the South Korean soft power model in Hallyu 1.0 Loo, Fung Ying Loo, Fung Chiat This paper aims to analyze K-drama’s phenomenon as a popular cultural product that generated Hallyu 1.0 and South Korea’s soft power. Past literature suggests this manufactured television drama is a hybrid of ancient Eastern values and Western modernity that resulted in a female-centric and youth consumption. Confucianism and family values are discussed as a backbone of K-drama’s narrative. On the other hand, the “reserved romance” and conservativeness that led to a particular focus on gendering male K-drama actors invited much debate around the new label of “soft masculinity.” However, we question the absence of discussion and detailed analysis of major elements in the Korean popular cultural production that we found are similar to many identical Western models, including the theme song as the catalyst of Hallyu 2.0, “reserved romance,” and ambiguity in the discussion of image branding among male idols, that may not fully reflect claims of Confucianism. Deepak Ranjan Jena 2021 Article PeerReviewed text en http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/97573/1/ABSTRACT.pdf Loo, Fung Ying and Loo, Fung Chiat (2021) Hybridity, confucianism, and ambiguity in the South Korean soft power model in Hallyu 1.0. Media Watch, 12 (1). 149 - 160. ISSN 0976-0911; ESSN: 2249-8818 https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.15655/mw_2021_v12i1_205464 10.15655/mw/2021/v12i1/205464 |
| spellingShingle | Loo, Fung Ying Loo, Fung Chiat Hybridity, confucianism, and ambiguity in the South Korean soft power model in Hallyu 1.0 |
| title | Hybridity, confucianism, and ambiguity in the South Korean soft power model in Hallyu 1.0 |
| title_full | Hybridity, confucianism, and ambiguity in the South Korean soft power model in Hallyu 1.0 |
| title_fullStr | Hybridity, confucianism, and ambiguity in the South Korean soft power model in Hallyu 1.0 |
| title_full_unstemmed | Hybridity, confucianism, and ambiguity in the South Korean soft power model in Hallyu 1.0 |
| title_short | Hybridity, confucianism, and ambiguity in the South Korean soft power model in Hallyu 1.0 |
| title_sort | hybridity, confucianism, and ambiguity in the south korean soft power model in hallyu 1.0 |
| url | http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/97573/ http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/97573/ http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/97573/ http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/97573/1/ABSTRACT.pdf |