BTS on the Road

책 소개

How did BTS transcend K-pop

and move people all over the world?

In just a decade since their debut in 2013, BTS has achieved remarkable impact beyond the music and entertainment activities of a K-pop group. They have succeeded in gaining interest and popularity as an icon of the contemporary global youth generation, not as fictional characters but as real people with Asian faces who are facing difficulties in the uncertain current and future conditions. At the same time, their actions have world-historical significance beyond the realm of popular culture. This is not only what BTS means, but also what K-pop and Hallyu mean. In this respect, BTS have faithfully fulfilled their role as pioneers.

작가정보

저자(글) Seok-Kyeong HONG

대학/대학원 교수 신문방송/언론학자

Seok-Kyeong HONG

Seok-Kyeong HONG(홍석경)

Professor of Communication at Seoul National University since 2013. She worked at the Korean Broadcasting Commission as a Chief Researcher (1996-1999), and was an Associate Professor at the Department of Information and Communication Sciences at the University of Bordeaux 3 (2000-2013). She is the Director of the Center for Hallyu Studies, Asia Center at Seoul National University since March 2022.

Her main research and teaching interests include Cultural Studies, media culture and transnational and global popular culture, as well as visual methods and qualitative research design. She has published books and articles on Korean television dramas, Hallyu as a cultural consequence of globalization and digital culture, and various digital cultural forms and practices such as Mukbang (food broadcasting). She has written columns on Hallyu and cultural issues for national newspapers. Her recent research interests include the impact of global OTT on Hallyu and Korean creative industries, and the political potential of fandom activism.

번역 Oul HAN

번역가/통역사

출간작으로 『BTS on the Road』 등이 있다.

목차

Foreword to the English edition

Prologue: Out into the World with BTS

BTS as a Lens for Observing the World

BTS in the Age of Globalization and Digital Culture

On the Road That BTS Walks

Joining the Journey That Nobody Has Ever Walked

Chapter 1: BTS, Beyond K-pop:

From the Margins of K-pop Industry to the Zenith of World Popular Culture

The New Order of Global Cultural Distribution

The Idol Systems in Korea and Japan-and BTS

BTS and K-pop: Commonalities and Differences

How BTS Display Hybridity

Beyond K-pop, and to the World

Chapter 2: BTS Transmedia: The Most Important Keywords for Understanding BTS Narratives

What Is Transmedia

BTS’s Transmedia Strategy

Three Layers of BTS Transmedia

Second Layer: The Narratives of BTS as a Band and the Members

Third Layer: The Narratives of the BTS Members as Natural Persons

The Rabbit Hole: The Knots That Tie Together Different Narrative Layers

Jin’s “Epiphany”

V’s “Singularity”

The Completion of BTS Transmedia Via Fan Participation

Chapter 3: The BTS Phenomenon through the Lens of Class Theory:

Why Do Young People around the World Love BTS?

Singing about Young People’s Life Circumstances

You Can’t Live Like Your Parents Anymore, So What Will You Do?

Resist! Growth over Success

Icons of the Young Generation: The Beatles, David Bowie, and BTS

Chapter 4: Becoming ARMY and Being ARMY: They Are behind Every Phenomenon

Meeting the ARMY On-site

Becoming ARMY and Being ARMY

Encounter: Delving into BTS’s Universe (BU)

The Bias: BTS Saved Me at My Lowest Point

The Power of ARMY as Community

Communicating Consolation and Salvation

About the Middle-aged Fans

Learning Korean, BTS’s Language

ARMY’s Taste and ARMY as Taste

Communities of Media, Taste, and Values

ARMY and Fan Activism

Chapter 5: BTS and a New Racial Imagination: How Did BTS Turn Asians into Objects of Desire?

From Local to the World: K-pop led by BTS

Global Pop Music, Sung in Korean

Cultural Referencing Strategy in a Multicultural World

Changing the White-centric Racial Imagination

Racial Sensibility of K-pop Fandoms

Seeking Alternatives between Stereotype and Glorification

Chapter 6: BTS and Alternative Masculinity:

How Did They Impact the Gender Sensibility of the Young Generation?

Male Imagery That Allows Aesthetic Appreciation

Soft Masculinity

Anti-toxic Masculinity

Beyond Alternative Masculinity, towards Gender Issues

BTS’s Body

Epilogue: BTS and Imagining a New Era