EEmpiricalmpirical aandnd aappliedpplied rresearchesearch UDC 008.(091) NNEWEW GENERATIONGENERATION CULTURECULTURE ASAS SPECIFICSPECIFIC SOUTHSOUTH KOREANKOREAN YYOUTHOUTH SSUBCULTUREUBCULTURE OFOF THETHE TWENTIETHTWENTIETH CENTURYCENTURY OO.. VV.. CChibisovahibisova CCandidateandidate ooff AArts,rts, assistantassistant professor,professor, DD.. JJ.. HHaa ppostgraguateostgraguate student,student, KKomsomolsk-on-Amuromsomolsk-on-Amur StateState TechnicalTechnical UniversityUniversity KKomsomolsk-on-Amur,omsomolsk-on-Amur, KhabarovskKhabarovsk region,region, RussiaRussia Summary. The future development of each culture in the latent form is in its present state. From this perspective, of a signifi cant interest are those ideological paradigms, with which the youth connects its existence. This article examines the specifi city of the formation and development of South Korean youth subcultures. It singles out four streams of the new generation culture: club culture, hip-hop, assimilation of the Japanese culture and N genera- tion. Each stream contributed a lot to the creation of new cultural forms many of which were adopted by the dominant Korean culture of the twentieth century. The results of this investi- gation can promote a better understanding of South Korean culture’s current state. Keywords: dominant culture; youth subculture; new generation. Considering the conditions of subcul- media, and on the other it widened the gap tural formations’ appearance and develop- between subculture and basic culture.” The ment in South Korea, one should note that young people suffered from the impossibil- the power of the dominant national culture ity to get a prestigious education, joined the has long been an authoritarian integrating criminal youth gangs, created anti-culture, beginning of the society. The historical ex- directed against the norms and values con- perience of South Korea (a position of Ja- tained in the dominant culture. pan’s colony, division of the country into Professor Kim Soohan [4] thinks North and South, military dictatorship, “movement against the regime during the rapid industrialization, and etc.) defi ned 70s, 80s, and 90s can be explained as sub- the origination of a common social and culture that embodied generational con- cultural space with specifi c geographic and fl ict and identifi ed new social identity.” demographic conditions. At the same time But Korean subculture was mainly evalu- a unique system of education, the possi- ated as limited as it had a lot of entertain- bility of entering a prestigious university, ing factors that refl ected young people’ the current legal basis for conscription al- consumerist behavior. It should be added lowed authorities to recognize the exist- that it was the mass media that had strong ence of the society’s cultural unity. infl uence in creating a symbolic image of In the South Korean society, mass com- Korean youth culture. munication media has long been under the The youth subculture of the 1970s was control of the power of the dominant cul- an escape from the corrupt reality into elit- ture and has been used as political, social ism by distinguishing themselves not only and cultural levers of uniting people (mili- from the older generation but also from tary diktat from 1963 to 1993). Therefore the youth laborers, who were deprived of it was diffi cult for subculture groups to materialistic privileges. The youth subcul- realize themselves in society. According to ture of the 80s redirected its energies into Lee Jae-Hyun [5], “the dominant culture in creating their positive personalities and South Korea, on the one hand, controlled taking responsibility for the assumed free- the youth leisure-time space through the doms. The youth subculture of the 1990s Paradigms of knowledge, 4, 2015 176 EEmpirickýmpirický a aaplikovanýplikovaný vvýzkumýzkum represented the new generation culture terns of famous American stars. But soon which emphasized the individuality and South Korean rap found its own specifi cs free spirit of the youth. because the rappers began to recite texts One stream of the new generation cul- of the problems familiar to Korean teenag- ture was club culture which was music and ers in the language they understood. The entertainment at its core as it included reg- early hip-hop groups included “Seo Taiji ularly held thematically-oriented events. and Boys”, “Deux”, and “DJ DOC”, the fi rst Club culture was determined by the leisure hip-hop song was “Gim-sat-gat”. Soon hip- space where young people danced; the cul- hop became not only a youth subculture but tural and entertainment space where rock popular Korean music; as such it caused concerts in the style of the underground many disputes between mainstream and took place; the social and cultural space underground young people. At the same where the youth listened to music and time a part of South Korean young people talked about rock music; the closed space began to learn and practice graffi ti. The fi rst where homosexual young people gath- South Korean writers were engaged in the ered [1]. Club culture was a means of gain- application of graffi ti only on the walls of ing independence: it helped young people the music club, but since the mid-1990s, join adult forms of active leisure practices. they began to show their art on the walls of In most cases the interest in the club life- buildings, fences, vehicles and other surfac- style was driven by a process of alienation es. Over time, the style of graffi ti incorpo- of young people from the parental home. In rated itself in the structure of pop culture, the space of club culture the youth avoid- transformed the computer design, became ed family control, felt freedom. It offered widely used on the Internet and advertising. them not only entertainment from “another The third stream of the new genera- world”, but also a cultural space for creative tion culture was assimilation of the Japa- development and self-realization. nese culture, namely otaku, which became In the early 1990s, there emerged exper- possible due to the fact that in 1998, the imental underground rock bands “Sinawe”, South Korean government lifted the ban “Boowhal”, “Baekdoosan”, “Next” and oth- on the sale of Japanese publications and ers. They performed their songs in night- video products as part of a gradual open- clubs, concerts and venues of the city, ing of the domestic market for Japanese though they didn’t have a commercial suc- goods [3]. Otaku represented fans of Japa- cess, they gained popularity among the nese animation and comics, most of whom club youth, as their songs were critical of were high school and undergraduate stu- society and the state. In the mid-1990s, dents. Otaku lived in their world, which the commercialization of the music indus- was far from reality: they are closed and try affected the popularity of rock music unsociable; they care only about their hob- in the youth subcultures. The most known bies with all other aspects of life fading into are such commercial rock bands as “Jau- the background. The otaku were addicted rim”, “Huckleberry Finn” (indy rock), “No- to artistic creativity: drew manga (comics vasonik” (progressive rock), “Crying Nut” with a specifi c storyline and style); made and “No Brain” (chosun punk), “Rux” and anime (animated productions); wrote sto- “The Geeks” (straight edge). ries; organized “Cosplay” (costume play) Another stream of the new generation festivals, created web pages dedicated to culture was hip-hop. Together with rap- the Japanese mass culture, and so on. The singers, in the mid-1990s on the stage ap- fi rst cosplay festival – The Seoul Interna- peared break-dancers, which eventually tional Cartoon and Animation Festival – caused a growing interest among young was organized in 1995. In cosplay festival people as they showed the bearing and pat- and in everyday life otaku sought to mimic Paradigmata poznání, 4, 2015 177 EEmpiricalmpirical aandnd aappliedpplied rresearchesearch the appearance of the anime and manga’s tural Practice. [Online] Available: https://www. characters: clothing, hairstyle, makeup, ac- happycampus.com/doc/13022148/?ad_type=s cessories, and others. They included in their pecial&advertiseSeq=(September 11, 2015). 2. Bun’kov V. A., Chibisova O. V. Reconceptualiza- speech the words borrowed from Japanese tion of subcultures // Международный журнал and listened to j-rock (Japanese rock). экспериментального образования. – 2014. – The last stream that symbolized new № 6–2. – С. 85. generation culture was the network gen- 3. Iwabuchi K. Recentering Globalization: Popu- eration (N generation), the generation that lar Culture and Japanese Transnationalism. – grew up with a developing digital and com- Durham and London : Duke University Press, puter technology and, consequently, formed 2002. – 288 p. 4. Lee Dawoon, Song You Jin A Deeper Look Be- a new reality [6] and a new subculture suit- neath Subculture. [Online] Available: http:// able for it. The young people learnt much www.thegranitetower.com/news/articleView. faster than their parents and introduced html? idxno=1048 (September 23, 2015). new methods of communication. They met 5. Lee J. H. Subcultural Style and Identity. [On- in the network, on the forums of like-mind- line] Available: http://www.pdjournal.com/ ed people, discussed what they cared about. news/quickViewArticleView.html?idxno=493. They liked to use digital ways of expressing (September 23, 2015). themselves: for instance, shooting a video 6. Шунейко А. А. ВИР – вариант мира // Ученые записки Комсомольского-на-Амуре instead of writing an essay. государственного технического университета. Thus, youth subculture in South Korea 2012. – Т. 2. – № 11. – С. 120–121. arose because young people had different values and norms which, accumulated, cre- Bibliography ated a new subculture deviating somehow 1. Ahn Y. R. Club Culture as Cultural Text – Tex- from the dominant culture. That, neverthe- tual Structure of Hongdae Club Culture and Cul- less, does not imply that youth subculture tural Practice. [Online] Available: https://www. is inferior to main culture. We consider happycampus.com/doc/13022148/?ad_type=s that “the mainstream has lost its central- pecial&advertiseSeq=(September 11, 2015).