Gangnam Style

[Anonymous]

It is really interesting to see how this type of music and dance style shows us people of the west a little bit of contemporary Korea. The dance style is all over the planet and the fact that it is inspiring parodies is a sign of how strong the influence of this song is on the people around the world. However, it is also interesting to note that this is just a fad and eventually it will disappear and become part of the long list of one hit wonders. Cheers

[Anonymous]

I was very surprised when my students were dancing KangNam style in the classroom. I read PSY's fame and his songs from news media but it was an eye opening moment how a Korean pop culture can easily be accepted among high school students in United States.
edited by jkim on 11/6/2012

[Anonymous]

Very interesting in terms of a cultural sensation. I had heard this song a few times but never listened closely enough to understand that it was in Korean. My wife was showing me a video of "Dancing With the Stars" where they performed to the song but she had never seen the original video with PSY. I looked it up and it was pretty hilarious! I even caught a few minutes of him on the "Ellen Show". It is amazing how he could attain this "fame" mostly through You Tube.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the background information on this. I hadn't heard of this until the end of September, and was wondering what my cousins were doing when they started to do the dance. I went home and immediately watched it, thought it was funny, but didn't know the background of it at all. Now I am informed!

[Anonymous]

No doubt, literary, visual & performance arts such as the music sensation PSY and pop culture can transcend geographic barriers, bureaucratic censorship and musical preferences. Social media has the ability to precipitate and carry the immediate message the “it” happening; Park Jae Sung –YouTube-the medium to make this possible. PSY performance is entertaining and energizing hopefully his fame won’t be short lived and his fans won’t replace him with an up and coming rising rock star.

[Anonymous]

There are so many versions of this its crazy. MIT students just recently made their own version and music video of this. Its almost as crazy as the Macarena when it first came out.

[Anonymous]

Catchy tune, nice dance moves, seems fun to do! It's cool to see diverse faces dancing and moving to a beat. This goes a long way to building tolerance and acceptance for other cultures and styles.
edited by nfreeman on 11/16/2012

[Anonymous]

Yes, I agree that it will fade away as others did before Gangnam Style. I tried to remember those that have faded away and these are what I came up with The Macarena, Electric Slide, Achy Breaky Heart, Cha Cha Slide, Texas Hop, Harlem Shuffle, The Hustle, Party Train, Mississippi Slide, Walk It Out, and The Wobble is currently very popular among African Americans.

[Anonymous]

When the video first became popular I did not think that it would reach my students, but they quickly proved me wrong. One day during lunch the leadership students played the song and an large group of students were dancing to the song in the quad. This prompted me to survey my students, most students liked the song and/or had it in their music player. Something that might have begun as curiosity, become a trend and popular the more people listen to it. I now wanted to know more about this, I saw the video and I was not sure how original this dance was; it seemed to be similar to the acky break dance along with others. After all PSY is old enough to have learned different dance moves from the 80's and 90's.

[Anonymous]

When the video first became popular I did not think that it would reach my students, but they quickly proved me wrong. One day during lunch the leadership students played the song and an large group of students were dancing to the song in the quad. This prompted me to survey my students, most students liked the song and/or had it in their music player. Something that might have begun as curiosity, become a trend and popular the more people listen to it. I now wanted to know more about this, I saw the video and I was not sure how original this dance was; it seemed to be similar to the acky break dance along with others. After all PSY is old enough to have learned different dance moves from the 80's and 90's.

[Anonymous]

The phenomenon that is this song really is unbelievable. If you had told me at the beginning of the year that the most popular dance song in 2012 was going to come from South Korea, I wouldn't have believed it; and yet here it is. We really do live in a globally connected universe. 10 years from now, we won't even give a hit like this a second thought. Amazing..

[Anonymous]

I am impressed with how Gangnam is blasting the air waves. Would we have heard about this coming out of Korea 10 years ago? I think it speaks to how Korea is growing in popularity in Asia and around the world! My kids love it!!

[Anonymous]

I just felt that I had to respond to this post. I do not like this song and I think is the most annoying song ever. I was told that I was the only person in the world that disliked this song because apparently, I don't know why, it has become and international hit. Even when I was in Italy, everyone in the club knew the steps to this song. I was in complete disbelief to see people dancing to it and to even singing it. While watching the video, I expressed my disliked for it to a friend and he said he felt the same way the first time he hear it. However, after someone explained to him that this song was making fun of the Korean Aristocrats. It was until then that I pay attention, I will admit that I perhaps can tolerate it now.

[Anonymous]

I have to admit that this song was really annoying to me but catchy. However, it was really interesting to read about Gangnam and see the actual video that all my students talk about. The Gangnam style dance has become very popular. I recently went to a wedding where the Bride and Groom open the dance floor by performing to this song! I also did not know that this song was making fun of the Korean Aristocrats......it's all very interesting!

[Anonymous]

I want to say I can't believe it, but ... Here is a link to a Gangnam style lesson plan!
There is a really interesting article that is included in the lesson plan - “Gangnam Style, Dissected: The Subversive Message Within South Korea's Music Video Sensation”
http://asianstudies.georgetown.edu/files/Gangnam%20Style%20LP.pdf
edited by gsharpe on 1/8/2013

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