With globalization and the interchange between countries, the modesty
that came with the Confucian and Buddhist culture is no longer
influencing our society. Korea has become 'first world,' even in this area of
life.
Musical videos are very popular in Korea. In the
past the ear was important, now it is the eye. The business world has
taken notice of this shift and is concentrating on producing visuals
that appeal more to the consumer. Writing in the Catholic Times, in
his column on sex in popular culture, the researcher asks us to go to
the internet to view Bo peep Bo peep to get an idea of what he is
saying.
In the musical Bo peep Bo peep, the viewer
experiences the feeling of watching soft porn; the researcher asks why?
This musical is using the grammar of pornography, he says. A gorgeously
decked out women goes to a club where she dances sexually, seduces a man
and they go to a hotel for sex. During sex she looks directly at the
camera on two occasions.
Up until now, he asks, have you ever
seen, on TV or in the movies, the characters staring into the camera?
This is considered a 'no, no' even for an acting novice but when you have a professional
actress looking at the camera, what does it mean? If you ask any middle
school student they will all answer "pornography."
How
is it that the middle school students answer this so quickly? The
researcher tells us this is what they are exposed to daily. Only porno films use this technique to entice the men who are
watching. The makers of these films use this code with exquisiteness.
Unconsciously the middle school students have picked this up rather
quickly.This is now part of the culture we live in. And it is frightful.
This
series on sex in Korean culture will
continue. Porno was always there but not so
publicly accessible. Here in Korea the majority of the citizens still
have difficulty accepting what is happening in the media, and yet the
underlying sexual nature of what we are being exposed to is evident
everywhere, especially in advertizing.
Musical
Videos are just one segment of the visual mass media that is going
through this change; our one world is also changing the traditional
customs of Korea. The country still has her traditional respect for
modesty, and the consensus that pornography is unacceptable,
actually illegal, although easily accessible. There are many in the
society
working against this area of self-expression, but it will not be easy
working against the lucrative business interests of so many.
