A reading 'Gangnam Style' with the key word 'gangnam'

Abstract

'Gangnam Style', the main text for this reading, is a song and music video by Korean musician Psy(싸이). The video was first released in July 2012, and in December 2012, it became the first YouTube video to hit one billion views. Now it is still the most viewed video, over 22 billion, in YouTube history. This song and video raised a district name in Seoul as a worldwide cultural significant. The phrase of Gangnam Style has become a metaphor for having a unique style. All of the parody videos showed their own style what the participants believe it is Gangnam Style. There may be many factors in different context to the popularity of Gangnam Style. Fun, catchy, upbeat, uninhibited, over the top, and even campy are usually qualifying Gangnam Style. Social channels, participation, parody, and sharing are another words group leading it to the viral success. However, at this place we may ask a question. Is Gangnam Style just a funny text? Or is it enough to list those words to appreciate the text? I believe there are still some aspects to explore in this text. Here I'd like to argue another way to read it. That is a reading with historical context.To demonstrate the textual feature of 'Gangnam Style,' I analyze two different cultural texts related in the key word 'gangnam.' Gangnammong(강남몽) written by Hwang Sok-Yong(황석영) 2010 is a typical realistic novel based on facts. As we can suppose with this author's background, the work keeps in a critical perspective on the development process took place in Gangnam(강남). In the fiction, Gangnam is an actual place with lots of historic background. In 1960s, on the opposite side of the river Hangang, the area which had been just paddy fields or dried fields for long time was suddenly faced with huge and intentional changes led by government. Construction of new roads, tall business buildings, apartments(new trend of residence), and luxurious department stores raised the land value. Speculators crowded in and they were chained with government officers and construction companies in corruption. Passing through the prosperous 1980s, the district Gangnam became a symbol of weal th and success dreamed by contemporary Korean people. It was also the symbol of the industrialization of Korea, that is named the compressed growth accomplished in a short period.Another analyzed text is "Gangnam 1970(강남 1970)" a Korean movie filmed in 2015 by director Yuha (유하). The narrative of this film is also based on 'gangnam' not only in the meaning of a spatial setting but the plot and theme. This text represent the real place in a trite gangster story. However it also a scrap of the place imagined by contemporary Korean people, and it is useful to understand the paradoxical expressions in 'Gangnam Style.' In conclusion, the study proposes a critical method for reading a popular cultural text relocating it in a historical context.