Transnational Korean Cinema explores the interactions of local and global politics, economics, a... more Transnational Korean Cinema explores the interactions of local and global politics, economics, and culture to contextualize the development of Korean cinema and its current place in an era of neoliberal globalization and convergent digital technologies. The book emphasizes the economic and industrial aspects of the story, looking at questions on the interaction of politics and economics, including censorship and public funding, and provides a better view of the big picture by laying bare the relationship between film industries, the global market, and government. Jin also sheds light on the operations and globalization strategies of Korean film industries alongside changing cultural policies in tandem with Hollywood’s continuing influences in order to comprehend the power relations within cultural politics, nationally and globally. This is the first book to offer a full overview of the nascent development of Korean cinema.
Converging theory and practice, this book provides a unique analysis of Korean youth’s attempts t... more Converging theory and practice, this book provides a unique analysis of Korean youth’s attempts to become global celebrities within the growing K-pop phenomenon, which is rapidly becoming part of global media systems and culture. K-pop has become one of the most popular cultural forms in the global music markets, despite having a relatively new global presence. Its recent spread around the world suggests that K-pop exists as a local-based genre of music in global markets, including Western markets.
Unlike other existing books on K-pop, which mainly focus solely on academic analyses or industrial perspectives, K-Pop Idols: Popular Culture and the Emergence of Korean Music Industry combines theory with industry and musical aesthetics. Following the idol group Nine Muses through a year-long chronicle, the authors portray the everyday lives of young girls relentlessly pursuing happiness, satisfaction, and the achievement of their dreams in the K-pop world
Since the Korean Wave phenomenon started in 1997, Hallyu has undergone many changes. Geographical... more Since the Korean Wave phenomenon started in 1997, Hallyu has undergone many changes. Geographically, while Asia has been the largest cultural market for the Korean cultural industries, other parts of society, including North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Latin America have gradually admitted Korean popular culture. The components of the Korean Wave have also greatly expanded. Hallyu originally implied the exports of a few cultural products, such as television dramas, popular music, and films; however, Korea has recently developed and exported K-pop, digital games and smartphone technologies as well as relevant youth culture. Meanwhile, industrial and technological contexts of the Korean Wave have changed significantly during the last 20 years. The role of social media in the Korean Wave’s transnationalization in recent years is especially intriguing because fans around the world can easily access social media to enjoy K-pop, digital games, and films. The changes in the nature and appearance of the Korean Wave, conceptual and theoretical shifts in the studies of the Korean Wave, and the influences of the development of media technologies on the Korean Wave are all very significant. This book aims to provide a better understanding of Hallyu's theoretical and institutional history on one hand, and new features of the Korean Wave on the other hand.
In the networked twenty-first century, digital platforms have significantly influenced capital ac... more In the networked twenty-first century, digital platforms have significantly influenced capital accumulation and digital culture. Platforms, such as social network sites (e.g. Facebook), search engines (e.g. Google), and smartphones (e.g. iPhone), are increasingly crucial because they function as major digital media intermediaries. Emerging companies in non-Western countries have created unique platforms, controlling their own national markets and competing with Western-based platform empires in the global markets. The reality though is that only a handful of Western countries, primarily the U.S., have dominated the global platform markets, resulting in capital accumulation in the hands of a few mega platform owners. This book contributes to the platform imperialism discourse by mapping out several core areas of platform imperialism, such as intellectual property, the global digital divide, and free labor, focusing on the role of the nation-state alongside transnational capital.
H ands On/Hands Off is a contemporary political economic analysis of the various dimensions in th... more H ands On/Hands Off is a contemporary political economic analysis of the various dimensions in the rapid growth of the Korean communication industry, including broadcasting, film, telecommunications, and information technology. As the first comprehensive attempt to analyze the rapid growth and change in the Korean communication systems, this book makes sense of those transitions by looking at global trends and how Korea has developed its communication systems.
Transnational Korean Cinema explores the interactions of local and global politics, economics, a... more Transnational Korean Cinema explores the interactions of local and global politics, economics, and culture to contextualize the development of Korean cinema and its current place in an era of neoliberal globalization and convergent digital technologies. The book emphasizes the economic and industrial aspects of the story, looking at questions on the interaction of politics and economics, including censorship and public funding, and provides a better view of the big picture by laying bare the relationship between film industries, the global market, and government. Jin also sheds light on the operations and globalization strategies of Korean film industries alongside changing cultural policies in tandem with Hollywood’s continuing influences in order to comprehend the power relations within cultural politics, nationally and globally. This is the first book to offer a full overview of the nascent development of Korean cinema.
Converging theory and practice, this book provides a unique analysis of Korean youth’s attempts t... more Converging theory and practice, this book provides a unique analysis of Korean youth’s attempts to become global celebrities within the growing K-pop phenomenon, which is rapidly becoming part of global media systems and culture. K-pop has become one of the most popular cultural forms in the global music markets, despite having a relatively new global presence. Its recent spread around the world suggests that K-pop exists as a local-based genre of music in global markets, including Western markets.
Unlike other existing books on K-pop, which mainly focus solely on academic analyses or industrial perspectives, K-Pop Idols: Popular Culture and the Emergence of Korean Music Industry combines theory with industry and musical aesthetics. Following the idol group Nine Muses through a year-long chronicle, the authors portray the everyday lives of young girls relentlessly pursuing happiness, satisfaction, and the achievement of their dreams in the K-pop world
Since the Korean Wave phenomenon started in 1997, Hallyu has undergone many changes. Geographical... more Since the Korean Wave phenomenon started in 1997, Hallyu has undergone many changes. Geographically, while Asia has been the largest cultural market for the Korean cultural industries, other parts of society, including North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Latin America have gradually admitted Korean popular culture. The components of the Korean Wave have also greatly expanded. Hallyu originally implied the exports of a few cultural products, such as television dramas, popular music, and films; however, Korea has recently developed and exported K-pop, digital games and smartphone technologies as well as relevant youth culture. Meanwhile, industrial and technological contexts of the Korean Wave have changed significantly during the last 20 years. The role of social media in the Korean Wave’s transnationalization in recent years is especially intriguing because fans around the world can easily access social media to enjoy K-pop, digital games, and films. The changes in the nature and appearance of the Korean Wave, conceptual and theoretical shifts in the studies of the Korean Wave, and the influences of the development of media technologies on the Korean Wave are all very significant. This book aims to provide a better understanding of Hallyu's theoretical and institutional history on one hand, and new features of the Korean Wave on the other hand.
In the networked twenty-first century, digital platforms have significantly influenced capital ac... more In the networked twenty-first century, digital platforms have significantly influenced capital accumulation and digital culture. Platforms, such as social network sites (e.g. Facebook), search engines (e.g. Google), and smartphones (e.g. iPhone), are increasingly crucial because they function as major digital media intermediaries. Emerging companies in non-Western countries have created unique platforms, controlling their own national markets and competing with Western-based platform empires in the global markets. The reality though is that only a handful of Western countries, primarily the U.S., have dominated the global platform markets, resulting in capital accumulation in the hands of a few mega platform owners. This book contributes to the platform imperialism discourse by mapping out several core areas of platform imperialism, such as intellectual property, the global digital divide, and free labor, focusing on the role of the nation-state alongside transnational capital.
H ands On/Hands Off is a contemporary political economic analysis of the various dimensions in th... more H ands On/Hands Off is a contemporary political economic analysis of the various dimensions in the rapid growth of the Korean communication industry, including broadcasting, film, telecommunications, and information technology. As the first comprehensive attempt to analyze the rapid growth and change in the Korean communication systems, this book makes sense of those transitions by looking at global trends and how Korea has developed its communication systems.
By critically engaging with contemporary films utilizing the bow and arrow as their signifiers, t... more By critically engaging with contemporary films utilizing the bow and arrow as their signifiers, this paper analyzes two films, "The Hunger Games" and "War of the Arrows", in tandem with digital technologies in order to find distinctive characteristics of Western movies and non-Western movies. This paper comparatively investigates the ways in which the major themes of these two movies have developed and what their representations are, either internally or externally. It especially examines how the bow and arrow symbolize socio-cultural issues in the movies, either within a country or between countries, to map out the major differences that the bows and arrows portray.
Korean popular culture and its digital technologies are everywhere. From Japan and China in East ... more Korean popular culture and its digital technologies are everywhere. From Japan and China in East Asia, the U.S. and Canada in North America, and to Chile, Argentina, and Brazil in Latin America, many global fans currently enjoy Korean television dramas, films, popular music (K-pop), and digital games. Once small and peripheral, Korea has now emerged as one of the most significant non-Western hubs for the production and circulation of transnational popular culture and digital technologies. Taking on non-Western local forms, Korean cultural and digital creations have rapidly become global sensations, as is especially illustrated by the music group BTS’s worldwide success towards the end of the 2010s and the early 2020s. Korea’s export of its domestic cultural goods and services to foreign countries has increased exponentially by as much as 44.1 times, from US$188.9 million in 1998 to US$8.3 billion by 2018 (KOCCA 2019). Over the past 20 years, the major characteristics of Hallyu have ...
The article clarifi es the cause of the changes of the Korean cultural policy with a special focu... more The article clarifi es the cause of the changes of the Korean cultural policy with a special focus on the screen quota system. As a starting point of the discussion, it documents the way in which the screen quota system has been maintained or developed under neoliberal globalisation. Korea has been one of few countries that have resisted Hollywood’s hegemony over the decades with some success. The article then examines how the UNESCO has reaffi rmed the right of sovereign states to maintain and implement polices that protect and promote cultural expression in order to investigate whether the UNESCO convention has provided legal protections to local culture and cultural sovereignty. Finally, the paper discusses why the Korean government has initiated the rapid policy change in the screen quota in relation to the U.S. pressure. The key question will be the role of the nation-state in the process of the changing cultural politics in the UNESCO convention era. DAL YONG JIN Dal Yong Jin ...
By critically engaging with contemporary films utilizing the bow and arrow as their signifiers, t... more By critically engaging with contemporary films utilizing the bow and arrow as their signifiers, this paper analyzes two films, "The Hunger Games" and "War of the Arrows", in tandem with digital technologies in order to find distinctive characteristics of Western movies and non-Western movies. This paper comparatively investigates the ways in which the major themes of these two movies have developed and what their representations are, either internally or externally. It especially examines how the bow and arrow symbolize socio-cultural issues in the movies, either within a country or be- tween countries, to map out the major differences that the bows and arrows portray.
This introductory chapter explains that there is a widely shared understanding of the imperative ... more This introductory chapter explains that there is a widely shared understanding of the imperative nature of media convergence, which is based on different notions connecting positive goals such as efficiency, synergy, simplification, information abundance, participation, availability and multimodality. These social imaginaries of media convergence are powerful concepts that influence political agendas and legitimize policy decisions. In this book, these privileged meanings of media convergence are challenged by presenting alternative and mostly overlooked trends and theories defined under the umbrella term of media deconvergence. The perspective of deconvergence helps to shed light on sites of tension and the simultaneity of competing forces such as coalescence and drifting apart, or linearity and discontinuity. Two of these sites of tension are analyzed more carefully in this chapter: the user’s perspective and the (de)convergence of markets.
This paper analyzes the interplay between the government, civil groups, telecommunications corpor... more This paper analyzes the interplay between the government, civil groups, telecommunications corporations, and users in order to determine power negotiation among these major players, in particular between a corporate sphere and a public sphere in the process of the establishment of the Terminal Distribution Structure Improvement Act. It investigates whether Korean smartphone users have staged a collective, nationwide civic engagement against the Terminal Act or not. It discusses whether citizens equipped with the smartphone and relevant digital platforms (e.g., Twitter and KaKao Talk) are able to take part in civic movements, and its implications in conjunction with the corporate sphere. Civic movement organizations had been striving to protect the customers from powerful capital and the government; however, civic engagement has not been substantial. Our findings for mobile communication for gathering and discussing the Terminal Act proved that civic movements did not entail active participation in public engagement. Increasing corporate sphere has played a key role in curbing civic engagement.
The Korean government completed its privatization of Korea Telecom (KT) in May 2002. Privatizatio... more The Korean government completed its privatization of Korea Telecom (KT) in May 2002. Privatization was undertaken at a gradual pace at first mainly because the Korean government did not want to hand over its managerial power to the privatized telecommunications service company, although it announced its plan in 1987. However, the inauguration of the World Trade Organization (WTO) system and the Korean economic crisis of 1997 forced the government to accelerate its full privatization plan. During this process, several main players such as the Korean government, transnational corporations, international organizations, and large domestic conglomerates played important roles. The full privatization of KT is the result of the political, social, and economic demands of these players.
... In the face of neoliberal globalisation, which emphasises market liberalisation and deregulat... more ... In the face of neoliberal globalisation, which emphasises market liberalisation and deregulation throughout the ... right of countries to apply policies in support of cultural diversity, the Korean ... This unexpected policy change raises the fundamental question as to whether Korea, as ...
This paper examines the fundamental assumptions of the concept of cultural hybridity in understan... more This paper examines the fundamental assumptions of the concept of cultural hybridity in understanding the swift growth of Korean popular culture, especially fi lms. It investigates whether hybridity, as a cultural globalization perspective, has generated new possible cultures, which are free from western dominance, by analyzing the hybridised Korean fi lms. Unlike previous studies emphasising the crucial role of hybridisation in creating the third space, this paper empirically argues that the hybridisation process of the local popular culture is heavily infl uenced by Western norms and formats, and newly created local cultural products are rather representing Western culture, instead of unique local culture. It fi nally discusses the reasons why hybridity cannot adequately explain local cultures and identify some issues we have to consider in employing hybridity in interpreting globalisation.
Handbook of Research on Global Diffusion of Broadband Data Transmission
This chapter attempts to ascertain the causes of the rapid growth of broadband services in the co... more This chapter attempts to ascertain the causes of the rapid growth of broadband services in the context of the broader socio-cultural elements. It recognizes technology as a socio-cultural product which has historically been constituted by certain forms of knowledge and social practice, so this chapter explores cultural elements contributing to the diffusion of broadband services in the context of the cultural environment in Korea. Further, this chapter discusses the significant role of the people, as users, in the process of the rapid diffusion and growth of broadband services. In particular, it emphasizes the way in which the 1997 economic crisis, as one of the most significant socio-cultural turning points in modern Korean history, has influenced the deployment of broadband services as high-speed Internet connections have developed since 1997.
New media and technology are firmly embedded in our contemporary society and culture. The applica... more New media and technology are firmly embedded in our contemporary society and culture. The application of the internet and mobile communications, including online gaming, has made a huge impact on political participation, business, education, and social relations.
... Financialization and the Crisis of the Media: The Rise and Fall of (Some) Media Conglomerat... more ... Financialization and the Crisis of the Media: The Rise and Fall of (Some) Media Conglomerates in Canada Dwayne Winseck, Carleton ... of Public Service Media in the Contemporary Media Policy Environment Peter A. Thompson, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand ...
This article examines the reasons why Japanese cultural products have not penetrated other countr... more This article examines the reasons why Japanese cultural products have not penetrated other countries. It also explicates the recent trends in Japan's expansion of its cultural products and Japan's direct investment in the global cultural market to ascertain whether this new development is a sign that Japan is attempting to gain an important role in global communication. It concludes that Japan was not able to successfully build its communication power to a degree comparable to its status as the second largest economic power and its second largest media consumption market.
The Korean film business has witnessed a swift and steady growth in the production of, and audien... more The Korean film business has witnessed a swift and steady growth in the production of, and audiences for, domestic films over the past several years. This article attempts to clarify the cause of these changes and goes on to discuss the Korean film industry with a special focus on state cultural policy. The article then explicates the impact of the changing cultural policy on the film business by examining the influx of domestic capital into the film industry. It also analyzes the impact of neoliberal cultural policies on the transnationalization of the Korea film industry. Finally, it discusses whether changing cultural policies have maintained or developed cultural identity, such as Korean traditions and nationalism, in domestic films.
This article is to document digital Korea. It discusses the sociocultural contexts of the growth ... more This article is to document digital Korea. It discusses the sociocultural contexts of the growth of digital technologies and culture because the current boom of digital technologies and culture cannot be separated from each other. Although it cannot go back several decades, it starts to address some early developments of the Internet directly influencing the contemporary Korean society. This historicization process allows us to firmly comprehend several key developments, in particular, the major reasons for development and the implications of the digital Korean phenomenon.
Video gaming is one of the most popular past times of digital media, whether on the Internet, on ... more Video gaming is one of the most popular past times of digital media, whether on the Internet, on smartphones, or on tablets, and it often outranks other digital activities such as reading online news, searching information, or streaming videos. This is certainly the case across Asia, where video games are a crucial sector of cultural industries and youth culture, though often in diverse ways: consoles are extremely popular in Japanese or Singaporean gaming, while online games still dominate China’s and Korea’s gaming landscape, and mobile gaming is sweeping across Southeast Asian societies like Indonesia or Malaysia with the rapid growth and use of smartphones. Video gaming has also become so pervasive that, for many players, it is no longer a hobby. Whether it is video game tournaments, known as e-Sports, or the economy surrounding “Gold Farmers”– professional players who offer to play and upgrade other gamers’ characters for a fee – video games are often a serious affair. And gamers are not the only ones taking video games seriously: governments in the region regularly intervene in digital cultural industries, whether it is to regulate “harmful” content, produce propaganda games, or “cure” perceived gaming addictions.
In this special issue, we ask contributors to explore the dynamics of digital play in Asia. What social, political and ethical roles do video games play in the region? What factors shape their creation, content, and distribution? How do gamers interact with the medium, and how does the medium react to gamers? What happens when digital play becomes digital labour, or when it becomes professionalized in the form of e-Sports. Most importantly: where should we locate “Asia” in these dynamics, whether aesthetically, politically, socially, or economically? And what tools and methods should researchers deploy to analyse these issues in the Asian context?
Asia's transnational mediascape has increasingly attracted academic attention, as exemplified by ... more Asia's transnational mediascape has increasingly attracted academic attention, as exemplified by the growing number of recent publications on trans-Asian media culture. The academic craze of media flows in Asia seems to
It was not long ago when ESPN launched its own eSports vertical on ESPN.COM. ESPNwhich had previo... more It was not long ago when ESPN launched its own eSports vertical on ESPN.COM. ESPNwhich had previously rejected eSports for its own program-suddenly jumped on the eSports bandwagon, which was considered another step toward mainstream acceptance of professional video gaming. ESPN's entry into the eSports world fulfills the convergence of digital games, sport, and media, which means that eSports is the intricate interrelationship among these three, previously separated, elements.
In order to celebrate the 30th anniversary of The Korean Association for Broadcasting and Telecom... more In order to celebrate the 30th anniversary of The Korean Association for Broadcasting and Telecommunication Studies (KABS) and to launch a new scholarly journal, KABS will hold a twoday conference with the general theme of "Global Digital Technology and Culture" in Seoul, South Korea, on August 17-18, 2018. The primary goal of the conference is to broadly discuss the changing digital technology environment and its cultural, social and/or psychological consequences from a global perspective.
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Books by Dal Yong Jin
The book emphasizes the economic and industrial aspects of the story, looking at questions on the interaction of politics and economics, including censorship and public funding, and provides a better view of the big picture by laying bare the relationship between film industries, the global market, and government. Jin also sheds light on the operations and globalization strategies of Korean film industries alongside changing cultural policies in tandem with Hollywood’s continuing influences in order to comprehend the power relations within cultural politics, nationally and globally. This is the first book to offer a full overview of the nascent development of Korean cinema.
Unlike other existing books on K-pop, which mainly focus solely on academic analyses or industrial perspectives, K-Pop Idols: Popular Culture and the Emergence of Korean Music Industry combines theory with industry and musical aesthetics. Following the idol group Nine Muses through a year-long chronicle, the authors portray the everyday lives of young girls relentlessly pursuing happiness, satisfaction, and the achievement of their dreams in the K-pop world
The book emphasizes the economic and industrial aspects of the story, looking at questions on the interaction of politics and economics, including censorship and public funding, and provides a better view of the big picture by laying bare the relationship between film industries, the global market, and government. Jin also sheds light on the operations and globalization strategies of Korean film industries alongside changing cultural policies in tandem with Hollywood’s continuing influences in order to comprehend the power relations within cultural politics, nationally and globally. This is the first book to offer a full overview of the nascent development of Korean cinema.
Unlike other existing books on K-pop, which mainly focus solely on academic analyses or industrial perspectives, K-Pop Idols: Popular Culture and the Emergence of Korean Music Industry combines theory with industry and musical aesthetics. Following the idol group Nine Muses through a year-long chronicle, the authors portray the everyday lives of young girls relentlessly pursuing happiness, satisfaction, and the achievement of their dreams in the K-pop world
In this special issue, we ask contributors to explore the dynamics of digital play in Asia. What social, political and ethical roles do video games play in the region? What factors shape their creation, content, and distribution? How do gamers interact with the medium, and how does the medium react to gamers? What happens when digital play becomes digital labour, or when it becomes professionalized in the form of e-Sports. Most importantly: where should we locate “Asia” in these dynamics, whether aesthetically, politically, socially, or economically? And what tools and methods should researchers deploy to analyse these issues in the Asian context?