Someone showed me a youtube video about Korean dramas recently, and it kind of made me think about how different types of culture are stereotyped....
Although I am an avid fan of Korean dramas and don't think ALL of them are as nigahiga says they are, I must admit, to a lot of people, they must seem that way.
The type of drama that he describes in this video really is what people think of first when they hear "KOREAN DRAMA," and a lot of people laugh at me for loving Kdrama, maybe because they think i'm obsessed with sob-stories and whatnot. But the thing is, these shows aren't all actual dramas--there's a lot of mystery genre, horror, war stories, historicals, whatever!!
Being at the receiving end of a stereotype really makes me wonder what stereotypes I might have myself about other things that i'm not even aware of.....
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Being a 1.5
Being part of the 1.5 generation in America is a weird thing, in my opinion. I suppose it's interesting, because it DOES give me both a familiar and foreign view of both Korean and American cultures. It works like this:
Originally, I used to draw a really heavy line between my Korean life and American life. Korea stayed at home, and only in the home, and when I was outside, I tried to be all-American. It was kind of difficult, actually. Cultures aren't really meant to be blocked off like that, are they? There were a lot of times the two seemed to overlap for me, which kind of left me confused and unsure about what to do when I thought only possibilities were going all-Korean or all-American.
A lot of the time, especially early on, I looked down on people who acted really Korean "outside," when they talked about Korean music, TV, people, etc. Since I went to a mostly White elementary school, I totally didn't know about any of these things, and it made me feel pretty clueless. Whenever I saw Korean people being more Korean than me, I'd think, We live in AMERICAAAAAA not Korea! It bugged me the most when people would talk in Korean so that no one else around them understood what they were talking about.....
On the other hand, I ended up getting caught up in Korean music and dramas later on, when I entered a middle school with a much larger Asian population, and especially in high school, when my Korean got better from watching so much TV :). After getting to know more of Korean pop culture, I found myself being one of those Korean Kids who brought up Kpop when meeting other Koreans for the first time. It was an amazingly easy way to get to know people quickly. It was kind of a special commonality I had with the people I brought it up with, since most other people in America didn't really know about Kpop.
Overall, now, I think my Koreanness and Americanness should be kept in balance. Denying any part of my heritage or learned culture would really be dishonest, but at the same time, I don't want to exclude anyone with a cultural wall. And perhaps, then, instead of seeing disadvantages, I can see the benefits of both being Korean AND being American. :D
Originally, I used to draw a really heavy line between my Korean life and American life. Korea stayed at home, and only in the home, and when I was outside, I tried to be all-American. It was kind of difficult, actually. Cultures aren't really meant to be blocked off like that, are they? There were a lot of times the two seemed to overlap for me, which kind of left me confused and unsure about what to do when I thought only possibilities were going all-Korean or all-American.
A lot of the time, especially early on, I looked down on people who acted really Korean "outside," when they talked about Korean music, TV, people, etc. Since I went to a mostly White elementary school, I totally didn't know about any of these things, and it made me feel pretty clueless. Whenever I saw Korean people being more Korean than me, I'd think, We live in AMERICAAAAAA not Korea! It bugged me the most when people would talk in Korean so that no one else around them understood what they were talking about.....
On the other hand, I ended up getting caught up in Korean music and dramas later on, when I entered a middle school with a much larger Asian population, and especially in high school, when my Korean got better from watching so much TV :). After getting to know more of Korean pop culture, I found myself being one of those Korean Kids who brought up Kpop when meeting other Koreans for the first time. It was an amazingly easy way to get to know people quickly. It was kind of a special commonality I had with the people I brought it up with, since most other people in America didn't really know about Kpop.
Overall, now, I think my Koreanness and Americanness should be kept in balance. Denying any part of my heritage or learned culture would really be dishonest, but at the same time, I don't want to exclude anyone with a cultural wall. And perhaps, then, instead of seeing disadvantages, I can see the benefits of both being Korean AND being American. :D
Sunday, April 10, 2011
First Post
!!!!
I am starting my blog for Intercultural Communications....
....so I suppose I should kind of introduce it, or talk about things that culturally affect me?
I think one topic that might come up for me a lot while writing this blog is kind of the dichotomy that exists for me when I live in the US as a Korean citizen. I don't think I ever thought about it in terms of intercultural communication specifically and consciously. Mainly, it was just something that I encountered everyday, so I got used to it. But that's the point, right? It's everywhere.
Sometimes, when there's a situation that seems to affect just me as a Korean, I notice it more. For instance, a lot of my friends tell me they think my mom is rrreally strict. And I agree! No sleepovers, no going out for fun on weekdays, and if anyone is going to come over, I better clean the house for five hours the day before they come. And when I tell my mom about it, like "Hey, Mom, most people don't care if our house has absolutely NO DUST in it...." her response is complete surprise or a semi-resistance. "We're Korean. So we will be living by Korean rules."
Okay. It makes me wonder how possible it is for someone to take on two cultures at once. Acculturation happens for everyone, I'm sure, but to what degree? For my mom, her Korean values are going strong. i think the only thing she's paaartially adjusted to is American food. And some language. but for me, from going to school and things like that, I've adopted a lot of American ideas! I like the idea of Individualism, I like a lot of the US justice system, and I'm used to US emphasis on being "well-rounded": studying coupled with sports, hobbies, community service, other things. I think I'm almost half and half, but it's to a point where I start thinking that I'm getting quite hypocritical. I like the Korean tradition of being highly respectful to elders, I think it's nice, but when I argue with my Mom she says I've become Americanized and that I don't know how to respect elders at all.....That sort of thing kind of tells me that I might have the wrong perception of the Korean values I like.....
But hopefully this sort of thing will clear up as I think about it more in the context of intercultural communication? :)
I am starting my blog for Intercultural Communications....
....so I suppose I should kind of introduce it, or talk about things that culturally affect me?
I think one topic that might come up for me a lot while writing this blog is kind of the dichotomy that exists for me when I live in the US as a Korean citizen. I don't think I ever thought about it in terms of intercultural communication specifically and consciously. Mainly, it was just something that I encountered everyday, so I got used to it. But that's the point, right? It's everywhere.
Sometimes, when there's a situation that seems to affect just me as a Korean, I notice it more. For instance, a lot of my friends tell me they think my mom is rrreally strict. And I agree! No sleepovers, no going out for fun on weekdays, and if anyone is going to come over, I better clean the house for five hours the day before they come. And when I tell my mom about it, like "Hey, Mom, most people don't care if our house has absolutely NO DUST in it...." her response is complete surprise or a semi-resistance. "We're Korean. So we will be living by Korean rules."
Okay. It makes me wonder how possible it is for someone to take on two cultures at once. Acculturation happens for everyone, I'm sure, but to what degree? For my mom, her Korean values are going strong. i think the only thing she's paaartially adjusted to is American food. And some language. but for me, from going to school and things like that, I've adopted a lot of American ideas! I like the idea of Individualism, I like a lot of the US justice system, and I'm used to US emphasis on being "well-rounded": studying coupled with sports, hobbies, community service, other things. I think I'm almost half and half, but it's to a point where I start thinking that I'm getting quite hypocritical. I like the Korean tradition of being highly respectful to elders, I think it's nice, but when I argue with my Mom she says I've become Americanized and that I don't know how to respect elders at all.....That sort of thing kind of tells me that I might have the wrong perception of the Korean values I like.....
But hopefully this sort of thing will clear up as I think about it more in the context of intercultural communication? :)
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