MASARYKOVA UNIVERZITA Fakulta sociálních studií

Media Ethics for Television Shows: A Comparative Study on Ethical Concerns over Television Shows in the Czech Republic and South Korea Etika médií a soup opery: komparativní studie českých a korejských televizních seriálů

Diploma thesis

Eva Kolovrátková

Brno 2017

I declare that I have worked on this thesis independently, using only the primary and secondary sources listed in the bibliography.

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Brno, 5. 6. 2017

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Abstract The master thesis examines the identity of Czech audience that in regular term consumes Korean drama (soap opera). South Korea is an epicenter of popular culture of Asia where Korean drama plays important role and is followed by millions of viewers worldwide. Some tried to explain this phenomenon and point at “Asian moral values” based on Confucian traditions, such as family-orientednes, respect for elders. While we can understand how this applies to Asian audience, this research is challenging the question: Why Czech audience watches Korean drama? The study subsequently aims to define and explain the hybridity and proximity of transcultural communication process of Czech audience of Korean drama. Fieldwork consists primarily of internet ethnographic approach, the participant observation combined with in-depth interviews.

Keyword Korean drama, soap opera, South Korea, audience, popular culture, popular pleasure, Asia, Czech Republic, identity, television, internet ethnographic approach, in-depth interviews

Anotace Diplomová práce zkoumá české publikum korejského dramatu (soap opery). Práce si klade za cíl zjistit, co vede české publikum ke konzumaci korejské soap opery, Dosavadní výzkumy v oblasti mediálních studií hovoří o tzv. „asijských morálních hodnotách“, které nalézají svůj základ v Konfuciově nauce - orientace na rodinu, respekt ke starším. Zatímco mediální výzkumy této oblasti vysvětlují fenomén konzumace korejských dramat asijským publikem, už nevysvětlují proč tak korejské soap opery sledují kultury netknuty Konfuciovým učením. Zároveň se výzkum soustředí na působení korejského mediálního obsahu na změnu identity, konkrétně studie poznává a definuje hybriditu a proximitu transkulturního komunikačního procesu. Práce využívá kombinaci internetového etnografického výzkumu, zúčastněného pozorování s hloubkovými rozhovory.

Klíčová slova Korejské drama, soap opera, Jižní Korea, Telenovela, Mediální studia, publikum, populární kultura, Asie, Česká republika, identita, televize, internetový etnografický výzkum, hloubkové rozhovory, transkulturní komunikace

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Abstract……………………………………………………………………………………… 3 Anotace……………………………………………………………………………………… 3 I. INTRODUCTION…………………………………………………………….……….. 5 II. THEORETICAL BACKGROUND…………………………………………………… 7 1 Korea as a new center of popular culture of East Asia….…………………………….. 7 1. 1 ‘Hallyu’: The Korean Wave – the ‘Korean Cool’……..…………………………….. 7 1. 2 The Korean Media Liberalization, Media Export and the Government’s Support….. 9 2 Soap Opera……………………………………………………………………………….. 13 2. 1 Soap Opera in Euro-American Culture……………………………………………… 13 2. 2 Korean drama………………………………………………………………………... 16 2. 2. 1 From History of Korean Drama to the Broad Spectrum of Drama Genres Today…………………………………………………………………………. 17 2. 2. 2 Transnational media and fandom: Reception and Appeal of Korean Drama…. 20 2. 3 Soap Opera in the Czech Republic…………………………………………………... 22 2. 4 Hallyu Wave and Korean drama in the Czech Republic…………………………….. 23 3 Culture and Identity ……………………………………………………………………. 26 3. 1 Social construction of ‘self’…………………………………………………………. 28 3. 2 Understanding the Identity of Korea: Construct of Danil Minjok………………...… 32 3. 3 Theory of Cultural Globalization……………………………………………………. 35 4 Culture and Power………………………………………………………………………. 37 4. 1 The Vocabularies of ‘Popular Culture’ …………………………………………..… 43 4. 2 The Critical Theories: Controlling and Controllable Popular Culture………...……. 44 4. 3 Controlling Popular Culture: Propaganda Theories……………………………..….. 45 4. 4 Controllable Popular Culture: Active Audiences…………………………….…….. 47 4. 5 Postmodern Popular Culture: Global Capital of Spectacle…………………….…… 50 5 Audience Theories and Research………………………………………………….…… 51 5. 1 Active audience research approaches………………………………………….…… 51 III. REFERENCES…………………………………………………………………..…... 58

The complete number of words: 23 418

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I. INTRODUCTION

Today, except the economical and technological development, Korea’s popular culture is increasing and its products such as Korean pop songs, movies, Korean dramas and idols are gaining popularity not just in Korea but also abroad. The name ‘Korean wave’ or ‘Hallyu’ is now well known and well used term not just within Asian media studies (Kim 2007). Even though the centre of Asian’s transnational popular culture used to be Tokyo and Hollywood (Visser 2002) since the late 1990’s becomes the new center South Korea (further as Korea) (Kim 2007, p. 135). Korean media products are exported mainly to the Asian countries, such as Japan, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore but also to the United States, Mexico, Egypt, Iraq and European countries (ibid). The Czech audience of Korean soap opera (further as Korean drama), had to wait until 2015 when was the ever first and until this day (June 2017) also the last Korean drama ‘Lovers in Prague’ (2005) aired by NovaCinema. At the airing time the drama was already ten years old. Therefore the Czech audience has to search for them and also consume them online. According to quantitative research of Mazaná from 2014, Czech fandom is not a compact and united group rather it consists of little communities or even individuals altogether not exceeding the number of 3000 people (Marinescu, Mazaná, et al. 2014, pp. 47, 48). The fandom has an increasing tendency, therefore each year the number of fans rises.

The objective of this thesis is to answer the question Why does the Czech audience choose to watch Korean drama? There are more soap operas easily accessible such as the Czech soap opera The Street or Rose Garden Surgery that are spoken in Czech language and the plot is set to Czech environment. We would assume the consumers of soap opera would rather choose the content of their own culture where they can reflect to it while understanding the socio-culture contents portrayed in soap opera. Then how is it that some Czech audience chooses to watch Korean drama, which they have to search online, read the subtitles in English, or even download the Czech subtitles, somehow crossing the culture barrier rather than simply switching on TV and watch the Czech soap operas instead. We are in that sense talking about the new definition or character of transcultural communication, the proximity of culture globalization. Additionally we would like to examine the common patterns in the consumer of Korean dramas as we hope to define the transcultural consumption impacts if any on the identity of consumers.

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To our knowledge none research of similar character has been ever done specifically focusing on the relations of Korean drama and Czech audience. We therefore can rely only on quite a limited portion of data. Therefore examining the East-Asian regional popular cultural/media flows since the 20th century and the empirical researches of “regional” scholars’ (i.e. Iwabuchi 2001, 2002, 2004, Chua 2004, 2006, Kim 2008, Lee 2003) is providing us the entry point to the discourse of Asian media studies. Except the mentioned scholars we also base our research on the empirical evidence and theories of Euro- American soap opera1 researches, such as Ang, Anger, Hobson, Morley, Radway, Allan. The study is based on participant observation and twenty in-depth interviews. The author of research is a member of Facebook social club Czech Hallyu Wave since 2013 also is participating in online discussions on website Asianstyle.cz or Asianstar.cz, was present at K-pop contest in 2013 where also documented and interviewed several participants and is herself consumer of Korean dramas since 2010. Dorothy Anger implies that the soap opera audience can be studied also by the non-consumers of soap opera however she prefers the researcher himself/herself to watch soap opera, because that way is the researcher part of the studied community and therefore has a needed knowledge of the theme (Anger 1999). The author herself found her experience with Korean drama during the interviews not just helpful, but a must. We conducted twenty interviews of regular Czech consumers of Korean drama aged 18 – 35 years old that should, as we hope, answer the previously asked questions.

1 Not only soap opera but also other typically women oriented media contents

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II. THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

1. Korea as a new center of popular culture of East Asia 1. 1 ‘Hallyu’: The Korean Wave – the ‘Korean Cool’

Korea replaced Japan as a center of Asian popular culture by the late 1990s (Kim 2007). That time Korean media products reached by high numbers for the first time in the history the market of overseas countries, even communist North Korea2 (New York Times 2005). The dramas made in past by the Korean ‘big three’ national channels (KBS, MBC, SBS) already reached Japan, China, North America, Africa, the Middle East and Europe (KOCIS 2011, p. 14), and also the Czech Republic. The widely popular series ‘Lovers in Prague’ from 2005 directly influenced the relationship of both countries, specifically increased the Korean’s interest of Prague since 2005. The Korean drama ‘Lovers in Prague’ was recently aired by NovaCinema in July 2015 as first Korean drama ever aired in the Czech Republic. Its popularity worldwide declares the label imported and exported by media – the ‘Korean cool’ (Hong 2014).

The phenomenon was firstly referred as ‘Hallyu’ literally meaning ‘Korean Wave’ in Chinese media in the middle of 1990s (Kim, 2007, p. 135). Chinese audience favored the series ‘What is love about’ aired in national China Central Television Station (CCTV) in 1997 portraying complicated relationship of two families of which children got married. It became quickly popular in China, perhaps for its Confucian values, such as family traditions (Deuchler, 1995; KOCIS 2011, p. 15). For a great success and demand of viewers CCTV re-aired the drama in 1998 and reached second highest ratings of Chinese television when the dramas audience share reached 15 % (ibid). Until today are by Chinese public by masses consumed Korean medial cultural products, starting with TV dramas, later continuing by Korean pop music (K-pop),3 films, video games, webtoons4, fashion, cosmetics, and Korean lifestyle in general. Korean culture seems to influence the country’s trends as well as neighboring nations such as Taiwan, Vietnam, Thailand or Mongolia (ibid, p. 16). Basically everything connected to Korea suddenly became popular and the

2 There are reports of some of the North Koreans emigrating to the South, because they were ‘mesmerized’ by the Korean dramas (New York Times 2005). 3 http://www.billboard.com/k-pop 4 Webcomics published online in regular intervals 7

perception of Korea seemed to positively change in the eyes of the consumers. We shouldn’t forget, that national image of Korea was especially before 2000s associated quite negatively because of the demilitarized zone, political and corruption problems, the lasting problems with their northern part, the in-war status and its historical relations. The researches of Japan audience reception of Winter Sonata showed that the perception of Korea by Japanese viewers changed significantly. Singhal and Hanaki argued the drama directly influenced different cultural zone (Hanaki, Singhal et al., 2007). If we remind the Japanese occupation in early 20th century, the ethnic Koreans as second-class citizens who were during the war forcibly moved to Japan, we come to realize the power of the drama. Japanese respondents according another Singhal’s research looked down on the country and were not interest in it. Singhal and Min-wha Kim explain how the Korean residents in Japan turned from ‘invisibility’ to ‘visibility’, therefore acceptance or recognition by Japanese (Kim, Singhal et al., 2009). Since the ‘Hallyu’, Korea is redefining its reception worldwide (Kim 2007, p. 135). Later, around 1998 Channel ‘V’5 aired first K-pop music videos leading to K-pop craze in Korea, China and Taiwan. In 1998 the boy band ‘H.O.T.’ reached top of musical pop charts. Especially Korean dramas and K-pop seemed to root the grooving interest in other Korean culture products: “Due to the increase awareness of Korean idol groups and K-pop, many people from Central and South America have developed a strong interest in Korean products. In Peru, exports doubled this year [2011] for a total of 340 million dollars. Brazil, meanwhile, has seen an increase in the areas of home appliances and motor bikes” (Ministry of Culture and Tourism 2011). As Koreans realize its full potential Korean government is trying to promote and support the promotion and distribution of the products of popular culture. As for the domestic affairs Korean government decided to run Saturday schools that offer cultural programs, thus, the Culture Ministry allocated an extra budget from 53.8 billion won (for 1.26 million people) in 2011 to 73.7 billion won (for 1.71 million) in 2012 as the government claims “ultimately to benefit children and under-privileged groups.” (Hwang). In 2012 Culture Minister Choe Kwang-shik pleased by the economical contribution of Korean Wave, especially by the high numbers of working posts and export of media products, claimed: “To make the Korean Wave led by K-pop become a long-lasting cultural phenomenon beyond a momentary syndrome, the ministry will strive to diversify the sources of the Korean Wave potentially to traditional Korean culture, tourism, and sports among others” (ibid). Korea,

5 Music program 8

previously overshadowed by other Asian dominant countries (westernized Japan, powerful China) is now on the spotlight and is successfully empowering its national awareness.

1. 2 The Korean Media Liberalization, Media Export and the Government’s Support

Korean wave was made possible because of media liberalization that was introduced from the late 1980s to the middle of 1990s. Before that, only domestic companies were able to distribute or import movies. The cause of change – and probably the one of the main pushes towards Americanization, happened when in 1988 Korean government allowed American Hollywood studios to distribute films to the Korean cinemas. In 1987 was Hollywood’s market share in the local market about 53%. In the 1994, market share reached 80% of all Korean movie market (Shin, 1995; Yi, 1994). Ironically the Korean film industry awakening was triggered by U. S. films such as Jurassic Park which inspired Presidential Advisory Board on Science and Technology who pressed then President Kim Young-sam to take actions and promote media production as a national strategic industry leading to establishment of Cultural Industry Bureau in 1994 (Shim, 2017). With the cable TV quickly came satellite broadcasting and media thus might had played an important role in Korean lose of cultural integrity. Dying Korean cinematography was saved by a Korean movie ‘Seopyeonje’ (A Sad Song), where dominating Korean beautiful landscape and traditional atmosphere awakened Koreans yearning for their own culture. The sudden rise of hope led to the government’s decision to focus on the Korean cultural industry by funding media production (Hong 2014). Inspired by American production model it certainly led to an unforeseen achievements. The American media according to Thussu use ‘glocalization’ (or literally ‘global localization’) as a key factor to sustain the media flaws. In his theory he sees the media contents and services tailored specifically to the taste of certain cultural group. The interests have according to him most likely just commercial character. In that sense the tailored media flaws could climax into the cultural and media imperialism (2007). Schiller sees it as international corporate influence on a society that is forced to reshape accordingly (1976, p. 8). Capitalism meets the conditions for cultural imperialism. That could mean intervention into the cultural identity of certain social group. Korea imported capitalism from the times of Americanization however except of its

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commercial ambitions we shouldn’t forget about Korea’s rising nationalism proven by the several decades of fast development of country. Korean media can very possibly be the tool of ideological cultural transition of Korean popular media content to foreign countries, because in the means of sustainability of Korean wave the income from media export is not enough. Korea for the reasons to sustain the foreign audiences might tailor the media contents according the audience preferences leading to wider consumption of other media contents. The fan of Korean drama sees main protagonists using Samsung smartphone or Misha BB cream therefore the fan might want to buy those. The demand for the Korean products rises as well as its offer. The society is reshaping. For example Missha cosmetic opened its Czech branch in 2013 in Brno. On the other hand the figures show that only about 10 % of Czech ever heard of ‘hallyu’ or ‘Korean wawe’ (Marinescu, Mazaná, et al. 2014). The global localization could be seen as tactic that can in the long term strengthen and sustain Korean position of sovereign modern developed country. The responding social changes in each country can be then understood as Korean means of cultural imperialism. It would not be a surprise, that Korea’s export growth of media production is very high. Since its start during the late 1990s Korea has became ‘culture-exporting machine’ nurtured by the government (Hong 2014). In 1998 was the amount of export so low, that government didn’t provide any figures. In 2004 was export of cultural products about $800 million in earnings (Korean Overseas Information Service 2005) and by the year 2012 export earnings reached $4 600 million (Korean Creative Agency 2013). The government has set an aim of doubling that amount by 2017 (Hong 2014). The government support and efforts to widen and sustain the ‘Korean wave’ are undeniable. By using the nature of globalization and ‘soft power’ (Nye 2004) as a tool Korean government was able to turn their popular culture into the export items (KOCIS 2011, p. 48).

The most exported products were in the beginning of Hallyu TV dramas, films and recorded music (Kim 2007, p. 136). If we look on the economic success through the numbers, for example Korean television programming exports increased from $13 million in 1999 to $38 million in 2003 (Ministry of Culture and Tourism 2004). Movie market reached 4 400 billion won in sales and $20 million in export earnings. The Korean music market recorded 4 000 billion won in sales in 2012 with export earnings of $240 million. Recently, Korea is celebrating the successful overseas exports of the domestic game industry. The game market reached almost 9 800 billion won in sales, and exported in

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earnings $2 600 million which was the largest growth of export earnings with an annual average rate of 21.6%. Manhwa market recorded 760 billion won in sales with export earnings of $17 million. Publication market reached 21 000 billion won in sales and 245 million in export earnings. Animation market in sales marked 520 billion won, while exports were recorded at $110 million. The growth since 2008 is 6.5%. The advertisement market reached 12 500 billion won in sales and export earnings of $97.5 million and finally the character market recorded 7 500 billion won in sales and exports of $416 million in earnings (Korean Creative Agency 2013) As for the situation in Korean domestic media market, there is high number of creative content companies in Korea. In 2012 there were almost 112 thousand of them while 37 thousand companies (33.3%) are from music industry with 78 thousand of workers. The whole creative industry recorded a growth of 5.2% in 2012 which makes 87 272 billion won while the largest profits were reached by publishing market with 21 000 billion won. In conclusion we can say that except publishing market are in the highest sale numbers music market with 4 billion worth of sales, movies with 4 400 billion, the game market with almost 9 800 billion in sales, character market with 7 500 billion and advertisement market with 12 500 billion. (KCA 2013). Korean government is to say that “wired the entire country for high-speed broadband and is now wiring every household with a one-gigabit-per-second connection, 200 times faster than the US average internet speed.” (Hilton 2014). Ms Hong also talks about people ‘behind the scenes’. Those who organized flash-mobs in France to demand a K-pop concert or those who used different even political ways to air a drama abroad (Hong 2014). The story behind the success of the first drama aired abroad (What Is Love All About?) says, that it “was dubbed into Cantonese at government expense, smuggled into Hong Kong in a diplomatic bag in 1992, and secured its place on Hong Kong TV when South Korean companies were arm-twisted into buying up the advertising slots.” (Hilton 2014).

Korean government is using tax incentives and funding to support the companies. In 2005 for example government supported pop industry by a $1 billion investment fund so the export reaches higher numbers (Hong 2014). The apparent lack of voice qualities was turned into an advantage by well accepted marketing strategy. The focus on synchronized dance moves, polished look and Europop-inspired tunes won over hearts of many fans over the world (ibid). Some criticize lack of creativity in the pop industry which is excused by

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the high earnings. Hong claims, that the important element of good sales is conservatism as a strategy for the export market. The high puritanical public appeal controlled by enterprises is causing greater impact on public than Japan’s les puritanical J-pop. Another factor is according to Hong the fear (of North Korea, of losing the spotlight, of Japan or China) (Hong 2014). The idols6 are an example of well educated, good looking, well behaved and especially obedient perfect young individuals. Their selling strategy is assumption of the viewers that these idols gained success because of the mentioned aspects in combination with hard work and patience. Therefore they are set as an example to society.

There is certainly factor of self-control that consumer can choose what to consume and what not. Such a control is based on individuality of consumer. But extreme capitalism, if not dictates, than at least limits the process of such choice. The individualistic choice is limited by the standard of living of the masses, by palette of offered commodities, their price and others circumstances. It is likely to expect, that one will consume what is shown to her/him (Williams 1989). Korean government propagates popular culture led by idols. British Marxist novelist and critic John Berger says: “The purpose of publicity is to make the spectator marginally dissatisfied with his present way of life. Not with the way of life of society, but with his own within it. It suggests that if he buys what it is offering, his life will become better. It offers him an improved alternative to what he is”. (1972: 142) It seems rather convenient, that Korean government driven by advanced capitalism through media presents Korean popular culture as a form of relaxation while gaining a great income to continue the circulation. Berger then questions the democracy of such a society: “Publicity turns consumption into a substitute for democracy. The choice of what one eats (or wears or drives) takes the place of significant political choice. Publicity helps to mask and compensate for all that is undemocratic within society...” (Berger 1972: 149) Whether is society being manipulated or whether not, the key factor, in previously set conditions, seems to be media and the content of popular culture.

6 Male and Female stars usually crossing with their specification several professions of popular, usually actor, singer, entertainer) 12

2. Soap opera 2. 1 Soap Opera in Euro-American Culture

In the United States first soap operas appeared in the 1930s in the commercial radio as in maximum fifteen minute stories (Volek, 2004, 171). The today well used notion ‘soap opera’ appeared in 1939 in the American press in regard to cleaning products companies Proctre & Gamble and Palmolive which figured as main sponsors. Obviously, their interests were of financial and promotional character and their target group was housewives. The emotive and intensive musical accompaniment then gained the ironical nickname ‘opera’, together therefore ‘soap opera’7(ibid). Some (Newcombem, Nochimson, Ang) understand the soap opera as ideologically opened text, that is therefore opened to socio-cultural change while some (Eco, Seiter, Gripsrund) argue against and claim that the soap opera is closed text therefore leave the consumer with only one intended interpretation. According to later, the soap operas only reinforce escapism – escape response of women enclosed in their own homes (housewives). Escapism is conceptually connected to theory of mass culture. Adorno (1992) is afraid of the viewer who by escaping the reality looses interests in real life and social issues8. Mass culture creates self-indulgent person who lets the paternalist power of media show the way and who thus gives up his own responsibility to define his own future (Eco, 2007). This constructed ontological safeness (Giddens, 1990) is reinforced by the repetitive character of soap opera. Escapism let the mass culture support the viewers’ non-critical approach of the world and let them escape into their imagination. On the other hand Radway (1984) argues that escapism means freedom to the women who escape from reality of patriarchal marriage. In her research she even implies that women understood the escapism as a declaration of independence. Similarly Modelski (2008) in her research admits its emancipatory potential.

Soap opera is typically structured as never-ending story (that is actually different from the Korean drama.) The main narrative consists of strong characters, their private lives dealing with complicated relationships in everyday routine. The ‘happyend’ is constantly delayed therefore the viewer continues to watch the series awaiting the final storyline climax. At

7 The ‚soap opera‘ audience, typically the women were nicknamed ‚washboard weepers‘ (Balsarová, 2011, p. 38) 8 In context with Williams’ mobile privatization (2005) it seems as even more legitimate fear 13

the same time the constant delay of the proper ending allows the producer endlessly add new and new episodes (Ang, 1997). The family life stands usually in the center of the plot and its universality can attract interests of many. Most of us can identify with the certain family situations portrayed in the soap operas because we experience them ourselves in our everyday routine of our lives (Hobbson, 2003). To support our ontological safeness (Giddens, 1990) soap opera often presents its storyline in a parallel time line with real time (Fiske 2003); it can lead to ‘imagined reality’ when the main character can be seemingly even our neighbor. Watching television series is one of the most popular forms of spending our leisure time, Allen (1995) then reminds how media and specifically our domesticated family member – television (Silverstone 1992) can be employed as a tool of persuasion (intended and unintended). Television and the content aired in it can set or reinforced the stereotypes. Volek in that sense also states:

“Television is the nature of a soap opera by producing images of domestic life and creating a strong cultural, stereotyping pressure in this sense. As an example, we can mention the production of pictures of housewives in soap operas, sitcoms and, of course, in advertisements that massively support the ideology of women - women (housewives) still push other women to adopt traditional gender identity”9 (1999, p. 21).

The unnoticed ‘invisible’ norms in the society that come hand by hand with technological progress are shaping viewers minds and are skillfully posing without the receiver even realizing its existence (Williams, 2005), media and advertising are thus crucial to shaping the image of women and men. The gender structures seem to be therefore ‘natural’. The typical attribute of soap opera is advertising that sells the products for housekeeping and which reinforce the stereotypical role of women. Today in the progressive capitalist system the situation and the objective of writers and producers changes into an economical success. In that sense we can apply the concept of active audience (Fiske, 1987), who has certain expectations and demands on the product that are to be fulfilled if they should choose (buy, consume) the offered product. The relations and positions of men and women and the society standards are slowly shifting and that is also reflected in the soap operas. For example Allen (1995) points out heterosexual, white characters are preferred rather than ethnic, homosexual ones. However, recently the number of homosexual or ethnic characters increases. The producers are thus answering the changes in the social structure.

9 Translated from the Czech original 14

Anger (2009) argues that the soap operas can also trigger the discussion of taboo topics, such as interruption, AIDS, alcoholism. The soap operas seem to portray women (and men) within the discourse of actual everyday life and lived experience as a main attractive attribute.

Soap operas can be according the Liebes and Livingstone divided into three distinctive sub-types of the genre: the Community soap, the Dynastic soap, and Dyadic soap. The division is based on the analysis of gender and class portrait in narratives. Dynastic (or Patriarchal) model is centered on one powerful family (Dallas, Dynasty, Family Ties). Community model usually presents middle and working class, multigenerational families, social cases, single parents, living as one community in the neighborhood (Coronation Street, East Enders, The Street). Dyadic model refers to destabilized network usually presenting several young interconnected couples of similar age who are somehow romantically involved (Beverly Hills, The Young and the Restless) (1998, p. 4). The typical day-time or daily soap opera is aired in morning hours or in the afternoon targeting mainly the housewives, and then children or youth coming back from school. According to Volek (2004) can be defined by four dominant characteristics: Firstly the storyline works with a specific time and place characteristics, usually uses the cyclic time (Kristeva, 1995) narrative structure, that doesn’t escalate and therefore doesn’t intensify the expectation of the finalization. The narrative has cyclic character as has the women’s time perception. The timeline doesn’t strictly follow the storyline; rather it creates the impression of real- time flow. Most of the storylines also define a specific place, where the characters can come back to (e.g. Southfork in the Dallas). Secondly, the storyline concerns contemporary themes, or issues of partnership and family relationships. The family forms a mythical center and represents an imaginary ideal. One key theme of the storyline is namely finding a happy ending. The presented life is however not ideal and happy but rather problematic. Next characteristic could be defined as reinforcing the viewers’ identification with the storyline through what Ang (1985) refers to as ‘emotional realism’ (p. 61). According to this characteristic, the target group is women, housewives, taking care for children. Ang considers emotions as one of the key attribute of soap operas’ attractiveness. The women identify not with the fictive story that is usually hard to believe to (people coming back to life, amnesias, accidents…), but with the emotions they feel while watching them. The emotions they feel are real and well known from their everyday life experience; therefore

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they feel connected to the storyline or to the protagonists. Additionally the never-ending story is somehow preventing the main protagonist from finding final happiness. Ang in that sense speaks of the distinctive feature of the soap opera, the so-called tragic structure of feeling (1985, p. 45). The strong identification of female viewer of soap opera is according to Ang result of permanent exclusion from the contradictions of the patriarchal society. In other words Ang suggests that even though by watching the soap opera women can’t possibly solve their problems caused by patriarchal structure of society, at least are the problems in the storyline present and accepted as problems. The last characteristic of day- time soap opera is schematic didacticism. The storyline presents explicit instructions on how to address and solve the problematic and key life situations, such as financial problems, infidelity, divorce, illness, death, etc. even though this characteristic is slowly losing its form since today is the explicit didacticism replaced by the unconscious learning or copying of model relationships (Volek, 2004, pp. 172-173). Except of the day-time soap operas we also define prime-time soap operas that appeared since the 1970s. The specific character of prime-time soap operas is their higher ratings that naturally lead to growth of the target group concluding working women and also men. That also means that the storyline needed to be updated and modified to satisfy the taste of all its audience. The typically male attributes were added, such as action, economy or politics. That also means increase budget for the episode and therefore reaching better production quality. These operas don’t air ever day but just once or twice a week. They also differ country by country. There are those of Great Britain centering its attention toward the social problems, there are ‘telenovelas’, the romances from Latin-American production (ibid) or there are Korean dramas.

2. 2 Korean drama

Korean soap opera has in the academy discourse suffered from lack of the interest of the western academic world. Asian countries had been and still are neglected by the experts on soap opera worldwide. In 1995 Allen published the anthology of soap operas within the world context ‘To be Continued…: Soap Operas Around the World’ surprisingly with only one Asian country – People Republic of China and with only one soap opera ‘Yearning’ presented. It was criticized by Chua and Iwabuchi who responded by ‘East Asian Pop

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Culture: Analysing the Korean Wave’ (2008) in which they address the problem and point out that “TV soap operas or melodramas have been part of the staples of popular entertainment in East Asia since, at least, the early 1970s” (2008, p. 1), therefore should had been presented in the wider spectrum in the Allan’s publication that has claimed to comprehend the soap operas around the world. As for the history of Asian soap opera, we can see quite a development and migration of the centers of popular culture of the East Asia. We can mention Hong Kong popular TV drama series ‘Man in the Net’ from 1970s or the Taiwanese dramas typically presenting Chinese daughters in law and their complicated role in the Confucian traditional family (Deuchler, 1995) winning the ratings in 1980s continuing to Japanese romance dramas presenting trendy westernized capitalist consumptive lifestyle of brandy clothes and western restaurants in 1990’ and finally the Korean TV dramas boom in late 1990s and early 2000s exceeding by dissemination of many products of Korean popular culture called ‘Hallyu’ (ibid, pp. 1-2).

2. 2. 1 From History of Korean Drama to the Broad Spectrum of Drama Genres Today

Korean drama is a major component of cultural and social phenomenon commonly called ‘Korean wave’, or ‘Hallyu’. Korean television broadcasting started in 1956 through HLKZ-TV, later, after the unfortunate fire became part of KBS – Korean Broadcasting System. Television started to broadcast dramas during the 1960s, but was limited by the military government and the lack of funding and technology. Because of that, until the 90s, mostly American and Japanese10 series were imported since Koreans weren’t able to produce their own (KOCIS 2011, p 59). Very first Korean drama ‘Backstreet of Seoul’ aired in 1962 however had rather educative than the entertainment function (ibid, p. 63). In 1970s when more households owned TV sets there was stronger demand for the storylines of dramas. During 70s and 80s the plots started to more and more refer to everyday life and world changes, for example MBC – Munhwa (cultural) Broadcasting Corporation drama ‘Susa Banjang’ (Chief Detective) solved the problems with drugs, kidnapping, murder inspired by real-life events. Similarly the MBC show ‘Pastoral Diary’ and KBS show ‘Hill of the Rising Sun’ portrayed the life of small farming village as attempt to awaken the

10 In 1998 Korean government started to lift the ban on Japanese popular culture (KOCIS 2011, p. 18). 17

nostalgic feelings during the time of great urbanistic redevelopment of country in the 80s. They are already colorful dramas. Other dramas portray the tales of Korean history and in the 90s Korea technological developments led to utilization of satellite and interactive cable system and to licensing the new terrestrial broadcaster SBS – Seoul Broadcasting System which set the competition for higher ratings. It was the very start of the co called ‘big three’ (KBS, SBS and MBC). First widely popular Korean drama called ‘Eyes of Down’ presented Korean history from colonial period to the Korean War (1910 – 1953). In 1996 cable television entered the Korean households and the era of pay television has been launched. In 1995 SBS aired 24-parted ‘Sandglass’ one of the dramas with highest ratings in the Korean history reaching 50,8 percent average audience share (ibid, pp. 59-68), however the drama stayed within the Korean border until the What is Love All About and Winter Sonata sudden surprising success within Chinese and Japanese audience. As we stated above the start of Hallyu in the 1990s was caused by media export of Korean drama ‘What is Love All About’ in China, however it was KBS 20-parted drama ‘Winter Sonata’ that had been in 2002 the starting point of the national wide consumption and in 2003 through satellite channel of NHK even transnational consumption of the Korean popular culture in Japan (Chua and Iwabuchi, 2008). The drama had all the ingredients needed: beautiful main protagonists portrayed by Bae Yong-joon and Choi Ji-woo, romantic plot set in snowy scenery of Nami Island accompanied by a melancholy music. The audience share in Japan reached over 20 percent (even though it was aired at 11 p.m. and average ratings of NHK’s primetime programs rarely reached 10 percent) (KOCIS 2011, pp. 16- 17). The influence the drama had on the viewers is undeniable. It is assumed that by the end of 2004 almost 70 percent of Japanese viewers had watched at least one episode (ibid, p. 17). The number of Japanese travelers to Korea, some visiting the places of ‘Winter Sonata’s’ shooting locations, increased rapidly by 35, 5 percent since the airing in Japan until 2004 (Chua and Iwabuchi, 2008, p. 143). To imagine the great impact of this sociological phenomenon, we shall point out that those travelers were mostly women implying the change of gender dynamics, considering the overwhelming majority of male travelers to the countries of Asia in previous years (ibid). Thirteen years later the drama gets sequel and The Winter Sonata 2 is supposedly going to be aired in 2017 in Korea, Japan and China (DramaFever News 2017). Surprisingly, in reference to complicated history relationship of both countries, next Korean drama that had won the hearts of Japanese was historical series ‘Jewel in the Palace Elevates’. The story takes place in

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Joseon Dynasty during the reign of King Jungjong (1506 – 1544) and portrays the exhausting life tale of orphaned poor female kitchen cook who through hard work overcome many unfortunate challenges and miraculously becomes the king’s first physician. The series by 2011 reached 87 countries including Turkey (2009), Hungary (2008), Ukraine (2009), Romania (2009), Australia (2005), Kenya (2009), Ghana (2008) (KOCIS 2011, p. 19). Even though the Czech Republic is not among those, since 2000 we have to talk about the Korean drama in the global perspective.

Today typical Korean drama is written by one screenwriter, has from 12 to 24 episodes11 and is aired twice a week. They are usually shot quite shortly before airing (even few hours before). They are aired usually at 10 p.m. and therefore have the best chances for the highest ratings. The drama can be broadcasted by SBS, KBS, jTBC, Channel A. There is another format that is aired daily at 7 p.m and is more similar to the telenovela format. It usually has easier storyline. The dramas are usually written in specific genre. In the most cases, there is as well romance storyline presented; genre only defines the context of the romance. As for the genres there is ‘Rom-Com’, romantic light-hearted comedy (It’s Ok that’s Love, Kill Me, Heal Me, Cunning Single Lady, She Was Pretty or Beautiful Gong Shim). There is ‘Supernatural’ drama employing ghosts, vampires, aliens, magic (Masters Sun, Blood, Lets Fight Ghost, Vampire Prosecutor, My Love from the Star, Secret Garden). The genre ‘Melodrama’ can be described as sad and intense drama focusing on the emotions (Remember, Secret Love, That Winter, the Wind Blows). ‘Historical’ genre usually deals with the humble women protagonists and heroic male protagonist. Korea is often presented as suffering country of good people surrounded by enemies (Japan, China). Confucian values (see Deuchler, 1995) are very present in the historical dramas (Gu Family Book, Sungkyunkwan Scandal, Empress Ki). There is also popular genre of ‘School’ presenting troubles of teenagers and youth such as bullying, discrimination based on social status, first love experience, struggles with the family ideals of the son’s/daughter’s future, obedience/disobedience (The Heirs, Dream High, Boys Over Flowers, School 2013). Recently quite popular is ‘Medical’ drama portraying the scenery of hospitals or similar facilities, not necessarily just in Korea. The male protagonist is usually blessed with great medical knowledge and abilities (Doctor Stranger, Emergency Couple, Doctor Crush, and Descendant of the Sun). ‘Action’, ‘Crime’ or ‘Police

11 Except the historical dramas (fusion sageuk) which are usually longer, around 50 to 200 episodes 19

procedural’ dramas are full of exciting stunts, sophisticated and well choreographed fights (for example defeating the enemy just with the spoon as weapon), car chases and crashes, dramatic twists, murder solvings (City Hunter, Healer, Iris, Innocent man, Signal). Lastly we will mention ‘psychological’ dramas presenting characters with mental disorders (Kill Me, Heal Me, It's Ok That's Love, Hyde, Jekyll, Me, Cheese in the Trap). We shall as well mention some other commonly used genres, such as Thriller, Horror, Military, Sports, Music. Dramas genres can be and often are mixed (for example Medical and Action) and usually content love story. The main male protagonist is typically rich, smart and excels at least in one specification. Usually has a defective personality, troubled past and complicated family situation; bad at the outside, good in the insight. Ang (1997) defined two types of female heroines; the first is a classic, melodramatic (romantic) heroine, who is distinguished by her dedication to others, when she thinks of herself last. These characters thus renounce their own subjectivities in favor of love for men. The second type of female heroines is a postmodern heroine, characterized, in particular, by her independence and emancipation. Both types appear in Korean drama even though the first type more intensively. Main female protagonist in Korean drama is often poor, humble, not the brightest but cheerful and extremely hard-working with good upbringing, and intentions. Her role is to help ‘humanize’ the male protagonist and fix his character defects caused by the troubled past. He in exchange offers love and security.

2. 2. 2 Transnational media and fandom: Reception and Appeal of Korean Drama

What is the appeal of Korean drama is question everyone interested in the topic has to ask. We often hear about the beautiful people and scenery, as the reason of international success. We already know about beauty standards for the actors and actresses who in the common praxes undergo plastic surgeries12 to meet the expectations. However, beauty alone might not be enough to explain the phenomenon. Beauty standards of Korean culture can be applied in the cases of Asian countries. In Asia we can to some point understand,

12 According to The International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery Korea has the most plastic surgeries per capita in the world, with over 980,000 recorded operations in 2014. For example it is 20 procedures/1,000 people, comparing the US's 13 procedures/1,000 people (ISAPS, 2014). 20

how is the phenomenon possible, since Asia has cross the nations decades of experience with drama fever (KOCIS 2011, p. 41), however Korean drama has gained popularity around the world in the Middle East, in Africa, in America and even in the Europe. We could theorize that Korean drama has some universal appeal that is somehow crossing the cultural boundaries (ibid). The important factor is the good timing for Korean drama since the age of globalization and fast internet connection. The distances are shortened and we can reach the cultural contents of different countries in a few seconds. The internet offers online streaming of dramas as well as many online fandom groups where can be these dramas discussed. Social media establish parasocial relationships with the actors and actresses. Even though the dramas stayed for a long time unnoticed by academic world, its commercial potential was detected by the entertainment corporations quite successfully. ‘DramaFever’13 (owned by Warner Bros) is online video streaming website where users can watch their favorite dramas. The website has licensing deals with ‘the big three’ (SBS, KBS and MBC). ‘DramaFever’ used channel on Hulu (American subscription video on demand service) to distribute the Korean drama in the United States and Canada. Czech audience can watch the Korean drama with English subtitles online at ‘DramaFever’, ‘Drama.net’, ‘gooddrama.net, ‘dramafire.com, ‘kissasian.com’ and many more. The websites are usually free of chargers, ad-supported with the availability of premium subscribing for high definition. The Czech consumers can even find Czech subtitles for the dramas14. One of the reasons why Korean drama reached the interests of viewers abroad could be the sudden popularity of music video ‘Gangnam Style’ in 2012 by Korean singer Psy. The perception of the in-war, dangerous Asian country has changed in the eyes of the world (Sung 2014, p. 90), specifically of those countries that had already come in touch with the new developed, modern version of Korea through the Korean media products export (Samsung, LG or Hyundai products such as cars, smart phones, televisions or Korean dramas like Jewel in the Palace Elevates had already influenced the way how the viewers perceive Korea today). Once a viewer comes across the Korean drama, he/she is somehow attracted to it. The beauty presented in Korean drama might be the cause of international success. Another ingredient, the family-based Confucian tradition could as well meet the values of viewers who share the cultural affinity. The other non-Asian cultures might perceive it simply as family entertainment, everyday life we all interact in

13 www.dramafever.com 14 http://ivuse-korean-dramas.webnode.cz, http://asiantitulky.cz 21

(KOCIS 2011, p. 42). Korean drama is also less provocative therefore more universal. The central theme is love of which every culture can refer to, because of it obvious universality. Dramas are usually less sexual (the kissing scene is usually as far as the love story line can get) and less violent, therefore the content can reach wider age spectrum and more conservative audience (the Middle East) (ibid, p. 43). Stories are simple but emotionally powerful. In contrary to American ‘season’ formats where is decided whether and when to renew the series according the ratings, Korean dramas are written for specific number of episodes, therefore the storyline is more compact and focused on the main theme. In that sense is the story usually highly homogenous and has stronger emotional appeal (ibid, p. 45). Another aspect could be so called Korean ‘han’ that “could be described as a collective sentiment of sorrow, regret, resentment, and, often, yearning for vengeance” (ibid, p. 46). It is probably the essence extracted from historical suffering of Koreans. In the drama it is usually employed as strong passivity and emotiveness usually difficult for non-Koreans to understand however it leaves the viewers with more intense experience (ibid, pp. 46-47).

2. 3 Soap Opera in the Czech Republic

Globalization specifically through electronic media made it possible that the Czech audience was introduced to soap operas mostly from America. After the 1989 classical soap operas such as Dallas, Dynasty, and Beverly Hills 90210 became regulars in our screens. Later in the late 1990s and early 2000s the unforgettable Latino telenovelas became quite surprisingly popular among the Czech audience. Esmeralda, Kassandra, Rosalinda, Aurora, Wild Angel, Kachorra and many more were positively accepted also within the youth public who came back from school to catch the afternoon airing times of Wild Angel. The recording to VHS was a regular praxis. Transnational communication made the products of one country easily accessible in different continent (Thompson 2004, p. 142). One would expect that the product of different culture won’t be understood and can’t become popular in the country of different cultural values. Thompson in that sense talks about globalized diffusion and localized appropriation were the key point is the use of the same and well known ‘language’ (ibid). First Czech official soap opera Familly Ties (or Very Fragile Relations) was aired in a primetime by TV Prima in 2004. It was followed

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by Lucky Insurance, Rose Garden Surgery, The Street, aired by TV Nova. Prima then aired Ugly Katka (2008) inspired by Columbian telenovela Ugly Betty (1999) aired by TV Nova. Even the Czech soap opera is constructed by strongly defined characters and the numerous issues of relationships, moral and other conflicts. In research of Sloboda, he suggests we can in the Czech soap operas also usually see women without employment or with low status jobs, such as cleaners, secretaries, nurses, men are on the other hand portrayed as owners, directors, doctors (2009, p. 46). Family Ties is typical dynastic soap opera with family relations as central motive that was aired until 2009. The well set family business Premier Glass was centered in glassmaking industry. Younger son Adam is the successful, rich positive character who came back from studies from England to work in a family business. Main female protagonist sweet and sympathetic Eva, on the other hand, comes from modest surroundings, lives alone with her mother, lost her job and failed in her studies. In the next season the main protagonist Marie works as cleaning lady, while the main male protagonist rich and self-confident Jan studied at Harvard, and works in the Premiere Glass. The TV Nova inspired by the success of its concurrent in 2005 came with Rose Garden Surgery that has been part of the many Czech living rooms ever since. First was the plot centered around gynecological surgery and later changed its focus on the general surgical ward. Community soap opera The Street (2005) is first day-time Czech soap opera. Its airing time is rather unusual around 18:30. Because of the small size of Czech audience the segmentation only to children and women, typical for the day-time soap opera, would be uneconomic. The Czech day-time opera therefore is by its character closer to the prime-time operas and the plot is matching the demand of brought public (ibid).

2. 4 Hallyu Wave and Korean drama in the Czech Republic

The Europe has been definitely reached by Korean wave. We talked about the drama ‘Jewel in the Palace Elevates’ that by 2011 reached Europe. The Czech Republic was not one of the countries the drama was aired at even though around that time the Korean wave also reached the Czech Republic. Czech audience had to wait until 2015 when was the ever first and until this day (April 2017) the last drama ‘Lovers in Prague’ (2005) aired by NovaCinema. At the airing time the drama was already ten years old. Although Czech

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audience didn’t simply have any chances and opportunities to be affected by the early wave of 2000s, we could name social media, such as Facebook, You Tube as the turning point of Hallyu wave in the Czech. Of course, the Korean government again lent the hand to promote Korean culture. Korean Embassy has set its goal to help to spread the Hallyu in the Czech Republic. The embassy for example helped to establish Sejong center at the Charles University or Korean 15studies major at Palacky University. We shall also not forget to mention Korean food festivals or workshops concerning different field of Korean culture organized regularly by Embassy (Marinescu, Mazaná, et al. 2014, p. 47).

Europe wasn’t swayed by Korean popular culture as strongly as for example China, Japan, or Latin America. In conclusion, there is very limited number of researches available on the topic of Hallyu or Korean wave within the Czech academic world. To our knowledge none research has been ever done specifically focusing on the relations of Korean drama and Czech audience. We therefore can rely only on quite a limited portion of data. Czech fandom is not a compact and united group rather it consists of little communities altogether not exceeding the number of 3000 people (ibid, p. 48). The fandom has an increasing tendency, therefore each year the number of fans rises. The Facebook page of social club called ‘Czech Hallyu Wave’ has 2 099 likes (Facebook.com, 2017). The social club was established in 2011 and since then every year in august organizes ‘Hallyu weekend’ (ibid). Czech fans of Korean modern culture therefore have an opportunity to join and celebrate their shared interests. The club is closely co-working with Korean Embassy and is very likely influencing the increase of fans in the Czech, specifically the K-pop fans (Mazaná, et al. 2014, p. 61). The weekend consists of ‘Hallyu Event’, the seminaries, presentations and lectures covering the theme of Korean popular music. There is also ‘K-POP Contest’ where the Czech fans can cheer and compete in singing and dancing. The groups or individuals have to perform Korean popular songs. The winners then represent Czech Republic at the ‘K-POP World Festival’ organized by KBS in Korea. In 2012 Czech female group O. M. G. won first prize. When the ex-president Park Geun-hye in 2015 during her official visit of Czech Republic appeared at the first Czech K-pop concert, the O. M. G. stood on the same stage. The concert visited about 1500 fans (Facebook.com, 2017).

15 Charles University also offers major in Korean studies (since 1950) 24

The community of so called ‘K-poppers’16 is according to Mazaná largest of all fan communities in the Czech Republic (77 percent). The fans are interested mostly in the Korean language (54 percent), second comes Korean film (48 percent) closely followed by Korean drama (46 percent). Czech fans also favor Korean food (43 percent), Korean fashion and cosmetics (38 percent), Korean comics (10 percent) or computer games (5 percent) (Marinescu, Mazaná, et al. 2014, p. 48). The age of fans can be with few exceptions divided into two groups: 10 – 19 years old (54 percent) and 20 – 29 years old (33 percent). The fandom consists mainly of females (83 percent) (ibid. p. 51). Most of Hallyu fans were previously interested in Japan (73 percent), predominantly in anime and J-pop (ibid, p. 50). Those who were directly interested in Korean culture usually consumed Korean films (mostly directed by Kim Ki-duk or Park Chan-wook), K-pop (Bigbang, Shinee, B. A. P.) or Korean dramas (Winter Sonata, Fullhouse). The reasons and ways of their interest were usually mixed and one followed another. “After having watched a music video commonly a chain of reaction followed: first looking up information about the artist then watching other related music videos and dramas, afterward seeking other related content” (ibid, p. 51). The idols seem to be the center of their attraction. Female respondents were generally attracted to Korean men and 40 percent of them wish for Korean partner. Korean men are in the media contents, such as Korean dramas, music videos or television shows, presented as highly fashionable, caring for their appearance. For example wearing makeup, trendy hairstyle, nail polish or wearing accessorizes. They seem to have always very clean shiny and stylish look. The typical Korean man presented in the Korean media also very openly expresses his emotions and good manners. All previously mentioned offers an alternative to the Czech mainstream perception of ideal man which typically demands the opposite, possibly comprehended by the notion ‘manliness’ (ibid). Except of the Korean men, the appeal of dramas also seems to be rooted in its romantic, naïve and exotic traits (ibid, p. 58). Korean dramas according the research watch 65 percent of Czech fans. Some of them watch drama more frequently than others. 36 percent watch drama just ‘sometimes’, 29 percent at least three times a week and 6 percent stated that they watch Korean drama on daily basis (ibid). The Czech fans are interested in the Korean language mostly so they can understand K-pop or dramas. Some refer to a Korean language as beautiful (ibid, p. 51). The all mentioned attractiveness

16 The way how the Czech fans designate themselves (K-poper for male and K-poperka for female) 25

seems to somehow transmit to the context of culture. Czech fans are in result of their consumption of Korean popular culture contents attracted to many areas of Koran culture.

3 Culture and Identity

Culture is term so widely used in numerous meanings that it is almost abstract (Ang 1990). The definitions of culture carry often quite broad content: “Culture, or civilization, taken in its broad, ethnographic sense, is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society. “ (Tylor 1874, p. 1) Despite its complexity, culture is part of everyday discourse and is a product or cause of human beings. The so called ‘cultural turn’, the rise of culture as a field of academic interest, happened in the 20th century. Since then culture has been defined and redefined numerous times depending on the discourse, starting with Tylor’s, Boase’s, Mead’s anthropological approach, through Simmel’s, Weber’s or Marx’s cultural sociology, continuing with cultural studies of Hall, Williams or Thompson. Just to set a few of possible examples where the concept of culture can be used: “We use it to explain how the aesthetic universe is organized (‘high culture’, ‘everyday culture’), why gangs engage in antisocial-activities (‘a culture of violence’), why a business isn’t innovative (‘a culture of dependence’)” (Bennet 2004, p. 3). Culture in the discourse of communication studies could be according the Ang understood as “generally conceptualized in behavioral and functionalist terms, about which ‘objective’ knowledge can be accumulated through the testing of generalizable hypotheses by way of conventional social-scientific methods.” (1990, pp. 239-240). To such a critical approach Ang adds that cultural studies have deconstructive tendency, especially if we take in consideration how many critics there are of every single approach or research done, as it almost seems that the critic itself is objective of those who are academically involved in cultural studies and it’s methodology of researching (1990). Cultural identity is a key segment of the comprehensive topic of transnational media consumption. It is essential to perceive the role of the cultural identity in the process of watching Korean drama. Identity is present during the whole time since the first ‘click’ on ‘play’ button until long after the viewer finished watching the whole drama series.

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Cultural identity is quite a central issue of transnational media consumption as such it is well discussed matter in the media studies. Ang argues against its political, official understanding as a “threat to the autonomy and integrity of ‘national identity’. (Ang, 1990, p. 252) ” Such a definition that simplifies the whole cultural identity issue into the problem of ‘nationality’ seems not accurate, since it subordinates other sources of the cultural construction of identity, (e.g. by class, locality, ethnicity, religion, gender, social status, politics…). Ang implies that such an authoritative understanding of cultural identity is not just limiting, but might be even harmful. According to Ang national identity is “just like the popular identities in Latin America and elsewhere, fundamentally a dynamic, conflictive, unstable and impure phenomenon (ibid)”. Today, with the current digital age and online media consumption, it is very difficult to control ‘national identity’ and transnational digital media consumption becomes nightmare for the authoritative regimes trying to maintain independent cultural identity.17 Another point of view is that transnational cultural identity exchange can help overcome the limits and boundaries of nations, can push nations towards changes in the matters such as women rights, technology development, education…). In contrary, there is as well possibility of one nation/culture conviction of their own superiority as the terms ‘Eurocentrism’ and ‘Americanization’ shall be prove of that18. Cultural identity is present issue leading to questions such as: What is our cultural identity? Is the identity changeable? What modifies it? Do we even choose our identity? And I will borrow an interesting but difficult thought of Simon Clarke’s study of Cultural identity: “whether identity is a social construction or part of psychodynamic process?” (Clark in Bennett, 2008: 510) The chapter ‘Culture and Identity’ should put some theoretical resolve at least some of those question.

3. 1 Social construction of ‘self’

Identity theory is rather general complex search of defining who we are. Social identity theory again tries to define who we are, but takes in account our socially constructed ‘self’, which stands in between social structure and individual behavior. There are differences and similarities in both theories (see Hogg, Terry and White, 1995). Identity theory is partly

17 Among those still fighting the transnational media consumption is for example North Korea or China. 18 The book Orientalism by Edward Said (1978) deals with the problem of colonialism 27

psychological, partly sociological theory. Matt Briggs argues that meaning making is always “’embedded’ in a cultural context formed by historical events and processes, discourses, politics as well as moralities and identities, it would also be a mistake to see the television audience as a homogenous mass” (2010, p. 8-9) Acknowledging our capacities, specialization and objective, we will try to contain this issue within the cultural, medial, sociological perspective with respect to historical grounding.

As mentioned above, cultural identity is formed by several factors (e.g. class, gender, ethnicity…), but the key notion is ‘difference’. It is difference that defines ‘them’ from ‘us’ (XX) that makes us notice change in the identity (Bennett, 2008, p. 510). Difference can appear only if we have a social ‘norm’ that we can disturb. There is ‘different’ on one side and ‘normal’ on the opposite side of our recognition value chart of the process of social construction of identity. Goffman (1969) compares the social interaction to an imaginary of theatre. He sees the identity of individual in the light of performance. In his theory, we all are actors playing our roles given by society norms. The key point doesn’t stand in what we are, but what we appear to be (Goffman, 1969, p. 28). Individuals are part of social structures and certain situations let us choose between an ‘act’ that is socially more acceptable than the ‘truth’. It puts us in the positions where we can define our identity. Among those are as well positions that we (depending on the circumstances) must take upon us since refusing them would be socially unacceptable (1996). Goffman uses six principles defining our identity: performance, the team, the region, discrepant roles, communication out of character, impression management. As example of principle of performance, we can take a Czech girl, who tries to be part of the Korean fan club. She goes to a special meeting of fans of Korean pop culture in Brno. There, she speaks Korean language, she shows her Korean products bought online, eats Korean food, takes a picture with friends the ‘Korean way’, and her makeup is done by Korean cosmetics in Korean visual preference. She can make us believe, she is fan of Korean pop culture, she identifies as fan and that performance creates her identity of ‘fan of Korean pop culture’. We very often perform to fit the identity standards set by the majority of certain social group we are, we must be, or we want to be part of. Except of individual cases of performance, there are teams performing in front regions and that is where our interest stands (1969). Our girl from example is not alone at the meeting. She meets friends there who use the same cosmetics, Missha, Hera, Innisfree or Etude House. They practice their Hangul knowledge;

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their body language changes as well their beauty standards. They compete whose skin is lighter, they eat Kimchi by stainless steel chopsticks bought online from Korea, they take the picture the ‘Korean gwiyeobda19 way’ together and then they go home, where they stop performing. Their identity at home is different from the performed identity as Koreans. The girl’s front region is different form the back region because her identity at the back region is different, influenced by another social norms of different social group. As Goffman (1963) suggests, people tend to be part of certain social groups where they are connected by certain cultural norms. Those, who do not fit that norm, are excluded from the social group. Goffman addresses the difference (disruption of the norm) as ‘Social stigma’.20 He describes three types of identity: social identity, personal identity and ego identity. Social identity is what the society norms, categories and attributes shape us into in our relations to others. This is where the stigma can take place. Personal identity is connected to our biography. Individual signs that set us apart, making us differ from each other, unique. Ego identity is formed by our feeling of our selves. It is about our personal subjective perception of our identity21. The social norms that construct the cultural identity then create stereotypes among the members of certain social group. Stereotypes then define what is ‘normal’. Now, there are numerous studies of how is the stereotyping and persuasion conceived and processed (Lazarsfeld 1948, Corner et al. 2011, Fabrigar, Petty 1999 in Aronson et al. 2014, Jorgenssen 1998 in Bryant, Thompson 2002). Some see stereotyping as problematic. Allport defines it as negative attitude, which discriminates against a victim of prejudice (1954 in Amodio, Devine 2005: 249). The question stands within the ‘affective attitudes’ that are based on emotional judgment not on the logic and rational examination of the problem (Katz 1960). This theory could indicate that those stereotypes that are judged by logic and rational thinking can be accepted as social norm. Michael Foucault in his work (1991, 1998) explains how discipline and power is important to productive modern social state. “Power is everywhere” and “comes from everywhere” (1998: 63), not only repressive, but productive. Power is part of the society and is not just

19 Korean 귀엽다 means ‚cute‘. It is a typical Korean way or possibilities of taking picture where the aim is to look as cute as possible. 20 Goffman divides social stigma into the three forms: Overt or external deformations (scars, illness, physical disability), Deviations in personal traits (social status, early/late pregnancy, school dropout, low vage job) and "Tribal stigmas" (nationality, religion…) (Goffman, 1963) 21 Goffman though, doesn’t place his interest in this type of identity, he is more interested in the social construction of ‘self’. 29

exercised by political structures, power is used by ones to influence, to form and offer possibilities, to make easier and harder decisions, sometimes to forbid and command others. Power can be claimed by dominant discourses (1998). Foucault understands the power as a relational phenomenon. Power then applying his logic forms what we are, forms our identity.

Foucault equals notions ‘knowledge’ and ‘power’, so he can exclude the unnecessary negative connotations of the later term. ‘Truth’ is another important part of his comprehension of power. Truth is part of regimes of every society. Truth can be taught, accustom to, experienced, reinforced, especially by media. Every society has its own regimes of truth (1998). For example Euro-American society has Christianity, the regime of truth that was experienced, taught, reinforced and redefined for around 2000 years. Ten Commandments – the divine rules of conduct given by God to Moses on Mount Sinai: Do not steal; Do not kill; Do not commit adultery… is our22 truth and our knowledge of truth. Going to school or to work every morning is our truth and so we do not feel any willful coercion from others to do so.23 In other words and with light simplification, even though we ideologically fight the stereotypes, power and perhaps even stigma, if we (even unconsciously) accept the concept of power as truth, than even if we use our best knowledge, rationality and logic, we might still live the stereotype, live upon the power and might not be able to define the social stigma of the society we live in. Again, if we will take up the previous example, in a society that is not controlled by this power, its members might feel free to kill, steal and commit adultery, won’t go to school or to work. That is why Foucault doesn’t perceive power as coercive and possessive; perhaps even ‘negative’ as some other scholars might see it as. Foucault does consider power controlling, but argues that the control is important part and even necessity of productive social state where members of such society accept their role in it24. He enforces the members of society to challenge the power structures and is against the search for ‘absolute power’. In additional theory of Hayward (1998), power has its boundaries, and it is up to each member of the

22 Members of Euro-American society 23 Here, we can see the link to the Theory of everydayness/everyday life and Ontological safety (Goffman, Giddens, Mead, Freud, Marx, Adorno, Horkheimer, De Certeau…) 24 Foucault’s understandings of power are much more complex. He defines the ‚disciplinary power‘, such as prison, school system, mental hospitals. He talks about ‚bio-power‘ that defines what behaviour is normal, acceptable, deviant… (1991) 30

society to see them, accept or refuse them, even to shape them. Obviously here, we are not taking abuse of the power in account, but that is a matter of another chapter.

Cultural identity might be linked to dominant discourses of society. Then, how can we explain the transnational influences that change one’s cultural identity, if so? Giving an example of Czech student somehow, perhaps through media and friends, coming across East Asian popular culture, does she or does she not adopt certain aspects of that culture? If we would understand cultural identity strictly as a complex of dominant discourses of society they are part of, then we would have to exclude the possibility of East Asian culture dominant discourses influencing the student’s cultural identity. We would for example have to exclude possibility of her ever using chopsticks or BB cream while staying within the Czech Republic and its dominant discourses. Since we cannot exclude the possibility of such influence, we argue that dominant discourses of numerous cultures can influence individual’s cultural identity, especially in the modern age of fast overcoming distances through internet and developed transport technology. Even so, we see the dominance ‘volume’, intensity of each discourse as a crucial part of the construction of cultural identity.

Even though Foucault and Goffman offer quite complex analysis of social construction of individual’s identity. Clarke argues that both neglect the power of emotion, passion and motivation in their analysis of construction of self. He points to Frankfurt School theorists Franz Fanon (1986) and Slavoj Zizek (1993) while he argues that what is important in the process of identity formation is one’s relation to a cultural Other, not just to some other, but ‘The Other’. Importance lays in our feelings, emotions which make one’s cultural identity much stronger and firmer (Clark in Bennet 2008, p. 511). Emotion is according to Clark what adds the ‘volume’ to a discourse. Clark adds another segment to the process of construction of identity – the imagination “we have to take very seriously the constructions and perceptions of the human imagination and emotion – the way in which people imagine the world to be and imagine the ways that others exist in the world is central to the construction of identity” (Clark in Bennet 2008: 511). Clark argues that cultural identity might be even constructed on a fiction, as long as our imagination fits our beliefs of the common truth (2008).

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The question arises in the matter of relevance of this review of culture identity construction is that the reviewed scholars are indeed of European nationality and do not expertise on Asian cultural studies. Therefore we can perhaps accept the theories as relevant in the context of Euro-American culture. In other words, we cannot with certainty apply this review on the creators, the writers of these dramas, who are of Korean nationality (The Hong Sisters, Kim Eun Sook, Lee Kyung Hee, Choi Wan Kyu, Kim Young Hyun & Park Sang Yeon, No Hee Kyung, Hwang Eun Kyung). We assume they might encode ‘preferred’ meanings supporting existing power structure – ‘enticements’, such as Korean traditional concept of family, Korean understanding of beauty, Korean table manners into their scenarios as a main ingredient of the attractiveness. This is where the reviewed concept of cultural identity construction seems to flaw. In regard to the question of relevance and as reflection of the ‘cultural critique’ commonly understood as arrogance and ignorance of western world25 (see Bennett, 2008; Ang, 1990; Said, 1978) we will now pay attention to the approach of identity in Asia. We will specifically focus on the Korean culture. To understand identity of Korea we will as well focus on its historical background and social changes.

3. 2 Understanding the Identity of Korea: Construct of Danil Minjok

Korea had to in its history very often economically and diplomatically depend on powerful nations. They specifically depended on Chinese language, technology, cultural tradition such as Confucian teaching (Park 2009, p. 57). Koreans used adapted Chinese characters hanja until 15th century when the King Sejong the Great developed Korean alphabetic featural writing system hangul. The system was designed as easily as possible aiming to increase the literacy of Koreans. In Korea is hangul considered as a peak of Korean national pride 26(Park, Shim, 2008, p. 142). The relationship between Goryeo27 and China during the Joseon dynasty was rather complicated. It is perhaps comparable to the situation

25 See Orientalism (Said 1978) 26 The literature written in Chinese hanja previous to invention of hangul was burnt by Koreans as not ‚Korean‘ enough, similarly were burnt several historical temples used by Japanese during occupation as not ‚clean‘. 27 Today Korea 32

of German pressures on Czech nation starting in 17th century until the end of the World War II. Germanisation forced the Czech language out of the cities to the suburbs and villages and set the German as an official academic language. The knowledge of hanja was in Goryeo during Joseon dynasties, similarly as German in the Czech, an obligation within the higher ranks guaranteeing wealth and prosperous business (Park, 2009, p. 58). During the Japanese occupation (1910 – 45) Korea became the protectorate of Japan. The Korean army was reduced, Japanese police subtle the Korean police, the Japanese language was taught. During the World War I and II the number of Korean immigrants in Japan typically on forced labors28 was increasing. The topic of ‘comfort women’ who were recruited from rural areas of Korea with promise of employment but actually served as sexual slaves in Japanese military is still very sensitive topic for Koreans even today. Those who stayed in Japan now create Zainichi Korean community. American forces arrived in 1945 in the south part of Korea while the Soviet Army in the north part of Korea. Korea was never actually colonized by the United States however “now seems to by colonized by the U.S. in economic, political, and cultural realms” (Park, 2009, p. 52). Park is referring to the role of the United States during the Korean War (1950 – 53), since then United States also helped Korea economically through the years of development however until today actually never left Korea. The Itaewon-dong is an area in Seoul close to US Army Base therefore very popular among Americans and also other foreigners. There are western restaurants, foreign schools and night clubs. Not surprisingly was the area nicknamed the ‘western town’. There shall be no surprise that “through the nation’s experiences of colonization and modernization, the construct of danil minjok (‘one people’ or racial homogeneity) served as the central ideology” (Park, Shim, 2008, p. 142). This national awareness was partly a reaction to the imperial colonialism (Kim 2006). Korea maintained the ideology of ethnic homogeneity until 1980s (Shin 2006) when the migrant communities started to appear (mostly as result of the Korean wave). Korean strong nationalism is empowered by their belief of common origin concluding into the collective sense of oneness (Schmid 1997). Korean identity definitely transformed in the terms of homogeneity however the strong nationalism aiming for countries independence stays (Kim, 2006). On the other hand the homogeneity ideology is not concerning just the sphere of ethnicity but also the culture.

28 Forced labors of Koreans were needed when Japanese men were serving in the military during World War II. Koreans worked as second class citizens in Japanese factories and mines facing bad conditions and treatment 33

Therefore those who differ are stigmatized or simply not accepted into the community. Since the ethnic nationalism didn’t fit to the new ‘trend’ of multiculturalism and since Korea is aiming to gain the so awaited recognition after years of suffering and oppression, the county followed the trend and launched the policies towards multiculturalism29 in 2006 (Kim et al. 2012).

One of the biggest influences on Korean identity except of Americanization and modernization had Confucianism. It is an inseparable part of the Korean history and influences the Korean worldview even today. Since some might be disappointed with western values of modern age (Tamai, Lee, 2002), it is a great opportunity to reconcile Confucian vision and crucial concept of harmony. In today Neo-Confucian Korea are some elements still present, for example Koreans are loyal to their job and don’t change it easily. They are very respectful towards their deceased ancestors, their tea ceremony or flower decoration follow Confucian tradition (Tu, 1996). Harmony is important in the business as well as in the family relations. Everyone has their role that should be fulfilled. Young Koreans are taught to respect their surroundings and therefore to behave politely and as collective, together built the harmonious society. Collectivity is very common in Korea and is for example present even in the business, where the companies are usually of a big structure and understood as family. Presidents of such firms are the heads of family and appreciate contact with the workers – family members. Therefore the Korean companies are usually spoken of as Samsung family, Hyundai family and so on (ibid, p. 220). Koreans are still very paternalistic, conservative and traditionalists, young respect the elders, especially blood relatives. These traditional values are weirdly mixed with the modern imported western values. Women have to for example get university education to be able to married well even though after marriage they usually stay at home as house wives and their role changes from educated independent equal individuals (Western ideal) to financially dependent housekeepers securing cozy atmosphere for the returning hard working husband (Confucian ideal). Arranged marriages are still popular in the Korea so that the harmony of family group can be maintained even though recently is challenged by the western concept of love.

29 Among many for example the budget of four million won for domestic disadvantaged people was cut in 2009 whilst the budget for migrants was increased to over one trillion won (S. Kim 2009). 34

3. 3 Theory of Cultural Globalization

Globalization is today a term of both negative and positive connotations. During the 1960s the ‘expressive revolution’30 (Parsons 1978) triggered talk about ‘modernization’, ‘modernity’ or ‘high modernity’. The modernization theory was criticized (Wallerstein, Robertson) because standards of the level of modernity were set by the ideal of western society. Even more troubling was the comparative character of the theory. In other words, what was considered modern was usually associated with the United States and the western values. Globalization as an issue of society was discussed by Weber, Durkhein or Simmel. Giddens talks about the globalization as consequence of modernity (1990). The notion ‘globalization’ started to gain its popularity in the academy sphere around 80s. Exception might have been McLuhan who had presented the concept to his ‘global village’ (McLuhan, Birdwhistell, and Carpenter, 1966) in the 60s. McLuhan even before invention of internet predicted the world connected by media and electronic technologies and therefore, similarly to life in village, predicted everyone to be facing intensity of media contents and complicated relations. Everyone will know what has happened ‘next-door’. Appadurai (1990) suggested the term ‘deterritorialization’ referring to an unstoppable flow of activities crossing the border lines whether we wish for it or not. He distinguishes five dimensions: ethnoscape, mediascape, technoscape, finanscape and ideoscape. These landscapes are according to Appadurai creating number of ‘imagined worlds’ that could be understood as extension of ‘imagined communities’ (Anderson 1983). They comprehend the idea of communities that are constructed by image of connection through their beliefs of common origin. Appadurai suggests that the mediascape is communicated through media that produce and distribute images of attractive lives creating or supporting our imagination of lives elsewhere. The Korean wave could have been produced and distributed through mentioned ‘landscapes’, perhaps by its combination that now create an imagined world that is sustained and distributed by the members. Highly nationalist Koreans longing for the world recognition are systematically creating and supporting the production of the imagined world of modern and successful Korea. This imaginary can support the flattering perception of Korea in foreign countries and help the Korean products to sell better. Lewis (2004) illustrated it on example of Japanese female fans of Korean idol Bae Yong Jun who believed his image presented through media is

30 Revolution of consciousness that took part around the world in the 60s specifically within the youth 35

representing the male standard of all Koreans. Japanese women therefore thought of Koreans as more masculine and taller than Japanese men which could influence the rapid growth of membership applications from Japanese women to matchmaking companies in 2004.

Paradoxically, globalization with help of media might be empowering the nationalism by encouraging local citizens to rediscover the ‘local’ they have forgotten about, that had been neglected in time and with the government new objective of international success we can understand the recent drive towards Western-imposed modernization (Shim 2006, p. 25). In that sense we can remind the Korean rising national awareness during the Japanese occupation (Kim 2006), and later turn towards modernization. When other culture forcibly hybridized the Korean culture, we could say Koreans rediscovered their ‘local’ in a fight against the Japanese suppression.31 Koreans longed for the recognition and the success was set as a long term objective of country policy. Koreans national drive towards modernization is proven by their recent history of fast industrialization racing for the western image of modernity. Koreans’ rising national awareness combined with the countries’ objective constructs it as obligation to promote Korean culture. Obviously, the image of modern Korea portrayed in dramas (perhaps except of the historical genre) is not as much traditional as it is influenced by imported American values. This ‘postcolonial’ criticism is reminding us that cultural flow changes and its basic attribute is therefore hybridization (Hannerz, 1996). Globalization in that sense starts deep in the history, Thompson however stresses the recent much more intense development when after the industrial revolution the electronic media fastens world temp dramatically.

“Rather than assuming that prior to the importation of Western TV programmes etc. many Third World countries had indigenous traditions and cultural heritages which were largely unaffected by external pressures, we should see instead that the globalization of communication through electronic media is only the most recent of a series of cultural encounters, in some cases stretching back many centuries, through which the values, beliefs and symbolic forms of different groups have been superimposed on one another, often in conjunction with the use of coercive, political, and economic power” (Thompson 1995, p. 170).

31 Similarly, Europeans are today rediscovering their Christian-based culture during the ‚migrant crises. 36

As Korean cultural hybridization is an example of Thompson theory, now, it is a question how exactly the years of Americanization affected the cultural heritage of Korea (or even previously the Japan occupation or Chinese influence). “English fever in Korean society may appear incongruent with the image of a country that is well known for its strong sense of national and ethnic pride” (Park, Shim, 2008, p. 138). However the case in Korea is a bit more complicated. Media have a dominant position in the process of globalization and except of obvious influences, for example the Christianization of Korea, Korean media contents also imported most unobtrusive artifacts of western culture. The other question stands within the Korean cultural values we don’t get to witness simply because the imported western values in a time suppressed the traditions as non-modern. Even though the United States didn’t colonize Korea, according to park Koreans “think of Americanization as globalization, therefore they have to internalize American values and language in order to survive” (2009, p. 59). In other words, globalization as was indicated above is discursively connected with modernization and the modernization is an objective of Korean National awareness and therefore also the countries’ policy.

4 Culture and Power

The ongoing discussion of culture and power relations is intense and confusingly diverse. Some approaches contend power as agency, dominant, controlling, coherent or abusive part of meaning making process (Luke, Storey, Gramsci). Some see the relation of power and culture less critically (Fiske, Williams, Bourdieu). Hayward criticizes the concept of domination as ‘only one form of power relation’ and offers her theory of de-facing power (1998, p. 21). To define the relationship of power and culture is by all means out of the capacity and objective of this paper. However, we intend to present some of the ideas of the debate. We are specifically interested in the idea of power shaping culture through the media content. Starting with Foucault and his idea of omnipresent power, we shall offer broader perspective of the subject ‘culture and power’ as we don’t want to underestimate its importance within the vivid debate concerning ‘popular culture’. This chapter is intended as an introduction to the following subchapter focusing specifically on ‘popular culture’.

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Williams defines culture as ordinary. We mostly do live ordinary lives (1989). Culture has according to Williams two aspects: “the known meanings and directions, which its members are trained to” and as well “the new observations and meanings, which are offered and tested” (1989, p. 4). He claims that culture is both, traditional and creative. Culture is formed by what is common and ordinary and by what is finest and individual (ibid). Williams underlines the importance of the ordinariness of the meanings making process. In that sense he talks about a ‘Common Culture’ where there “is not a special class or group of men, who are involved in the creation of meanings and values, either in a general sense or in specific art and belief” (1989: 34). Storey in contrary to Williams’ claims, that “central object of study in cultural studies is culture and power” (Storey 2010, p. 1). Williams, as Storey argues, does not insist enough on the relations of power in his explanations, even though it would be inaccurate to say that he does not recognize power at all. Still, especially in his earlier works, according to Storey, Williams refers to culture as relation of certain common meanings made within democratic socialist impulse. Storey argues that meaning making is a matter of all people, including ‘powerful someone’, who are involved in the meaning making process by the diverse forms and intensity. Storey suggests Gramsci’s hegemony theory as a fill of missing part of Williams’ approach (Storey 2010).

We should take time to define the relevance of media and its role in the reviewed topic. Media as was indicated above are able to define and reflect various social norms which they further reinforce, confirm or challenge, especially by preferring some topics and suppressing the other; and it is this interaction where dominant meanings are born (Burton, Jirák, 2001). Therefore media are powerful tool with respect to ideology. In the media representation “the prevailing ideology is reflected, particularly the dominant attitudes, beliefs and values” (Burton, Jirák, 2001, p. 188). For example, let’s imagine a specific group of Czech audience that on daily basis watches Korean dramas where are encoded ‘preferred’ meanings supporting existing power structures of Korean society. Viewers, even though of different culture, can get quite persuasive message about prevailing values, or portrayed values of Korean society. That can lead to an imagined culture, which could base its logic on social constructionist theories. Benedict Anderson’s theory of Imagined Communities (1983) or Edward Said’s concept of Imagined Geographies (1994) or perhaps even Foucault’s social construction of madness, punishment (1991) and sexuality

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(1998) analyze understandings of the world from the optics of shared assumptions of reality. In this sense we could mention as well the Engel’s theory of ‘false consciousness’ which is indeed a theory of power, the invisible one. Why do workers pick what falls off table instead of claiming their rightful place at the table? Because their ‘false consciousness’ prevents them from recognizing the oppression and keeps their identity secure (Heywood 1994, p. 85). Bourdieu in the similar sense uses ‘misrecognition’, however in his logic that transcends any tries to manipulate or control. Bourdieu doesn’t see this phenomenon in the optics of ideology but rather of culture (Navarro 2006). We talked about the stereotypes defining our identity. Media by showing certain images and vernacular form its consumer’s perception of reality. In consequence media deepen consumer’s relationship to the imagined society. If we watch American TV series, let’s say Friends, the Big Bang Theory or How I Met Your Mother, we get certain idea of American culture; however our idea doesn’t have to fit the reality of American culture. According to functionalist theory media emphasize dominant societal and economic values by symbolic rewarding of those who have readjusted themselves and by punishing those who differs (McQuail, 2010). By these processes media “contribute to the stabilization of power” (Burton, Jirák, 2001, p. 352). In fact, television may be compared to religion in its ideological role, “the similarity of their social functions, lies in the continual repetition of patterns (myths, ideologies, "facts," relationships, etc.), which serve to define the world and legitimize the social order” (Gerbner et al., 1986, p.18). Thereby media became the important part of hegemony, helping to powerful elites to sustain their dominance (Burton, Jirák, 2001). Cultivation hypothesis consistently states that television serves primarily to maintain, stabilize and reinforce rather than alter, threaten or weaken conventional beliefs and behaviors (Gerbner et al., 1986). Therefore it is crucial to explore who are the actors behind the media messages formation and what and why they shape the media world in the particular way.32

Italian philosopher Antonio Gramsci talks about many cases when culture and power integrate. Concept of hegemony draws on assumption that dominant ideology of ruling class “survives and flourish with the apparent compliance of it victims” (McQuail, 2010, p. 66) through effective process of persuasion. By hegemony Greamsci means “intellectual and moral leadership” (Gramsci 2009, p. 75) He claims, that the dominant groups do not

32 By this statement we would like to advocate our interest in the Korean drama creators. 39

have to necessarily rule by force, but by commonly shared consent, so the dominant group should consist of intellectuals and moral figures. Although we cannot forget the obvious, that the concrete powerful meaning made by someone with ‘power’ has different impact than meaning made by someone without power (Storey 2010). Thus, dominance is not necessarily the forced supremacy but rather socially accepted dominance based on consensus. The suggested reason is that dominant class has ability to project its own way of seeing the world so that the subordinated groups accept “the social system and its everyday embodiments as ‘common sense,’ the self-evidently natural” (Fiske, 1987, p. 39). Through this process media contribute to the naturalization of social reality, and the hegemony seems practically invisible (Burton, Jirák, 2001). In terms of Korean drama, hegemony may determine our perception of physical beauty, taste in fashion, Neo- Confucian model of family, role of men and women in the society (see Deuchler, 1995). The beauty hegemony in South Korea defines narrow face, defines pointed nose and big eyes as ‘beautiful’, that it is natural that we apply make-up and dress in specific way for job or date. Public may not realize that those are socially constructed standards, but consider them as naturally given norms. The same can be said about the family relationships, where the drama portray women as hardworking second hands of their husbands, who are necessarily the head of the family (if not deceased) and need to be obeyed. However, hegemony is temporary, consent must be constantly won and rewon, and as are media able to support the hegemony they have also power to overturn it. Media and popular culture are seen as site of struggle between the ‘resistance’ of subordinate groups and the forces of dominant groups trying to win hegemony. However, all the texts and practices of popular ‘compromise equilibrium’ (Storey, 2009). Resistance strategies still occur and are bounded by dominant ideology and are significantly restricted by conventionality of mass media, television especially. Conventions of television satisfy audience’s needs for familiarity and routinization as well as producer’s needs since conventions keep the costs of production down and minimize the risks in the marketplace (Fiske, 1987). The conventionality of the form will always, finally, defuse any radicalism. Moreover, the unwritten discourse makes such perfect and comfortable sense that it denies the need as well as possibility for any further interrogation on the part of the viewer. Fiske (1987) concludes that “the combination of economics and ideology was so powerful that any oppositional or radical movement was immediately swallowed up or incorporated into the dominant ideology” (p. 36). This idea may be again applied to Korean dominant

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ideology of patriarchal society that is reinforced by Korean dramas. The male characters are on regular basis portrayed as seemingly unreachable rich and powerful figures while female characters are present poor but of good manners, hardworking and subordinated to man. The largely popular series which could be translated as ‘Man who come from a star’ could be said to have an element of radicalism in that it showed strong, spoiled and arrogant female character, thus in the role that were normally confined to men. However, the screenwriters attributed male character with supernatural powers which make him once again superior. Moreover, as the story develops, the woman becomes more and more dependent on her male counterparts which may lead us to the assumption that her original independency and arrogance could be seen as a defect as she was later ‘fixed’ and tamed by the dominate man. That is, her radicalism was incorporated into the dominant patriarchal ideology through the form of her representation “in such a way as to show that patriarchy can accommodate “the new woman” into its view of the world without having to make any adjustments of principle” (Fiske, 1987, p. 37). Further negative side of the mechanism of incorporation is its ability “to rob the radical of its voice and thus of its means of expressing its opposition” (ibid). Finally, viewer may have difficulties to accept that media messages are just social constructs selling us particular values, because we embraced these values and consider them as our own. Therefore, it is also difficult to explore the origins of person´s values, and the relationship between TV exposure and viewer´s perception of an issue. When viewer watches TV he may possibly mainly support his pre-existing values. The ideological significance of media is supported by mentioned stereotypes and myths. Media present strongly stereotypical view of the society. Stereotypes reinforce dominant ideology, Barthes (1972) also claims that myths justify things, makes them natural, and state the fact.

Hegemony therefore may be ‘invisible power’ possibly hidden in the media texts, in our case in the Korean drama. Another conception of “hidden power” is what Pierre Bourdieu called ‘habitus’ that is created by social interactions which in its repetitive habit create certain social pattern. These patterns are not fixed and during the time they shift depending on the specific contexts. In the contrary to the theories of controlling power, Bourdieu explains that habitus stands in between the social structures and free will of individual. It is matter of interaction of two in a period of time, when and where meaning making process is not forced. Habitus just happens and is reproduced unconsciously, “without any

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deliberate pursuit of coherence” (Bourdieu 1984, p. 170). Bourdieu doesn’t see this invisible power as control but as guidance. His ‘cultural capital’ stands in contrast to its material comprehension. It is our social capital that can give us ‘power’ instead or next to the material assets (1986), for example certain knowledge of behavior such as appropriate job interview manners may increase the likelihood of success in getting a job. In Korea, the set of certain behavioral ways, its knowledge and ability to use it well in a given social structure is essential attribute of every member. For example, there is an official job interview ‘language’ in Korea and one of the most important parts is visage of applicant. In Korea you have to come dressed in suit and have a specific socially accepted type of haircut.33 The color of your hair should be naturally black, so that you prove to take this opportunity seriously. You have to have quite good portrait picture in the application to even get selected for the job interview and you shall prepare the answers in English language since it is a common practice to test the applicant’s English language abilities34. The knowledge of all of this gives applicant needed guidance; however some might call it control. Even more resistive theory to invisible controlling power of hegemony is presented by James C. Scott, who gives an example of collective actions, such as rebellions and protests as an example of everyday resistance (hidden and public ‘transcripts’) that are therefore in constant flux with repression (1985). He is specifically interested in the every- day forms of resistance (ignorance, evasion, false compliance) mostly among rural workers (1985). Scott’s transcripts are certain sets of behavioral and speaking ways that fit the actor’s role at a time and in particular social setting. As it may to seem similar to a Goffman’s or Bourdieu’s approach, Scott emphasis those social settings are established for both dominant and oppressed. There are prescribed roles and ‘scenarios’ (such as rumor, gossip, ritual gestures, euphemism…) for repression that can resist the abuse of power (1985, p.137). Scott calls those methods ‘public transcripts’ and considers them as a natural means of resistance specifically to violent forms of maintaining status quo. Such methods of resistance are used naturally by individuals or groups and without prior planning or organizing. Those who use these methods don’t necessarily recognize or don’t have to necessarily recognize the elite norms; their resistance comes naturally as a ‘public transcript’ (1985). ‘Invisible’ or ‘hidden’ may be used by both, powerless or powerful. For

33 In South Korea, for example long hair is socially unacceptable for boys to wear. 34 There is strong drinking culture in Korea; therefore applicants in their job application have to name the number of bottles of Soju, typical Korean alcohol that they are capable to finish at the everyday’s after work gatherings with the boss and coworkers. 42

the powerful the invisible power can be used to control, however for the powerless may be the ‘hidden’ codes and norms used as means for resistance, which the powerful are not able to detect. Scott’s ‘transcripts’, the sets of social behaviors are entrenched into the social structures and both, the powerful and powerless may employ them without their conscious intent, but because it is the way social structure designate to behave as (1985).

4. 1 The Vocabularies of ‘Popular Culture’

The term ‘popular culture’ and its comprehension divide the academy into the several groups of opposing opinions. Therefore, when the main academic focus points from one extreme theoretical approach to another, we may forget to look what lays in-between. Williams defines four meanings of ‘popular’: Well-liked by many people; Inferior kinds of work; Work deliberately setting out to win favor with the people; Culture actually made by people themselves (1983, p. 237). With every definition of the term ‘popular’ come varieties of meanings of the word ‘culture’ (Storey 2012), because culture is a living, active process (Fiske 1989). Popular culture could be then understood in all their very complex combinations (Storey 2012), or could be seen in a concrete light of each preferable theory, depending on stances of every scholar, their experience and observation. Objective of this review is not to argue the one preferable even ‘correct’ approach of popular culture theories, but to introduce several approaches we could embrace in later analysis. Aronowitz (1989) argues that the identity development is directly affected by popular culture. Korean drama is direct product of Korean pop culture (and vice versa). Such a review could help us discover the possibilities of how to grasp and how to better understand the process of Czech audience reception of consumption of Korean pop culture product, such as Korean drama.

Storey presents six definitions of the ‘popular culture’. First, quite common understanding of popular culture is simply a culture that many people like. His second definition claims that popular culture is remain of defined and excluded high culture. Third definition talks about popular culture as mass culture. A fourth way of defining popular culture would be the culture that comes from ‘the people’. Fifth definition is based on the Italian Marxist Antonio Gramsci’s concept of hegemony – culture in the discourse of hegemony and last sixth definition concerns the recent talk about postmodernism – postmodern culture (2012, 43

pp. 5-12). Popular culture is necessarily connected to ideology. British cultural studies are actually ideological studies (Carey 1996, p.65). Storey then also defines five ideological approaches. First, ideology is a systematic group of ideas claimed by a specific group of people. Second is ideology that produces ‘false consciousness’. Third definition of ideology refers to ‘ideological forms’. Fourth definition bases its logic on Barthes’ ‘myth’ and connotative meaning. Fifth and the last definition is developed by the Marxist philosopher Louis Althusser who sees ideology as material practice (2012, pp. 1-4). In conclusion of Storey’s definitions’ sketches we can tell that the study of popular culture might not be a question of entertainment and leisure as it might have seemed at a first glance. There are other dimensions to the term popular. What seems to be connecting them all is search for a meaning of power within the study of popular culture.

4. 2 The Critical Theories: Controlling and Controllable Popular Culture

As was indicated above, popular culture can be in the theory considered controlling power. Then, can be controlling power controlled? Since ideology serves to attain the cohesion of society (Reifová et al, 2004), we could argue, simply put, about the (‘good’) intentions of its maker. The dominant ideology determines what values, beliefs and behaviors are real, normal, right and desirable. In contrary, in the controlling popular culture the meanings that are inconsistent with the intended and presented ones are considered as different, deviant, and problematic. Referring to what was said earlier; ideology can be beneficial as well as limiting. We will in the following text try to present the theories that claim the controlling power of mass culture as well as those who consider the control controllable by the mass itself.

4. 2. 1 Controlling Popular Culture: Propaganda Theories

Critical theories entered the area of social science in the 70’ of last century. Critical theory in the context of media studies and specifically mass communication and culture studies are formed by the work of the Frankfurt School. However, the concept of critical theories

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within the social sciences discourse is much broader. Critical theories also cover new tendencies after the World War II., for example structural, post structural or postmodern theoretical approaches from France, the critical discussions of women equality, gays rights, people of color rights, art critics, psychoanalysis, Marxism theories (Horowitz 2005, p. 508). Fundamental to the classical Marxism is economic structure of society. The means of the material production of society will affect the type of its culture. Karl Marx says: “one man is king only because other men stand in the relation of subjects to him. They, on the contrary, imagine that they are subjects because he is king” (1976, p. 149). Marx’s ‘ideological forms’ theory refers to products of popular culture, such as pop songs, or novels, feature films, which presents regularly and repetitively the same media content. Marx’s theory of commodity fetishism inspired several media theories, even the critical Frankfurt school, Critical political economy or Birmingham school. The Frankfurt institute for Social Research was founded in 1923 by left-wing German, Jewish intellectuals from upper and middle class. As Max Horkheimer in the 1930 became director of the new German University, he invited intellectuals and theorist as lectures. Erich Fromm, Franz Neumann, Herbert Marcuse and Theodore W. Adorno were closely connected to the institute and under the Horkheimer developed by synthesis of many disciplines (sociology, psychology, cultural studies, philosophy, economy, and politics) an interdisciplinary social theory. They worked on the development of critical theory and research; specifically they focused on theoretical critique of modern capitalism. They examined the effects of mass culture. The fascist state of Nazi Germany, Soviet, Marxist totalitarianism and American capitalism were crucial features of the context in which the Frankfurt school’s analysis of popular culture and the mass media emerged. Although, they were influenced by Marx’s theory, they distanced from its orthodox prehention. The potential for extensive and effective social control produced by scientific rationality, as outlined by the School’s idea of anti-enlightenment, underestimated Marxian utopist theory of political optimism and the notion of competitive capitalism to monopoly capitalism transition (Horowitz 2005, p. 508). For instance, according to Adorno (1957) popular culture in particular is an ideological and political tool through which capitalist system controls man and his entire personality. Popular culture is the advocate of prevailing power relations in society and the recipients express their agreement with the situation by its consumption. The one of the mechanisms operates on media construction of imaginary happiness – public starts to think that accepting every cultural product given to them, for example Korean drama is creating

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their happy life. Consequently the public accept current social system because they learn that it is the only way to satisfy their needs of happy life. Further power of culture industry’s ideology is in its conformity that has replaced consciousness. Consumers are taught to homogenous products that are provided with certainty. The only possible resistance to capitalist structures is according to the Frankfurt school ‘high culture’ (Adorno, Bernstein 2010). In the eyes of Adorno or Horheimer would be very likely Korean drama considered as a tool of control. Korea is famous for their rich political and economic scandals and corruptions. Just to name a few of the quite recent ones, in 2010 former President Lee nominated Kim Tae-Ho as a prime minister. He was presented as a leader to new generations, since he was only 48 at a time and his role was to strengthen the relationship of the young generations and President Lee. Kim was forced to resign soon after as he was suspected of tax envisions and bribery. Photograph of him shaking hands with businessman convicted of bribery Mr Park Yeon-Cha at 2006 appeared in news (Herald 2010), even though Kim previously denied their connection. Soon after Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism - designate Mr Shin Jae-Min resigned after accusation of ‘a camouflaged move in’35. Minister of Knowledge Economy - designate, Mr Lee Jae-Hoon was accused of real-estate speculation of investing in a city flophouse building. In 2008, when was Lee elected as President and was forming the government another three ministers-designates and one advisor (Ms Lee Choon-Ho designated as Minister for Gender Equality and Family, Mr Nam Ju-Hong designated as Minister for Unification, Ms Park Eun-Kyung designated as Minister for Environment and Ms Park Mi-Suk designated as social Policy Advisor to the President) were with contribution of media liberalization36 forced to resign because of accusations of plagiarism and real-estate speculation. In 2011 was Chief of Board of Audit and Inspection forced to resign after he received generous payout as recognition of his work for private law firm in Seoul (Kwak 2014). One of the most recent corruption scandals is of former president of Korea Park Geun-hye who was involved with Choi Tae-min and his daughter, the leaders of pseudo-Christian cult called The Church of Eternal Life. Ms Choi was in 2016 charged with abuse of authority, coercion, attempted coercion and attempted fraud (BBC News 2017). Ewha Womans

35 Shin Jae-Min registered his family in Seoul metropolitan district although he lived in another. In Korea this method was used by rich for real-estate speculation or to help their children to enroll in the better schools (Kwak 2014 p. 80, 81) 36 The mentioned scandals were presented by media because of media liberalization (see chapter Korean media liberalization). 46

University’s president Choi Kyung-hee was arrested for admissions fraud, as she inequitably admitted the daughter of Ms Choi, Chung Yoo-ra to the university (Herald 2017). The case raised commotion within the general public and President was later forced of office. Samsung is one of the eight firms that have admitted the payments to the foundation, but denies any profit of their donation (BBC News 2017). As we indicated above, Korea is prone to the political and economical corruption. Considering the import of American values, especially popular culture and strong capitalism, those in power in Korea could possibly employ the theory of Frankfurt school. Corruption itself is very stable motive of the main plot of any Korean drama as it may seem as matter of course, that corruption happens and it is always defeated, punished, at least in the drama, but perhaps even in the mind of its consumers. If we speculate, and apply the critical theory, Korean drama could be by using the motive of defeated corruption establishing the false consciousness assuring the common justice, the happy end. “Mass culture is unadorned make-up” (Adorno, Bernstein 2010, p. 12), Korean drama is the world that pretends to be real and hides what is real (2010). Recently, we could have witnessed quite a rare case when the drama-like scenario came in true. We could theorize that the high number of the participants during the president Park Geun-hye scandal protests might be partly the unwanted additional consequence of the Korean’s feeling of dissatisfaction of suspected corrupted politics that is presented and reinforced by media content, specifically by Korean drama scenarios.

4. 2. 2 Controllable Popular Culture: Active Audiences

British cultural studies of 60’ and 70’ as well as French structuralism and poststructuralism37 developed over a time. In the 60’s Richard Hoggart and Stuart Hall founded the University of Birmingham Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies that was

37 In the 50’s and 60’s was with the French anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss associated Structuralism and Poststructuralism. Structuralism often combined theories of language, study of myth and semiotics. Media text was considered network of signs that could be decoded with the knowledge of specific system (grammar, rules, binary oppositions) and by comparing their relation to other signs. Poststructuralism then analyzed media through rather interdisciplinary humanities optics using politics, history and creative subjectivity (Barthes, Derrida, Foucault, Baudrillard). As we mentioned above, Foucault explained his prehention of text and discourses planted in power, Said described his insight to the time of colonization of Orient by western culture, feminists described how the gender discrimination is embed in texts (Horowitz 2005, pp.509, 510). 47

inspired by Frankfurt school. Birmingham school produced several critical theories focusing on gender, ethnicity, race or class and their representation in cultural discourse through media texts (among which was the study focused on effects of popular culture forms on audiences). Similarly to Frankfurt school, they analyzed effect of mass culture on working class integration into the dominant structures; they also saw ideology as a center of critical cultural studies; ‘high culture’ was considered like in the theory of Frankfurt school, the only way of resisting the dominant structures of mass culture. However, Frankfurt school saw mass culture as homogenous while especially Birmingham school’s later approaches saw mass culture in the optics of heterogenic subgroups. They observed specific cases of resistance of mass media audiences. Firstly they focused on the resistance possibly carried out by youth subcultures, full of new ideas hungry for social change (Baran, Davis 2010). For example, the Czech fan girl of Korean popular culture wearing Korean make up, and fashion is opposing the dominant dress and fashion codes of Czech culture. Similarly to Frankfurt school critical theory Fiske argues that “all popular culture inevitably serves the interests of the dominant ideology” (Fiske 1987, p. 38), although Fiske believes in the semiotic power of active audiences. American media theoretic John Fiske is an advocate of Cultural critical theory and is influenced by Birmingham school (McQuail 2007, p. 124). In the 80s‘ in his ‘semiotic’ translation of Gramsci’s concept of hegemony he argues that popular culture can be viewed positively, as it offers a space for resistance to the pressures of the dominant group. The resistance is possible thanks to the segmentation of the society to subordinate groups, who are facing different socio-cultural influences and thus allow advantage and freedom of interpretation and escaping the potentially dominant meanings. Fiske (1987) this property called semiotic power of subgroups (p. 310). His theory is based on Stuart Hall’s approach, in which he introduces new communication model of encoding and decoding, where the message encoded by the sender might not be decoded with the same meaning as the sender intended. Hall (1980) discovers the diversity of interpretation of media texts. He introduced three ways of decoding/reading the media texts: negotiated readings, opposition readings and preferred readings. Fiske’s theory based on Hall’s differential readings of media texts assumes the active involvement of members of the sub-group therefore the popular culture conclude "semiotic power to the people" (Fiske 1987, p. 310). This is how could be the mass itself possibly ‘controlling’ the actions of prevailing power relations in society. Korean drama consumers are not a fictive group of people. There are women and men of Korean,

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Chinese, Japanese, Philippine, French, German, Hungarian, Indian, American, Brazilian, even Czech nationality, some have primary school, high school or university education; different social background, different languages and interests. They create the sub-groups that could in the Fiske’s theory potentially escape the dominant meanings. Using the previous example, the Koreans protesting against the president Park could be in the theory of Fiske’s active audience recognizing potential dominant meaning (for example attempts to cover corruption through its presentation in the Korean drama, or just simply after overworking the citizens offering the easiest form of rest –entertainment from omnipresent popular culture products) and fighting against it. Key to their ability to see through the dominant meaning shall be their diversity. Stuart Hall doesn’t consider the theory of ‘total control’ as accurate. In his theory of ‘pluralistic public forum’ the elites don’t need the ‘total control’ to actually claim their interests. Culture is not in the theory of ‘pluralistic public forum’ expressed as “a mere superficial reflection of the superstructure but is instead a dynamic creation of opposing groups” (Baran, Davis 2010, p. 210), popular culture is, Hall argues, a platform where the transformations take place and where, he admits, elites do have advantage in the meaning making process (Hall 1981, p. 228). Hall suggests that the efforts of the non-elite alternatives enforced by unceasing pursuit might from time to time overcome the sovereignty of elites. Thus, alternative perspectives may occasionally succeed against the more commonly accepted ideology of elites (1981). The question we have to additionally ask is whether is Korean popular culture within the discourse of Czech audience playing the role of dominant ideology or alternative perspective. Korean pop culture can be described as dominant ideology in the Korea commonly accepted by Koreans however we assume that within the Czech Republic the transnational consumption changes the concept of previously dominant ideology into the alternative perspective of small Czech community or rather individuals. Such alternative perspective could possibly have the semiotic power to compete with the dominant ideologies in the Czech Republic. But again, we have to question if dominant ideology of one country can change through transnational consumption into the alternative perspective. The issue is even more complicated. Ang suggests that women don’t perceive the main female protagonist of soap opera as realistic but rather can in their fantasy identify with their female position (1997, p. 166). In her research of Czech audience of Czech soap opera Rose Garden Surgery Baslarová (2011) argues that Czech audience of soap opera, mostly women, don’t passively and automatically accept the presented roles of female

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protagonists but view them critically. She therefore argues for the open-text perspective concerning soap operas. Well, if we put their argument in the context of our transnational media consumption case, we have to face complicated question, whether is Czech audience also capable of critical viewing the Korean dramas. The transnational process of decoding is far more complicated then the national one. The Czech audience, typically women, could perceive the portrayed Korean female main protagonists noncritical, because of the lack of their knowledge of Korean culture and society structures. They could read the text as closed, passively because they don’t have their own experience to compare the portrayed protagonists with, as they have in the case of watching the Czech Rose garden surgery.

4. 2. 3 Postmodern Popular Culture: Global Capital of Spectacle

McGuigan has introduced his concept of ‘cultural populism’ (1992) within the Cultural studies. He explains the new role of media in the postmodern society when the pleasure consumption forms the identity of individuals; therefore it is the consumption of cultural products what constitutes the ‘popular’ to audience. McGuigan’s new concept introduces as well new ‘postmodern’ (Jameson 1991) era of Cultural studies. The latest approach of Cultural studies loses its interest in production and distribution of media texts and shifts its focus towards the audience, consumption and reception of media texts. After the study of monopoly capitalism, through mass production of ‘Fordism’ the society of recent age develops new regimes of capital, specifically global capitalism, and new social structures of ‘postmodernism’ (ibid) that is observed and analyzed by Cultural Studies. The postmodernism can be seen in the light of the capitalist spectacle, full of shopping malls and media offering popular ‘fancy and shiny’ contents on every step of our lives. McGuigan notices that Cultural studies interest of political economy ends with the first monopoly capitalism phase and ever since the center of the study has had been shifted towards media text and audience reception (1992), which can leave us questioning whether aren’t cultural critical studies neglecting the political economy discourse of mass culture. Herb Schiller (2000), recognized political economist of communication, argues that “corporate influence pervades nearly every aspect of society. From simple things, like our daily diet and the clothes we wear, to matters of larger scale, like the way we communicate with each other” (p. 101). He warns about the trend of public space dominated by private

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corporations and adds that the influence is international (ibid). We could easily liken Schiller’s description with Korean drama. Korea has very fast growing technology industry; we can with certainly name the chaeboles38, conglomerates Samsung Electronics, Hyundai Motor Company, LG Corporation and more, who are commonly using advertising like product placement in the dramas. Even the typically poor main heroines are commonly holding to the newest models of Samsung smart phones and typically rich main male protagonist drive new model of Hyundai car. The audience is by what is portrayed in the media persuaded to use the products the main protagonist use because it is set as unofficial ‘norm’, especially in the collectivistic society as Korea is. The Main protagonist in the drama Personal Preference for example even though poor and dealing with the existential problems promises her deceased mother in the evening prayer she will always use BB cream. She set or rather reinforced the norm of every responsible Korean shall use BB cream, another norm of grateful obedient children and the norm of beauty standards and its important value in the society.

5 Audience Theories and Research

There are several possible approaches of audience research, McQuail tries to summer them into structural, behavioral and socio-cultural approach. The objectives and methodologies of each approach differ. Structural tradition analyzes the public flow, discourse of media management, advertising and market research from a demographic optics, in terms of content preferences, opinions, and program responses. The main objective of this tradition is to describe audiences structure, to quantify their size and then to relate to the social structure of the whole population. Structural tradition usually uses the survey and statistic analysis as a dominant method of research. The behavioral tradition is rooted in social psychology and focuses on effects of media content on individual behavior, opinions, attitudes, values. The objective of behavioral tradition is to explain or predict the media effects. The primary method is similarly to structural approach survey and statistic analyses; however the behavioral approach also accepts the experimental methods. It is more theoretically oriented, and also measures the mentality (emotion, attitudes, and

38 Typically industrial and finances powerful conglomerates which are family based. In Japan there are similarly zaibatsu, for example Mitsubishi, Sumitomo, Mitsui, Yasuda. 51

tendencies). This approach usually perceives the public as active, specifically in its uses- and-gratifications version. Both, the structural and the behavioral approaches can be combined. The socio-cultural approach is based on cultural studies, literary critics, and the tradition of critical research. Its objective is to understand the role of the received content and the media use in the context. This approach mostly perceives the media messages as fundamentally polysemic and open to number of possible interpretations. It is open to the possibility of the differential decoding depending on the societal and subcultural status. Different people can therefore decode different messages in different meanings. Media use is understood as an important element of everyday life. Primary methods of research are ethnographic, qualitative (2000, pp. 326 – 330). Except of mentioned division the media studies also look at the concept of audience in different perspectives: active and passive audiences. As was indicated above in the chapter focusing on popular culture, passive audience refers to audience that is passive participant of the communication process. The audience is one-sidedly affected by media messages and then somehow responses to it. Among the most prominent representatives of passive audience approach are Frankfurt school theorists. Frankfurt school analyzed the dominant meaning making within the concept of mass culture constituting manipulative mass consumption and “rational, calculative, utilitarian model of social life as at all adequate or desirable” (McQuail, 2000, p. 49). The second active audience approach refers to the audience that is active participant in communication process, choosing the media messages they consume and the way they interpret it. The second concept is claimed in the Paul Lazarsfeld, Bernard Berelson and Hazel Gaudet work The People’s Choice (1948).

British critical theory challenged the study of elite cultural artifacts and dismiss of the power of the audience of American empirical, socio-behavioral predominant methodologies of audience research. British academics studied the audience reception and interpretation of media texts in various situations and various contexts, starting with the working class issue, continuing with the gender, ethnicity, youth and other minority groups ‘lived culture’ reception of media text. The new approach emphasized ‘cultural’ in the broader context of analyses and turned from commercial culture, high culture and ideological perception proposed by Frankfurt school or from the humanistic content studies, since both approaches seemed to neglect the ‘power’ of audience (p. 56). British qualitative research “provided alternative routes to knowledge and forged a link back to

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the neglected pathways of sociological theory of symbolic interactionism and phenomenology” (p. 50). British cultural studies of neo-Marxist theory combined Marxist theory with ideas and research methods of linguistics, anthropology, literary criticism and history (Hall, 1980). Limitation of British cultural study research and the center of the arguments is the subjectivity of researching methods. The theorist of British culture studies argue that the personal involvement in the issue, movement and at the same time subject of study, often meaning their direct participation in the meaning making process of social change, is necessary part of their research. British theorists have participated in the feminists, ethnical, youth movements and actively advocated the need for change (Baran, Davis 2010, p. 211). This raises a question, where the science stands. Should social science stay within the objective detachment of studied problematic where the researches can keep their distance and therefore also ‘cool head’ needed for more precise analysis? Or shall the researches actively participate in the analyzed problematic and therefore serve their best academicals believes in practical life? Advocates of the later approach don’t consider objective researchers specialized enough, thus good social theorists, if not part of the issue (ibid.): “Unless one begins where people live their lives, one will be unable to engage with the struggles over larger and more explicit ideological positions” (Grossberg 1989, p. 92). British cultural studies are in the North American research tradition specifically influencing the research of popular culture (Grossberg, 1989) and offers “innovative way of studying media audiences that has many advantages over approaches grounded in limited-effects theory” (Baran, Davis 2010, p. 211). The scholars associated with Modern Language Association of America even though influenced by British culture theory and by McLuhan, didn’t participate in the social movements. Within their research of popular culture they focused on television and internet. In the Newcomb’s research of popular culture ‘TV: The Most Popular Art’ (1974) he came to conclusion that if producers conclude several ambiguous levels of meanings in the programs, they can possibly reach more of the audience groups. Newcomb adds that the interpretation of the meaning can be among the audience rather diverse, depending on the individual levels of interpreting. However, fandom groups can develop common interpretations (Baran, Davis 2010, p. 217).

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5. 1 Active audiences research approaches

As we portrayed above, propaganda theories were considered the key stone to the audience studies. Later, the discussion turned towards the active audiences. If we focus specifically to active audiences, we can define three approaches: uses-and-gratifications, encoding/decoding, and receptive approach of cultural traditions. Uses-and-gratifications approach is mostly connected to the soap opera research. This approach has set quite an interesting research possibility however some question its ignorance of effects, either their presence or absence. First of all this approach draws on functional analysis and therefore can support or create bias of opposition and at the same time is micro-level oriented. The functionalism describes typically four functions of media: Surveillance of the environment; Correlation of parts of society; Transmission of the social heritage and entertainment (Baran, Davis 2010, pp. 234-235). Some concepts of this approach are considered immeasurable. On the other hand, it can provide interesting insights into the individuals experience within the mass media consumption. Herzog (1944) was first, who in her research ‘Motivations and Gratifications of Daily Serial Listeners’ presented method of in- depth interviews examining media gratification. By interviewing a hundred radio soap opera fans she defined three types of gratification: emotional release, chance for dreaming/ wishful thinking and lastly soap operas were source of advices. In contrast to Lazarsfeld’s effect research she didn’t try to measure or define the influence of soap operas on women, but she paid attention to their reasons and experiences (Baran, Davis 2010, p. 232). She tried to interpret the choices and gained gratifications from media consumption based on everyday social needs, conditions, terms, for example housewives need advices and are longing for restoration of their self-confidence. The newspaper consumers need daily dose of the feeling of everyday ontological safety assurance (McQuail, 2000, p. 349). The concept of audience activity which shall not be underrated, according to early uses-and- gratifications researchers includes Utility; Intentionality; Selectivity, Imperviousness to influence. This early research’s limitation and the question that was not asked is what the audience actually does with the media content after they chose one (they can chose to watch TV or read newspapers). Their choice can be understood as ‘active’ however Baran and Davis refer to another form of ‘active’ or ‘activeness’, when they describe the diversity of each user. “We might be active users of World Wide Web by day and passive consumers of late-night movies. What the uses-and-gratifications approach really does, then, is

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provide a framework for understanding when and how different media consumers become more or less active and what the consequences of that increased or decreased involvement might be” (Baran, Davis 2010, p. 239, 240). Some (Blumer, Windahl, Palmgreen, Wenner, Rosengren) proposed new tendency in uses-and-gratification approach focused on harmonizing the uses-and-gratification approach and media effects approach, according to which are sought and/or obtained audience gratifications related to broad range of media effects, such as agenda-setting, perception, discussion, attitudes…(Baran, Davis 2010, p. 232). The limitations lay in the research of emotions, attitudes or feelings. The affective effects based on emotion and behavioral effects are hard to measure and take quite some time to occur (ibid).

Katz, Blumer and Gurevitch (1974) name several principles of uses-and-gratifications models. The audience is active and the media use is goal-oriented; The initiative in linking need gratification to a specific media choice rests with the audience member; The media compete with other sources of need satisfaction; People are aware enough of their own media use, interests, and motives to be able to provide researchers with an accurate picture of that use; Value judgments regarding the audience’s linking its needs to specific media or content should be suspended (ibid, p. 240). They are as well considering the ‘social situations’, as they can cause conflicts or on the other side bring awareness of problems, they can reinforce certain values and set the expectations to its members of certain social group that shall be met by their behavior (ibid, p. 241, 242). Schramm (1954) argues that media consumers expect a reward and they will chose the medium or content accordingly the effort-reward relations (ibid). It is simple and easy to sit in front of the TV and just consume what the content offers. The effort required is negligible and before the person realizes, they have consumed several products of popular culture. The value of comfort is important part of the process. On the other hand it might need a bit more effort to watch through the medium of computer or to take their laptop to the bed and search for the drama, read and translate subtitles, even decoding the foreign culture is requiring an effort while watching the Korean drama.

The second approach to active audiences is encoding/decoding model commonly associated with Birmingham school and specifically with Stuart Hall. This model is challenging the idea of mass media text understood or rather decoded by the all audience members in the same way. Hall argues that there are three positions that people may take

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upon decoding a television message: dominant-hegemonic position, the negotiated position, and the oppositional position. Dominant reading of the media text assumes the interpretation of the message as the author intended. The oppositional reading assumes different even contradictory interpretation of media text to the authors’ intentions. In between both positions according to Hall stands negotiated reading that recognizes dominant meanings but notes its deficiencies and offers alternatives (1980, pp. 197-208). One of the most cited research of television public was the one of Morley’s. He analyzed the BBC, Nationwide to find out how is their audience reading the media texts produced by the magazine, whether it is the dominant, negotiated or oppositional reading. He compared twenty-nine groups of different social, cultural background and with different education levels. He found that there were different types of reading within each group, but most of them proven dominant reading. Research also pointed out that the way of decoding depends on a number of cultural, social and political factors. Personality differences, gender, ethnicity and class status, also play an important role. Morley showed the importance of understanding subcultures diversity in research praxes (Morley 1980).

The last is the reception research of cultural tradition. This approach of audience research is most common within the soap opera audience research probably because its focus on different reactions in different societal structures within their everyday media consumption. The audience reception research studies publics with specific and also often shared experience. This approach showed how important it is to ethnographically define the different publics and different contents. The media text has to be understood through the optics of audience. The public constructs their own meanings and gratifications that are never fix, regular or possible to predict. The center of the interest is the process of media use, and everyday practice associated with the use. The public of specific genres, such as of soap opera, often create so called ‘interpretative community’ which share about the same experiences, discourses and frameworks for media readings and interpretations. The public is never passive and the members are not equal, some are more active or more experienced. The method used has to be qualitative and focus on the deep, often ethnographic comprehension of the topic. The research must consider the content, the process of reception and the context (McQuail, 2000, p. 329). The reception research of audience ethnography is partly based on the Fiske’s idea of semiotic power of audience, partly on halls encoding and decoding theory. Our research of Korean drama audience in

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the Czech Republic will employ this method. In that sense, our research also relies and is inspired by works previously conducted in this category, specifically on researches of Morley, Ang, Radaway or Hobson.

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