Javad Safaee : Korean cultural and artistic productions have conquered a large part of the world these days.
A phenomenon known as “halyo” or Korean wave. But what is the reason and why did these cultural products, from movies to series and musical works, suddenly captivate the world?
The answer to this question was discussed in the “Magic Mirror” program of Radio Show with the performance of Saeed Islamzadeh and also with the presence of Mohsen Sohani, the director of the Radio Performing Arts Center and Radio Show with a pathological approach, a part of which was chosen by Isna.
The question is, how did a country like Korea, which was colonized in recent decades, has low development indicators and does not even speak English and is located near us in the Asian continent, able to reach this position in the creative and cultural industries?
In response to this question, Suhani basically explains about the Korean trend as follows:
“It’s very interesting, but the root of this wave of advertising and branding of Korea goes back to the same Marconi galaxy and radio; That is, in the years when Korea was under the control of Japan and its national and religious identity was greatly influenced by exploitation and colonization and was in danger of destruction, but with a correct method, it tries to create convergence with the same media tool.
The media have capabilities, the most prominent of which is visualization and imagination. To make an ideal attractive image about the future. This was the most important point that the Americans, unlike Nazi Germany or the former Soviet Union, used in their communication method and dominated their culture, and the Koreans could be said to be following the same path.”
“To put it in a comparative way, I happened to find its roots in Korean radio shows, and it’s very interesting. We said that radio entered Iran and a unit called radio drama was created in Iran.
Most of the works we produced here were adaptations or 100% western works, and the category of theater and drama was introduced in Iran with translation. That is, the works of western authors were translated. Javad Safaee
For example, work on the level of “Waiting for Godot”, which is a famous text by Samuel Beckett. This work is caused by the life experience of Western man and it is 180 degrees opposite to Iranian culture. Irani Jamaat does not include anything called nihilism or absurdism in its dictionary and has always tried to have hope and motivation even in the worst situations.
These cultural conflicts have created a look that can be called an influenced look. But they came and proceeded through these radio shows in 1972, based on identity. This keyword of identity is a very important point.
“Koreans worked on nationalism, bravery and unification under Japanese rule; This feature could be seen in fiction, in the production of their radio shows and then on TV, and they were following the same identity-oriented path.
They were self-confident in their work, while we sometimes even make mistakes in our work. Specifically, two prominent series (Love and Ambition) were made in Korea. Javad Safaee
In a situation where they saw that they were moving away from their rural and native culture under the influence of industrialization, this love and ambition came and revived the sense of nostalgic or memorable culture of life in the traditional culture of Korean villages.
This was exactly the first series that was produced in Korea, which coincided with the emergence of television and the beginning of the serialization process in this country.
These were the works that really made the city quiet during the broadcast. But what did we do in those years and how much of our work was identity-oriented? Where did the flow of our Persian film go? We just came to enter the entertainment and did not act based on identity. In radio shows in a different way.
In addition, the South Korean government understood the concept of soft power in global equations and made a smart investment and balanced management.
“In 2014, one percent of Korea’s total annual budget was allocated to the production and development of creative cultural industries, and more than one billion dollars was allocated to the training of expert human capital who work on national and indigenous identity.
Here is the point. Not just an expert force, but an expert force that works on the axis of national identity and popular local culture in the social body. Javad Safaee
“What happens after this flow? I will give three examples. A film called “Along with the Gods of Two Worlds” is being produced, which will be broadcast in all parts of the world and mocks Hollywood in terms of special effects, techniques and cinema techniques.
Or the movie “Parasite”, which shows that it is possible to conquer cinema for the benefit of national identity, something that we must do if we want our development to be balanced, with the tools of media, culture and art.
Another representative example is “Composite Game”; The series that we suddenly see is raging on the same Netflix platforms and after 28 days in 90 countries, it attracts more than 111 million viewers, and this one thing makes Netflix decide to invest more than one billion dollars to develop its studios in South Korea. put it.”
But what are the reasons that have caused this success and the realization of Korean cultural plans?
“The view of cultural management, especially its balance and comprehensiveness, is very important. Javad Safaee
And on the contrary, if we are superficial, that is, if we simply say that we want to broadcast a series that is not American and we feel that Korean culture is more compatible with us because at least it fits in the circle of being Asian, this is not the view.
We need to look more closely and deeply at the culture component. Now this has been in the process of producing Korean movies and series.
Matt drew himself. Of course, all of these can be criticized; This means that K-Pop is an industry that has been studied to the extent that it has led to suicide and even sexual exploitation of young people.
So I am talking about the method. I want to say that we can conquer that ideal religious and Iranian Islamic culture of ours with this method, anyway, this all-round look was an arrow with several marks. Balanced cultural development becomes an arrow with several marks.
Why? Because once this wave caused the world to be unconsciously involved in the issue of South Korea, in addition, a very good income was obtained from the production of movies and series, which is a very important point for our cultural managers to think about. In 2020, South Korea’s income from cultural creative industries, such as films, series, music, etc, was almost equal to our country’s income from cultural exports.