Korean Kittens (코리언 키튼즈) – Can’t Buy Me Love (1964)
See London Korean Links and Angry Asian Man for more information about them. And thanks very much to Edward Povey for passing the video on!
Gender, Consumerism, & Advertising: The Sociological Rabbit Hole
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Opening my “Gender Advertisements in the Korean Context” lecture these days by talking about erections, I’m loath to end it on something as deflating as domestic savings rates. But then so often am I asked questions afterwards like…
Why are there such sharp distinctions in the ways men and women are presented in ads?
Why are women portrayed passively, weakly, dependent, childishly, and in awkward, unnatural poses to a much greater extent than men?
Why, despite being written about North American advertisements in the 1970s, does Gender Advertisements have such resonance in Korean advertisements today?
…that in my latest version for the 4th Korea-America Student Conference at Pukyeong National University (a highly-recommended 4-week exchange program by the way!), I decided to address the last by providing the data to backup my argument that it was largely because of a shared experience of housewifization. In the actual event though, the students wisely decided that they’d much rather get lunch than ask any more questions, so let me give a brief overview of that argument here instead:
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In short, housewifization is the process of creating a labor division between male workers and female housewives that every advanced capitalist economy has experienced as it developed, essential and fundamental to which is the creation of a female underclass that acquiesces in this state of affairs, finding self-identity and empowerment in its consumer choices rather than in employment. Lest that sound like a gross and – for the purposes of my lecture – rather convenient generalization however, then let me refer you to someone who puts it much better than I could. From page 60-61 of this edition of The Feminine Mystique (my emphases):
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The suburban housewife – she was the dream image of the young American woman and the envy, it was said, of all woman all over the world. The American housewife – freed by science and labor-saving appliances from the drudgery, the dangers of childbirth and the illnesses of her grandmother. She was healthy, beautiful, educated, concerned only about her husband, her children, her home. She had found true feminine fulfillment. As a housewife and mother, she was respected as a full and equal partner to man in his world. She was free to choose automobiles, clothes, appliances, supermarkets; she had everything that women ever dreamed of.
In the fifteen years after World War 2, this mystique of feminine fulfillment became the cherished and self-perpetuating core of contemporary culture.
And then this from page 197 of the 1963 edition:
Why is it never said that the really crucial function…that women serve as housewives is to buy more things for the house… somehow, somewhere, someone must have figured out that women will buy more things if they are kept in the underused, nameless-yearning, energy-to-get-rid-of state of being housewives…it would take a pretty clever economist to figure out what would keep our affluent economy going if the housewife market began to fall off.
Ironically, by 2009 more women would actually be working in the US than men. But rather than the result of enlightened attitudes, this was primarily because layoffs were concentrated in largely male industries like construction, and I am unconvinced that the above dynamic no longer applies there.
In Korea however, the exact opposite happened. Moreover, while by no means are modern Korean notions of appropriate gender roles a carbon-copy of those in the United States in the 1960s and 1970s, even if Korean women themselves are saying that the parallels between Mad Men and Korean workplaces are uncanny(!), the fact remains that in a society where consumerism was once explicitly equated with national-security, there also happens to be the highest number of non-working women in the OECD. It would be strange if the gender ideologies that underscore this decades-old combination were not heavily reflected in – nay, propagated by – advertising.
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This is a simplification of course, one caveat amongst many being that the Korean advertising industry is actually heavily influenced by the Westernized global advertising industry (see this post on the impact of foreign women’s magazines in Korea for a good practical example of that). But, also raising the sociological issues of Convergence vs. Divergence, and the role of Base and Superstructure, the main purpose of my finishing my lecture with that explanation is to leave audiences with encouraging them to think for themselves, by giving them just a tantalizing hint of how deep the sociological rabbit hole goes.
Yes: it’s a cliche, but Gender Advertisements is very much a red pill. In particular, consider what greeted me at work just two days after giving the lecture:
I don’t know their names sorry (anyone?), but I was struck by the different impressions left by the man and the woman’s poses. Whereas he seems to be engaging the viewer’s gaze, the finger on his chin implying that he is actively thinking about him or her, in contrast the woman’s ”bashful knee bend” and “head cant” make her appear to be merely the passive object of that gaze instead.
For more about those advertising poses, see here and here, especially on how they arguably make the person performing them subordinate in many senses, and – regardless of those arguments – the empirical evidence that women do them in advertisements much more than men. Indeed, while that advertisement was perfectly benign in itself of course, and you possibly nonplussed at my even mentioning it, just a little later that week I saw this similar image with Han Ye-seul (한예슬) and Song Seung-heon (송승헌) in a Caffe Bene advertisement, outside a branch opening close to my apartment:
A close-up:
Granted, the head cant helps frame the couple, and the ensuing contrast between the two models makes for a more interesting picture. But neither explains why it’s more often found on women than on men. Moreover, primed to look for more examples from then on, for the rest of July I saw plenty of advertisements featuring women by themselves doing a head-cant, and a few with men by themselves doing one. But when a man and woman were together?
Call it confirmation bias, but it became a slightly surreal experience constantly only ever seeing the woman doing it (it’s one thing to know about something like that in an abstract sense from academic papers, quite another to experience it for yourself). Here’s an example from a recent trip to Seoul:
A close-up:
Another with Lee Min-jeong (이민정) and Gong-yoo (공유) in Seomyeon subway in Busan:
One more with Wang Ji-won (왕지원) and Won-bin (원빈), commercials of which are playing on Korean TV screens at the moment:
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Finally, with Jeong Woo-seong (정우성) and Kim Tae-hee (김태희):
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Only after 4 weeks(!) of looking, did I finally find a possible example of the opposite in Gwanganli Beach last Saturday (with Song Seung-heon {송승헌} and “Special-K girl” Lee Soo-kyeong {이수경}):
Having told you about the difficulty I had in finding such an ad though, then Murphy’s law dictates that you’ll probably see one yourself very soon; if so, please take a picture send it on, and I’ll buy you a beer next time we’re both in the same city. But it wouldn’t surprise me if I don’t actually hear from anyone until September!
Update 1: Literally just as I typed that last, the headline that “Women till stereotyped in TV ads” appeared in my Google Reader. I should feel vindicated, but I actually find the study described quite superficial, the conclusions meaningless without reference to that fact that roughly 75% of Korean advertisements feature celebrities. Still, I’ll give the National Human Rights Commission the benefit of the doubt until I see Korean language sources.
Update 2: The Korea Herald also has an article on the study, but it’s virtually identical.
Korean Sociological Image #62: Life as a Korean Teenager
From documentary maker Kelley Katzenmeyer:
In sixty short years, South Korea went from being one of the poorest countries in Asia to having the world’s 13th largest economy. Korean students have some of the highest test scores in the world, and a higher rate of acceptance into American Ivy Leagues than any other foreign country. But Korea also leads the world in two not quite so stunning ways- the highest rate of plastic surgery per capita, and a higher suicide rate than any other developed nation.
So. What’s life like for a Korean student? In one of the most competitive societies in the world, how does one find their place? What does it take to achieve your aspirations and goals? Our documentary will take a look at the lives of five Korean teenagers on the verge of either reaching- or losing- their dreams. The film will follow the students during the most stressful time of their lives- their last year of high school. After studying for roughly sixteen hours each day, their futures boil down to one last exam. On November 10th, 2011, thousands of high school seniors will take a nine hour test that for many, will determine their economic and social status for the rest of their lives.
For my own experiences with some of the issues raised in the video, please see here. And thanks very much to Gag Halfrunt for passing the video on.
Update 1: Also of interest is “Tackling Korean Education’s Faults” at Korea Real Time.
Update 2: The documentary also has a website and a Facebook page.
(For all posts in the Korean Sociological Image series, see here)
Korean Gender Reader
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소녀시대야! 900칼로리만 먹고, 이것 할 수있겠니? ㅋㅋㅋ
1) Miss A members scoff at other girl-groups’ starvation diets, and reveal that they eat healthily and normally.
For why this is such wonderful news, see here. I hereby appoint them as honorary ambassadors for this blog!
2) Three reports of sex crimes at Korean schools.
4) More Korean married couples living with the wife’s parents
5) Korean women: please, for goodness’ sake, develop a personality! And men: get more comfortable with yourselves!
Complete generalizations of course, as the author happily admits, but still: I really appreciated this post in a “from the mouths of babes newbies” sense (no offense).
How accurate do you think her descriptions of Korean dating couples are?
6) Piggy Dolls “piggy” no more?
Turns out, their weight loss was for a diet advertisement (see #10 here for some background).
7) Same sex couple-tees?
We’ve all seen couple-tees of course, perhaps even worn them. But clothes designed to be worn by you and your friend?
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8) Ministry of Gender Equality and Family Affairs urges teenagers not to use binge drinking as a study method.
After all, Korean teenagers are notorious for their alcohol problems, yes? Or was this supposed fad, of drinking baek-il ju (백일주) from 100 days (baek-il) before the university entrance exams, actually only highlighted by the Ministry in order to raise its profile and help justify its continued existence?
Not that I think the Ministry should be abolished by any means (despite its anti-abortion stance). But then it is notorious for some simply bizarre initiatives, and especially arbitrary, completely ineffective censorship in the name of protecting Korean youth. Neither of which I can see anything but corporatist reasons for.
9) Public protest scuppers plans for nudist forest.
Naturally however, the Korean media is still widely describing it as a nudist forest anyway.
Compare this similarly cancelled planned nudist beach on Jeju Island two years ago, which had been intended only to be open to non-Koreans.
10) New girl-group Chocolat set to debut on August 17. Has 3 bi-racial members (and 2 Koreans).
For which it’s been receiving a lot of attention, although it’s not the first to have bi-racial members (all 3 have American fathers and Korean mothers btw). Probably even more noteworthy and ominous though, is the fact that 2 members of the group are only 14 (the others are 17, 18, and {I think} 19).
See the following video for them introducing themselves. Note that the title says “Korean”, but it’s actually all in English:
Update: Ashley at SeoulBeats discusses them more here.
Korean Sociological Image #61: Stereotypical Gender Roles in Pororo
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I know, I know: trust me to nitpick about something as universally popular and adorable as Pororo. However, just like the examples provided in the classic How to Read Donald Duck (1972) quickly revealed a surreal imperialist ideology propagated by Disney, so too if you watch just a couple of episodes of Pororo do you notice some pretty stereotypical gender roles contained therein.
Just ask any parent in Korea, one of whom *cough* first noticed these problems with the show over two years ago. But, with thanks to Marilyn for translating this article at Ildaro Women’s Journal, it’s always good to have a reliable Korean source, especially when one critiques something that usually only attracts glowing reports about its success overseas:
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“뽀롱뽀롱 뽀로로”에서 루피의 역할은? 애니메이션 속 전형적인 남녀캐릭터 설정 아쉬워
Loopy’s role in “Pororo The Little Penguin”? The set-ups of typical male and female characters in the cartoon is a shame
모 방송사의 예능 프로그램에서 강호동씨가 미션으로 곰인형 100개의 눈을 붙이는 장면이 나왔다. 담당VJ는 그에게 집에서 아이들과 잘 놀아 주냐고 질문했다. “나보다 뽀통령을 더 좋아해. 뽀통령 있으면 아빠 아는 체도 안 해.” 강호동씨의 답변에서 알 수 있듯이 지금 아이들 사이에서는 뽀로로가 최고의 인기 캐릭터이다.
On X network’s entertainer program, there was a scene in which Kang Ho-dong had a mission to attach 100 bear dolls’ eyes. The VJ asked if he was good about playing with his children at home. “They like President Po more than me. If President Po is there, they don’t even acknowledge Dad.” What we can know from Kang Ho-dong’s answer is that Pororo is the most popular character among children now.
아이들 세계를 지배하는 뽀로로의 영향력 / The influence of Pororo, who rules the world of children
<뽀롱뽀롱 뽀로로>는 2003년 (주)아이코닉스 엔터테인먼트에서 탄생하여, 교육방송 EBS를 통해 아이들에게 알려지기 시작했다. 12개월부터 미취학 아동 대상으로 방영된다. 현재는 3탄까지 제작됐으며 앞으로 4탄이 방송을 탈 날을 기다리고 있다. 1탄부터 3탄까지 전 시리즈는 세계 82개국에 수출됐으며, 특히 프랑스에서는 시청률 57.2%라는 놀라운 기록을 세웠다고 한다.
“Pororo The Little Penguin” was born at Iconix Entertainment in 2003 and began to become known among children through the educational channel EBS. It was broadcast to a target audience of preschoolers from the age of 12 months. Currently, the third season has been produced [aired] and the day the fourth will be aired is awaited. The first through third series have been exported to 82 countries around the world, and are said to have set a surprising record in France, especially, of 57.2% viewership.
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뽀로로 캐릭터 상품으로 연간 벌어들이는 수입은 추신수 선수의 3배, 박지성 선수의 2배에 달하며, 2010년까지 누적합계 8천3백억 원에 달하는 것으로 알려졌다. 현재 소녀시대를 누르고 음반판매율 1위를 지키고 있는 것도 뽀로로이다.
The yearly income of Pororo the character as a product is three times that of [baseball] player Choo Shin-soo and reaches twice that of Park Ji-Sung, and it has become known that his accumulated earnings as of 2010 come to 830 billion Won [about $790 mil.]. The one currently defeating Girls’ Generation to remain number one in album sales is also Pororo.
어린이가 다쳐서 울 때 뽀로로 밴드를 붙여주면 울음 끝, 치아 닦기 싫어하는 아이에겐 뽀로로 치약 한 번 올려주면 반짝반짝 이를 닦는다. 이렇게 유아들의 세계를 지배하는 뽀로로의 영향력은 대단하다.
If a child who is hurt and crying is given Pororo bandage, the crying stops, and if a child who hates brushing her teeth is given Pororo toothpaste, she will brush until her teeth sparkle. The influence of Pororo, who rules the world of small children like this, is enormous.
성역할 고정관념 드러내는 등장인물들 / Characters who reveal gender-role stereotypes
하지만 <뽀롱뽀롱 뽀로로> 애니메이션 속에선 한 가지 아쉬운 점이 발견된다. 바로 만화에 등장하는 캐릭터의 특징이다.
However, there is one way in which the animated program “Pororo The Little Penguin” is discovered to be lacking. It is the characteristics of the characters who appear in the cartoon.
연등회에 등장한 뽀로로 캐릭터들. 뽀로로의 국민적 인기를 실감케 한다.
Caption, right: Pororo characters who appeared in the Lantern Festival. One can feel the national popularity of Pororo.
뽀로로, 에디, 포비, 크롱은 남성캐릭터이다. 루피와 패티는 여성캐릭터이다. 주인공 뽀로로는 궁금한 걸 못 참고, 도전과 모험에 앞장서는 호기심 많은 펭귄이다. 에디는 발명가를 꿈꾸는 꼬마여우이고, 포비는 마음 넓게 항상 다른 이를 도와주는 화가를 꿈꾸는 착한 곰이다. 패티는 명랑 활달하고 운동을 좋아하는 털털한 펭귄이며, 루피는 수줍은 많고 여성스럽고 요리 솜씨가 뛰어난 비버소녀이다.
Pororo, Eddy, Poby, and Crong are male characters. Loopy and Petty are female characters. The main character Pororo is a penguin who can’t stand not knowing something, who leads the way into challenges and adventures, and is very curious. Eddy is a little boy fox who dreams of being an inventor, and Poby is a friendly bear who always generously helps others and dreams of being an artist. Patty is an easy-going penguin who is bright, outgoing, and likes exercise, and Loopy is a very shy, feminine little beaver girl with excellent cooking skills.
<뽀롱뽀롱 뽀로로> 만화에 등장하는 남성캐릭터들은 ‘꿈꾸는 이상’이 있다. 모험가, 과학자, 화가를 꿈꾸며 노력하는 모습을 보인다. 타고 난 재능도 가지고 있다. 그러나 여성캐릭터인 루피와 패티는 앞치마를 두르고 맛있는 쿠키를 구워서 친구들에게 대접하는 꿈을 꾼다. 여성캐릭터를 꼭 ‘요리’와 연결시키는 이유는 무엇일까?
The male characters have “something more that they dream of.” They present themselves as working hard [to achieve] their dreams of being adventurers, scientists, and artists. They also have natural gifts. However, the female characters Loopy and Patty dream of putting on aprons and making delicious cookies to serve to their friends. Why must female characters be connected to “cooking”?
21세기의 여자아이들은 더 이상 부엌에서 요리하고, 다소곳이 앉아 바느질하는 것을 강요받는 사회에서 자라지 않는다. 남자아이와 동등한 자격으로 공부하고, 자신의 뜻을 펼칠 수 있다고 교육 받는다. 그러나 사회에서 요구하는 현실은 여전히 만화 속에 등장하는 전형적인 여성캐릭터인 것일까? 이런 애니메이션을 보고 자란 남자아이들은 당연히 여성이 요리를 해줄 거라고 기대할 것이고, 여자아이들은 그 모습에 자신의 모습을 비추어보며 살게 될 수도 있을 것이다.
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21st century girls no longer grow up in a society that forces them to cook in the kitchen or sit modestly and sew. They study on equal terms with boys and are taught to speak their minds. But is the reality that is demanded by society still the one portrayed by the typical female characters in cartoons? Boys who grow up watching this kind of animation will naturally expect females to cook for them, and girls might grow up to reflect that image.
이런 캐릭터 설정은 어린 시절부터 성역할 고정관념을 아이들에게 심어줄 수 있다. 특히 만화 속 패티와 루피는 서로에게 질투를 느끼거나 오해를 해서 감정싸움을 만들기도 한다. 물론 실제로 아이들이 그런 감정에 빠질 수도 있다. 그러나 어린이들이 보는 프로에서 꼭 여성캐릭터 간의 감정싸움을 부각시켜 보여주면서 어릴 때부터 성별에 관한 편견을 가지게 할 필요는 없지 않을까.
The settings [of characteristics] of this kind of character can indoctrinate children into gender role stereotypes from a young age. In the cartoon, Patty and Loopy especially feel jealous of or misunderstand each other and so start emotional battles. Of course, in reality children can have those feelings. However, is there really a need for programs that children watch to make them have prejudices about gender from a young age by playing up and showing emotional battles between female characters?
미취학아동들은 그나마 사회시스템 속에서 길들여지는 고정관념으로부터 비교적 자유로운 시기이다. 그런데 만화에서 뽀로로는 항상 용감하게 도전하고, 에디는 우주선을 만들고 외계인을 만날 때, 루피는 예쁜 머리핀을 자랑하고 싶어 하고, 백설공주와 같이 되길 꿈꾸며 사과를 먹어야 할까?
Pre-schoolers are at least at an age that is relatively free from the taming stereotypes of the social system. But in the cartoon, while Pororo is always bravely challenging and Eddy makes a spaceship and meets an alien, does Loopy have to want to boast about a pretty hairpin and dream of becoming like Snow White while eating an apple?
아이들이 TV 속 뽀로로에게 열광할 때 나는 한편으로 걱정이 된다. 내 딸에게서 “엄마, 난 뽀로로 같은 용기 있는 남자와 결혼해서 맛있는 쿠키를 구울 거야.” 라는 말을 듣게 될까봐.
Part of me is worried when I see kids going crazy over TV’s Pororo. Worried that I may hear, “Mom, I’m going to marry a brave man like Pororo and make delicious cookies!” from my daughter. (end)
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Revealing in my introduction that there’s more to Pororo than meets the eye, then it was extremely tempting at that point to go on to discuss how what is actually a multi-million dollar industry has some curious, if superficial, parallels to some elements of K-pop. Wisely I demurred, but if you’ll indulge me here instead for a moment, then, with it being exported to over 110 countries, it is arguably just as much a part of the “second Korean Wave” as say, KARA or Girls’ Generation. Moreover, just like those groups are redoing most of their songs into Japanese for the sake of better marketability, diluting what Koichi Iwabuchi deftly calls their products’ “cultural odor” in the process, so too does the creator of Pororo refuse to incorporate more Korean elements into the cartoon, lest foreign audiences be put off. On top of that, there are even glowing accounts of Pororo’s popularity amongst overseas Koreans too, which – correct me if I’m wrong – were often considered (or at least portrayed) as important precursors to and/or agents in K-pop’s subsequent popularity amongst non-ethnic Koreans.
And having raised all those tangents, then it behooves me to also mention Pororo’s North Korean connections for anyone interested, which you can read about here and here. Also, in the interests of full disclosure, I should point out that a friend’s friend’s wife provides the voice of Harry, the humming-bird sitting on the wing above. Apologies for the ensuing lack of objectivity in the post!
(For all posts in the Korean Sociological Image series, see here)
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