A Feminist Political Economy of the Korean Popular Music Industry by Hyejin Jo M.A., Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, 2016 B.A., Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, 2013 Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in the School of Communication Faculty of Communication, Art and Technology © Hyejin Jo 2019 SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY Summer 2019 Copyright in this work rests with the author. Please ensure that any reproduction or re-use is done in accordance with the relevant national copyright legislation. Approval Name: Hyejin Jo Degree: Master of Arts Title: A Feminist Political Economy of the Korean Popular Music Industry Examining Committee: Chair: Daniel Ahadi Lecturer Dal Yong Jin Senior Supervisor Professor Martin Laba Supervisor Associate Professor Ju Oak Kim External Examiner Assistant Professor Department of Psychology and Communication College of Arts and Sciences at Texas A&M International University Date Defended/Approved: July 12, 2019 ii Abstract Gender disparity is an emerging issue in contemporary South Korea. Despite the significant increase in gendered concerns, there has been a lack of discussion on gender inequality problems in the Korean popular music industry. For this reason, this thesis aims to investigate gender inequalities and power relations embedded in the male-dominated Korean popular music industry by analyzing the texts, images and music of Korean girl groups through the lens of a feminist political economy. In doing so, this study utilizes textual analysis in order to examine how gendered hierarchy and patriarchal power, acting as industrial practices, exploit Korean girl groups in the Korean popular music industry. The primary findings suggest that Korean girl groups are commodified as a marketable field of business; they are fetishized through the exhibition of their pressured femininity and passive uniformity, and they are reproduced as a form of sexual commodity within the gendered-hierarchical system of manufacturing Korean pop groups. In conclusion, this thesis proposes a critical perspective on a gendered mechanism of the Korean popular music industry as a site of power struggle. Keywords: feminist political economy; gender inequality; Korean girl groups; Korean popular music industry; political economy of communication iii Acknowledgements First of all, many thanks to Dr. Dal Yong Jin, my supervisor, who encouraged me to research on such a significant issue of these times. Secondly, I sincerely appreciate Dr. Martin Laba, Dr. Ju Oak Kim and Dr. Daniel Ahadi, who helped make this happen in a timely manner. Lastly, I am deeply grateful to my dearest family. Thanks for your love and support. iv Table of Contents Approval ............................................................................................................................... ii Abstract ............................................................................................................................... iii Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................. iv Table of Contents .................................................................................................................v List of Tables ....................................................................................................................... vi List of Figures..................................................................................................................... vii Chapter 1. Introduction ................................................................................................. 1 1.1. General Contexts ..................................................................................................... 1 1.2. Korean Popular Music Industry Contexts ................................................................ 3 1.3. Overview of Research Questions .......................................................................... 10 1.4. Situating the Thesis ............................................................................................... 11 Chapter 2. The Korean Popular Music Industry from a Political Economy Perspective ............................................................................................................ 13 2.1. Political Economy Theory ...................................................................................... 13 2.2. The Korean Popular Music Industry ...................................................................... 20 Chapter 3. Research Methods .................................................................................... 29 3.1. Research Plan ....................................................................................................... 29 3.2. Research Object .................................................................................................... 30 3.3. Data Collection ....................................................................................................... 33 3.4. Analytical Frameworks ........................................................................................... 37 Chapter 4. Findings and Discussion ......................................................................... 44 Chapter 5. Conclusion................................................................................................. 80 References ....................................................................................................................... 84 v List of Tables Table 1. Alphabetical list of the 68 girl groups in this study ................................... 36 Table 2. Saussure’s semiotics ................................................................................ 40 Table 3. Types of texts ............................................................................................ 45 Table 4. Types of images produced and consumed .............................................. 51 Table 5. Connotations and denotations in Korean girl group names ..................... 73 Table 6. Lyrics ......................................................................................................... 74 vi List of Figures Figure 1. Do men think gender discrimination against women is serious? [Graph]. Copyright 2019 by SisaIn............................................................................ 2 Figure 2. Seolhyun in the advertisement for SK Telecom. [Photograph]. Copyright 2017 by Koreaboo....................................................................................... 4 Figure 3. Seolhyun’s portrait [left]. [Photograph]. Seolhyun’s resolution. [right]. [Photograph]. Copyright 2011 & 2018 by GQ Korea.................................. 6 Figure 4. Miss A's album covers (Step Up, A Class, Bad But Good & Love Alone). [Digital image]. From Apple Music. Copyright 2019 by Apple Music. ...... 25 Figure 5. How many Korean idol girl groups debut per year? ................................. 35 Figure 6. Overview of findings.................................................................................. 44 Figure 7. What women should be and have in contemporary Korea ...................... 46 Figure 8. A core diet table in a short term for Korean celebrities made by Korean management companies. [Digital image]. From Instagram. Copyright 2019 by @runuptoday. ............................................................................. 48 Figure 9. CLC at the premier of their 6th mini album. [Photograph]. Copyright 2017 by IlyoSeoul............................................................................................... 53 Figure 10. CLC. [Photograph]. Copyrigh 2017 by CBS NoCutNews. ....................... 54 Figure 11. CLC's third mini album teaser image. [Photograph]. From Twitter. Copyright 2016 by @CubeCLC ................................................................ 55 Figure 12. Joy in an advertisement for Espoir. [Photograph]. Copyright 2019 by Fashionbiz. ................................................................................................ 56 Figure 13. TWICE’s season's greetings image. [Photograph]. From Twitter. Copyright 2018 by @JYPETWICE_JAPAN ............................................. 58 Figure 14. Girls' Generation’s conceptual image of Genie (2010). [Photograph]. Copyright 2013 by MK. ............................................................................. 59 Figure 15. Lovelyz wearing a school uniform. [Photograph]. Copyright 2014 by Ajunews. .................................................................................................... 59 Figure 16. fromis_9 wearing a school uniform. [Photograph]. From YouTube. Copyright 2018 by Stone Music Entertainment. ....................................... 60 Figure 17. A screenshot from Señorita sung by (G)-IDLE. [Photograph]. From YouTube. Copyright 2019 by 1theK. ........................................................ 62 Figure 18. A screenshot from Hi sung by Lovelyz. [Photograph]. From YouTube. Copyright 2015 by Wooliment. ................................................................. 64 Figure 19. A screenshot from Hi sung by Lovelyz. [Photograph]. From YouTube. Copyright 2015 by Wooliment. ................................................................. 64 Figure 20. A screenshot from Hi sung by Lovelyz. [Photograph]. From YouTube. Copyright 2015 by Wooliment. ................................................................. 65 Figure 21. A screenshot from Hi sung by Lovelyz. [Photograph]. From