It’s interesting how the American media focuses on the threat of North Korea more than the Korean news, I don’t really hear about it too much and the South Koreans don’t seem too concerned about it, or at least not any more than they have for the past 5 decades.
I also like that while Kim Jong Il is the the American news, more and more South Korean pop stars are becoming more popular in America. I just found out a little while ago that Rain, a very popular Korean singer/actor, won the “Biggest Badass” award at the American MTV Movie Awards. It’s interesting and makes me happy. I just watched the newest Wonder Girls music video in English, “Two Different Tears,” and it definitely has potential to be a hit in the United States, if it isn’t already. I was shocked when I found out that Rain won the award because I didn’t know that Ninja Assassin was even popular in America and that Rain was becoming popular.
A few weeks ago I was reading an article in The Korean Times about how the South Korean ice skater, Yu-Na Kim, was going to start doing international promotional work for a company that makes and distributes Korean food. Maybe there will be a Korean restaurant on the East coast of the United States sooner rather than later. Which makes me happy because to be quite honest, a life without tteok pok ki, bibimbop, and kimbop is one not worth living.
Before Lost premiered there had never been a scene with an Asian man kissing a woman on American television. Now, 5 years later or so, Rain is winning Biggest Badass and journalists are commenting on how so many American women find him attractive and the male in Shakira’s music video, “Did it Again,” is of Asian descent. I’m sure there are way more examples of this shift in Western perceptions of Asian men, which is pretty cool.
MaryKate said,
June 9, 2010 at 2:03 am
I do think the points your make and your hopes are well founded.
As an American, I can say for certain that perceptions of Asians in general are more heightened and more complimentary than they used to be … say when I was a child in the 1950′s and after.
Certainly Asian women are often respected for their intelligence and wit; and admired for their beauty and style and grace.
I do think the dismissive and hollow views of Asian men have been changing incrementally for the better and I mark that shift as beginning in the 1970′s with Bruce Lee as the catalyst. Of course, I also know that few Asian men have reached celeb status in the USA except maybe businessmen who’ve gained tremendous wealth in the past few decades.
I do see though more respect for Asian men in little ways. And I think that is important.
Sexism amongst Asian men remains a cultural hurtle for them to overcome themselves though. I hope to see better efforts/results soon.
I am a caucasian Irish American woman with a lifelong interest in Asian cultures. Odd that should be so because I was born and raised in middle America… the Mid-west… and didn’t have any contact with Asians at all when I was growing up. Maybe that is why I developed a curiosity about Asia.
I now live in California and am lucky to have know quite a few Asian people of various ethnicities. I learn a lot from them.