Kyung Hyun Kim is Professor of East Asian Languages and Literatures and Director of the Critical Theory Emphasis at the University of California, Irvine. He is the author of Virtual Hallyu: Korean Cinema of the Global Era and The Remasculinization of Korean Cinema, both also published by Duke University Press.

This collection provides a timely and essential foundation for studying Korean popular culture ("K-pop") by looking at its global popularity, relation to the contemporary cultural landscape, and historical roots.

Preface / Youngmin Choe viiIntroduction. Indexing Korean Popular Culture / Kyung Hyun Kim 1Part 1. Click and Scroll 151. The World in a Love Letter / Boduerae Kwon 192. Fisticuffs, High Kicks, and Colonial Histories: The Ambivalence of Modern Korean Identity in Narrative Comics / Kyu Hyun Kim 343. It All Started with a Bang: The Role of PC Bangs in South Korea's Cybercultures / Inkyu Kang 554. As Seen on the Internet: The Recap as Translation in English-Language K-Drama Fandoms / Regina Yung Lee 76Part 2. Lights, Camera, Action! 995. Regimes within Regimes: Film and Fashion Cultures in the Korean 1950s / Steven Chung 1036. The Quasi Patriarch: Kim Sûng-ho and South Korean Postwar Movies / Kelly Jeong 1267. The Partisan, the Worker, and the Hidden Hero: Popular Icons in North Korean Film / Travis Workman 1458. Face Value: The Star as Genre in Bong Joon-ho's Mother / Michelle Cho 168Part 3. Gold, Silver, and Bronze 1959. Bend It Like a Man of Chosun: Sports Nationalism and Colonial Modernity of 1936 / Jung Hwan Cheon 19910. "She Became Our Strength": Female Athletes and (Trans)national Desires / Rachael Miyung Joo 228Part 4. Strut, Move, and Shake 24911. Young Musical Love of the 1930s / Min-Jung Son 25512. Birth, Death, and Resurrection of Group Sound Rock / Hyunjoon Shin and Pil Ho Kim 27513. The Popularity of Individualism: The Seo Taiji Phenomenon in the 1990s / Roald Maliangkay 29614. Girls' Generation? Gender, (Dis)Empowerment, and K-pop / Stephen Epstein and James Turnbull 314Part 5. Food and Travel 33715. South Korean Advertising as Popular Culture / Olga Fedorenko 34116. The Global Hansik Campaign and Commodification of Korean Cuisine / Katarzyna J. Cwiertka 36317. Back Seung Woo's Blow Up (2005-2007): Touristic Fantasy, Photographic Desire, and Catastrophic North Korea / Sohl Lee 385Bibliography 407Contributors 431Index 435