|
Korean Job Discussion Forums
"The Internet's Meeting Place for ESL/EFL Teachers from Around the World!"
|
| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
rchristo10
Joined: 14 Jul 2009
|
 Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2012 3:54 pm Post subject: What is Hallyu? Block B ticks off Thailand..by acting Korean |
 |
|
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2012/02/117_105662.html
The incident has been widely known here after another boy group member, 2PM�s Nickhun, a Thai national, tweeted Sunday, �Learn some manners and get a better understanding of Thailand when you go to the country.�
I wonder if the Hallyu movement is missing the point... Isn't supposed to take the culture (not just the embellished outside shell of it) into other countries as well? To be honest, I think their behavior was rude on many levels esp. in non-Korean countries. But hey, isn't that the point to enculturate others with what they find unfamiliar and sometimes reproachable? To me they acted well within the bounds of familiar Korean culture.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCH-UeaJpOg&feature=related
My question is this. How non-Korean should Koreans be with this whole Hallyu Movement?
They seemed to act just as Korean as any Korean band I've seen in interviews in Korea. There's editing done to make some embarrassing moments less so. But, to be honest they were displaying a very Korean manner throughout the interview--a manner that I'm sure they were trained to do.
Makes little sense to me to act very un-Korean while professing to push Hallyu across the waters. I personally believe that their biggest mistake was apologizing for being who they are. That's the shame.
What do you think? |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
ThingsComeAround
Joined: 07 Nov 2008
|
| Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2012 4:27 pm Post subject: |
|
|
They were extremely disrespectful. That isn't the face Hallyu wants to push to the world.
When the question came up about donating to Thai victims, they should have given a vague answer instead of being @-holes. If they were talking about Cheonan frigate victims charity or Ganghwa Island victims charity, their response wouldn't be so idiotic  |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
fermentation
Joined: 22 Jun 2009
|
| Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2012 5:55 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Block B? Where do they come up with these names?
I think you would get more responses if you gave a break down of what these guys did that was so disrespectful. Not everybody wants to sit through a 14 minute video of a bunch of weird looking kids.
I only got through the part where one of the guys said they're there to "conquer Thailand." Couldn't stomach anymore of that crap after that. I can understand why people would be offended by foreigners saying they're coming to their country to "conquer" them. The thing is that's the sort of language the Korean media likes to use when reporting on K-pop. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Mix1
Joined: 08 May 2007
|
| Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2012 6:27 pm Post subject: Re: What is Hallyu? Block B ticks off Thailand..by acting Ko |
|
|
| rchristo10 wrote: |
My question is this. How non-Korean should Koreans be with this whole Hallyu Movement?
|
Depends on the results they want.
There's a reason they often present a hyper-edited, ultra-polite, idealized version of themselves to the rest of the world. This is the side we are supposed to see. Makes sense right?
But yeah, why not let the world see the true product they are really getting...
Because the PR people are too smart to take that approach, hence the forced public apology.
| Quote: |
Makes little sense to me to act very un-Korean while professing to push Hallyu across the waters. I personally believe that their biggest mistake was apologizing for being who they are. That's the shame. |
There's no shame in apologizing if they behaved like a**holes. Maybe on Korean TV that would have been funny, but to much of the world, it just comes off as silly and disrespectful. They had little respect for their older interviewers, playing with them and almost mocking them.
Yes, that may be who they are, but their PR handlers know they can't show disrespect towards foreigner customers when they are trying to sell them something at the same time.
When you watched that clip, did you think they were being rude, or did you think they were just acting Korean? Or is it the same thing and they shouldn't have to apologize for anything? |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
highstreet
Joined: 13 Nov 2010
|
| Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2012 8:33 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| You losers are doing the same thing right now. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
rchristo10
Joined: 14 Jul 2009
|
| Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2012 8:58 pm Post subject: Re: What is Hallyu? Block B ticks off Thailand..by acting Ko |
|
|
| Mix1 wrote: |
When you watched that clip, did you think they were being rude, or did you think they were just acting Korean? Or is it the same thing and they shouldn't have to apologize for anything? |
I think that for their age and profession, they were acting just as Korean as the next guy. In fact, I've seen them on TV acting the same way in Korea. Now they sprint off to Thailand and are expected to take themselves more seriously?
Honestly, if Lady Gaga only went on stage being an upstanding "normal" chick during every interview or TV appearance she made, then people would be left confused and somewhat affronted (her fans that is).
The irresponsible journalism of Korea Times made a link between a comment about Thailand's recent flood, but there's nothing in the video clip as such. They're a kid band being kids.
I think such governmental aims pointed at making them have "good personalities," not only stifles the country's creativity but trudges dangerously close to infringing on their first amendment (yes, even for the Korean Constitution) right to freedom of expression.
This is one reason why the country can't make a name for itself. It's always pushing for perfection when it can strive to be much more.
It's sickening to see Korea constantly take such isolated cases and implode them into social issues of great magnitude. The government sending out letters to entertainment agencies calling for "good personality" adjustments because a band was ridiculed because of an isolated, bad image they gave their audience. That's well....just retarded. I didn't know that Hallyu meant government outsourced attempts at brand-named diplomacy. Cultural transference my a$$. If the host countries hire Koreans, they should get Koreans--not some gloss-overed, uppity, self-absorbed dolls who say everything as expected and act "normal." What are they sending abroad, kimchi or people? |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Konglishman
Joined: 14 Sep 2007
Location: Nanjing
|
| Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2012 10:59 pm Post subject: |
|
|
By rchristo10's logic, no one should learn any sort of manners when visiting another country. 
Maybe, that is the problem is a certain segment of Korean tourists. When I was living in Thailand in 2009, I knew some expats who would get annoyed with certain Korean tourists being loud and obnoxious. In fact, when I was traveling in the Philippines and mentioned that I work in Korea, one filipino said that he usually does not like Korean tourists due to their lack of manners.
So, I have a question for rchristo10. If you were continually upsetting people around you, would you like to made aware of this in order to improve your behavior? Or would you insist that you must continue being yourself and to hell with people's feelings? |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
pedrotaves
Joined: 02 Mar 2011
|
| Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2012 11:51 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| maybe i'm missing something, but how is this a matter of needing to understand the manners of another country? i was under the impression that you probably shouldn't make light of terrible tragedies no matter what country you go to. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Konglishman
Joined: 14 Sep 2007
Location: Nanjing
|
| Posted: Sat Feb 25, 2012 12:13 am Post subject: |
|
|
| pedrotaves wrote: |
| maybe i'm missing something, but how is this a matter of needing to understand the manners of another country? i was under the impression that you probably shouldn't make light of terrible tragedies no matter what country you go to. |
| Korea Times wrote: |
By Kim Rahn
A K-pop boy group�s poor manners during an interview with a Thai broadcaster has prompted the government to urge entertainment agencies to strengthen education for hallyu stars to develop decent personalities.
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism sent official letters to major entertainment agencies and producers under the name of Minister Choe Kwang-shik, Friday, to call for steps to prevent a recurrence of the incident.
The move came days after hip-hop boy band Block B made a joke about last year�s massive flooding in Thailand in an interview with local media there, which ignited indignation from the Thai people.
�In the letter, Choe asked agencies to pay greater attention to education on personality development and cultural differences for hallyu stars and would-be-entertainers, so that they can keep in mind their roles and influence as public figures,� a ministry official said.
Last year, a ministry unit supportive of pop culture artists offered humanities lectures and counseling programs to entertainers. �This year, we�ll expand the lectures and encourage the agencies to enforce attendance,� the official said.
In the interview with Thai media site RYT9 on Jan. 30, Block B�s leader Zico said when asked about his opinion on the flooding that damaged the country, �I hope monetary compensation will heal their wounds because all I have is money.�
Then another member asked him the total worth of his assets, and Zico said laughing, �About 7,000 won ($6).�
Their levity continued in the 30-minute interview while word of this spread worldwide via the Internet, with one member lying down on a coffee table while another walking around the interview area.
Tarnished image
The incident has been widely known here after another boy group member, 2PM�s Nickhun, a Thai national, tweeted Sunday, �Learn some manners and get a better understanding of Thailand when you go to the country.�
Korean Internet users have strongly criticized Block B�s impolite behavior and lack of manners, saying the group tarnished Korean hallyu stars� image as a whole. One blogger even claimed that her father�s export contract with a Thai company was suddenly cancelled, adding anti-Korea sentiment is widespread among Thai people.
Some are collecting signatures to call for the band�s dispersion and withdrawal from the entertainment circle.
With criticism mounting, Block B made a public apology in a video clip Thursday with English and Thai subtitles.
�We are very sorry for the things that happened in Thailand recently. It was stupid that we didn�t think about the negative impact our actions would have on the Thai people. It was true that we didn�t understand the situation of the country. We were selfish,� the group said.
�We didn�t mean to hurt anybody but our childish actions caused pain. We are truly sorry. We promise that we�ll look back on ourselves, learn and improve,� said Zico, who had his hair shaved to show his remorse.
On the reaction from Thailand, the ministry official said the Thai people felt uncomfortable but the government hasn�t seen the signs of displeasure developing into anti-Korean sentiment yet.
�But if such a thing reoccurs, public opinion there will become aggressive toward Korea�s pop culture in its entirety. In exchanges between countries, building trust and paying respects to counterpart nations is the most important thing. We�ll try to prevent such incidents from recurring,� the official said. |
In short, the whole issue was about bad manners. Perhaps, in Korea, they can get away with having bad manners and making insensitive comments, but they should remember that outside of Korea, they are guests. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Skipperoo
Joined: 05 Jul 2010
|
| Posted: Sat Feb 25, 2012 2:28 am Post subject: |
|
|
| pedrotaves wrote: |
| maybe i'm missing something, but how is this a matter of needing to understand the manners of another country? i was under the impression that you probably shouldn't make light of terrible tragedies no matter what country you go to. |
This. You could interchange any group and any country name into this story and they'd still be a bunch of prats.
Not that I could possibly care less about this story. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Panda
Joined: 25 Oct 2008
|
| Posted: Sat Feb 25, 2012 8:08 am Post subject: |
|
|
To a great extent, I do agree with rchristo10. These B boys are merely kids. It's sad though they are not normal kids but machines that were made to entertain others, singing and dancing in flashy outfits.
They are also supposed to do everything within people's expectation.
This reminds me of what people do to train those little girls for beauty competition. When asked what's her birthday wish, a little beauty queen candidate: world peace. Should I applaud for such an answer or punch a nobody in the face---- it seems obvious there is no one to blame except the whole thing is rediculous and stupid.
So after things like this , next time you will see these kids talk about humanity beautifully on TV while they have no idea what humanity really is. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
rchristo10
Joined: 14 Jul 2009
|
| Posted: Sat Feb 25, 2012 2:14 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Konglishman wrote: |
By rchristo10's logic, no one should learn any sort of manners when visiting another country.
Maybe, that is the problem is a certain segment of Korean tourists. When I was living in Thailand in 2009, I knew some expats who would get annoyed with certain Korean tourists being loud and obnoxious. In fact, when I was traveling in the Philippines and mentioned that I work in Korea, one filipino said that he usually does not like Korean tourists due to their lack of manners.
So, I have a question for rchristo10. If you were continually upsetting people around you, would you like to made aware of this in order to improve your behavior? Or would you insist that you must continue being yourself and to hell with people's feelings? |
No one said anything about "any forms of manners." What I did was looked at their behavior and judged whether it was far from their behavior as artists in their home country. I found that it wasn't.
I don't know anything about a comment related to the victims of an atrocity there as mentioned in the Korea Times article. But I did see the entire video.
In answer to your question about people being continually upset around me, well...that takes the scope of the point to a whole knew dimension. First, I'm not an entertainer in Korea (anymore). Second, I'm not an ethnic Korean entertainer. But to answer the question, if behaving in a manner that occasionally pisses (or even often pisses people off) got me to the top, then yes I'd continue in that vain. That's call the life of an entertainer.
The saying "When in Rome act as the Romans do"...actually makes little sense when you're talking about being entertainers. For them, the stage and the cameras are Rome. So, yes, they shouldn't change their behavior to appease the new social environs.
I'd stress again...that doesn't mean that they have to be intentionally rude (that is unless it's part of what got them to where they are) by saying some pretty hurtful things about people who recently passed away. But, hey, whatever's not on the video in my view is all hearsay. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Steelrails
Joined: 12 Mar 2009
Location: Earth, Solar System
|
| Posted: Sat Feb 25, 2012 5:09 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Any chance these guys were just idiots? Maybe drunk at the time? I think its a bit much to assume all these cultural connotations off of an isolated incident considering that before, now, and after Korean celebrities go to other countries and manage not to be insensitive and rude. I mean, celebrities (of any nation) making a fool of themselves and insulting people is nothing new. Happens on like a weekly basis.
These were just a couple of young dudes and they made a mistake that young dudes are prone to make. It's a good lesson for the entertainment industry, but there will always be the occasional idiot celebrity and young men and women will always be more gaffe prone than most.
I think people are trying to read wayyyyy too much into this. I think the simple explanation of "young people/celebrities sometimes say something stupid" is pretty much it. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
rchristo10
Joined: 14 Jul 2009
|
| Posted: Sun Feb 26, 2012 12:11 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Steelrails wrote: |
Any chance these guys were just idiots? Maybe drunk at the time? I think its a bit much to assume all these cultural connotations off of an isolated incident considering that before, now, and after Korean celebrities go to other countries and manage not to be insensitive and rude. I mean, celebrities (of any nation) making a fool of themselves and insulting people is nothing new. Happens on like a weekly basis.
These were just a couple of young dudes and they made a mistake that young dudes are prone to make. It's a good lesson for the entertainment industry, but there will always be the occasional idiot celebrity and young men and women will always be more gaffe prone than most.
I think people are trying to read wayyyyy too much into this. I think the simple explanation of "young people/celebrities sometimes say something stupid" is pretty much it. |
I like your response. I also don't like your response. (Neither of which you probably care about, but I'd like to get some clarification, if you don't mind.) On the one hand, you make a valid claim (they are just kids), but you also seem to be curtailing the issue with vagueness or simply not grasping the point. Perhaps I'm just a bit dense here.
The point is that the Korean government (as oppose to "people") seems to link this incident to Hallyu and its financially supported effort to spread Korean culture around the world. That's the government's interpretation (likely neither ours nor yours), and that sorta necessitates that we see this incident as somewhat akin to what the Korean government judges as something to do with Korean culture and its Hallyu program.
My question is, how much non-Korean/ Korean "etiquette" are they really asking for when they ask these Korean celebrities to go abroad? Doesn't seem so Korean to me to ask people who became famous in Korea acting a certain way to put on pretenses and act differently when they go abroad.
Is it just me or is Hallyu doomed to fail from the outset, that is, if it's really an attempt at bringing Korean culture to other countries? Or are they really just spreading songs and entertainment with one criteria: Korean ethnicity/ nationality, neither of which is everything when it comes to being Korean on the cultural level? (Perhaps my view of culture is a bit too broad?)
I'm all for cultural appreciation, but to me this Hallyu business has a Hollywood-style fascist tinge to it. Regardless, tax payers don't seem to have a problem with their monies being used to support it. Odd. Odd. Odd. (Reminds me of how blind the soldiers seemed to be during the Holocaust...but that would be going a bit far...or would it? Hmm....).
I admit that this Block B incident is an isolated case (as I mentioned before), but Hallyu is not. Neither is the government's demand that celebrities learn a specific etiquette or adopt "good personalities" to appeal to foreign countries.
Something seems a bit sinister about the whole affair--a fascist idea nestled in the cleavage of so-called cultural appreciation.
Help me out here, I'm seriously not getting it. And, I admit it. A program set on trying to always have other countries love "our" people based simply on ethnicity and nationality, rather than on the myriad of factors that make a person uniquely Korean, just sounds utterly wrong and a bit dangerous. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Skipperoo
Joined: 05 Jul 2010
|
| Posted: Sun Feb 26, 2012 12:59 am Post subject: |
|
|
| I don't really follow. There's nothing culturally "Korean" about making tasteless jokes and acting like a brat. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
|
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
|
|
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
