Journal Entry 4

[James Jang]

Piggybacking off of my cultural post, this is also something that my language partner and I were talking about as well. We were watching interviews of international students on the life living in Korea. One of the things mentioned was that Koreans were at first rude, but later they found out that it was just a part of Korean culture nowadays. There was even someone who said that they wouldn't date a Korean because of this cultural difference. However when Korean students were interviewed, they said that living in Korea was good or normal. Both types of students mentioned that there was a lot of good food in Korea. Anyways, my language partner and I were discussing how this modern culture ties into tv shows and dramas because in dramas, we always see people being well-mannered. Maybe it is because directors know that the drama will be going global so they want to display Korea in a positive light? Or maybe it's to try to influence the younger generation into being more well-mannered because they know that younger Koreans are watching these dramas? We don't know the exact reason, but we noticed the difference and thought it was interesting. Through observing the Korean culture, we were able to discover and learn new things about the younger generation of Koreans.

[Logan Motyka]

It is really cool how things like media can alter and shape people's perceptions of the culture of Korea. From my experience shows often show the ideal way to behave, like you said to influence the younger generation and also shine light on positive behavior. But it is really interesting to hear the differences between your experience and the content that is shown on these TV shows.