'Koreawood': the new global dream factory

• JOSÉ FAJARDO

  Madrid

Updated on Saturday, October 30, 2020 - 01:47

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• Series What to do with 'The Squid Game'?

• 'Parasites' Smash the algorithm

• K-pop Sex, mascara and exploitation

Is Bong Joon-ho the new Tarantino? And have Blackpink become the Spice Girls of Generation Z? Never before has Asian culture been so influential in the West.

, Netflix's bombshell with a Korean accent, is just the latest episode in this turn in global trends. South Korea has set out to be

. And he is succeeding, in an

unprecedented

to China and Japan. The question is: how did you do it?

"

have long had a prominent presence at festivals in Europe, then came the success of their literature among Western publishers and now with music they continue to reinforce their national identity," reflects Menene Gras, head of culture and exhibitions at Casa Asia, where he directs the Asian Film Festival that runs until November 7 in Barcelona.

'Parasites' by Bong Joon-ho.

Beyond Bong Joon-ho (author, among others, of

and

, the first non-English-speaking title to win the Oscar for Best Picture, in 2020), South Korea has exported the works by Park Chan-wook (

, 2004 Cannes Jury Prize, adapted in 2013 by Spike Lee for the American market) or Kim Ki-duk (

), a

, who died last year at 59 due to coronavirus.

For art critic Menene Gras, the Korean New Wave (or

, as the phenomenon is also known) is part of

. He speaks of "an awakening", an eagerness to open outwards that is linked to the rise of postcolonialist thought and the economic growth of the region. Compare present-day South Korea with Japan that, after World War II,

and repair its external image.

"For several generations the

among young Westerners has been tremendous," says writer José Antonio de Ory, who lived for a time in Japan.

He cites

and

, as well as toys such as Tamagotchi, that endearing virtual pet that arrived in the schoolyard of Spain in the second half of the 90s.

What is known as

culture

has returned among those born at the turn of the century: musicians like

are inspired by that androgynous, dreamy and colorful aesthetic that sublimates childhood.

But if before Spanish children grew up watching Doraemon drawings and teenagers spent Sunday mornings connected to Telecinco with the delusional programs of

with

Takeshi (the alias of Japanese filmmaker Takeshi Kitano), now they

like

or

that are sweeping Netflix.

"There is an interesting underlying question and that is what role politics and

play in this cultural movement

", reflects José Antonio de Ory. He considers that Japan continues to maintain its influence, "although it seems to have disengaged, as if it cared less about the world", and that while the imaginary of South Korea continues to expand among the West,

, despite its growing power economic and military. "You don't know how to sell yourself or is it that you are not interested?"

"The problem is that nationalism and authoritarianism collide head-on with globalization," sums up cultural critic Jorge Carrión in

. That is the paradox of the new China, trapped like Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in a

in the face of its exports (in search of the viral and profit at any price) and an

in domestic politics .

The concept of soft power was coined three decades ago by Harvard professor Joseph Nye. Behind cinema, series, novels and music there is not only one way of seeing the world. "It's the economy, stupid!" Would say James Carville, Bill Clinton's former adviser in the 1992 campaign. And he would be right:

(107,000 million dollars a year, according to the state agency South Korea Creative Content ) have not stopped growing for two decades.

Netflix is ​​lining up with

, which has already generated $ 891 million. We must add a powerful video game industry with titles such as

and

or

Korean

, with business giants behind such as AmorePacific.

An article in the

points to a surprising reason why South Korea is increasingly focused on the West:

, which has historically been its main market, receiving more than half of the sector's exports.

Korea's booming competitiveness in technology and entertainment has sparked various

against Korean products.

The k-pop band BTS.

"We no longer do business with China and Japan in mind, now

" says K-pop mogul and RBW company owner Kim Jin-woo.

His strategy has reached 10,000 kilometers from Seoul. In Madrid lives Cristina Díaz, 26,

. This summer he won in the singing modality the band contest that was held in the Veranos de la Villa. Although he still can't speak Korean, he memorizes song lyrics and pronunciation to sound exactly like his idols.

"When I discovered it on YouTube it fascinated me: they sang and danced at the same time, did vocal improvisations, I had never seen anything like it," says this musicologist who has been participating in competitions in Spain for years with a dream: to travel to South Korea. Winning in Madrid does not guarantee that you can be in the world final: there are similar tournaments in more than 100 countries and only

to compete in the cradle of K-pop.

Describe this music as a mix of genres (pop, r & b, hip hop, electronic) designed to be catchy.

. "That it is commercial is not negative," says the Madrilenian, who assures that she is aware of the shadows of the industry: hyper competitiveness, abusive diets to comply with the canon of Asian beauty of extreme thinness ... "Fortunately, it is changing little by little thanks to the complaints from within some artists, "he says.

K-pop is the new reggaeton for the youngest. Those who were born in the new century do not want perreo but the ideal Blackpink choreographies for TikTok, a Chinese application that was viralized during the pandemic. "Before these groups did not come to play in Europe, it was a minority. We fans would make

[unexpected meetings in public places of coordinated crowds that quickly disperse] to try to get their attention. Now it is normal that there are concerts here,

. "

There are already meeting spaces such as the Asian Party, which began in 2012 in Madrid.

Before the pandemic, they gathered 600 people every month in the capital and, from there, they jumped to other cities in Spain.

They are discotheques converted into a massive karaoke with video clips on a giant screen where the public

.

"For every 100 that enter, only 30 drink alcohol, it is a very healthy environment," says Joel Ruiz, the head of the brand.

The audience is very young (no more than 30 years old), the majority are girls and Spanish (30% of Asian origin usually attend, especially Chinese).

Byung-Chul Han.

In this boom, the expansion of Korean cultural centers around the world has played a fundamental role: there are 32 in 27 countries.

. "Korean content captivates everyone," says its director, Oh Ji-hoon. Through events of all kinds they explore "a new Koreanness", a kind of modern identity. In the k-week that was held a few days ago in Madrid there were taekwondo exhibitions, gastronomy tastings or

workshops

(everything goes with K, like

in English).

"The perception that South Korea arouses is that of

and increasingly

" says diplomat Jaime González Castaño.

A country similar to Spain in inhabitants (52 million) that is managing to compete with China (1,400 million) and Japan (126 million), but also, increasingly, with the United States (329 million).

"The perspective has changed, it is difficult for us to continue looking the same way as before towards the United States,

, while the East offers more expectations for the future. But we must be cautious, growth lines are never straight.

like k-pop? Maybe tomorrow we will be talking about something else, "warns the expert Menene Gras.

The 20th century was that of the American Hollywood dream factory, that of Coca-Cola, Apple and Michael Jordan.

This new century has been the one of the destruction of symbols that seemed eternal and the one of the vindication of the peripheries.

The West moves at the speed that Hyundai and KIA mark, Samsung and LG are omnipresent while thinkers like

warn of the drift of capitalist society.

In the

era,

may no longer be sought for Tarantino or the Spice Girls, because perhaps no one will remember them.

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