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This is in essence an exhibition for audiences whose familiarity to Korean popular culture is limited to what's made it big in the West. This was signaled from the moment one steps into the foyer of the exhibition hall, where one is immediately confronted with a bank of screens playing (what else?) the 'Gangnam Style' MV on loop. Oldboy and Parasite were also on prominent display, with a particularly popular element of the exhibition being a faithful recreation of the Parasite bathroom set in one corner. None of this is inherently objectionable, of course, but it did meant the exhibition was very much not for me, though I enjoyed seeing some familiar things in this very different context — a clip from Reply 1988, one of Hwang Jini's gorgeous hanbok from the titular sageuk, Jeon Ji-Hyun's sparkly Jimmy Choo heels from My Love From Another Star, a clip from Winter Sonata, art by Kim Hwong-do and Shin Yoon-bok that I recognised from Painter in the Wind, clips from a documentary on StarCraft.
The exhibition also suffered heavily from its need to cram in ALL of Korean popular culture. There was a room devoted to history and politics, a room on drama/cinema, a room for k-pop, and a room for fashion and beauty. This meant it seriously lacked depth — and I'm not sure much breadth was on display either. Each of these things would have warranted an exhibition of its own, to give the subject space to breathe. I'm sure a very good exhibition could curated on just, for instance, the sageuk drama alone — its origins, its genre characteristics, audience reception, and the tension between traditional sageuk and the more modern 'fusion sageuk'. Or on queerness in k-dramas, from sporadic appearances by queer secondary characters (e.g. Reply 1997's Joon-hee aka best boi), to the cross-dressing shenanigans of Coffee Prince, Sungkyunkwan Scandal and Painter in the Wind, to the extreme slash potential (+ subtext) of Goblin, to the current crop of BL webdramas.
(having written thiis I see I have Views about queerness in k-dramas, surprising no one)
The gift shop offerings for this exhibition were also very disappointing. This was a prime opportunity for replica props (the small ones anyway) from various films and dramas, for art books dedicated to a particular drama or film or genre, for accessories inspired by k-drama and k-pop fashions, for a whole range of posters and prints, for a V&A x top Korean beauty brand cosmetics line. And yet the best the gift shop could muster up were some keyrings with the exhibition logo, a generic hand mirror and trinket box set, a Parasite graphic novel, and a generic recipe book on Korean street food. V&A I am disappoint.
The exhibition also suffered heavily from its need to cram in ALL of Korean popular culture. There was a room devoted to history and politics, a room on drama/cinema, a room for k-pop, and a room for fashion and beauty. This meant it seriously lacked depth — and I'm not sure much breadth was on display either. Each of these things would have warranted an exhibition of its own, to give the subject space to breathe. I'm sure a very good exhibition could curated on just, for instance, the sageuk drama alone — its origins, its genre characteristics, audience reception, and the tension between traditional sageuk and the more modern 'fusion sageuk'. Or on queerness in k-dramas, from sporadic appearances by queer secondary characters (e.g. Reply 1997's Joon-hee aka best boi), to the cross-dressing shenanigans of Coffee Prince, Sungkyunkwan Scandal and Painter in the Wind, to the extreme slash potential (+ subtext) of Goblin, to the current crop of BL webdramas.
(having written thiis I see I have Views about queerness in k-dramas, surprising no one)
The gift shop offerings for this exhibition were also very disappointing. This was a prime opportunity for replica props (the small ones anyway) from various films and dramas, for art books dedicated to a particular drama or film or genre, for accessories inspired by k-drama and k-pop fashions, for a whole range of posters and prints, for a V&A x top Korean beauty brand cosmetics line. And yet the best the gift shop could muster up were some keyrings with the exhibition logo, a generic hand mirror and trinket box set, a Parasite graphic novel, and a generic recipe book on Korean street food. V&A I am disappoint.
