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▲This photo, provided by Yonhap News Agency, shows Dr. Sam Richards who is visiting Korea for "The 9th World Congress for Hallyu," (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)
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▲This photo, provided by Yonhap News Agency, shows Dr. Sam Richards who is visiting Korea for "The 9th World Congress for Hallyu," (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)
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| ▲This photo, provided by Yonhap News Agency, shows Dr. Sam Richards who is visiting Korea for "The 9th World Congress for Hallyu," (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) |
SEOUL, October 21 (Yonhap) -- "BTS joining the military was a great decision. The decision will help BTS to grow and develop better in the future."
Sam Richards, a professor at Penn State University, who visited Korea for "The 9th World Congress for Hallyu," which started on October 21, at the National Library of Korea located in Seocho-gu, said as above during the interview he had with Yonhap News Agency, which was held around the congress area.
Sam Richards, a sociologist, told his students during his college lecture in 2018, "If you don't know things like who these guys (BTS) you're not going to compete in the world," and this video went viral on YouTube, showing how he predicted the popularity of Hallyu.
He said, "If the government had said okay but we're going to make an exception because you've done so much for us, well then Hallyu becomes BTS, BTS becomes the head of the wave," and continued that if this had happened, everything about Hallyu, which is about Korea, would have been narrowed down to BTS.
Sam Richards claimed that as far as the "fair burden of obligations and the extent of exceptions," the issue regarding BTS' army is "different from some classical musicians or like people that win medals at the Olympics."
He explained that Olympic medalists have been exempted from the military for a long time, but if BTS gets exempted, it will open a new case of exemption,
He analyzed, "Korea tends to be oriented towards the community." and said that BTS' decision to join the army is somewhat connected to this.
He also said that the morality Koreans prefer is to make decisions caring about society, not only based on their own benefit, and that this morality becomes a strength during the global crisis period.
He gave an example regarding wearing a mask during the COVID-19 period, saying that Americans, who live in a world of greater individualism, did not wear masks for their own convenience, but that Koreans did not have a hard time wearing masks because Koreans care about community.
Sam Richards said that one of the reasons Hallyu content has grown in popularity around the world is that the content prefers implications and connotations over overt sexual or violent scenes.
He interpreted that unlike Hollywood contents, which are unnecessarily realistic and straightforward, Korean contents draw out certain scenes with more implications, and that was how it could blow up universally, including Islamic states.
However, he warned the industry, "staying inside the box and continuing to produce the same contents will harm the continuity of Hallyu."
He said, "I was looking at Netflix and I was looking at all these K-dramas that are out and that are coming out and it's like those little screen shots, that little box, everyone looks exactly the same," and added, "It is important to go outside the box, making innovative content, not only staying in the center."
(This article is translated from Korean to English by Dowon Kim.)
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