Do you believe that the Korean wave will successfully make its way to the US? If so, will Korean culture be further exoticized and objectified as "Asian", or will it stand on its own with individuality?

I'm going to be honest, here -- the Korean wave is not really of much concern to me in either direction. I mean, "successfully" is kind of subjective here, because Girls Generation were just on David Letterman. I would personally consider that to be pretty successful, as far as American exposure goes. And it seems that the number of foreign girls coming over to Korea, either to work or to study, because they fell in love with Kpop at some point in their adolescence is increasing exponentially every year.

Do I think it will ever be a common occurrence to turn on the radio in Idaho and hear Big Bang? No. I really don't. But I can't think of more than a handful of bands from any non-English speaking country with which that is a common occurrence. So what can you expect?

Do you know what? Fuck Korean wave, actually. Kpop is not the best that Korea has to offer. What I would really like to see is an explosion in American exposure to Korean food. That, to me, is the real gold that Korea has to offer the world.

As for Americans somehow giving Korea the individual recognition it deserves in regards to its position apart from Asia, again, how many Americans do you know who know the individual nuances which differentiate, say, Norway from Sweden? Or Brazil from Argentina? I'm guessing the ones you know who can tell you the differences there, can also tell you the differences between Korea and Japan or China.

And as for exoticizing and objectifying, unfortunately that's just part and parcel of the importation of foreign cultures. No chance it won't happen, ever, with any culture within any other culture.

But yeah. Korean food is the way forward for Korea I think. I love Big Bang (so netizens and fangirls -- I don't really mean it when I say, "Fuck Korean wave," -- please don't stalk me and ruin my life). But I love an evening of 갈비 and 소주 more.

Ask me anything