“한국과 미국사이”: 미국 내 한류를 통해 바라본 초국적 문화교류 현상

Abstract

Under globalization, transnational cultural flows have been central factors in understanding society and culture. Due to the digitalization of information and new forms of media, cultural flows are being rendered in more diverse directions, allowing for freer crossing of national borders. In this regard, the international dissemination of popular culture from Korea, commonly referred to as the “Korean Wave” or “Hallyu” can be seen as a representative phenomenon of a transnational cultural flow. Despite free cultural flows across national boundaries, transnational subjects like Hallyu stars still experience different cultural codes and discourses as they cross national borders. In this regard, this article discusses Hallyu in the U.S. in particular and examines how Korean Hallyu stars, Psy and Rain(Bi) negotiate their identities within each different discourse in both countries. These two musicians are considered to have been successful in the U.S. market in spite of successive failures of other Hallyu starts. Psy and Rain’s gaining of global recognition has aroused national pride among Koreans, and these two entertainers are popularly viewed as actively contributing towards the enhancing of Korea’s international image. At the same time, once they cross the border, they inadvertently or not categorize themselves in an American racial stereotype about Asian males as martial artists or non-threatening jesters, to achieve entry into the mainstream U.S. market. In the process, it is still questionable that these transnational subjects are also playing a role in redefining the cultural identity of the U.S. at the local level. This focus of this paper aims to reexamine the scope of research on Hallyu as well as to understand more about how transnational cultural flows actually work among different cultures.