Associate Professor Dr Stephen Epstein, Director of the Asian Studies Programme at Victoria’s School of Languages and Culture, and Professor Timothy Tangherlini of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), have co-produced a sequel—called Us and Them: Korean Indie Rock in a K-Pop World—to a documentary they made about the 1990s Korean punk scene.
“Our first documentary was about how punk rock comes to Korea and becomes indigenised, whereas our latest documentary shows how the world has become so much more complicated, with Korean bands gaining overseas followings and playing in the United States—something most Korean bands in the 90s could only dream of,” says Dr Epstein.
“It provides a perspective on how globalisation has infiltrated South Korea since the 1990s. Once homogenous and inward-looking, South Korea is now much more cosmopolitan and multicultural. The level of English among Koreans has increased dramatically in the last 20 years, with more Koreans studying overseas. Foreign labourers and marriage migrants from elsewhere in Asia, Koreans returning from the diaspora, and Western language teachers are all present in today’s society.
“Global pop culture has taken an increasing hold in Korea but, by the same token, Korean pop culture, mainstream and indie, is increasingly reaching out to the rest of the world.”
Much of this outreach, says Dr Epstein, can be attributed to the internet, in particular social media and YouTube.
Dr Epstein says the music Korean indie bands are playing draws on Western genres but that the musicians have often put their own stamp on it lyrically, with distinctly Korean topics such as critiques of the education system and stresses of local life.
Dr Epstein's first documentary has been used widely in university courses on contemporary Korean society, and he hopes that the second will meet with a similar reception.
“South Korea is a fascinating crucible of social change, having moved within just a few decades from being an aid recipient to an aid donor—there have been points over this period where I think it has changed more than any other country in the world.”
Dr Epstein is currently pitching his documentary to international film festivals. The documentary was funded in part by a Marsden research grant.