Hallyu! The Korean Wave @ Victoria and Albert Musuem, London
In one day I was exposed to more K-pop, K-drama and K-beauty than I’d ever experienced before (and webtoons for the first time!) Jeongmal? you may say. The posters don’t really advertise what is here well.
I was excited to see the horrible toilet set from Parasite and some prop photos from Minari (though none featured Granny). There are even Squid Game costumes, an abundance of k-fashion and some wonderful screens celebrating childhood — Lego minifigures and dinosaurs rocket in all directions.
Delightfully styled, you can follow through Korea’s struggles for independence from Japan, the Korean War (with propaganda from both sides), and then the cultural explosion due to technology, especially digital technologies as well as the tremendous effort Korean people put in to collect gold to pay off national debt — the Never Give Up generation. Not to mention the rapid urbanisation of areas and development of infrastructure and seeking to better people’s lives (such as super sleek electric cars and potentially driverless too).
I did recognise the sweet Olympic tiger, although I appreciate that the political and cultural struggle happening at the time was hidden behind this appealing image. Again it also reminded me how weird UK news is — if you aren’t careful you can end up telescoped into a very narrow view of events — we ignore so much of what’s happening.
As well as learning about the 10 step K-beauty regime, I also learnt how nice and socially conscienced K-pop fans are, stanning extremist sites, replanting Rainforests and promoting education amongst the disadvantaged, and having online and in person dance and sing-alongs. Not to mention a new word — jeong — which we need a lot more of in the UK — and in the world.
I leave you with a warning though — Gangman Style will get stuck in your head for days!
