Seo Taiji 1992-2004: South Korean popular music and masculinity (my master's thesis)
© Janet Hilts 2006 - please note: this is not the final version of my thesis.
Ilsan, South Korea, Spring 2003
Seven months into my second place of ESL employment in South Korea, this time in the sleek new Ilsan, I learned of a surprisingly definite Korean account of how masculinity should sound. This account seemed at odds with the confident energy of this freshly remodeled, forward-looking Seoul suburb. My co-worker from New Zealand, a young outgoing man, came to me in frustration on two separate occasions after his middle-aged male ESL students had complained to him about his voice. To me, my co-worker was big and burly, not macho but certainly not fey in anyway. His businessmen students though, thought otherwise and seemed deeply concerned. They told him straight out he needed to lower his speaking voice and stop wavering it up and down because, in short, he sounded like a women. They told him their concern stemmed from their worry that other Koreans, who did not know him as they did, would ‘get the wrong idea.’
Seven months into my second place of ESL employment in South Korea, this time in the sleek new Ilsan, I learned of a surprisingly definite Korean account of how masculinity should sound. This account seemed at odds with the confident energy of this freshly remodeled, forward-looking Seoul suburb. My co-worker from New Zealand, a young outgoing man, came to me in frustration on two separate occasions after his middle-aged male ESL students had complained to him about his voice. To me, my co-worker was big and burly, not macho but certainly not fey in anyway. His businessmen students though, thought otherwise and seemed deeply concerned. They told him straight out he needed to lower his speaking voice and stop wavering it up and down because, in short, he sounded like a women. They told him their concern stemmed from their worry that other Koreans, who did not know him as they did, would ‘get the wrong idea.’
Previous posts
- CHAPTER 3: Alternative masculinity through Seo Tai...
- [ch. 3] Vocal sound and gender
- [ch. 3] Seo Taiji & Boys’ soft, slow songs
- [ch. 3] Taiji’s vocals in relation to hegemonic ma...
- CHAPTER 4: The relationship of “Hayôga” performanc...
- [ch. 4] Fraternity
- [ch. 4] Remasculinization
- [ch. 4] Competition with ‘western’ masculinity
- Conclusion & Coda
- References