Kim’s creativity is to read the the truth of your own Girls’ Generation’s (SNSD) Western introduction as an element of an “commercial strategy” you to definitely reaches worldwide usage utilizing the sociocultural and you may politico-financial system and hegemonic relationship away from Korea together with All of us to represent women K-pop idols just like the racially and you will intimately proliferated
Lanham; Boulder; Nyc; London: Lexington Instructions [a keen imprint of your Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Category, Inc.], 2019. xxxiv, 153 pp. US$, cloth. ISBN 978-1-4985-4882-step 3.
Into prevalent worldwide interest in Korean social items including Korean songs (hereafter K-pop), tv dramas, and you will films, students throughout the world have begun to look at the benefit character and you may relevant endemic fuel imbalances inserted about factory-layout social production process and you can intense work methods accountable for the latest monetary popularity of the country. With its examination of the fresh new sociocultural conjuncture ranging from a good patriarchal Korean society therefore the commodified femininity and sexuality of Korean cultural markets, Out-of Facility Females in order to K-Pop Idol Women: Cultural Politics out of Developmentalism, Patriarchy, and Neoliberalism in South Korea’s Sound World occupies an option standing on the emerging crucial dialogue requiring a feminist position from inside the K-pop music knowledge.
Chapter step one draws into the linkage anywhere between South Korean-concept developmentalism, commonly known as the fresh new “Secret from Han River,” in addition to K-pop music idols, because the a beneficial neo-liberal subjectivity; like, into the Playground Jung-hee Techniques, people workers’ intense labor was expected underneath the patriarchal commercial program, hence the thing is that the brand new key attribute of the neo-liberal exploitation regarding lady K-pop idols. Section 2 discusses the newest intimate commodification out of women K-pop music idols as an excellent neo-liberal extension of a classic womanliness inserted in the continuity out of patriarchal Korean neighborhood. It argues one women K-pop music idols’ functional condition from the culture community, as well creating neo-liberalization while you are perpetuating an effective patriarchal steps, with their harsh working requirements, parallels the new activities away from girls factory employees into the “miracle” numerous years of the new sixties to the 1980s. Into the chapter 3, Kim talks about cultural hybridity as among the points one has generated the worldwide interest in K-pop music. So it trend is certainly one that many almost every other students off Hallyu (Korean Trend) have looked at in a few outline.
Chapter 4 grows an excellent taxonomy out of generations step one, 2, and you will 3 of your own people idols to help you argue that he has perpetuated and rationalized the newest patriarchy embedded from inside the Confucian societal norms when you’re part 5 turns to an analysis of a single women star who, Kim argues, has been described as the fresh split up characters of sheer womanliness to the the only hand and you will intense sex on the other side because the woman attempting to sell circumstances. That it paradox will then be attached to the precarious socio-financial updates out of Korean women in neoliberal capitalism, construed as the a breeding away from antique gender term and its own contradictory standard. Chapter six examines the concept of strength due to the fact a vital part away from neo-liberal personal beliefs and you may buildings away from girls subjectivity. It is very for the sense of obligations you to neo-liberalism wants to discover, due to the fact a moral standard and a moral advantage of women, within women subjectivity. From inside the chapter 7, the idea of “confident therapy,” portrayed through the texts conveyed by people idols, are linked with brand new commercialized nostalgia to possess 1990’s Korea, the new wonderful chronilogical age of one another financial triumph and you will financial crisis. That it nostalgia is highlighted by “ToToGa” event, spotlighting dated K-pop superstars as well as their musical in the 1990’s, on the truth television show Infinite Challenge, which generally romanticizes neo-liberal pseudo-individualism.
One of several strengths of Kim’s publication are their methodology, particularly the usage of personal textual studies in many sections so you can comprehend some seminal K-pop idols’ sounds video clips. Kim’s perceptions develop the fresh range of feminist talk out-of exactly how K-pop music videos, just like the intensely marketed social points, suffice a keen ideology where lady idols try good sexualized item in addition to their musical video getting internet where the sociocultural and you can politico-financial assemblages away from Korean-design patriarchy and you can steps gather. At the same time, a music videos is largely a condensed program supposed to status K-pop audiences to consume K-pop because the an item is noticed in lieu of paid attention to.
Learning audio movies out-of girls K-pop music idols, as Kim do, was thus a beneficial way for discovering the newest process out of implementation away from sexist narratives and photo embedded throughout the conventional public beliefs and you will norms reinforced from the men-prominent, elitist community
One to question that we wished to pick explored a whole lot more inside book is that off taxonomy. Centered on Kim, “taxonomy articulates and you can classifies identities and you may distinctions between him or her” (65), however, their taxonomies from around three years for example “Age group We with simple, cute basics, Age bracket II that have confusing femininity, and you will Age bracket III that have specific sexualization” (65), do not good enough bring new paradigm changes off femininity and sexualization on make away from lady K-pop music idols.
However, there was various other better factor into strategy of guide. Kim is sold with latest cases due to the fact a warning plus an excellent diagnosis of current state off Korean ladies’ fight regarding the real life, like the extremely intense work and you will harsh doing work requirements associated with female sweatshop specialists in older times, but which are nonetheless taking place today. Ergo, Kim’s studies tunes an alarm concerning the globally rise in popularity of K-pop’s neoliberal combination of American hegemonic ideology and you will old-fashioned Korean patriarchy. Along these lines, his total conflict provides an urgent timeliness within the mining regarding a good feminist perspective towards quick changes in brand new K-pop scene.
Anybody who really wants to see the internationally “Hallyuscape” and the Korean socio-monetary and you will governmental change would be to comprehend Kim’s guide meticulously. This type of customers will appreciate just how deftly Kim weaves the fresh posts out of just how men-principal elite Korean neighborhood and its own culture globe has constructed a great novel particular people exploitation away from a blend away from neoliberal capitalism, “structured” patriarchy, and Confucian steps. Which guide suggests an easy method regarding skills just the newest nature of feminist activism certainly more youthful Korean girls but in addition the radical feminist movements facing traditional public thinking and norms on the realm of Korean neoliberalism.