Matt at Gusts of Popular Feeling has a great post up about why Korean celebrities seem to be held to high moral standards compared to their Western celebrity counterparts (Americans, at least, pretty much assume their favorite celebs are bad boys or bad girls although some celebrities manage to maintain a squeaky-clean reputation for probity and decency).
Excerpt, quoting Olga Federenko:
...in South Korea, the marketing instrumentality of advertising is subordinated to the ethos of public interest, and both advertising consumers and producers strive for advertising that promotes humanist values and realizes democratic ideals, even if it jeopardizes the commercial interests of advertisers.
This actually explains a lot to me—more than just the question of why Koreans are such prudes about celebrities' personal conduct. I often wonder how and why it is that so many Korean businesses seem less interested in making money and more interested in maintaining some kind of image. If the capitalistic urge is ultimately subordinate to "the ethos of public interest" (which sounds like a cousin of nationalism), then I can see why a taxi driver might pass me by instead of making money by picking me up: it's in the public interest not to help those damn furriners. The same can be said for stores that close earlier than their stated hours (of which there are many): there's something more at play, here, than the urge to make money. It's enough to make me wonder how capitalism works at all in South Korea. Obviously, as the Ancient One accused Doctor Strange of doing, I'm merely peering through a keyhole at Korean society: I'm far from grasping the whole picture.
Olga is a colleague and friend of mine here at SNU. She has a new book out this year on advertising in Korea, although I forgot what the title is. Ah, but Google is your friend: Flower of Capitalism: South Korean Advertising at a Crossroads. I will confess that I haven't read it yet. I'll have to ask Olga if she has any spare copies lying around.
ReplyDeleteIncidentally, I don't think the taxi driver passing you by is a good example of the "ethos of public interest" trumping the profit motive. That seems to me more like an individual choice--and, in fairness, probably the right choice, given how truly terrifying you are. Seriously, though, that's just prejudice trumping self-interest. No need to think about it on the national level.
You may be right, but the taxi thing has happened more times than I can count. Some of it is probably innocent: a taxi driver goes on break or has a shift change right as he's approaching me. But a lot of it probably isn't. Very often, the cabbie sees me gesturing, and in response, he flips on his 휴무 or 예약 sign. In some cases, the driver doesn't even bother using a sign as an excuse: he just drives right by me, deliberately ignoring me.
ReplyDeleteNow, that's a lot of cabbies making "individual choices," and to me, that adds up to something, almost as if a significant sector of cab drivers are really willing to give up a fare to avoid helping the foreigner. Almost as if, for these cabbies, it's like cleaving to a policy not to help. So you can see how, with the behavior being so consistent and widespread, I might see the situation in nationalistic terms. After all, in a place like Korea where race and nationality are often conflated, it's hard to separate racism from nationalism.
Or maybe you're right, and I'm just seeing individual choices that, over the course of time, and as the number of incidents mounts, all start to feel like a not-so-subtle racism.
At least we can agree that something is trumping the urge to make money in that moment, ja? This is why I saw Olga's quote as clarifying.
Taxi drivers were one of my biggest pet peeves when I lived in Seoul. Trying to get a cab to stop, especially late at night in Itaewon, was an exercise in frustration.
ReplyDeleteI guess from a taxi driver's perspective, there are plenty of Korean fares up the road, so why deal with a foreigner who hasn't learned the language and is potentially a drunk troublemaker.