Psy bursts like a supernova from regional to world stage in a matter of weeks - and he didn’t even need to leave Seoul. The first thing for cultural critics to take note of is the speed with which a cultural event can transmit in these more globalized days. Or, at the very least, you have to leave your home country to do so. That crossing over requires giving up the original way of doing things, that the odds are stacked against those who try, and that it takes years of toiling and perseverance, even for the super sexy, cool, and talented. For one thing, it turns the old rules upside down. Then came Psy, whose crossover moment seems to suggest a major shift in the history of the entertainment world itself.
When he finally made it big, he was, alas, already steeped in middleage. Jackie Chan, the most successful of them all, is worthy of note for his repeated attempts over three decades as an action star in Hollywood. His role was deemed so offensive that it was cut in the version shown in China. In addition to bombing at the box office with his action movies, Chow also played a stereotypical hideous character in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End. Chow Yun Fat, voted by LA Times as “the coolest actor” in the world in the mid-90s, too, failed in Hollywood, in part because that very Hong Kong coolness turned lukewarm in Hollywood movies, and the hard boiled image that made him famous in the East came off stilted in the West. But Rain met with drought in North America, where he starred in two movies that flopped, and his bid for global stardom quickly failed. Bi Rain, with his extraordinary dancing skills and his teenage heartthrob status, is known all over Asia as its own Michael Jackson. Take the case of Hong Kong actors Chow Yun Fat and Jackie Chan, and South Korean singer Bi Rain. But, as a rule, it demands the betrayal of the original, and it requires reinvention - something nearly impossible for those who are entrenched in their own language and cultural sensibilities. It’s the history of crossover itself, the phenomenon that has traditionally been treacherous and cruel, with so many talented entertainers from the Far East or elsewhere at the margins of the Commonwealth falling off the tightrope on the way to global stardom.Ī crossover, as far as the world of arts and entertainment is concerned, is to go from the margin to the center, from one set of culture to another, trying to succeed in the latter. Psy’s video is also the most “liked” video on YouTube, as well as the most-watched video in Korean entertainment history.īut something beyond Korean history has clearly occurred with the global sanctification of Psy. Who’s the genius behind the dance that mimics riding an invisible horse? Jae-Sang Park, erstwhile Psy (short for psycho), a rapper whose career galloped into global super stardom with the distinction of topping the iTunes charts in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, and 28 other countries. Rob McKenna, the failed Republican candidate for Governor, even did the dance at an election event. Among them is North Korea’s own version to spoof a South Korean presidential candidate, and the “Mitt Romney Style” spoof video.
It has over 800 million hits and counting since July, and has spun off countless other videos. It stands for something along the lines of a brash, flamboyant way of doing things, clownishness, or an act of in-your-face spoofing that is both original and entertaining.Ī recently setup Wikipedia page showcases “Gangnam Style” as the most watched YouTube video of all time. Anthropologists and linguists are no doubt having a field day trying to chronicle and dissect how, in the early autumn of 2012, “Gangnam Style” became an American idiomatic expression.
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