For some reason, I've been running into news stories about "gangnam style" parodies and remakes.
So I watched the PSY video:
and the "making of" video:
In the description for the making of video, the producers write: "The song is characterized by its strongly addictive beats and lyrics,
and is thus certain to penetrate the foundations of modern philosophy."
As I watched the video, which I initially dismissed as nothing more than a goofy, having-fun song, I started to think more about the idea of penetrating the foundations of modern philosophy.
The question that I most asked myself was "what does it mean"? That was followed by "why can't I understand what it means"?
I'm experiencing some kind of cognitive dissonance here.
A few thoughts: The video has 221 MILLION views, and it's not in English. I know about the American remakes, parodies, and copies. It seems obvious that the whole phenomenon of this video is a sign of some shift in the production of culture.
The singer's personal identity is incredibly interesting to me. He mocks himself, he mocks hip hop, he mocks Bollywood, he mocks the genre. It's not often that this level of parody itself is re-parodied and becomes a movement.
It's connected to race, to sexuality, to branding, and to the life of a cyborg. It's definitely a blurring of boundaries. It's also a contribution to culture that's created in the "liminal" or "interstices" (see Homi Bhabha if you're interested in the source of much of this thinking about the Location of Culture).
It's an everyday occurrence that something goes viral on YouTube. I understand "Double Rainbow" guy, I understand "Nyan Cat"; I even understand Rebbecca Black's Friday. But Gangnam Style...I love it (or at least like it), but I don't GET it. And that's an unusual feeling.
Your thoughts?
I'm going to make up a phrase. Spontaneous nostalgatization. Our culture is big on it.
ReplyDeleteI'm cheating a bit though because I'm riffing on the anthropological phrase of "spontaneous memorialization" which occurs when an unexpected or violent death (and is highly publicized) occurs and there's an outpouring of mementos and flowers from strangers across the country/world sent to the site.
So, why can't we have spontaneous nostalgatization? When something unexpected occurs and it is felt around the world, we immediately send an outpouring of "views" and feedback in return.
God, I love Anthropology.
LINK: http://bit.ly/Pemx4T
ReplyDeleteAccording to this article (link above) in The Atlantic it is easy for those in the West to miss the nuance of the Gangnam Style meme. In South Korea, Gangnam is an ostentatious neighborhood that sets style standards for many in the rest of the country that result in dysfunctional spending and credit card debt. To quote:
"This skewering of the Gangnam life can be easy to miss for non-Korean. Psy boasts that he's a real man who drinks a whole cup of coffee in one gulp, for example, insisting he wants a women who drinks coffee. 'I think some of you may be wondering why he's making such a big deal out of coffee, but it's not your ordinary coffee,' U.S.-based Korean blogger Jea Kim wrote at her site, My Dear Korea. 'In Korea, there's a joke poking fun at women who eat 2,000-won (about $2) ramen for lunch and then spend 6,000 won on Starbucks coffee.' They're called Doenjangnyeo, or 'soybean paste women' for their propensity to crimp on essentials so they can over-spend on conspicuous luxuries, of which coffee is, believe it or not, one of the most common. 'The number of coffee shops has gone up tremendously, particularly in Gangnam,' Hong said. 'Coffee shops have become the place where people go to be seen and spend ridiculous amounts of money.'"
So, I think this is an interesting study in class critique in a country where that kind of thing is not usually done (reference in the article).
And, so important, it is really easy to dance to!