Globalisation Gangnam-Style

HANG SON DOONG, VIETNAM

PHOTOGRAPH BY MATTHIAS HAUSER, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC YOUR SHOT

Illuminare: A Student Journal in Recreation, Parks, and Tourism Studies

Globalisation Gangnam-style: The domination of Gangnam- style in touristic online representations Friedericke Kuhn Meia Else van der Zee Wageningen University and Research Online Publication Date: June 13, 2017 Publication details, instructions for authors, and subscription information can be found at http://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/illuminare/

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Volume 15, Issue 1, pages 70-85, 2017 ISSN: 2158-9070 online Indiana University, Department of Recreation, Park, and Tourism Studies

Globalisation Gangnam-style: The domination of Gangnam-style in touristic online representations

Friedericke Kuhn Meia Else van der Zee Cultural Geography Cultural Geography Wageningen University and Research Center Wageningen University and Research Center 6708 PB 6708 PB Wageningen, Netherlands Wageningen, Netherlands

Abstract This article presents cultural globalisation as a highly uneven and selective process, seeing that the exact nature of this “selectivity” of which cultural elements become globalised has not been intensively studied yet. In the case of online representations of places for the purpose of attracting tourists, certain place-schemata are selected to represent the destination and become globalised, while others are left behind. This study set out to analyze what global processes have allowed the Gangnam-style representation of the Gangnam district in Seoul to dominate its touristic online representation, while traditional heritage of the district which includes a UNESCO heritage site has become subsumed in terms of importance for representing the district online. The article draws on scholars of cultural globalisation such as Appadurai (1990), Harvey (1990) and Ritzer (2002) as well as empirical findings around Gangnam-style and the Gangnam district to analyze these processes of selective globalisation. We found that Gangnam-style becomes easily globalised through its fluid nature, being able to freely move through space and time, as well as being largely devoid of distinct content, which renders it more feasible for purposes of globalisation in this period of the globalisation of nothing. Gangnam-style also represents a certain a lifestyle that fits well into global consumer culture, as it promotes consumption and can easily become commoditized. Because traditional heritage on the other hand still travels “slowly” through time and space and is full of distinct local meanings and less easily commoditized, it is a less feasible place-scheme for representing Gangnam online to tourists. We discuss the implication of this drawing on the theory of the Tourist Gaze 3.0, as well as how the findings relate to authenticity and intra-Asian travel. ______Keywords: cultural globalisation; online representations; Gangnam-style; heritage; lifestyle; commodification. 72 Kuhn & van der Zee/ GLOBALISATION GANGNAM-STYLE

The relations between tourism and globalisation. The increase in tourist arrivals shortly after sation have been examined by numerous tourism the publication of the song suggests a relationship scholars, whereat a focus has often been set on between the increasing international popularity of cultural dimensions of increasing global intercon- Gangnam due to media representations and the nectedness and flows of information and materials growing interest of tourists travelling to South Ko- (Cohen & Cohen, 2015; Meethan, 2003; Nijman, rea (Visit Seoul, 2015). The Gangnam district that 1999; Rowe, 2006). Scholars have also empha- the song refers to is considered ultra-modern, with sized a tight relation between communication tech- its shopping and entertainment areas as main at- nologies and the movements of cultural elements tractions for residents and tourists. Psy’s pop song (Nijman, 1999, p. 148; Sheller & Urry, 2006). The has become a flagship example for the emerging usage of communication technologies is of signifi- lifestyle and culture of Seoul’s young population cant importance for the tourism industry, as the as well as the rapid growth in popularity of Korean online representations of destinations serve to cre- pop culture (Park, 2015). Following the global suc- ate unique place-identities and to attract as many cess of Gangnam-style, the city of Seoul has taken tourists as possible (Morgan, Pritchard & Piggott, many initiatives to capitalize on this success and 2002, p. 286). These online representations of des- promote tourism using the Gangnam-style repre- tinations typically consist of a number of stereo- sentation of the district. Examples for this are the typed or simplified aspects of a place or culture creation of a tourism police force entirely dressed and create an individual profile of a destination, in Gangnam-style uniforms (Cripps, 2013) and the resulting in specific expectations of tourists (Kim plan to build a statue honoring Psy’s iconic “horse & Chen, 2015, p. 155). Such stereotyped aspects dance” (BBC, 2015). In this BBC news report, of place and culture are called “place schema- Gangnam tourism director Park Hee-Soo is quoted, ta” (Kim & Chen, p. 157), which “consist of phys- saying that “tourists can take pictures under the ical, social, cultural and structural information statue and the song will play automatically when along with purposive and affective attachment of you stand there” (BBC, 2015). This illustrates the place” (p. 157). In other words, some simplistic importance of Gangnam-style to the strategy of the views of a place and its inhabiting people are se- tourism director to promote tourism in the district. lected and assembled by tour operators in order to In this way, tourists are led to focus more on the establish a particular online representation of a Gangnam-style representation of the Gangnam dis- place for the purpose of tourism advertisements. trict and Seoul at large, while mostly disregarding The South-Korean capital Seoul has expe- the cultural heritage sites that are also present. In rienced increasing tourist arrivals in the last dec- other words, Gangnam-style has come to dominate ade, with tourist arrivals reaching an all-time high the online representations of the district (Cripps, 2013; Richmond, 2012; Visit Seoul, 2013). in August 2014 (Visit Seoul, 2013; Korea Tourism Organisation, 2016). This increase in tourist arri- The Lonely Planet describes the district of vals occurred shortly after the release of the song Gangnam as “associated with expensive real estate “Gangnam-style” from the pop-artist Psy, a name and upmarket shopping and partying in chic neigh- that refers to the Gangnam district of Seoul. With borhoods such as Apgujeong and Cheong- over 2.5 billion views on YouTube, Psy’s pop- dam” (Richmond, 2012). This was not always the song can be considered a global social media sen- case, as Gangnam was considered the least devel-

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oped district of the city before the 1970s (Seung- trict to dominate its touristic online representation, hye & Park Eun-jee, 2012). The district also holds while traditional heritage of the district has be- significant heritage sites such as the Samneung come subsumed in terms of importance for repre- Park and Bongeunsa temple. Heritage, particularly senting the district online?” built heritage, forms an important reason for tour- Backgrounds of the Article ists to visit a location and is often used to market locations (Yang, Lin & Han, 2010). According to The following paragraphs will outline the Nuryanti (1996) “heritage tourism offers opportu- conceptual backgrounds of this article. First, con- nities to portray the past in the present. It provides temporary notions of popular culture and the an infinite time and space in which the past can be Gangnam lifestyle will be presented. Second, the experienced through the prism of the endless pos- uneven and selective character of cultural globali- sibilities of interpretation” (p. 250). It is generally sation will be identified by reviewing major glob- believed that UNESCO heritage sites in particular alisation theories. Third, the concept of “lifestyle” are a panacea to increase tourist arrivals at a desti- will be examined, and its relation to cultural glob- nation (Yang, Lin & Han, 2010). alisation will be analyzed. This sets ground for the further study of the selective nature of cultural In more recent years, scholars in the field globalisation using the example of Gangnam herit- have seen a need to focus their efforts on the mu- age and Gangnam-style. tual impacts of globalisation and heritage tourism, noting for instance the impact of the ever increas- Popular culture and Gangnam lifestyle ing spread of free-market capitalist globalisation Psy’s “Gangnam-style” is a good example on the marketing and experience of local heritage, of what can be characterized as “popular culture” both built and intangible (Park, 2014). These inter- which is conceptualized as “mass culture” from the relations between globalisation and tourism can people, for the people by Williams (1983, in Sto- hardly be overstated. In the words of McGrew rey, 2009). Popular culture is often perceived as a (1992, p. 63 as cited in Park, 2014, p. 122): “In a Western phenomenon, however Asian popular cul- shrinking world, where transnational relations, net- ture experienced an immense growth in recogni- works, activities and interconnections of all kinds tion since the 1990s. In South Korea, this new transcend national boundaries, it is increasingly emerging form of culture is termed hallyu or K- difficult to ‘understand local or national destinies,’ pop, and plays a significant role for the self- without reference to global forces.” understanding of the younger Korean generations This article aims to contribute to our under- (Jin & Yoon, 2014). Although originally regarded standing of the global processes involved in select- solely as an intra-Asian sociocultural phenomenon, ing some and disregarding other elements of a lo- K-pop also experiences success outside of Asia. cal culture for global touristic representations, Recently, a “New Korean wave” has been identi- thereby adding to our understanding of the mutual fied and termed Hallyu 2.0, as it is characterized ways in which globalisation and tourism influence by “the significant role of social media in media each other to renegotiate global and local culture. production and consumption,” the “penetration [...] To this end, the main research question of this arti- in the Western markets” and “its global reach” (Jin cle is “what global processes have allowed the & Yoon, 2014, p. 2). Using this description, Gang- Gangnam-style representation of the Gangnam dis- nam-style can be seen as a quintessential example

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of Hallyu 2.0. technological innovations have “generated repeat- The name of the song, “Gangnam-style” ed rounds of change in the fabric of time and refers to the lifestyle that is commonly associated space” (Warf, 2011, p. 145) and accelerated the with the Gangnam-district, namely one of wealth, movements of capital, culture, information, materi- status, consumerism, partying and drinking expen- als and people. Harvey describes “the general sive coffee (Fischer, 2012). In the English transla- speed-up and acceleration of turnover time tion of the lyrics it becomes clear that Psy de- of” (Harvey, 1990, p. 418) culture, politics, capital scribes a typical “Gangnam girl” as “a classy girl and materials, and terms this phenomenon “time- who know how to enjoy the freedom of a cup of space compression” or the “annihilation of space coffee. A girl whose heart gets hotter when night by time” (p. 418). Cultural knowledge about places comes” and himself as the perfect guy for this type is hereby unfixed in spatial and temporal contexts of girl (Acuna, 2012). Gangnam-style can be seen and can traverse boundaries to become a global- as a lifestyle culture in accordance with Hallyu ised aspect of international social reality. Especial- 2.0, which generally popularizes consumerist cul- ly intangible cultural elements such as music, ture in Korea (Shim, 2006). The notion of life- dance or literature are highly mobile in combina- styles is becoming increasingly important for self- tion with the growing importance of communica- identity construction (Peters, 2010), so Gangnam tion technologies, and therefore have a high capac- lifestyle as part of Hallyu 2.0 popular culture is an ity of traversing traditionally restricting boundaries element of the construction of collective identity in of space and time. Harvey states that human geog- Seoul. To illustrate this collective identity of the raphers are increasingly concerned with “the whole Gangnam district to tourists, the emerging lifestyle conundrum of the changing experience of space of its popular culture is used within online repre- and time in social life and social reproduc- sentations of Gangnam. In this article, “Gangnam- tion” (Harvey, 1990, p. 432) and therefore estab- style” is used both to refer to the song by Psy, and lishes a relationship between the time-space com- the lifestyle of Gangnam it represents. pression and cultural constructions of meanings. The Uneven Nature of Cultural Globalisation The cultural anthropologist Arjun Appadurai (1990) also sets a main focus on the cultural di- The study of cultural globalisation has mensions of globalisation and further identifies a been concerned with the increased mobility of cul- strong relationship between the acceleration of cultural elements across time and space and the inten- ture through media and technological innovations. sified interconnectedness between all aspects of He relies on the concept of de-territorialisation re- social life worldwide (Meethan, 2003, p. 11). In garding the establishment of collective identities of this section, we will illustrate the uneven and se- groups and questions the traditional idea that the lective character of cultural globalisation in order formation of culture and identity is shaped by geo- to establish a framework for the understanding of a graphical borders or the nation state. Moreover, he globalised online representation of the Gangnam infers that “people and ideas are continuously lifestyle. flowing and coming into contact with each other Harvey (1990) examined the social construction of around the globe” (Ampuja, 2011, p. 291) and es- the notion of time and space in today’s globalising tablishes media and communication technologies world. He suggests that the on-going social and as one of the central constituents of a collective

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cultural identity (p.291). He conceptualises this On the other hand, cultural elements with charac- phenomenon with the term “mediascapes” which teristic local and temporal content are “likely to be delineate the global distribution of information, rejected by at least some cultures and societies be- movements of cultural elements and the shaping of cause the content is more likely to conflict with images of the world through a global media net- [other] local content” (Ritzer & Ryan, 2002, n.p.) work (Appadurai, 1990; Jin & Yoon, 2014). The and is therefore not as easily globalised. global movement of culture and its implications on Harvey’s compression of space and time, geographical imagination of people through global Appadurai’s mediascapes as the transmitter and media hereby appears as a major motive in cultural building block of collective cultural identities, and globalisation theory (Appadurai, 1990). Ritzer’s globalisation of nothing suggest that there Robertson (2001) and Ritzer and Ryan is an uneven and selective nature of cultural glob- (2002) identify two opposite movements of global- alisation. While certain cultural elements are ism and localism, therefore reintroducing the im- “accelerated in space and time” and become part of portance of spatial aspects for globalisation, and the global geographical imagination of a place, termed this dual process “glocalisation” (Nijman, other cultural aspects are not picked up by globali- 1999, p. 150). “Globalisation may simultaneously sation movements and therefore never become part lead to dilution of local culture [...] and to a deep- of this geographical imagination about place. The ening of particularity” (p. 150), so cultural ele- following will give some examples of cultural elements of a place can be strengthened and carried ments that appear to exceed traditional spatiotem- out into global social reality on one hand. On the poral boundaries easily, and others that seem to be other hand, aspects can be “left behind” and be in more closely linked to spatiotemporal contexts. danger of fading into oblivion. Hereby, Ritzer The Growing Importance of “Lifestyle” and Its makes a clear distinction of cultural forms which Feasibility for Globalisation are loaded with content and those which are “empty forms that are centrally conceived and Social identities are increasingly estab- controlled and relatively devoid of distinctive con- lished through lifestyle and consumption patterns tent” (Ritzer & Ryan, 2002, n.p.). The authors con- (Peters, 2010), so the emerging popular culture ceptualise elements which are “lacking in distinc- related lifestyle of Gangnam can be seen as an im- tive substance,” illustrate “no local ties,” are portant aspect of identity construction in Seoul. “timeless,” “generic” and “dehumanised” (Ritzer The following paragraph defines the concept of & Ryan, 2002, n.p ) as “nothing,” and establish an “lifestyle” as it is used for the purpose of this arti- “elective affinity” (Ritzer & Ryan, 2002, n.p) be- cle, and establishes a relation between lifestyle and tween globalisation and “nothing.” Hereby, “the cultural globalisation. basic argument is that globalisation is bringing Lifestyles “comprise clusters of everyday with it the worldwide spread of nothing- practices that are situated in various arenas of con- ness” (Ritzer & Ryan, 2002, n.p). This illustrates sumption and are arranged in relatively consistent that globalisation is an uneven process in which and coherent ways” and “work as means to organ- only specific cultural forms, mainly those lacking ize a sense of personal identity and self- distinctive content, become accelerated through expression” (Giddens, 1991 in Dobering & Stagl, space and time to become a part of a global reality. 2015, p. 452). Consumption patterns therefore be-

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come a main aspect of how individuals construct style as a lifestyle will be analyzed regarding its their self-identity, self-understanding and further feasibility for globalising movements and its impli- express their “selves” (Waters, 1995, p. 140). Life- cations for touristic online representations. styles therefore aid the construction of a Analyzing the Selective Process of Globalising “personally meaningful identity in the context of a Gangnam collective identity” (Haenfler et al., 2012, p. 5). These consumption lifestyles, like for example In the following, the selective nature of cul- vegetarianism, “green” lifestyles and even the tural globalisation will be examined using the ex- emerging Gangnam lifestyle can be acted out by ample of Gangnam heritage in contrast to the no- individuals all over the world and only seldom rely tion of Gangnam-style. First, the fluid nature of the on a specific temporal or local context. The crea- Gangnam-style as opposed to the static nature of tion of a community of meaning (Cohen, 1985 in Gangnam heritage will be elucidated on using Cas- Haenfler et al., 2012, p. 4) that people identify tells’ theory of flows (2000) and Harvey’s theory with is of crucial importance, rather than the iden- of space-time compression (1990). Subsequently, tification through mere geographical borders or a Gangnam-style will be analyzed through the lens period of time (Haenfler, 2012). Of course, spatial of the globalisation of nothing (Robertson, 2001; and temporal frames are not inherently excluded in Ritzer & Ryan 2002). Third, the notion of global the construction of such lifestyle movements, but consumer culture (Waters, 1995) and lifestyle will they play minor roles for the establishment of a be set into relation. At last, the global media will coherent lifestyle. In the case of Gangnam-style, be presented as a new space for the representation the main points of coherence constitute economic of cultural images, which has led to an on-going wealth, high social status, consumerism and party- production of imaginations of Gangnam amongst ing (Fischer, 2012), while the specific context of tourists. life in Gangnam plays a secondary role. The Fluid Nature of the Gangnam Lifestyle Even though lifestyles are often part of a There seems to be a difference between modern trend or social movement, they are often Gangnam-style and the traditional cultural heritage not specifically dependent on a temporal frame with regards to their ability to move through space and can become part of social identity construction and time, which leads to touristic online represen- in any era, age or generation. Rather than being tations of Gangnam focusing on the lifestyle unique, lifestyles can also be regarded as what movement rather than built heritage. With his con- Ritzer calls “generic” (Ritzer & Ryan, 2002). The cept of the “network society,” in which rich and chic consumption lifestyle of the promi- “informational networks that shape social organi- nent population of Silicon Valley could, in its es- zations and relationships of production, consump- sence, be related for example to Gangnam-style or tion, power and experience” (Ampuja, 2011, p. “the Rich and Famous” in Dubai. Certainly, these 287) are constantly changing, Castells stresses the lifestyle movements do involve individual contexts importance of global flows of information and ma- of the areas and eras they emerged in and are not terials in globalisation processes. He emphasizes identical, however the essence of a capitalist con- that these global flows “are enabled above all by sumerist culture is comparable within the three- the new [...] media and communications technolo- lifestyle phenomena. In the following, Gangnam- gy” (Ampuja, 2011, p. 289), which he delineates as

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“spaces of flows” (Castells, 2000). tain period of time in the past, Gangnam heritage In his work on geographical imagination, still “travels” slowly through time and space and David Harvey describes the notions of time and has not become part of the modern media portrayal space as socially and culturally constructed reali- of the district of Seoul. This shows that the way in ties, which are hence also subject to social change which online representations Gangnam were con- such as the movement of globalisation. He sug- structed is majorly determined by the fluid nature gests that recently, the movements of information of Gangnam-style, as it became part of spaces of and materials through space and time have been flow of the media and compressed in space and accelerated by technological and capitalist devel- time. Hereby, globalisation is exemplified as a se- opments of a “space-time compression” (Harvey, lective and unequal process, because mainly tech- 1990, p. 419). Time and space are hereby seen as nologically consumable matters are accelerated, constructs of social organization and reproduction, while others such as built heritage appear to be through which groups and individuals make sense more stable and fixed in space and time. of their social reality. Now, as Harvey describes Gangnam-style and the Globalisation of technological innovations as one of the main driv- Nothing ers of space-time compression, and Castells de- Robertson (2001) identified two closely scribes the global media as a “space of related key topics in globalisation theory, namely flow” (Castells, 2000), the advantage of the that of homogeneity-heterogeneity and the global- emerging notion of Gangnam-style to the heritage local and of particular interest is how these two sites becomes apparent. The song “Gangnam- interrelate (Ritzer & Ryan, 2002). Cultural homog- style” as an artefact of popular culture has the ca- enisation refers to the dominance of the global pacity to be exhibited in social media, which facil- over the local, leading to a globally homogenised itated a rapid spread of the new self-understanding culture, while cultural hybridisation or heterogeni- of Seoul’s young population across a broad range zation refers to the dominance of the local over the of people all over the world. This ability to move global, which leads to globally hybrid cultures through space and time through the global media with unique mixes of local and global elements. To as a space of flow renders the emerging lifestyle of what extent processes of cultural globalisation lead the ultramodern city district a suitable element for to either cultural homogenisation or cultural hy- a touristic online representation of Gangnam. bridisation is debatable, and likely the most bal- Gangnam-style can therefore be described as a anced assessments includes both processes (Ritzer “fluid” cultural artefact, which has the ability to & Ryan, 2002). This interplay of cultural homoge- easily be picked up by spaces of flow and become nisation and cultural hybridisation can also be globalised through online media representations. identified in our case of the song “Gangnam- The older, traditional and built heritage of style.” Gangnam-style is characterized by a unique the city district has hereby moved to the back- interplay of aspects of local Korean culture with ground in terms of touristic importance, as it was well-known tropes of “western” global consumer not part of the online representations and social culture, examples of which are discussed below. media hype responsible for the influx of tourists to The argument here is that the cultural homogenous Gangnam. Due to its fixed spatial and temporal aspects of Gangnam-style, namely those that fit dimension and its relations to built sites and cer- into global, largely Western popular culture, are

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more visible and overpower the culturally hybrid of nothing, this makes them particularly difficult to and locally specific aspects. Using the theory of become globalised and thus less likely to dominant the globalisation of nothing, we argue that this the online representations of the district that are dominance of images that are devoid of distinctive going to be attracting tourists. local content have allowed Gangnam-style to be- Lifestyle and Global Consumer Culture come globalised, while the dominance of locally specific and meaningful content makes it difficult According to Kucukemiroglu, Kara, and Harcar for heritage sites to become globalised. (2005): Although set in the specific context of the Lifestyle is how one lives, it is the Gangnam district, the song and video of Gangnam total image one has of him or herself -style very much feature images devoid of distinc- which is a result of how one was so- tive content, and therefore fit Ritzer’s and Ryan’s cialized in his or her culture. It in- theory if the “globalisation of nothing” (2002). cludes the products one buys, how The video for instance focuses on scantily dressed one uses them, how one thinks about women and material wealth, which is a very gener- them and how one feels about them. ic and often used concept in popular music videos (p.212) (Sommers-Flanagan, Sommers-Flanagan & Davis, As discussed earlier, Gangnam-style represents a 1993), and the song features a few equally indis- consumer lifestyle thought to be common for the tinctive lines in English, like “hey sexy lady” and Gangnam district, namely one with an overt focus “you know what I’m saying” while the rest is all in on material possessions, outer appearance, night- Korean. It is easy to see how these well-known life and coffee consumption (Fischer, 2012). This tropes in global popular culture are not likely to be lifestyle fits into a global consumer culture, in conflict with local cultures around the world, but which “consumption becomes the main form of rather easily become accepted as they are devoid self-expression and the chief source of identi- of distinct content. In its form, Gangnam-style is ty” (Waters, 1995, p. 140). not unique to the local culture of Korea and the This contemporary importance of con- same goes for the lifestyle it represents. sumption as a form of self-expression makes On the other hand, local heritage sites fall Gangnam-style a particularly attractive place- into the category of places that are rich in distinct scheme for representing the district, and traditional meaning and content (Ritzer & Ryan, 2002, n.p.). heritage much less so. As material heritage can Heritage sites are unique, full of local ties and re- less easily be commoditised and consumed late to a specific period in time. Local heritage (Kockel & Craith, 2007), it can be argued that in sites of the Gangnam district enjoy a long history highly developed consumer cultures, it has come of many centuries from being built, partly de- to play a less significant role for the creation of a stroyed and repressed in following centuries and local identity and image. Gangnam-style as a cele- finally being restored and preserved again in later bration of global consumer culture on the other centuries. In order to fully understand their im- hand is a very appropriate place-scheme for repre- portance for the area and meaning in history, one senting the district online to tourists, as it is well has to get acquainted with local history and tradi- equipped for processes of commercialisation, com- tions. According to the theory of the globalisation

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modification and consumption. As one of the larg- style images dominating touristic online represen- est industries in the world, tourism is a fundamen- tations of the district in Seoul, it is now interesting tally capitalistic undertaking, and there are a lot of to analyse the implications this has for tourism in incentives for destinations to get tourists to come Gangnam and broader social contexts. The rise of to their location and spend as much money while globally accessible media has created a new space on location as they can. This makes place- for the representation of cultural images, which schemata that promote consumption as the core has led to an on-going production of imaginations identity of the destination particularly attractive. about the Gangnam lifestyle. At the same time, global consumption cul- With his concept of “mediascapes,” Appa- ture has also affected heritage as scholars have durai (1990, p. 6) identifies a new, deterritorial- identified efforts to commodify heritage. Accord- ised, virtual space for the flow and exchange of ing to Baillie, Chatzoglou and Taha (2010) ideas, information and images which evolved due “heritage is increasingly subject to commodifica- to the on-going of globalisation and the emergence tion” (p. 51). According to Goulding (2000), this of a “global cultural economy” (p. 6). commodification of heritage happens mostly in the “Mediascapes [...] tend to be image-centred, narra- context of museums and cultural heritage such as tive-based accounts of strips of reality, and what artefacts and costumes. Oftentimes, “only those they offer to those who experience and transform images of history that have broad market appeal” them is a series of elements [...] out of which are presented here in order to create an attractive scripts can be formed of imagined lives narrative for visitors and tourists, while this leads [...]” (Appadurai, 1990, p. 9). These narratives es- to a simplification of the depiction of history as tablish imaginations and fantasies about the possi- complexities are left out of the discourse ble lives of cultural Others and can “become prole- (Goulding, 2000). However, regarding the built gomena to the desire for acquisition and move- heritage of Seoul, the level of commodification ment” (p.9). Thus, the concept of mediascapes il- seems low, as images of these sites do not play a lustrates how beholders of touristic Gangnam major role in the online representations that are online representations are led to construct an imag- meant to stimulate the “consumption” of Gangnam ination of the potential lifestyle of the population as a destination by tourists. Similarly, the admis- in Gangnam. Tourists, who view these representa- sion to the Bongeunsa Buddhist temple is free, and tions created by inter alia tourism operators there- for Samneung Park roughly 85 eurocent for an fore form their expectations of a trip to Gangnam adult (VisitKorea, n.d.; MyDestination, n.d.). This by relying on the presented narratives. The medi- makes it less relevant to speak of the ascape hereby serves as a created space for the col- “consumption” of these heritage sites by tourists. lective construction of an imagination about Gang- All of this is not to say that the quest for authentic- nam. ity is no longer relevant in tourism, and this prob- This relates to the notion of the globalised lematic is taken up in the discussion. tourist gaze as described by Urry and Larsen The Media, Tourists and the Production of Im- (2011). The concept of the tourist gaze “orders and aginations regulates the relationships between the various After examining the reasons for Gangnam- sensuous experiences while away, identifying what is visually ‘out-of-ordinary,’ what are rele-

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vant differences and what is ‘other’” (Urry & come part of the imaginations and expectations of Larsen, 2011, p. 14). It is a means of social pro- tourists about Gangnam. duction and reproduction of constructed social re- Discussion alities and is therefore closely related to the concept of power (p. 14). According to Urry and The focus of this article has been on pro- Larsen (2011), people need to “learn how, when cesses of cultural globalisation by which Gangnam and where to gaze” (p. 12), so the power lies with -style has come to dominate touristic online repre- those actors who have agency to shape the tour- sentations of the district. As is the case in much of ists’ expectations and perceptions. In the case of social sciences, social reality is often endlessly Gangnam-style, online representations which are complex and cannot be grasped by just one set of created by tourism operators like the Lonely Plan- theories alone. Gorton (2010, n.p.) notes “it seems et (2012) establish a specific image of Gangnam doubtful that one approach alone [...] could cap- and therefore shape the gaze of tourists. Appadu- ture the whole of social reality in all its multi- rai’s mediascape is therefore a space where tour- textured dimensions.” We have chosen to focus on ism operators and other actors can shape the gaze the cultural globalisation aspect of our case, as it of tourists into a specific direction, which leads to allowed us to analyse the peculiar case of Gang- the re-production and proliferation of the social nam which got thrusted onto the global scene of reality of Gangnam lifestyle in Korea. Urry and awareness because of one infamous song. At the Larsen (2011, p. 30) identify that “tourist sites same time, it would be a vast overstatement to say proliferate across the globe as tourism has become that all tourists traveling to Seoul have become massively mediatised” (p. 30) and term this phe- disinterested in its traditional heritage sites. The nomenon “the globalising of the tourist gaze” (p. quest for authentic places is still very important in 30). The notion of mediascapes, a newly created tourism today, as it has been in the past (Wang, space through globalisation, and the emergence of 1999). Generally, what is perceived as authentic is the mediatised, globalised tourist gaze therefore culture in its traditional form, not yet modernised illustrate how tourism operators can deliberately and commercialised, and unlike what tourists are shape the expectations and behaviours of tourists used to back home (MacCannell, 1976). Although through the media before they actually visit Gang- this study was not directly concerned with the per- nam, and direct the tourists’ gaze onto the lifestyle ceptions of tourists, the findings might suggest ev- of the population. This in turn leads to the increas- idence that the need for and expectation of authen- ing importance of Gangnam lifestyle for tourism ticity is not ubiquitous and might differ per desti- perspectives, as the lifestyle progressively be- nations. If the touristic online representations of comes part of Gangnam’s mediatised narrative Gangnam are any indication to the expectations of through on-going processes of social production the area by tourists, then there might be a shift in and reproduction of imaginaries about the exotic what is being perceived as authentic by tourists in cultural “Other.” The domination of the Gangnam the globalised world of today. The lifestyle that is lifestyle compared to the built traditional heritage represented in Gangnam-style appears to be per- within online representations has thus led to a re- ceived as representative of local customs of a very ciprocal production and reproduction of Gangnam modern Asian city. Part of this may also be that -style as a place scheme, and promoted it to be- the overwhelming majority (80%) of all tourists visiting Seoul are from within Asia (VisitSeoul,

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2016) and the studies on authenticity in tourism immense popularity Psy has become part of the have predominantly focussed on Western tourists. global consumer culture he intended to ridicule. A few studies have suggested that tourists from These two points show that in a globalising world Asia “are generally not looking for object authen- in which global consumer culture dominates and ticity”, but rather are “searching for signs of tech- places fight to attract tourists, the quest for authen- nological achievements” (Cohen & Cohen, 2015, ticity, something meaningful and local is not lost, p. 31). However, the importance of authenticity in but rather it easily becomes overthrown by global intra-Asian travel requires further scholarly atten- calls for consumption. tion. Suggestions for Future Research and Further Another important note is that although it Implications is largely devoid of distinct meaning, the Gang- Recommendations for future research in- nam-style song and video are intended to contain clude a rigorous analysis of the changing touristic very specific contents. The video is meant as a landscape of Seoul and the Gangnam-district over caricature of people and lifestyle in Gangnam and time. It is suggested that the same global processes was originally expected to “only attract the atten- analysed in this article that led to the rapid thrust tion of those who got the joke” (Bedirian, 2016). of Gangnam onto the global scene, resulting in in- Ironically, the idea behind the song and video was creased name recognition, tourist arrivals and even a subtle social commentary on the emptiness of changes in the visual landscape in the city (e.g. a material wealth and consumption focussed life- Psy statue, local police force dressed in Psy cos- style that dominates the Gangnam district, as be- tumes), might similarly lead to a rapid change in comes clear when Psy states “Human society is so successor place schemata that might take Psy’s hollow, and even while filming I felt pathetic. Gangnam-style place. This can have important Each frame-by-frame was hollow” in a behind-the complications for tourists’ experience as well as -scenes video (Fischer, 2012). Nonetheless, Gang- tourist-host interactions. Another recommendation nam-style can easily be mistaken for a silly pop- for further research follows the more practical con- song, as the social commentary is rather subtle and cerns shared with Ballesteros and Ramirez (2006, easily missed, as it is something that is generally p.677), who write about the importance of taking “not done in mainstream Korean pop mu- “symbolic and identity-related factors into account sic” (Fischer, 2012). Because this critical message when planning, designing and managing tourist is subtle, it was largely overthrown by the more products and destinations”, and thus the call is for obvious signs presented in the video, like the sex- more research into the social identities of Gang- ual innuendo, celebration of material possessions nam locals and the interplay between local com- and the “horse dance,” which experienced a lot munities and ever changing online representations. more recognition (Park, 2015; Fischer, 2012). These more dominant signs can be classified as The findings of this article bear implica- largely “empty” forms of content and, as we ar- tions which need to be considered in future re- gued, exactly this has allowed Gangnam-style to search. Analysing Gangnam-style through theories become part of the touristic online representations of cultural globalisation has shown that a lifestyle of Seoul through what Ritzer describes as “the movement can be accelerated through space and globalisation of nothing.” In a way, through his time in a very rapid way. This implies that other

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social movements could experience the same pro- to the notion that consumption determines identity cess, challenging cultural and economic social and social status. Gangnam-style thus can be easi- practices and ultimately changing patterns of con- ly commodified, this in contrast to local heritage sumption (Wahlen & Lamanen, 2015). Therefore, which is much harder to be commodified and thus this review has shown that globalisation theory may play a less important role in the construction appears as a useful lens to examine and understand of image, character and attraction of tourists. Last- social and cultural movements, especially regard- ly, we analyzed a main implication of Gangnam ing the notion of “lifestyle.” lifestyle images dominating media representations. Conclusion Here, we found that there are on-going processes of the social construction of imaginations by tour- We have shown that in the context of tourists, whose experience of Gangnam is determined istic online representations of place, certain place- by their gaze, which is in turn constructed through schemata come to dominate others through a num- the media representations. ber of characteristics of their form. The article has contributed to our understanding of how this hap- In this article, we did not start from a clear pens, by analyzing the global processes that have stance on whether cultural globalisation leads to allowed the Gangnam-style representation of the cultural homogenization or cultural hybridisation. Gangnam district to dominate its touristic online Rather, we have shown that cultural globalisation representation, while traditional heritage of the consists of a multitude of complex processes with district has become subsumed in terms of im- non-straightforward outcomes. By relating con- portance for representing the district online. What temporary globalisation theories to the forms of we have found is that Gangnam-style becomes culture presented in online representations of easily globalised through its fluid nature, being Gangnam, we have analyzed global processes of able to move through space and time through the mediatized representations of places, new modes global media as a space of flow. Traditional herit- of consumptions relating to lifestyles and the image, on the other hand, still “travels slowly” due to plications for tourism in Gangnam. In our discus- its fixed spatial and temporal dimension and its sion, we have briefly touched the relation of essen- relations to the location of built sites and certain tially “empty,” globalised forms of culture to the period of time in the past. Gangnam-style also, quest of authenticity, which is still an important both the song and lifestyle it represents, are full of aspect for tourism studies. As we have focused on “empty” (Ritzer & Ryan, 2002, n.p.), non- the specific context of Gangnam and the way it is distinctive elements that can be found in popular being represented online, we benefited from cul- culture all around the world (Storey, 2009, p. 31). tural globalisation theories evolving around the Using the theory of the globalisation of nothing, rise of the global media (Appadurai, 1990; Cas- we showed that this renders Gangnam-style more tells, 2000). Further research relating to this topic feasible for purposes of globalisation and domina- could benefit from the use of the new mobilities tion of online representations than local heritage paradigm (Sheller & Urry, 2006), in order to ana- which is full of distinct content and meaning. Ad- lyze the movement of tourists in Gangnam and the ditionally, Gangnam-style represents a lifestyle relations to touristic online representations. that fits well into global consumer culture as it evolves around material possession and subscribes

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