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Canuckophile
Joined: 30 Jan 2003
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 Posted: Mon Feb 07, 2005 12:18 pm Post subject: KH article - Korea tries to imitate Hollywood! |
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Thought this article was interesting. The KH writer (Seoul Searcher) blasts the Korean penchant for imitation rather than creation. I also wonder what those who are hatching this "Hallyuwood" plot are thinking when they invite Japan/China to get involved. If it looks like it will work, those 2 nations will simply start their own and leave Kimchi-land out in the cold.
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Move over Hollywood, Hallyuwood is coming (Seoul Searcher; Korea Herald)
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Hallyuwood? It's Hollywood, right? Wrong! The local government of Gyeonggi, the province that surrounds Seoul, announced the other day that it will build an "art and entertainment mecca" for all of Asia in Ilsan, just west of the capital, and will name the place "Hallyuwood."
Hallyu means "Korean wave" in English. The word was coined to dub the alleged craze for Korean movies and television dramas as well as musical performances by Korean singers and dancers in Japan, China, Taiwan and other Southeast Asian countries. The Korean entertainment programs are said to have become so popular in these countries in recent years that it is fitting, according to the Korean media, to describe the trend as the Korean wave.
But where does the "wood" come from? As far as I could see, there was no wooded area near there. In fact, the governor of Gyeonggi, who announced the plan last week, said they just added the "wood," to Hallyu, as they intend to build the area into as famous a place as Hollywood. The provincial government will spend some 2 trillion won to build "the next generation entertainment hub" for Asia, on a 300,000-pyeong (one pyeong equals 3.3 square meters) plot of land by 2008. By then, Hallyuwood will be completed with movie studios, theaters, computer game centers, and even a star walk.
By producing movies and other entertainment products by Korean, Japanese and Chinese interests, Hallyuwood will compete against "Western culture," represented by Hollywood, if, that is, the Japanese and Chinese agree to go along.
It is all very well, I suppose. But I wonder why they have to call the place by that name. It is such an obvious, crude and tasteless imitation that it will, no doubt, cause grimaces, even cynical smiles, from many, especially Western, people who love Korean culture. The name is inappropriate especially because they want to make it a landmark of South Korea that could be recognized by people around the world.
The paucity of fresh and attractive ideas, as far as naming of the place - not to mention the establishment of the mecca itself - is appalling, indeed. For, I am one of those who get uneasy and disturbed whenever I watch people plagiarizing and copying others without the slightest hesitation. Aside from the question of intellectual property laws, copying or imitating others is a shameful act that everyone, especially artists and industrialists, should try to avoid, to maintain a modicum of self-respect and pride.
In our usual breakneck haste to join the ranks of advanced societies in the 1970s and 80s, we shamelessly imitated many artistic works as well as industrial products of Japan, Western Europe and the United States. It is an easy and quick way to make money. And that is why the act of copying, often with just enough variation to avoid trouble, has become a habit from which we are still unable to wean ourselves completely, even though we have come to put so much nationalistic emphasis on things Korean and traditional Korean culture in recent years.
We have been watching many television commercials as well as programs such as quiz shows and soap operas that were such obvious copies of Japanese and American programs that they were often pointed out-even sued-as imitations by the original producers and viewers. But most of them were continued, with their producers saying brazenly that these were mere "coincidences," and that people, though of different nationality, often think alike.
Thus, when gangster movies became popular in America and Japan, we too produced, albeit several years later, similar movies complete with shootouts in broad daylight in public places, which, thank God, seldom take place in this country, and crazy car chases through streets of Seoul and other cities, which are hardly possible on account of chronic traffic jams. When Hollywood produced "Saving Private Ryan," which turned out to be a box-office hit in the United States and the rest of the world, Korean filmmakers competed against each other to produce war movies, one of which was obviously inspired by "Private Ryan."
And when Michael Moore made some waves producing "Fahrenheit 9/11" ridiculing President George W. Bush, a Korean "documentary" producer makes "The President's Last Bang," which is said to be a "black comedy," about the assassination of former President Park Chung-hee. Incidentally, we do not have the guts like Moore showed to criticize the incumbent leader; we only like to tread on the fallen, who cannot hit back.
Filmmaking, of course, is not the only area where Koreans copy the Japanese and Americans. You name any work or product in any field of endeavor-literature, music, fashion or automobiles - and you can find the originals produced in Japan and the West.
It is, of course, much easier to get quick results from copying or imitating, as I said, as we do not have to use our own brains and creativity, if we have any, and as we do not have to "waste" time and money for research. But copycats and imitators will never finish first; they are eternally destined to play second or third string in any given field and meet eventual failure.
Going back to Hallyuwood; calling a movie-making complex with a name similar to Hollywood could be fun for some people; it could even evoke a bemused smile from others. Maybe, officials in the provincial government, including the governor, thought it was a cool idea for South Korea to have an artistic establishment as well known as Hollywood. But I really don't think it is a wonderful name that is fated to become a household word throughout the world. Besides, if we cannot exercise creativity in naming such an ambitious place, how can we expect to make good, original and competitive products there? |
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Well said, I think. I doubt his views will have any effect on this half-baked plan, but at least there are people in Korea who know a hoax when they see one.
CANUCKOPHILE |
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babtangee
Joined: 18 Dec 2004
Location: OMG! Charlie has me surrounded!
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| Posted: Mon Feb 07, 2005 1:14 pm Post subject: |
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| Is the writer really Korean? Man, he wanna watch out for the mob headed to his office. |
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HamuHamu
Joined: 01 May 2003
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Mon Feb 07, 2005 6:40 pm Post subject: |
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Did you say that was the Seould Searcher column?
I've often wondered if he puts his articles in Korean in the Korean papers, too. I can't see them sallowing much of what he says, and I am often surprised that there aren't weekly candlelight protests in front of the Korean Herald office requesting his articles be removed from the papers. |
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vlcupper
Joined: 12 Aug 2004
Location: Gangnam
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| Posted: Mon Feb 07, 2005 6:41 pm Post subject: |
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I'm surprise the Korea Herald printed that. And I'm suprised the writer isn't dead yet.
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| Hallyu means "Korean wave" in English. The word was coined to dub the alleged craze for Korean movies and television dramas as well as musical performances by Korean singers and dancers in Japan, China, Taiwan and other Southeast Asian countries. The Korean entertainment programs are said to have become so popular in these countries in recent years that it is fitting, according to the Korean media, to describe the trend as the Korean wave. |
Does anybody really think that the popularity of a couple of television shows constitutes a "craze"? In the 80s, when the US had "You Can't Do That On Television" and "Turkey TV" (two of my favorite shows of all time, btw), Canada didn't wet it's collective pants in excitement and say "OOOOH THE US IS CRAZY ABOUT CANADA!!!! THE MAPLE WAVE IS RIDING HIGH!!!
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| I've often wondered if he puts his articles in Korean in the Korean papers, too. I can't see them sallowing much of what he says, and I am often surprised that there aren't weekly candlelight protests in front of the Korean Herald office requesting his articles be removed from the papers. |
It's not his fault. He's just under the influence of the evil Americans.  If anything they would probably hold a candlelight vigil outside a military base demanding his release. |
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Tiberious aka Sparkles
Joined: 23 Jan 2003
Location: I'm one cool cat!
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| Posted: Mon Feb 07, 2005 6:52 pm Post subject: |
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Do Indians call their film industry 'Bollywood,' or is it just the west that does that?
Sparkles*_* |
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peppermint
Joined: 13 May 2003
Location: traversing the minefields of caddishness.
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| Posted: Mon Feb 07, 2005 7:52 pm Post subject: |
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if you read the blurb at the bottom of his column, he lived in Tokyo and New York for many years. I think it's rather telling that he has a hotmail address as his contact e-mail, as opposed to pretty much every other writer at the Herald.
The article isn't that sacriligious though, not compared to this!
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| The whole scene ( Lunar New years) constitutes a tremendous waste of time, energy and money. |
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komtengi
Joined: 30 Sep 2003
Location: Slummin it up in Haebangchon
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| Posted: Mon Feb 07, 2005 8:06 pm Post subject: |
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| its a fad that will fade... Korean content was cheap compared to Japanese content so most of asia was buying it... nowdays they are starting to get greedy... typical Koreans .... there has been a decline in the production of Korean films by over 20% in the last two years, and they are pricing themselves out of the market. HK films have become really bad these days, but 10 years ago they were the big films to watch. Its all a cycle, not sure where the next wave will come from... but Korea is holding on to this like its their total existance |
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Canuckophile
Joined: 30 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Mon Feb 07, 2005 9:19 pm Post subject: to KOMTENGI |
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Kinda like Korea held onto the World Cup hosting/Asia victory like it made them the Annointed Ones of Asia, eh?
Someone posted the KH editorial against Lunar New Year - I didn't take it as very blasphemous... just reflects the fact that the KH was launched basically as a western business paper... they want Koreans to work work work and make money for Korean biz moguls, not take a few days off with the family.
CANUCKOPHILE |
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endofthewor1d
Joined: 01 Apr 2003
Location: the end of the wor1d.
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| Posted: Mon Feb 07, 2005 9:45 pm Post subject: Re: KH article - Korea tries to imitate Hollywood! |
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But where does the "wood" come from? As far as I could see, there was no wooded area near there. |
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tell me this guy isn't really this dense. hey Daechidong Waygookin, have you ever heard of hollywood?
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In fact, the governor of Gyeonggi, who announced the plan last week, said they just added the "wood," to Hallyu, as they intend to build the area into as famous a place as Hollywood. |
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ooooohhh... i get it. it's a pun. thanks, governor, for clearing that up.
i think it's a clever name, particularly when you see how it's derived. the only problem i have with it is that while the difference in spelling is clear, the pronunciation of the two words 'hollywood' and 'hallyuwood' would be much too close as to be indistinguishable.
yeah, i know that korea does a lot of crap imitation of america and japan. but this is a lot different than just making some crap korean song to the tune of 'and then i got high'. i mean, it's clearly a pun and not pretending to be something original.
so i can understand raising a big fuss over korea's tendency to imitate (poorly) rather than create. but i don't think this is the proper catalyst to launch such a fuss. [/quote] |
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Hollywoodaction
Joined: 02 Jul 2004
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| Posted: Mon Feb 07, 2005 10:18 pm Post subject: |
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| Bollywood, I can understand. It has a certain amount of charm. Hallyuwood, on the other hand, is the copy of a copy, a second-hand idea. Any other name would have been better. |
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itaewonguy
Joined: 25 Mar 2003
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| Posted: Mon Feb 07, 2005 11:51 pm Post subject: |
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| Hollywoodaction wrote: |
| Bollywood, I can understand. It has a certain amount of charm. Hallyuwood, on the other hand, is the copy of a copy, a second-hand idea. Any other name would have been better. |
I agree.. I mean Bollywood is a serious industry its not a joke!
not to mention in a language with 1 billion people.. they have huge movie industry.. Korea hahahahah they are just trying to hard..
maybe one or 2 films a year that are unique.. still like bollywood ,korean films are only for koreans.. |
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Tiberious aka Sparkles
Joined: 23 Jan 2003
Location: I'm one cool cat!
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| Posted: Tue Feb 08, 2005 1:29 am Post subject: |
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| itaewonguy wrote: |
| .. still like bollywood ,korean films are only for koreans.. |
That's absurd. Korean films are garnering acclaim and attention worldwide. 'Oldboy' won runner-up at last year's Cannes Film Festival, and director Kim Gi-Deok has won numerous awards at some of the top film festivals in Europe and elsewhere. Most of the people on this board, I suspect, enjoy Korean films. Don't you?
Sparkles*_* |
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matko
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: in a world of hurt!
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| Posted: Tue Feb 08, 2005 3:49 am Post subject: |
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I haven't see this Korean craze here in Japan. Then again, I rarely watch Japanese tv.
Having said that, I know there is supposed to be some famous Korean soap opera that was really big with the housewives. the star of the show came to Japan and it was hilarious to see all these 40 and 50 year old obasans screaming like the were reliving the years of the Beattles and Elvis. Surreal, man 
Boa is pretty big, but she sings all her songs in Japanese for this market.
So folks, what's the deal? What's so good about these shows? |
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Tiberious aka Sparkles
Joined: 23 Jan 2003
Location: I'm one cool cat!
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| Posted: Tue Feb 08, 2005 4:58 am Post subject: |
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| matko wrote: |
I haven't see this Korean craze here in Japan. Then again, I rarely watch Japanese tv.
Having said that, I know there is supposed to be some famous Korean soap opera that was really big with the housewives. the star of the show came to Japan and it was hilarious to see all these 40 and 50 year old obasans screaming like the were reliving the years of the Beattles and Elvis. Surreal, man
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Yonsama! Yonsama! Rud.., er, Yonsama!
Sparkles*_* |
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mindmetoo
Joined: 02 Feb 2004
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| Posted: Tue Feb 08, 2005 5:46 am Post subject: |
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I think if Koreans tried to go for big blockbuster type films they would be doing world cinema a disservice. Korean films get a lot of attention and acclaim on the film fest circuit because they've been doing what any good artist does: leverages a weakness and turns it into a strength. Korean films don't have big budgets and effects. They have to concentrate on humor, characterization, emotions, story and cinematography.
Regarding the original news article, comparing F/911 to The President's Last Bang is a pretty big stretch. He's really trying to hammer something into his thesis. |
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