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Media, Culture & Society
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Hybridity and the rise of Korean popular culture in Asia

Doobo Shim

National University of Singapore, cnmsd{at}nus.edu.sg, doobo{at}hotmail.com

Recent developments in East and Southeast Asian media markets provide an opportunity to revisit a common assumption about media globalization. A newly coined phrase - Korean wave - which refers to the popularity of Korean media culture across East and Southeast Asia, is a metaphor for thinking about this recent regional media development. Through an examination of the recent big leap of the Korean media industries, this article argues that the US dominance thesis regarding globalization is not entirely justified. Although popular entertainment forms such as film and television are a Western invention, Koreans have provided their own twists to these media by blending indigenous characteristics and adding their unique flourishes in often innovative ways.

Key Words: globalization • cultural imperialism • postcolonialism • Korean wave • Korean cinema • Korean popular culture • K-pop

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Media, Culture & Society, Vol. 28, No. 1, 25-44 (2006)
DOI: 10.1177/0163443706059278
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This Article
Right arrow Abstract Freely available
Right arrow Free Full Text (Free PDF) Free
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
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Right arrow Similar articles in Web of Science
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Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Web of Science (5)
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Right arrow Citing Articles via Scopus
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Right arrow Articles by Shim, D.
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Add to CiteULike   Add to Complore   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter  
What's this?