‘K-컬처’에 드러난 혼종적 근대성: 글로벌 한류의 비동시적 문화정치와 그 정경

초록

The global Hallyu phenomenon is shaped by the intersection of Korea’s universal and particular modernization experience with political, economic, social, and cultural factors, and a holistic look at these factors allows for a deeper and more rigorous discussion of the cultural phenomenon. Accordingly, this essay considers the cultural politics of global Hallyu culture to be deeply connected to Korea’s compressed modernization and cultural hybridity, and conceptualizes them as ‘hybrid modernity’. Hybrid modernity is a concept that explains the highly complex and dynamic coexistence, blending, and transformation of cultural forms as they interact with the non-simultaneity and contradictions of Korea’s compressed modernization and the historical and everyday experiences, lives, and emotions of Korean society and its members. Looking at the cultural and political landscape of the global Korean Wave through the lens of hybrid modernity, the globally popular K-Pop and idol systems demonstrate how to effectively manage the workforce to best serve the purpose of profit through the means of competence, hard work, and the emphasis on goodness and authenticity. This lends legitimacy to the basic principles (competition and hard work) that have driven Korea’s modernization process. In addition, the socially critical K-content that has recently been recognized globally for its achievements is sensitive to the structural contradictions created by Korea’s compressed modernization process, but its points of criticism do not go so far as to call for fundamental changes in the social structure. Furthermore, they are subsumed within the neoliberal political and economic conditions, providing an alibi for the structural contradictions. Thus, Korea’s hybrid modernity reflects the ambivalent and complex experience of the coexistence and collision of various times of modernity. Therefore, for the global public, Korea’s hybrid modernity is like a three-dimensional mirror in which they can reflect their realities, desires, and contradictions. Under these circumstances, for K-culture to provide a creative and critical imagination that contributes to global modernity, it will be necessary to embark on a journey to imagine other possibilities of modernity beyond the path of Western countries that have so far produced enormous absurdities.

키워드