A Critical Forum on Media and Culture
A Critical Forum on Media and Culture
This article examines how the global audience for the livestream of BTS The Comeback Live: Arirang was shaped by the varying goals of BTS’s label, HYBE, the Seoul Metropolitan Government, and Netflix.
Read moreDr. Ji-Hyun Ahn examines the rise of anti-Hallyu sentiment, and considers how these discourses implicate colonial logics. Alternately, she presents a different approach, analytically re-framing this backlash as a “post-Hallyu disjuncture” in a move for greater nuance.
Read moreDal Yong Jin discusses the concept of transnational proximity while observing the ongoing success of the Golden Globe-winning KPop Demon Hunters.
Read moreKyong Yoon explores the platformization of K-Pop fandoms and how fans continue to play a significant role in the contemporary media ecosystem.
Read moreKpop Demon Hunters exhibits how “K-pop aesthetics” have become a shared cultural resource, complicating discourses surrounding ownership, global-local identity, and the future of the Korean Wave in the global, digital streaming era.
Read moreKpop Demon Hunters is experiencing an unprecedented global success as an animated film, becoming the most watched content on Netflix with 325.1 million views in ninety-one days following its release. While one might be inclined to identify specific elements of the film that appeal to the global audience, Kpop Demon Hunters prompts us to examine questions of national identity in terms of its Koreanness, as an animated film produced by Sony Pictures and distributed on Netflix, with Koreans making up twenty percent of the film’s creative team.
Read moreDal Yong Jin discusses cultural hybridization in the global media era with a special look at the Netflix phenom “K-Pop Demon Hunters.”
Read moreK-pop fandom is emerging as a global safe space for LGBTQ+ youth, offering community and resources for identity exploration. This trend creates a paradox, as the fandom’s empowering effects contrast with South Korea’s largely homophobic societal norms.
Read moreJungmin Kwon looks at K-pop idols and the way that dating is seen as a sin that requires forgiveness. She argues that this stems from the K-pop industry’s toxic business model, and investigates the relationship between idols, fans, and the industry.
Read moreMichelle Cho explores the impact of multi-platform fan engagement on television consumption through K-pop boy band BTS’s fans are expanding and redefining mediated liveness.
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