Asia Review Domingo With Cover Page v2
Asia Review Domingo With Cover Page v2
Asia Review Domingo With Cover Page v2
T he Relat ionship of Sout h Korean Influence (K-pop and K-drama) t o t he Nat ionalism of Grade…
Jenica Villanueva
I. Introduction
Culture and Information Service, 2011; Romano, 2018). K-pop, however, is not limited
* The author received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication
of this article. The author would like to express his deepest gratitude to Jericho Lester
Vargas of the National Historical Commission of the Philippines for providing the concepts
about Filipino culture and identity. Also, to the two anonymous reviewers for their insightful
comments. All errors and opinions, however, are the author’s own.
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1 There is no exact date on record to distinguish the official birth of K-pop. However, South
Korea and international pundits alike consider Seo Taiji and the Boys (서태지와 아이들) as the
first K-pop group.
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This K-pop associated with idol culture, which has been influential in the
Philippines, will be further discussed later.
The global impact of K-pop is astounding. Before global recognition,
it started along the peripheries of South Korea. East Asia was the
first potential market for K-pop. China’s growing economic rate was
accelerating. And Japan had a faster-growing economy compared to
the West in the late 1990s to early 2000s ( Jacobson, 2021). Then it tested
the waters beginning early 2010s, K-pop moved further down south,
penetrating markets in Southeast Asia before gaining wide recognition in
the Americas and Europe (KCIS 2011). Southeast Asia caught wind of hallyu
(한류) in general, K-pop in particular because of the rise of globalization and
the impact of the internet’s digital connectivity (Passaris, 2017). This was taken
advantage of by the Korean government who supported various industries
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in exporting K-pop culture in every corner of the world (Shim, 2006; KCIS,
2011; Oh, 2013). To borrow the definitions of Harvey (1990) and Jameson (1996),
The first question is how did K-pop come to dominate the ‘Asian market’
so easily? While the present goal of K-pop, as a global phenomenon, is
to conquer the ‘US market,’ K-pop has been successful in dominating the
‘Asian market’ through a conventional strategy called “localization” (Kyung,
2020). Localization is K-pop’s strategy to push its talents (or idols) to flexibly
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familiarize and meet the demands of a particular target market (Kim and Park,
2 Some K-pop groups use abbreviations and English language translations of their Korean
names for their international fans for easy familiarization. For example, 우주소녀 (ujusonyeo)
uses the short form “WJSN” or English translation “Cosmic Girls” for their promotions, instead.
This strategy will also be adopted by budding Filipino idol groups.
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spend more time and consume media content on the internet than in
traditional media like television and radio (Chua, 2021). In addition to that,
various Korean acts, from K-pop groups to K-drama actors, were regularly
showcased in Manila through concerts and fan meetings (Capistrano, 2019).
The study of Capistrano (2019) even showed that Filipinos were spending a
good amount of money to keep up with their fandom. This money is spent
on music albums, supplementary merchandise, and concert tickets. The
Philippines has been a consistent destination for K-pop concerts. Despite
soft-power (Nye, 2004) strategies of K-drama and K-pop, why is Korean
culture more culturally acceptable than other pop culture available within
the peripheries? Through comparative analysis, Ha (2017) suggested that
South Korea may appear to be more recognizable to other Asian countries
like the Philippines because of its model of economic success and absence
of such “original sin” of hegemonic cultures and imperial militaristic
tendencies, something which China and Japan have exhibited in the past.3
In terms of competition with the local industry in the Philippines, recent
data shows that K-pop is in close competition with OPM (Original Pilipino
Music). Filipinos prefer K-pop when listening to upbeat music, while OPM
for slow songs such as acoustic ones (Sinay, 2019). This only shows that local
pop music in the Philippines is relatively weak to contest with Filipinos’
preference for a large variety of K-pop music offerings. Some factors worth
considering are that K-pop groups are more dynamic and the amount of
media content (music shows, album promotions, participation in variety shows) they
produce for public consumption are diverse. Compared to Filipino pop-
singers who are limited to releasing songs online and performing only in
3 Japan had committed war crimes and atrocities in the Philippines during the Second World
War. For example, the issue of Filipino “comfort women” persists. China, on the other hand,
continues the assertive presence and harassment of Filipino fishermen within Filipino territory
in the West Philippine Sea.
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local television noontime shows (Kim, 2016; Capistrano, 2019). Despite language
barriers, K-pop is a total package in terms of artistic content. From music
production to performances, K-pop is good at communicating to its con-
sumers what it entails to offer (Ryu et al., 2018). Not to mention the hardship
stories faced by rookie K-pop talents in their journey from debut to early
stages of success. In other words, K-pop is not only about the music but
the underlying elements surrounding it. However, it must be noted that
the only difference between K-pop and OPM is the amount of content
dedicated for fan consumption. Another factor is the support that K-pop
has been receiving from the Korean government and other encompassing
industries in order to help K-pop achieve its local and global goals.
Nevertheless, OPM is still striving to keep up in the Philippines’ local music
industry through digital platforms. Unlike K-pop, however, OPM is far from
traversing the national borders (Beltran, 2018; Rappler, 2020).
2020). Schweighart is only one of the thousands of Filipinos who are still
suspicious of the influence of K-pop toward “Filipino identity.”
To define or describe Filipino culture and identity is difficult or perhaps
impossible. Before the arrival of the Europeans, pre-colonial settlers in the
Philippine islands were deeply influenced by Malay, Chinese, and Indian
cultures. Economic, linguistic, political, and religious elements were shared
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between mainland and island Southeast Asia (Agoncillo, 2012; Scott, 2015; Abinales
and Amoroso, 2017). Then came the colonization by Spain, the United States,
and Japan. Despite being modeled according to different foreign societal
structures, Filipino culture and identity flourished significantly. This Filipino
colonial experience of colonial oppression, the tradition of struggle,
is credited to give birth to the idea of Filipino identity and national
consciousness (Constantino, 1976, 1978; Mulder, 1997; Hau, 2017; Javellana, 2017).
shows that P-pop is still exclusive and not yet ready to abandon its national
identity roots. K-pop, on the other hand, has boundaries between its tradi-
tional and modern music. In South Korea, traditional music remains an
agent of Korean national identity, while K-pop music is progressive and
has its own standards (Fullwood, 2018). Traditional ones are still alive and
practice today in South Korea. Unlike in the Philippines, traditional music
is hardly heard, so there is a longing for this, which results in the revival of
its elements in P-pop. There are also differences in terms of the intensity
of training. Almost all K-pop idol groups undergo years of training. P-pop
groups, on the other hand, debut with less than a year of training (Seabrook,
Shim (2006) has argued along the same lines. Rather than a crisis of
national identity, K-pop catalyzed manufacturing a branch of contemporary
Filipino cultural nationalism in this age of globalization. Filipinos have
used K-pop culture, hence, innovated something from it and claimed that
thing as their own. In the same way, how Koreans utilized the dominating
Western influence, Filipinos mimic the dominating Korean culture and
engraved local elements to it. This mimicry, according to Bhabha (1994), is a
result of ‘cultural collisions’ that result in hybridity. This is in contrast to the
arguments of Igno and Cenidoza (2016) that reasoned the rising popularity
of K-pop in the Philippines posits challenges to ‘Filipino cultural identity’
and claimed that the exercise of soft-power can be counterproductive. Oh
(2013), however, rejects the idea that the global success of K-pop is because
of cultural hybridity. He cites the unique development of K-pop culture
and that it endemically progressed in South Korea. To which, deliberately,
in juxtapose to the idea that K-pop was a consequence of the West’s
cultural dominance (Shim 2011a, 2011b). Nevertheless, the success of K-pop
in the Philippines and the founding of a new type of popular culture like
P-pop validates the argument on cultural hybridity (Shim, 2006, 2011a, 2011b).
why the country was put under authoritarian rule from 1972 to 1986.4
This could only mean that Filipinos, behaviorally and politically, pursued a
more liberal, impartial, and welcoming vision toward ideas and influences
transgressing the national borders beginning in 1986. The relationship of
nationalism and pop culture in the Philippines, however, needs further
study but as Joo (2011) suggests, in South Korea, there exists a “surge
of national pride in Korean popular culture” through its transnational
recognition and visibility.
Thus, globalization has been a moving factor in popular culture.
The advancing digital technology and increasing capitalism make the
transnationalism of culture convenient. As mentioned earlier, even though
globalization poses a threat to national cultures, local ones will continue
“to exist and cross-fertilize each other,” as history showed us (Vanham,
2018). Recent data shared publicly by streaming site YouTube showed that
Filipinos still patronize OPM. Home-grown Filipino rapper ‘Flow G’ topped
the list on YouTube’s top trending music videos for 2020 with his hit single
“Araw Araw Love” (Everyday Love). K-pop girl group BLACKPINK’s “How
You Like That” and “Ice Cream” were placed second and third, while
globally famous K-pop boy group BTS’ “Dynamite” took only the fourth
spot (Rappler, 2020). This only proves that Filipinos despite their obsession
with K-pop music, a majority still frequent local ones.
4 Former President Ferdinand Marcos declared martial law in 1972 to control and stop the
growing left-wing nationalism perpetrated by the Communist Party of the Philippines. Marcos,
however, used such emergency power to push for his right-wing nation-building project
called “The New Society.”
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V. Conclusion
As of 2021, there are at least five (5) home-grown idol groups in the
Philippines. These groups have their distinct local concepts, but as
mentioned earlier, they still embody K-pop elements in their style. The
good and wide reception being received by these groups clearly show
that P-pop has room to progress and grow despite elements of customarily
copying K-pop. Cultures, after all, are dynamic and shared. The age of
globalization, however, still poses challenges to the survival and long-term
sustainability of culture. But to worry about the “loss of [cultural] authenticity
is as old a phenomenon as the generation gap itself,” as Mulder (2013)
posits. The future of P-pop is less than uncertain, except that it exhibits
chances to grow as a regional and global sensation (Benjamin, 2020). And this
early potential of development is credited to the localization of K-pop in
the Philippines. As mentioned earlier, the success of K-pop is because of its
formula of “idol culture” and the immense support it gets from the Korean
government (KCIS, 2011; Seabrook, 2012; Gibson, 2020). These success blueprints
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can also be adopted by P-pop groups and companies, but the question
also of Filipinos being invested in P-pop is another uncertainty.
Overall, as suggested by existing literature and arguments on the matter,
the advancement of K-pop culture in the Philippines in recent history
does not threaten Filipino cultural identity. Rather, it absorbs what it can
learn from K-pop and then produce frameworks from it that are suitable
for Filipinos to make use of. Although, future studies on the relationship
between nationalism and popular culture in the Philippines, both qualitative
and quantitative, are needed to further support the arguments declared
in this study. The possibility of P-pop to emerge as a global phenomenon
in the next decade is as interesting as to how K-pop started in the 1990s.
Summing up, we can conclude that the arguments theorized in this study,
therefore, challenges the underlying negative opinion that K-pop diminishes
other local cultures, particularly Filipino culture and identity.
Submitted: June 10, 2021 | Revised: July 7, 2021 | Accepted: July 30, 2021
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