美国国家公共电台 NPR--The NPR podcast 'Throughline' examines how Korean culture went global

The NPR podcast 'Throughline' examines how Korean culture went global

Transcript¹

From BTS to Squid Game, South Korea reigns² as a global exporter of pop culture. In the past two decades, government intervention³ has led the country to become a major driver of global soft power.

A MARTINEZ, HOST:

Fans of the Netflix hit "Squid Game" are already looking forward to Season 2, which is in the works. The show was awarded six Emmys last month, becoming the first non-English-language series to win. "Squid Game" is just one in a long line of South Korean cultural products that have taken the world by storm. There are movies such as "Parasite⁴" and musical acts like BTS. Rund Abdelfatah and Ramtin Arablouei are the hosts of NPR's history podcast Throughline, and they bring a story behind the Korean wave.

RUND ABDELFATAH, BYLINE⁵: The global rise of South Korean pop culture began with a big fall.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

ABDELFATAH: The country had weathered decades of war, military occupation and authoritarian⁶ government before emerging as a true democracy in 1987 and starting to prosper⁷ economically. But a decade later, a financial crisis rocked Asia. South Korean companies went bankrupt. Job security disappeared. And unemployment tripled. In order to rebuild, the country had to change.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

PRESIDENT KIM DAE-JUNG: (Through interpreter) I solemnly declare in front of the people that I will faithfully carry out my duty as president.

ABDELFATAH: President Kim Dae-jung was elected in 1998, and he was determined⁸ to charter South Korea into a new future.

MICHAEL KIM: He's kind of like, OK, now we're going to be a soft power.

RAMTIN ARABLOUEI, BYLINE: Michael Kim is a professor of Korean studies at Yonsei University in Seoul. He says Kim Dae-jung had kind of a lightbulb moment. Korean TV series - K-dramas - were already massively popular around Asia. Kim Dae-jung took it further. He passed laws that establish the government as essentially⁹ what was called an entrepreneurial state. It became the government's responsibility to develop, finance and promote cultural industries, from film to TV to music. This included everything from building concert arenas¹⁰ to regulating karaoke bars.

M KIM: This idea of Korean soft power, that Koreans can actually find a place in the world not through the hard military economic power, but through cultural influences - that actually captures the imagination of a lot of Koreans.

ARABLOUEI: By the early 2000s, this investment began to pay off.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

ABDELFATAH: The fans who loved K-dramas, like "Winter Sonata," were now hungry for all things South Korean.

ARABLOUEI: Women across Asia wanted to look like the stars, which helped the budding Korean beauty industry market their products - like cosmetics¹¹, face masks - to fans of the show. And there was one place in particular where pop culture and beauty trends collided - the fancy Seoul neighborhood of Gangnam.

ABDELFATAH: A neighborhood made world famous by Psy's hit song "Gangnam Style."

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "GANGNAM STYLE")

PSY: (Singing) Oppa Gangnam style, Gangnam style.

M KIM: Gangnam is very much sort of the mecca of high consumption. You'd have tourists come from all over Asia to Seoul in order to shop - not just to shop, but to see what the Korean women are wearing and what cosmetics they're using, because that kind of sets the standards for all of Asia.

ABDELFATAH: "Gangnam Style" was the first song to hit a billion views on YouTube. It also did what no other Korean pop song had done. It broke into the U.S.'s notoriously exclusive music market.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED NEWSCASTER #1: It is really getting a lot of reaction in the U.S., isn't it, Janet (ph)?

JANET: It's the video to watch, and I have to admit, I've watched it probably about 15 times.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

AL ROKER: Normally I'd say these are my people. But today it's Psy people.

(CHEERING)

PSY: If you know all the words, say it. What? (Singing) Oppa Gangnam style.

ARABLOUEI: But there was something crucial about the song that flew over a lot of non-Korean speakers' heads.

M KIM: The whole entire song "Gangnam Style" is really kind of a parody¹² of this lifestyle that a lot of Koreans are not actually living.

ARABLOUEI: After the IMF crisis, the gap between wealthy and poor Koreans widened. There was a growing sense that no matter how hard you tried, you couldn't make it in South Korea.

M KIM: But it's the sort of image that's there of this high-consumption lifestyle, which every Korean wants, but not every Korean is actually experiencing.

ABDELFATAH: Those same themes of cynicism about economic inequality would reemerge from South Korea years later, only darker...

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "PARASITE")

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #1: (As character, speaking Korean).

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #2: (As character, speaking Korean).

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #1: (As character, speaking Korean).

ABDELFATAH: ...With "Parasite" and "Squid Game."

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "SQUID GAME")

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #3: (As character) Will you go back to living your old and depressing lives, getting chased by your creditors¹³, or will you act and seize this last opportunity we're offering here?

ABDELFATAH: And the whole world was captivated.

(SOUNDBITE OF MONTAGE)

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: And the Oscar goes to "Parasite."

(CHEERING)

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: And the Oscar goes to...

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #3: Bong Joon-ho.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #4: Bong Joon-ho.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: "Parasite."

UNIDENTIFIED NEWSCASTER #2: Well, this is the show that everyone is talking about.

UNIDENTIFIED NEWSCASTER #3: How cool is it that this show right now is just so big?

UNIDENTIFIED NEWSCASTER #2: "Squid Game" is No. 1 in 94 countries.

ABDELFATAH: So here we are in 2022. Twenty years ago, Kim Dae-jung bet that there was a global market for Korean culture. And that bet paid off. Korean cultural exports, like movies and music, generated over $11.6 billion last year.

ARABLOUEI: Yet inequality has soared, and social divides have deepened.

M KIM: Of course, Korean society itself is just as complex, just as controversial as any other society, right? And so I'm very wary¹⁴ of presenting sort of just the package version of Korean society and Korean history when there is actually so much trauma¹⁵ and so much destruction and death and suffering within it, right? There is this sort of idea that we have to share in the prosperity because there was this kind of common misery¹⁶ of the past. My parents these days, like with many elderly parents, are watching YouTube all day, right? But they often are watching these broadcasts that celebrate, that sort of are amazed by the fact that, well, now the Korean culture is the most successful in the world or Korean products are the best in the world because they grew up in a Korea where that wasn't the case.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 reigns   

n.君主的统治( reign的名词复数 )；君主统治时期；任期；当政期

参考例句：

• In these valleys night reigns. 夜色笼罩着那些山谷。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The Queen of Britain reigns, but she does not rule or govern. 英国女王是国家元首，但不治国事。 来自辞典例句

3 intervention   

n.介入，干涉，干预

参考例句：

• The government's intervention in this dispute will not help.政府对这场争论的干预不会起作用。
• Many people felt he would be hostile to the idea of foreign intervention.许多人觉得他会反对外来干预。

4 parasite   

n.寄生虫；寄生菌；食客

参考例句：

• The lazy man was a parasite on his family.那懒汉是家里的寄生虫。
• I don't want to be a parasite.I must earn my own way in life.我不想做寄生虫，我要自己养活自己。

5 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

6 authoritarian   

n./adj.专制(的)，专制主义者，独裁主义者

参考例句：

• Foreign diplomats suspect him of authoritarian tendencies.各国外交官怀疑他有着独裁主义倾向。
• The authoritarian policy wasn't proved to be a success.独裁主义的政策证明并不成功。

7 prosper   

v.成功，兴隆，昌盛；使成功，使昌隆，繁荣

参考例句：

• With her at the wheel,the company began to prosper.有了她当主管，公司开始兴旺起来。
• It is my earnest wish that this company will continue to prosper.我真诚希望这家公司会继续兴旺发达。

8 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

9 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

10 arenas   

表演场地( arena的名词复数 )； 竞技场； 活动或斗争的场所或场面； 圆形运动场

参考例句：

• Demolition derbies are large-scale automobile rodeos that take place in big arenas. 撞车比赛指的是在很大的竞技场上举行的大型汽车驾驶技术表演。
• Are there areas of privacy in the most public of arenas? 在绝大部分公开的场合中存在需要保护隐私的领域吗？

11 cosmetics   

n.化妆品

参考例句：

• We sell a wide range of cosmetics at a very reasonable price. 我们以公道的价格出售各种化妆品。
• Cosmetics do not always cover up the deficiencies of nature. 化妆品未能掩饰天生的缺陷。

12 parody   

n.打油诗文，诙谐的改编诗文，拙劣的模仿；v.拙劣模仿，作模仿诗文

参考例句：

• The parody was just a form of teasing.那个拙劣的模仿只是一种揶揄。
• North Korea looks like a grotesque parody of Mao's centrally controlled China,precisely the sort of system that Beijing has left behind.朝鲜看上去像是毛时代中央集权的中国的怪诞模仿，其体制恰恰是北京方面已经抛弃的。

13 creditors   

n.债权人，债主( creditor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They agreed to repay their creditors over a period of three years. 他们同意3年内向债主还清欠款。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Creditors could obtain a writ for the arrest of their debtors. 债权人可以获得逮捕债务人的令状。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 wary   

adj.谨慎的，机警的，小心的

参考例句：

• He is wary of telling secrets to others.他谨防向他人泄露秘密。
• Paula frowned,suddenly wary.宝拉皱了皱眉头，突然警惕起来。

15 trauma   

n.外伤，精神创伤

参考例句：

• Counselling is helping him work through this trauma.心理辅导正帮助他面对痛苦。
• The phobia may have its root in a childhood trauma.恐惧症可能源于童年时期的创伤。

16 misery   

n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦

参考例句：

• Business depression usually causes misery among the working class.商业不景气常使工薪阶层受苦。
• He has rescued me from the mire of misery.他把我从苦海里救了出来。