Assignment on Impact of Asian Pop Culture

Reflective essay

IMPACT OF ASIAN POP CULTURE
IMPACT OF ASIAN POP CULTURE
STUDENT’S NAME
UNIVERSITY NAME
AUTHOR NOTE:

IMPACT OF ASIAN POP CULTURE
I am keen in finding and exploring something that can create cross-border bridges
between cultures and individuals. This requires not only speaking and understanding, but also
understanding distinct cultures and exploring Asian and west pop cultures in particular, which
stimulate individuals all over the globe. Pop culture embraces every aspect of a trend-driven
culture that is primarily consumed by young people and intersects with our everyday lives.
I hadn't had much interest in culture at first — I slowly caught up with trends and didn't
like bands or singers. I started to meet various types, found YouTube and talked about the globe
via Facebook and Instagram just after I became an adult. I have been subjected to so many
distinct cultures, including pop culture, of course, because I joined the universe of social media.
Since I was a child, I had made several friends worldwide, so I learned about the cultures of my
friends and the latest trends and hottest music via social media.
I also started to recognize Hallyu (Korean Wave)'s enormous impact over time– K-Pop,
K-Drama, K-Beauty and Mukbang, and the media power to disseminate culture. During my
studies of Asian popular culture, I have learnt that we as individuals are naturally exposed to and
eaten through our daily repetition of this enormous quantity of culture, and that our very lives are
intimately linked to this culture. I was able to know distinct cultures in this course. I analyzed the
factors that drive warm trends, I was able to compare the Asian pop culture with the Western
popular culture.
For instance, when I watch Mukbang, or some other streamers on YouTube or Afreeca.tv
(Korean content platform for individual creators), I generally eat alone and it's natural to eat
(Anonymous 2019). Since then, however, this practice has become more common and a part of

IMPACT OF ASIAN POP CULTURE
our everyday life and culture worldwide. Although Mukbang started as part of Korean pop
culture, it was converted and tailored to suit the individual country's cultural codes by Western
news and YouTubers and became a main type of YouTube content. In this essay, I want to
investigate pop culture by applying the ideas that have been learned in the previous five weeks to
this Mukbang instance.
It is the neologism of Muk,' food' and Bangsong,' broadcasted' (Anonymous 2019).
Mukbang is a Neologism. Why do individuals like Mukbang so much? Three instinctive wishes
are present for mankind: a desire for food, sex and sleep. These wishes can be fulfilled by either
direct or indirect experiences. One immediate experience to satisfy the urge to consume is to eat,
taste and sense your stomach fullness. Indirectly, the visual and aural stimulation of food and
eating activities can be enjoyed.
However, as individual platforms for creating content started to emerge, two-way
bilateral communication between the creator and the public became feasible. In addition
Mukbang was a major communication and community window between these people as one-
person homes became more prevalent. With Mukbang, individuals could not only appreciate the
food they shared and communicate not just the look but also the sound of food, but also the
experience sharing the meal. In Korea, Mukbang has grown strongly and numerous derivative
developments such as Cookbang and ASMR have also grown. But there are no side effects in the
increase in Mukbang.
Although the content provides caterers as well as satisfaction, the trend has also
developed a certain number of social problems: the promotion of uneven food and bad diet are
not only the creators of content but also Mukbang-influenced audiences, leading to issues related
to public health, including obesity. As a consequence, conversations have taken place in Korea to

IMPACT OF ASIAN POP CULTURE
restrict or otherwise regulate Mukbang. I have been able to tangibly recognize as a Korean
student outside Korea that the Mukbang trend does not exist within Korea and explore the
reasons for its worldwide attraction.
The willingness to eat above goes beyond national borders. As a result, through CNN and
other international media this trend was capable of finding an audience worldwide and the
worldwide audience itself was the creators of content, so as to interact through multiple
broadcasting platforms and Youtube with their corresponding audiences in their respective
countries (Woo, 2018). Within the Mukbang worldwide spread, the cultural trend in one nation
also evidently adapts and turns itself into a transnational culture in another nation (Candeub &
Pager, 2012).
Mukbang is often streamed live in Korea but in the West Mukbang is pre-recorded,
edited, and then uploaded to YouTube. All the while, despite variations in format and content, all
these distinct types of bilateral, two-way indirect eating experience have become collectively
known as Mukbang. Mukbang also played a key role in the Korean economy. Foods featured by
well-known content designers have made this food a fad. This resulted to a rise in exports of
meat, K-food concern and Korean Mukbang tourism.
In addition, tax revenues for YouTube advertising income and sums sponsored by the
public directly to content generators have also increased for the Korean government. This
instance of Mukbang demonstrates that pop culture always exists in our everyday life, that it can
cross boundaries and transform itself and keep its central features, develop and transform in both
directions, and affect domestic economies and population consumption patterns.

IMPACT OF ASIAN POP CULTURE
I want to connect individuals around the globe and develop a social platform that will
transcend all borders– borders, languages, racism, faith, sex and so on. I also want to help
individuals to learn about the origin of the popular culture phenomenon we encounter on a daily
basis and the cause of it's popularity. I want to differentiate between Western and Asians. During
this course, I have also become proud of Korean culture and become involved in other cultural
events which may excite both the international public and the cultural phenomena which have
not been discovered.
There is a wide range of successful cultural products in Korea around the globe. In Asia,
Korean TV dramas and K-pop show a balanced evolution between Asian traditional values and
modernity, strengthening and strengthening Asians ' cultural identity as Asians. In specific,
Indonesia is an instance of an Asian land in which the pop culture of Korea was influenced by a
profitable entertainment industry early on. In Europe, Hallyu and K-pop had no significant effect
on society at the beginning, except for a few admiring the Korean pop culture. Unlike the nations
of East Asia certain nations have not had much exposure to Korean Pop culture such as Poland,
Romania, the United Kingdom and Bulgaria. This has altered with Psy's 2012 Gangnam Style's
worldwide achievement. For teens and young adults, Hallyu now provides an significant
incentive to get to learn Korean and to study Korean. In reality, Korean culture is expanding in
today's significant media (e.g. TV, Youtube) and academic institutions.
They teach Korean language and culture through both formal channels such as TV and
non-official channels such as Fan Clubs and Associations. They introduce Korean cuisine, K-Pop
and well made Korean films (including those directed by Kim Ki-Duk and Park Chan-Wook).
There is not so much difference between Europe and Latin America.

IMPACT OF ASIAN POP CULTURE
Perhaps, the area in which Asian Pop Culture has made the biggest impact, is in K-Pop
music. For the past two years, BTS has been presented with the Billboard Music Awards for Top
Social Artists, breaking the streak of Justin Bieber every year since the launch of the prize in
2011. The first K-Pop band to lead the US in May created history last May. Billboard 200 chart
with the debut of Love Yourself: Tear for their new album. BTS's massive international success
shows how K-pop reached millions of North American fans from outside the country. In the last
few months, BTS has used its global reach to advance philanthropy. The group held a speech in
September to encourage youth to speak at the General Assembly of the United Nations in New
York City. The chart-topping group also worked in partnership with UNICEF in 2017 to support
the campaign for LOVE MYSELF with the goal of ending youth violence that so far has
gathered over $2 million. The amount of international learners at university campuses across
South Korea has increased considerably since the genre introduced North American audiences
early 2010. Even language, which once seemed a obstacle to Korean culture, is seen as an
interesting learning chance globally.
Even if the popularity of the emerging genre seems a fad, there is higher cultural
resonance to the increase of K-pop than meets the eye. The K-pop movement can connect
individuals via its reach, records and esthetics by sharing a love of music and the diversity of
culture. An important thing to be noted in this regard is the fact that this has highly shaped up my
own cultural construct to a large extent, just like it has for many other people around the world. I
personally view the Korean popular culture as being one of the most popular and influential
cultures because of the entertainment it brings to the world in the form of romance, drama and
music. Mukbang has further shaped my lifestyle in a way that is portrayed by it. It is in this
context that the theory of social construct could be incorporated. According to the theory, people

IMPACT OF ASIAN POP CULTURE
tend to form perceptions about the reality and tend to adapt to it, based on what they collectively
observe. This is why Korean Pop Culture has shaped numerous lifestyles of youths like me with
its wide reach and influence.
References
Anonymous 2019, ‘Unpacking the explosive rise of mukbang’, University Wire, 29 Apr, viewed
26 August 2019,ProQuest database.
Candeub, A & Pager, SA 2012, Transnational Cultuhttps://anthrosource-onlinelibrary-wiley-

IMPACT OF ASIAN POP CULTURE
com.ezproxy.lib.rmit.edu.au/doi/abs/10.1111/AN.1048%3E.re in the Internet Age, Elgar Law,
Technology and Society, Edward Elgar Publishing, Cheltenham, Ebscohst.
Mcbride, A 2010, ‘Food Porn’, Gastronomica, Vol.10,no.1, pp.38-46.viewed 26 August, Jstor.
Woo, S 2018, ‘Mukbang is Changing Digital Communications’. Anthropology News,12 August,
viewed 25 August 2019,
https://anthrosource-onlinelibrary-wiley-com.ezproxy.lib.rmit.edu.au/doi/abs/10.1111/
AN.1048%3E.