Globalization, Consumption And Popular Culture In East Asia

Tai Wei Lim, Wen Xin Lim;Xiaojuan Ping;Hui-Yi Tseng;

• Publisher: WSPC
• Year: 2016
• ISBN:
  9789814678216
• Topic: Biological Sciences
• Subtopic: Science General
• Index: Biological Sciences

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This book aims to provide comprehensive empirical and theoretical studies of expanding fandom communities in East Asia through the commodification of Japanese, Korean and Chinese popular cultures in the digital era. Using a multid

Section 1

Introduction

Chapter 1

Introduction

Tai Wei LIM

In the era of globalization, popular cultures originating from different localities worldwide are able to reference the universalistic influences from the US, aspects of which are hybridized with local cultures. In this process of interpenetration and adaptation of exogenous Western culture, the polycentric dispersions of the Japanese, Korean and Chinese popular cultures provide fertile materials for studying production and fandom consumption in the region. The different production centers in these three countries transcend national and traditional cultural boundaries, facilitating cultural hybridity. Through the mechanics of globalization, popular cultures originating from different countries are reinforced by the universalistic global trends from the US, and then intermediated, reinterpreted or hybridized with local cultures to attain cultural resonance with regional audiences.

This edited volume studies the platforms for interpenetration, adaptation, innovation and hybridization of exogenous Western culture and popular culture in (North) East Asia, which, together collectively shaped the way popular cultures are produced, consumed and innovated today. This multidisciplinary volume, through the use of concepts and theories related to the anthropogenic origins, political economy, and historical research, attempts to examine the workings of state policies, mass media, celebrity impact and fandom consumption of popular cultural products in (North) East Asia, especially in Japanese, Korean, Taiwan/HK and mainland Chinese markets. A number of specific case studies are examined in the publication.

We set out in this publication to examine various kinds of popular culture in East Asia and its reception by global consumers. In doing so, we were also interested to examine regional indigenization of global popular cultural trends in trying to be independent, unique and original. In writing and editing this publication, we acknowledge the crucial importance of the heterogeneity of different varieties of popular culture in East Asia but at the same time, understand that the creative industries in these three East Asian settings exhibit high permeability when it comes to exchanges of ideas between themselves. In studying popular culture within the setting and contextualization of a regional backdrop, we acknowledge the important presence of the framework of a universal and global popular cultural industry in which East Asian originated popular culture was conceptualized, shaped, innovated, improved upon and distributed.

Shaped by ideas from global trends in popular culture, the production houses and studios based in East Asia hybridize local cultures with fashionable global trends into easily consumable commodified units tailored made for its domestic markets. Upon reaching a critical level of popularity within the home audience, successful products are then tested in familiar neighboring regional markets. And, if the receptivity towards that products proves positive, the popular cultural products are then regionalized and distributed region-wide, sometimes simultaneous with a global launch, sometimes preceding or subsequent to a global launch. Popular cultural soft power is mutually-reinforcing in the sense that East Asian economies work with each other and influence each other to become cool and creative (a process of creative cross-pollination), but yet at the same time trend-spots global popular cultural elements for selective incorporation into their textual and visual imaginations and body of works.

This publication has a multidisciplinary area studies and interdisciplinary Asian studies (Japanese studies, Chinese studies, economics, area studies) approach in a field dominated by sociologists and anthropologists. Having an eclectic approach can open the field of inquiry wider to implications of globalization, innovation, development of creative clusters and consumption with specific empirical examples. It is probably one of the few if not the first monograph (not a review volume) to cover J-pop, K-pop and Chinese popular culture. It provides comparative insights of different popular cultures in the region.

Definition of Popular Culture

There are no universal definitions of popular culture. How one understands popular culture is dependent on the context in which the term is used and whether a particular definition stands the scrutiny of cultural relativism. For the readers, it would be helpful to have a working definition of what popular culture is, and also perhaps some examples of popular culture. With references to J-pop, K-pop, Cantopop and Tai Liu, it may be possible to give some examples of what pop culture means in the context of these particular strains of popular culture, e.g. referring to music, dressing, Korean drama serials, Japanese anime and so forth.

Based on the narratives covered in this writing, several definitions are offered here. They range from the amorphous, broad and encompassing definitions to more precise and carefully crafted detailed definitions. For example, in defining the term “popular culture,” Jonathan Pickering is less concerned about the boundaries of dichotomous global-local definitions of popular culture and conceptualizes it as a feature that encompasses “entertainment, sport and other practices of everyday life.”¹ In other words, popular culture is fully integrated into lifestyles and everyday experiences. The American and Japanese middle classes as well as their lifestyles and consumption patterns inspired emulation and inspiration for the rest of the world.² This may be visible in the emerging economies like India, China and the Gulf region where evidence may be detected through popular culture, entertainment, material acquisitions, branding, new and traditional media, and consumption patterns.³

Offering another perspective, John Hannigan sees popular culture as part of a homogenizing process that is reinforced by large quantities of images interacting and interfacing with market-driven forces to influence the lives and worldviews of the receivers of such culture.⁴ Popular culture may be more easily identifiable by younger generations and students located in a particular region. Japanese popular culture (J-pop) and more recently Korean popular culture (hanliu in Chinese, hallyu from Korean pronunciation, hanryū/kanryū in Japanese or K-pop)⁵ may fit this role in integrating the East Asian market culturally and contribute to common appreciation and consumption of such culture within the global rubric and context of American-driven popular cultural trends.

Popular culture generated in East Asia is utilized as a case study to find out if regional strains of popular culture contain elements of soft power (i.e. if the concept of soft power indeed exists) and can be applied to popular culture. The creative industries in these three East Asian settings are likely to find more exchanges and permeability, developing hybridized and unique forms of popular culture in the process within the setting and contextualization of a regional backdrop. It is within the framework of a universal and global popular cultural industry that East Asian-originated popular culture was conceptualized, shaped, innovated, improved upon and distributed.

Some academic works focus exclusively on defining specific East Asian popular cultures in country-specific area studies settings. For example, in my study, I discovered that traces of Japanese popular culture can be found integrated into the daily lives of Japanese people and they can be classified into tangible and intangible categories. In the tangible category, Japanese popular cultural representations can be found in the form of physical promotional items displayed at outlets that are patronized by the general public. Other than Japanese popular culture, some scholars studying K-pop defined Korean popular culture as a fusion between East and West. For example, Woongjae Ryoo “explores a regionally specific phenomenon and logic of transnational popular cultural flow as an example to illustrate the complexity involved in the cultural hybridization and the implications that it has on the globalization of culture” (Ryoo, 2009).⁶ He also argues that the impact of the Korean wave has not only permeated popular culture but is also a measure of positive lifestyle for many Asians (Ryoo, 2009, p. 144).⁷

Importance of the Subject Area

Regardless of how one defines the term popular culture, we believe that popular culture is no longer a fringe subject matter but has mainstreamed academically due to its far-reaching implications for other subject matters like the study of soft power (political science), creative industries and clusters (business and urban planning), resonance with audiences (cultural anthropology), public policy-making (public administration), consumption (economics), subtext readings of virtual idols (psychoanalysis), impact of an aging population (demographics), cultural aspects of otakus (area studies), etc. Therefore the subject matter of popular culture has become an eclectic interdisciplinary subject that encompasses a wide spectrum of expertise. The importance of popular culture as an academic subject is also reflected by the academic publishing industry’s increasing interest in the subject area. Some trends and news update are discussed selectively in the section below.

Sensing a strong market in this area, in October 2013, a much larger publisher Routledge made the fateful decision of taking over 15 “cutting-edge” journals from Intellect and focusing in the fields of visual and performing arts, film, media and cultural studies. Routledge itself has a number of books on Chinese popular culture, including recent ones on the dynamically changing Hong Kong popular cultural scene with the introduction of multimedia technologies as well as production and consumption of local media. Much of Intellect and Routledge’s offerings in popular cultural studies tends to be general coverages of popular culture as a theoretical subject, focusing on universalistic Western popular culture or country-based studies. These are all very important. This edited volume contributes to this important body of literature by adopting an area studies-based approach but one with comparative perspectives of Japan, China and Korea.

Japanese popular cultural soft power has spilled over to neighboring countries and consumer markets, changing and modifying the lifestyles of fandom communities in those regions. They draw reactions from the critical mass media in the receiving audiences. In Lin’s chapter, she discusses how the media stereotypes otakus and their subculture in China, creating negative connotations about this community. The Chinese media is not the only participant in image construction of dedicated groups of popular culture as otakus were first marginalized in Japan where the term came from. Lim’s chapter on Akihabara however points out that perceptions of sub-cultural groups do change and the otaku community has somehow transformed their marginalized image to that of cool consumers based on the consumption power they possess and their ability to influence design trends and creative processes.

Research Objectives

This book aims to discuss the burgeoning fan communities and sustained proliferation of popular culture with East Asian origins, particularly the Japanese, Korean and Chinese genres. The polycentric dispersions of the East Asian cultures are influential forces with the support of extensive distribution and reception networks within and beyond the region. In its form and makeup, popular culture from different production and originating centers transcend nati...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Section 1 Introduction
• Section 2 Japan
• Section 3 Republic of Korea
• Section 4 China
• Section 5 Hong Kong
• Section 6 Taiwan
• Section 7 Conclusion
• Index