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Pop Goes Korea
Behind the Revolution in Movies, Music, and Internet Culture (Paperback)
by Mark James Russell
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| June 10, 2009 Posted by Mark Russell at 9:49 AM via koreapopwars.com Back in February, I mentioned the HIP KOREA documentary on Discovery Channel, a program about the singer Rain and modern Korean culture in which I was involved.
Well, now it is time for episode 2 of HIP KOREA — SEOUL SAVVY, featuring the actor Lee Byung-hun. In many ways, HIP KOREA 2 is the prequel to the Rain episode, as this episode goes back and examines the changes Korea went through during the 1990s and into the 21st century. Rain is about where Korea is now, but Lee Byung-hun looks at how Korea got here. It turns out that Lee Byung-hun is a pretty good conduit for that story — he first made it big in 1992/3, around the time Korea got its first civilian president. He made JSA in 2000, at the same time as the North-South Summit between the Koreas. He starred in a couple of huge TV dramas that helped spark the boom of Korean TV dramas around Asia (aka Hallyu). And he starred in a couple of really big movies (A BITTERSWEET LIFE and THE GOOD, THE BAD, THE WEIRD) that showcased how far Korean movies and society have come along. I am quite excited to finally have this going on the air — it was a lot of work and took nearly a year to make. Actually, considering how Lee Byung-hun is a fairly substantial chapter in my book, POP GOES KOREA, you could say I have been working on this episode for years. So I hope you have the time to check it out. |
About the Author courtesy Amazon.com
Mark Russell has been living in Korea since 1996. His articles about Korean and Asian culture have appeared in Newsweek, The New York Times, The International Herald-Tribune and many other publications. He is currently the Korea/Japan Bureau Chief for Asia Movie Week magazine.
“Mr. Russell’s book is the first by a non-Korean to explain the rise of Korea’s entertainment industries….the book could hardly be more approachable.”—Wall Street Journal Continue reading ‘KPop treat to Read’
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