Introduction: Distracted Attractions
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Published:March 2016
The introduction examines hallyu cinema, a term the book uses to differentiate a specific group of films that is informed by the dominant characteristics of the larger hallyu (Korean Wave) phenomenon. It looks at how aspects of South Korean popular cinema were slowly adapted according to the hallyu market, in which films became an integral part of the ancillary market generated by Korean television dramas, and in which consumption practices associated with hallyu, such as travel and tourism, came to reformulate aesthetic concepts and shared affects with deep roots in the nation’s history. The introduction argues that the critical view of hallyu gathered from an analysis of hallyu cinema disturbs, not validates, the nationalist pull toward a progressive narrative. Hallyu, and hallyu cinema, in its serendipity instead offers a moment of distraction that interrupts the story of development and forces a reflection on what has escaped attention.