Soft Power, Techno-Orientalism, and U.S. Reception

Sometimes I wish I could just have the intro paragraph to an episode be GAAHHHHHHH THIS ONE WAS SO FUN! So this is my version of that: telling you that I wish it could be that, and then also telling you that we go deep on so many components of the global spread (and embrace) of Korean pop culture. We go into the calculated political elements, the uncanny elision of North Korean stories, and why so many of the Korean narratives resonating with American audiences are ones crafted by Korean-Americans. This is a really effusive and loving episode that also manages to have some very real talk about why kids dressing up as characters from K-Pop Demon Hunters is not yellow face. IT'S SO GOOD, and I know we're gonna have a great discussion about it.

ALSO GUESS WHAT, WE HAVE VERY GOOD EPISODES TRANSCRIPTS NOW! They come out within 24 hours of the pod, so you just have to be a little patient and then come back and click here. We pay an actual human for help with these, so thank you for either being a paid subscriber or listening to the ads that make this model possible!

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Show Notes:

• GO LISTEN TO BIG KOREAN ENERGY!!! And then go find out a lot more about The Mash-Up Americans

• Subscribe to The Mash-Up Americans newsletter for updates

• Really cannot recommend Episode 1 highly enough — it puzzle pieces so well with what we talk about for each of these questions

• A good secondary listen: our episode with Elise Hu about the Sephora Teen Freakout and my interview with Elise re: her book on K-Beauty

• We also reference this episode on The Irishification of Pop Culture with Caroline O'Donoghue

• REP SWEATS

• THE KOREAN VEGAN!

• R.O. Kwon's appearance on Big Korean Energy

• Susan Choi's Flashlight, Min Jin Lee's Pachinko, Lisa See's Island of Sea Women

• I try to remember the name of Kim Ji-Young, Born 1982 by Cho Nam-Joo

We're currently looking for your questions for future episodes about:

• Questions About How to Respond When People Ask/React To the Knowledge That You're Not Having Kids

• '90s Movie Soundtracks

• How we think about the morality of money and taxes — who should pay taxes, who shouldn't, who "deserves" money, who doesn't, how we came to decide that religious organizations shouldn't pay taxes (and how that belief is changing), SO MUCH

• How to process all the STUFF accumulated from relatives (we have a really helpful organizer with a bunch of mental health training for this one!)

• The State of The CHAIN RESTAURANT — and chain restaurant supply chain!!! (I'm so excited for this one)

• Anything you need advice or want musings on for the AAA segment. You can ask about anything, it’s literally the name of the segment

• As always, you can submit your questions (and ideas for future eps) here

For this week’s discussion: What's your favorite manifestation of BIG KOREAN ENERGY right now?