So what? People and cultures have always adopted habits, trends, and cultures from other countries. It is the reason “cultural appropriation” is one of the most annoying woke phrases. Immigrants and expats bring their cuisine with them and adapt it to new places and new ingredients. Movies and music are the same way. For just one cultural example, Seven Samurai became the Magnificent Seven at the same time Disney was influencing Japanese animation. Honestly, taking something familiar and running it through a new perspective can produce some damn good entertainment. So I’m not complaining.
Not really – in nature are leopards and chameleons. Same in societies.
When the Japanese told the Western Trading Fleet under Perry to leave as they ‘needed nothing produced by barbarians, Admiral Perry said, OK, but I’ll be back next year and you will trade. And so he come back, did a few ship cannon broadsides – and the Japanese saw their backwardness and no matter how super civilized they were – unless the adopted it they would become subject people of whom did buy this technology.
So they had the Meiji Revolution. Outlawed the Shogunate, banned the now useless the Samurai (who became the business Men class – although trade had been forbidden, and thought shameful, for their class before), outlawed the carrying of swords, made all cut off their long braid hair, made men wear Western Clothing banning the Kimono, had the youth sent West to be educated – and intentionally did a complete, legally enforced, cultural appropriation. They took up ballroom dancing and Baseball not so long after….
The Motto was ‘Adopt And Adapt’, and they did, adopt superior things, adapt it to Japanese culture. The Koreans had similar, after the WWII occupation.
Anyway – No this is not typical in the world. Some societies are good at it, some not.
Spot on! Just look at the photos of the Japanese delegation on the quarterdeck of USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay, about to sign the act of unconditional surrender. You might have thought they were about to attend the Fourth of June or Royal Ascot.
In fact so called Western Civilisation has been trying to ape that of Ancient Rome for the past fifteen hundred years, but sadly with only mixed success it must be said.
However we must admire the effort, just as we must applaud South Korea’s effort to join what can only be described as the elite.
Jim Jam
1 year ago
I can only hope that the intention of this article is to be mischievous, and to highlight, through an inversion of the inane and preposterous (and racist) leftist ‘oppression / privilege heirarchy’, the utter stupidity of framing the phenomena of cultural overlapping as a process of ‘theft’.
And if written in ernest, then the article and it’s author should, of course, be mercilessly mocked.
It is precisely that. Mischievous. It’s a good clickbait headline. He cannot be serious.
Look at the success of the South Koreans. Cars, semi-conductors, phones, now films. Hell, they proactively built gigabit Ethernet domestic networks more than ten years ago when we were dreaming about it. By adopting and evolving the best ideas from the West they are smashing it.
And they lack, it seems, a self-loathing Marxist eco-elite determine to undermine it all. Bravo! I have Samsung and Kia in my household and Squid games was bloody good fun.
They have been fantastically successful in a country which has few resources – like most of these small/medium Asian successes, the only resource they have is their people. That really concentrates the mind when there are no easy options.
Having spent a little time in Korea, I’ve come to view the Koreans as the Germans of Asia. Everything they do is good quality and they do things on a large scale. The scale and pace of development and construction is astonishing to anyone visiting from the UK. And this is all done by the Koreans – there are remarkably few foreigners in the country (some US troops, but you won’t see these) and very few foreign workers (e.g. some Indians filling high tech roles, English teachers).
J Bryant
1 year ago
I don’t know about cultural appropriation, but the main reasons I now happily watch Korean movies are, first and foremost, their entertainment value–they’re well-produced and scripted–and, related to the first reason, they are not yet infected by wokeism. The Korean directors resist the temptation, so far, to interrupt the story with mini-lectures by the characters about the evils of various -isms. I can only hope that situation lasts.
Very well put. It’s such a relief not to be lectured constantly on how wicked we all are.
It will be a sad day when K drama is infected with wokeism.
Sophy T
1 year ago
‘The show is a cultural hybrid in the manner of many Korean productions lately successful in the West, whose consumers have shown a taste for entertainment foreign on the surface but familiar beneath it.’
There’s far more to K drama than just Squid Game and Parasite.
There’s nothing remotely western about other successful K dramas such as Crash Landing on You, Sky Castle, Goblin, What’s Wrong with Secretary Kim to name a few.
One of the many reasons I love K drama is because they’re so different to Western films and series.
Nicolas Jouan
1 year ago
We used to have the “Americanisation” of the world, now South Korea is guilty of “cultural appropriation.” Since the cinematograph was technically invented by the Lumiere brothers, does it mean every single movie industry in the world is appropriating French culture?
Going down this logic shows how ridiculous it is.
The reality of our world is closer to a perpatually stirred spaghetti plate of cultural interactions and influences.
It’s Cultural Appropriation if you do something that is owned by another culture so yes, it’s Cultural Appropriation since Korean films aren’t influenced by the French. France, countries that are colonies of it, colonies of those colonies etc. have the right to the cinematograph like the US (Colony of Britan which was a colony of France)
Last edited 1 year ago by Ze Lol
Edwin Blake
1 year ago
There is no such thing as cultural appropriation (in the sense of the negative slur it has become). All people over all ages have grown by cultural borrowing. Making things and customs from other places their own.
Sometimes it is ineptly and stereotypically done, or even done to denigrate the other cultures, but then *that* is what is happening: stereotyping or denigration. Hollywood often did (does?) that.
Terry M
1 year ago
If only more countries were like South Korea!
North, not so much.
Ruud van Man
1 year ago
Isn’t imitation meant to be the sincerest form of flattery? Whilst advanced nations like S. Korea continue to adopt and build upon Western norms, we in the “old” West seem to be intent on destroying large parts of our own culture despite it being so successful and (on balance) beneficial over many centuries. S. Korea and other nations clearly see this, why can’t we?
So what? People and cultures have always adopted habits, trends, and cultures from other countries. It is the reason “cultural appropriation” is one of the most annoying woke phrases. Immigrants and expats bring their cuisine with them and adapt it to new places and new ingredients. Movies and music are the same way. For just one cultural example, Seven Samurai became the Magnificent Seven at the same time Disney was influencing Japanese animation. Honestly, taking something familiar and running it through a new perspective can produce some damn good entertainment. So I’m not complaining.
Not really – in nature are leopards and chameleons. Same in societies.
When the Japanese told the Western Trading Fleet under Perry to leave as they ‘needed nothing produced by barbarians, Admiral Perry said, OK, but I’ll be back next year and you will trade. And so he come back, did a few ship cannon broadsides – and the Japanese saw their backwardness and no matter how super civilized they were – unless the adopted it they would become subject people of whom did buy this technology.
So they had the Meiji Revolution. Outlawed the Shogunate, banned the now useless the Samurai (who became the business Men class – although trade had been forbidden, and thought shameful, for their class before), outlawed the carrying of swords, made all cut off their long braid hair, made men wear Western Clothing banning the Kimono, had the youth sent West to be educated – and intentionally did a complete, legally enforced, cultural appropriation. They took up ballroom dancing and Baseball not so long after….
The Motto was ‘Adopt And Adapt’, and they did, adopt superior things, adapt it to Japanese culture. The Koreans had similar, after the WWII occupation.
Anyway – No this is not typical in the world. Some societies are good at it, some not.
Spot on! Just look at the photos of the Japanese delegation on the quarterdeck of USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay, about to sign the act of unconditional surrender. You might have thought they were about to attend the Fourth of June or Royal Ascot.
In fact so called Western Civilisation has been trying to ape that of Ancient Rome for the past fifteen hundred years, but sadly with only mixed success it must be said.
However we must admire the effort, just as we must applaud South Korea’s effort to join what can only be described as the elite.
I can only hope that the intention of this article is to be mischievous, and to highlight, through an inversion of the inane and preposterous (and racist) leftist ‘oppression / privilege heirarchy’, the utter stupidity of framing the phenomena of cultural overlapping as a process of ‘theft’.
And if written in ernest, then the article and it’s author should, of course, be mercilessly mocked.
It is precisely that. Mischievous. It’s a good clickbait headline. He cannot be serious.
Look at the success of the South Koreans. Cars, semi-conductors, phones, now films. Hell, they proactively built gigabit Ethernet domestic networks more than ten years ago when we were dreaming about it. By adopting and evolving the best ideas from the West they are smashing it.
And they lack, it seems, a self-loathing Marxist eco-elite determine to undermine it all. Bravo! I have Samsung and Kia in my household and Squid games was bloody good fun.
They have been fantastically successful in a country which has few resources – like most of these small/medium Asian successes, the only resource they have is their people. That really concentrates the mind when there are no easy options.
Having spent a little time in Korea, I’ve come to view the Koreans as the Germans of Asia. Everything they do is good quality and they do things on a large scale. The scale and pace of development and construction is astonishing to anyone visiting from the UK. And this is all done by the Koreans – there are remarkably few foreigners in the country (some US troops, but you won’t see these) and very few foreign workers (e.g. some Indians filling high tech roles, English teachers).
I don’t know about cultural appropriation, but the main reasons I now happily watch Korean movies are, first and foremost, their entertainment value–they’re well-produced and scripted–and, related to the first reason, they are not yet infected by wokeism. The Korean directors resist the temptation, so far, to interrupt the story with mini-lectures by the characters about the evils of various -isms. I can only hope that situation lasts.
Very well put. It’s such a relief not to be lectured constantly on how wicked we all are.
It will be a sad day when K drama is infected with wokeism.
‘The show is a cultural hybrid in the manner of many Korean productions lately successful in the West, whose consumers have shown a taste for entertainment foreign on the surface but familiar beneath it.’
There’s far more to K drama than just Squid Game and Parasite.
There’s nothing remotely western about other successful K dramas such as Crash Landing on You, Sky Castle, Goblin, What’s Wrong with Secretary Kim to name a few.
One of the many reasons I love K drama is because they’re so different to Western films and series.
We used to have the “Americanisation” of the world, now South Korea is guilty of “cultural appropriation.” Since the cinematograph was technically invented by the Lumiere brothers, does it mean every single movie industry in the world is appropriating French culture?
Going down this logic shows how ridiculous it is.
The reality of our world is closer to a perpatually stirred spaghetti plate of cultural interactions and influences.
It’s Cultural Appropriation if you do something that is owned by another culture so yes, it’s Cultural Appropriation since Korean films aren’t influenced by the French. France, countries that are colonies of it, colonies of those colonies etc. have the right to the cinematograph like the US (Colony of Britan which was a colony of France)
There is no such thing as cultural appropriation (in the sense of the negative slur it has become). All people over all ages have grown by cultural borrowing. Making things and customs from other places their own.
Sometimes it is ineptly and stereotypically done, or even done to denigrate the other cultures, but then *that* is what is happening: stereotyping or denigration. Hollywood often did (does?) that.
If only more countries were like South Korea!
North, not so much.
Isn’t imitation meant to be the sincerest form of flattery? Whilst advanced nations like S. Korea continue to adopt and build upon Western norms, we in the “old” West seem to be intent on destroying large parts of our own culture despite it being so successful and (on balance) beneficial over many centuries. S. Korea and other nations clearly see this, why can’t we?