Critical Investigation Tutorial 1

Learner response to Ignite – completed and shows a good understanding of how this will develop into a critical investigation.

Critical Investigation proposal – early stages due to absence but should meet deadline.

Next steps: finish proposal. Focus particularly on research plan – consider media theory both in terms of globalisation and post-colonial theory (may not fit but may find a Korean perspective on western influence). Look up Edward Said. May need to be creative in terms of online sources – blogs etc.


After finishing the proposal,  I need to focus on perspectives of the Western world on Korea as well as see any possible Korean opinions on the effects of western influences in their media and entertainment. 

Critical investigation proposal

WORKING TITLE:

To What Extent is the Western Music Industry influencing the Korean Music Industry 

ANGLE:

Korean Pop music is becoming increasingly influenced by the Western music industry. Are Korean audiences becoming desensitized to these changes or is it creating a moral panic to the country? Does Kpop sustain their audience before this change or have they acquired a new audience?

HYPOTHESIS:

The globalisation of kpop has drastically changed the genre due to the great influences of the Western music industry. This development has caused the growth of foreign audience and the korean audience is slowly becoming accustomed and desensitized to the extreme changes. With this, there are possibilities of kpop entering mainstream music.   

LINKED PRODUCTION PIECE:

Music Video of a Kpop song

MIGRAINE:

Like a Cat - AOA

Media Language:
Lots of revealing outfits used to appeal to audiences. Many dark atmospheric settings to add to secretive concept. Facial expressions are alluring and seductive.

Institution: 
FNC Entertainment,The song "Like a Cat", written and composed by Brave Brothers

Genre:
 Kpop genre, typical conventions of the Kpop genre in Like a Cat is the memorable choreography, and costume, the fact that the group has many members and the cinematic plot of the video, Major iconographic features of the text is the spy like plot which is similar to a movie. 

Representation:
Women are being represented in the music video as powerful and cunning. It may be considered that non-koreans are being represented in the music video as well. It can viewed that it is a positive representation of the non-koreans as they have good jobs as a banker however it can also be viewed that koreans are superior as they managed to steal from the foreigners

Audience:
Demographics: 13-30 Psychographics: Mainstreamers (Maybe Aspirers),Audiences use the music video as an entertainment and diversion.

Ideologies and Values:
An Ideology of resorting to immoral actions can be seen in the video but there are also strong values of girl power and how women are very capable and can win over the men

Narrative:
The music video has a linear structure as there is a beginning, middle and end to the robbing of the bank. In between the plot, snippets of the choreography is included.The girls are technically the villains as they steal from the bank, but as the music video is in their perspective, their villainous acts are not prominent and viewers mainly focus on whether they will steal the jewel or not.The major themes of the narrative that is included is the equilibrium theory where the girls want to be in possession of the jewel, they carry out their plan and finally, they have the jewel.


SHEP

Social:

• Since the rise in popularity of kpop, there is a recognized concern of K-pop fans turning to obsession and compulsive behaviors such as stalking and invasion of privacy. These fans are called 'sasaeng fans' ranging from 13 to 22 year olds.
• For thousands of children in South Korea, childhood is not about adoring and emulating K-pop idols – instead it’s about training to become oneas many children dream of becoming household names

Historical:

• It was in the 1990's when Korea began to slowly incorporate American popular music in their music to create Kpop. Artists began singing about the problems of Korean society
• In 1995, Korean entrepreneur, Lee Soo Man founded one of the first and biggest talent agency and record label, SM Entertainment, and began scouting artists in bulk to prepare them for training and an ultimate debut.
• By the late 1990s, more and more agencies began to establish themselves in the industry and followed a similar system to Lee Soo Man.
• The 21st century was when groups began to branch out to other parts of the world, particularly Asian countries such as Japan and China
• Several singers decided to expand their music careers by releasing English language-studio albums in the hope of bringing over the genre to Western music markets.Such attempts did not yield much success

Economic:

• In 2012, 11.1 million foreign tourists visited South Korea, making it the 20th most visited country in the world, up from 8.5 million in 2010. Recently, the number of tourists, especially from China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Southeast Asia, has grown dramatically due to the increased popularity of the Korean wave ("hallyu") which includes the growing popularity of kpop.
•  In the first half of 2012, Kpop grossed nearly US$3.4 billion and was recognized by Time magazine as "South Korea's Greatest Export".
• The South Korean government has acknowledged that an increased interest in South Korean popular culture will benefit the country's export sector.

K-pop industry statistics
Year	Total exports in US$	YouTube views
2008	$16.5 million
2009	$31.3 million
2010	$84.9 million	800 million
2011	$180 million	2.2 billion
2012	$235 million	7.0 billion

Politics:

• When North Korea sunk a south Korean navy ship, declaring 'psychological warfare' South Korea responded by blasting kpop songs at the border as well as playing music videos on large screens. South Korea believed that the provocative clothing of the idols may affect and greatly impact the North Korean soldiers. 
• The genre has been greatly recognised by several political leaders such as Barack Obama who mentioned about the strong influences of social media networks in the digital age, and added that it is "no wonder so many people around the world have caught the Korean wave, Hallyu."

Issues/Debates

• Representation and stereotyping: How Kpop is represented in the eyes of both foreign and local fans. There are many stereotypes especially on Korean women that Kpop videos subvert. Are current stereotypes of koreans too strong to change opinions of a larger foreign audience?

• Media effects: Kpop is changing the youth of societies'  aspirations and goals as more and more young children dream to become kpop idols. Also audiences have become very accustomed to the western influences on the music, making the significance of this issue, unknown in korea

• Moral Panics: Kpop is becoming increasingly more influenced by American artists and female idols are releasing shocking and controversial music videos in comparison to Korea's Conserved norms

• Regulation and censorship: Many music videos are becoming censored and carefully regulated. For example, music videos with provocative dancing, costumes and scenes are often giving 19+ ratings meaning that they cannot be accessed on sites such as You Tube without having permission

• The effect of globalisation on the media: Globalisation causes, kpop videos to include more English lyrics, more foreign actors and more controversial topics to have a larger appeal on foreign fans.

Theories

• Structuralism and post-structuralism
• Gender and ethnicity
• Audience theories
• Genre theories
• Contemporary Media Landscape

Research plan (media texts, academic texts and websites)

Media texts
Nicki Minaj - Starships
AOA - Like a Cat


TV documentaries
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-13759912
https://vimeo.com/25939260

Academic texts/books
Ingyu Oh : The Globalization of K-pop: Korea's Place in the Global Music Industry (2013) 
JungBong Choi: K-pop – The International Rise of the Korean Music Industry (2015)
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=fEGDBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT20&lpg=PT20&dq=foreign+actors+in+kpop+mv&source=bl&ots=loo430ri8B&sig=bJceQ8Q9xJtTT-9tCa7cwAcbjJo&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CB8Q6AEwADgKahUKEwi-o9rph8fIAhUDtxQKHVzAAA0#v=onepage&q=foreign%20actors%20in%20kpop%20mv&f=false


Internet Links
1. At least FIVE from Media Guardian or Guardian Culture or another newspaper website.

http://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/sep/16/kpop-star-baddest-female-cl-takes-on-west
http://www.theguardian.com/media/organgrinder/2011/apr/20/k-pop-south-korea-music-market
http://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/mar/12/jackie-chan-managing-k-pop-jjcc
http://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2013/nov/04/girls-generation-youtube-awards-best-video-k-pop
http://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2014/mar/03/k-pop-music-a-beginners-guide-south-korea-sxsw

2. At least FIVE from university websites/academic papers online. Use Google Scholar as a starting point.
http://web.yonsei.ac.kr/bk21/situations5/Yunjung_Choi.pdf
http://ebot.gmu.edu/bitstream/handle/1920/8228/Lee_gmu_0883E_10307.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
http://ismir2013.ismir.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/233_Paper.pdf
https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/bitstream/handle/1887/20142/hallyu%20version%207.pdf?sequence=1
http://digitalwindow.vassar.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgiarticle=1151&context=senior_capstone

3. Any other relevant sites/articles - the more the better.

http://crystalsanderson.net/2014/09/03/foreign-influences-on-k-pop/
http://www.kpopstarz.com/articles/76762/20140131/k-pop-girls-day-aoa-rainbow-blaxx-dal-shabet-fin-k-l-after-school-girls-generation-s-e-s.htm
http://www.allkpop.com/article/2015/07/stellar-honestly-open-up-about-why-they-had-no-choice-but-to-go-the-sexy-route
http://korcan50years.com/2014/02/04/the-globalization-of-kpop-today-a-closer-look-at-girls-generations-rise-to-success/

Ignite presentation learner response

Feedback

• Western Influences on Kpop - excellent opening that lays out topic and text clearly
• Early focus on conventions and historical context works really well - good awareness of audience and lack of knowledge of Kpop
• Real confidence and authority on the topic - exactly what an ignite presentation (and critical investigation)  should have 
• Good textual analysis of music video with cultural context addressed. Perhaps a little more media terminology or specific textual analysis would raise this a little
• Good awareness of limitations of ignite presentation and lovely ending suggesting further areas of research

Significance - 3

Structure - 5

Simplicity - 4

Rehearsal - 5

Total - 17

• Q+A - excellent opening question on key media debate... perhaps this media debate (effect theory) needed to be covered a little more in presentation?
• Confident, developed answers showing authority

WWW: Managed to give the presentation with enough context as well as information on my critical investigation for the audiences to understand my topic. I also included a relatively thorough music video analysis including cultural context.

EBI: Include more media theory and clearly show the significance of the topic. 


In order for my presentation to lead into my critical investigation, I need to look more into the effects that the globalisation of Kpop have on the audiences. With the vast cultural differences between South Korea and western countries such as America and UK, I think it would be very useful to look at the two different audiences, local fans and foreign fans, with a higher prominence on how it is changing Korea's standards and norms. 'Is it somehow creating a moral panic?' or 'are audience's becoming more open minded about some of the controversial changes?" are some of the key questions that I need to think about.