Towards Record: Lexington Studies in the Material and you may Musical

Kim’s originality would be to browse the the way it is of your own Girls’ Generation’s (SNSD) American first included in a keen “industrial strategy” one to hits international practices making use of the sociocultural and politico-economic system additionally the hegemonic dating out-of Korea while the United states so you’re able to depict lady K-pop music idols given that racially and you can sexually proliferated

Lanham; Boulder; Nyc; London: Lexington Instructions [a keen imprint of Rowman & Littlefield Posting Category, Inc.], 2019. xxxiv, 153 pp. US$, material. ISBN 978-1-4985-4882-step 3.

To the prevalent worldwide rise in popularity of Korean social things particularly Korean tracks (hereafter K-pop), television dramas, and films, scholars around the world have started to examine the advantage dynamics and you may associated general strength imbalances embedded on the warehouse-style cultural manufacturing processes and you can intense labor practices responsible for new financial popularity of the world. In its examination of the fresh sociocultural conjuncture anywhere between a beneficial patriarchal Korean community in addition to commodified femininity and you can sexuality out-of Korean social industries, Out-of Warehouse Lady in order to K-Pop music Idol Women: Social Government off Developmentalism, Patriarchy, and you will Neoliberalism inside the Southern Korea’s Popular music Community takes up a button reputation in the emerging vital dialogue calling for good feminist angle within the K-pop music studies.

Chapter step 1 pulls for the linkage ranging from Southern Korean-style developmentalism, commonly known as this new “Magic regarding Han River,” as well as the K-pop music idols, as the a neo-liberal subjectivity; instance, within the Playground Jung-hee Regimen, girls workers’ intensive labour try called for within the patriarchal commercial system, and that the thing is the fresh center characteristic of your neo-liberal exploitation off people K-pop idols. Chapter dos discusses the fresh new sexual commodification off women K-pop music idols as the a great neo-liberal extension of elite singles Dating Website a vintage womanliness embedded regarding the continuity of patriarchal Korean area. They contends that females K-pop idols’ practical updates on the society industry, simultaneously producing neo-liberalization if you are perpetuating a great patriarchal ladder, along with their harsh performing requirements, parallels the brand new things out of girls factory employees inside “miracle” numerous years of the sixties towards 1980s. Inside the chapter step three, Kim looks at social hybridity among the activities you to has generated the global popularity of K-pop. So it technology is just one that many most other scholars out of Hallyu (Korean Revolution) provides checked-out in certain detail.

Section 4 develops good taxonomy out of years step 1, dos, and you may step 3 of women idols in order to argue that he’s perpetuated and warranted new patriarchy inserted inside Confucian personal norms when you find yourself section 5 converts so you can a diagnosis of 1 girls celebrity exactly who, Kim argues, could have been described as the newest split characters out of natural femininity towards the only hand and you may extreme sex on the other side since the their selling points. That it paradox will be attached to the precarious socio-economic updates away from Korean ladies in neoliberal capitalism, construed due to the fact a reproduction out of traditional gender identity and its particular contradictory standards. Section 6 explores the thought of resilience given that a vital region regarding neo-liberal personal thinking and you can constructions out-of ladies subjectivity. It is quite of feeling of obligation one neo-liberalism wishes to look for, given that an ethical standard and you may a moral virtue of females, within women subjectivity. When you look at the a bankruptcy proceeding, the concept of “self-confident therapy,” represented through the messages conveyed by ladies idols, try linked with the commercialized nostalgia to possess 1990s Korea, new wonderful age of each other monetary victory and financial crisis. So it nostalgia are showcased by the “ToToGa” occurrence, spotlighting dated K-pop stars in addition to their audio regarding 90s, into the truth television show Infinite Difficulties, which usually romanticizes neo-liberal pseudo-individualism.

One of the advantages out-of Kim’s book are their methodology, particularly the entry to personal textual study in lots of chapters to help you realize specific seminal K-pop idols’ music films. Kim’s perceptions develop the brand new scope regarding feminist conversation from just how K-pop music films, given that intensely offered cultural affairs, suffice an ideology where ladies idols was a great sexualized product as well as their musical films be sites the spot where the sociocultural and politico-monetary assemblages off Korean-build patriarchy and you will ladder converge. At the same time, a musical films is largely a compressed program meant to reputation K-pop music watchers to consume K-pop given that an item as saw rather than listened to.

Learning sounds video regarding females K-pop music idols, due to the fact Kim does, are therefore a beneficial means for uncovering new procedure from deployment of sexist narratives and you will pictures embedded from the conventional societal opinions and you can norms reinforced by the male-principal, elitist business

One to issue that i desired to come across explored significantly more within book is that out of taxonomy. Predicated on Kim, “taxonomy articulates and categorizes identities and distinctions amongst her or him” (65), but his taxonomies off three years such as “Generation We that have simple, adorable rules, Age group II having ambiguous womanliness, and you will Age group III with specific sexualization” (65), don’t good enough get brand new paradigm shifts regarding femininity and you will sexualization about create out-of ladies K-pop music idols.

However, there can be various other superior element towards strategy of publication. Kim has present times just like the a caution along with a great analysis of one’s current state out of Korean women’s battles about real-world, for instance the most intense work and you may severe doing work conditions related with women sweatshop professionals back in the day, however, being still going on today. Thus, Kim’s research tunes a security concerning the in the world rise in popularity of K-pop’s neoliberal mix of American hegemonic ideology and you may traditional Korean patriarchy. Such as this, his complete argument possess surprise timeliness within its mining of a beneficial feminist perspective for the rapid changes in the fresh K-pop music scene.

Anyone who desires see the global “Hallyuscape” in addition to the Korean socio-financial and you can governmental alter is to comprehend Kim’s book very carefully. These members will appreciate exactly how deftly Kim weaves the brand new threads away from just how male-dominant top-notch Korean neighborhood and its particular people business enjoys created a beneficial unique particular people exploitation regarding a fusion of neoliberal capitalism, “structured” patriarchy, and you will Confucian ladder. Which guide recommends a better way out of information not merely the fresh new character from feminist activism among young Korean ladies but in addition the major feminist actions against old-fashioned societal beliefs and you can norms from the field of Korean neoliberalism.