Longtime readers will know that I have a mild obsession with music videos. I think they are a great resource for learning about culture.
They are indications of the general population. Not in any sense of normality, nobody really acts this way, but in what the hopes of a culture are. Something only becomes popular when people are able to see a reflection of their life in it. Now – whether this be some notion of celebrity, an emotion, an artistic desire or whatever – people have different things they see, but they need to see something of themselves or else they wouldn’t care. People only really care about themselves.
In this way, music videos give us a glimpse into culture. So, in comparing Mexican and Korean music videos I see two very separate cultures that are in two very different stages of development.
Korean Videos:
I think I became burnt out on videos last year with Korean music videos. They are just too silly, and compared to them, Mexican music videos are kind of bland.
For example, check out this music video by the Wondergirls.
Really, the material I had last year wrote itself. I just had to choose which direction to take. Do I focus on the adolescent-like posing, dancing in a grocery store, or the girl deep throating a container of pastries? I don’t think I could have gone wrong with any of those.
Anyways, the video is made for kids. It’s an immature video, and I think anybody could agree to that.
What music videos told me about Korea last year was that it was a relatively immature culture. Not a young culture mind you, as the country/culture is thousands of years old, but the current culture of capitalism and money they are developing is very young and very unsure of how to express itself in a variety of ways.
You can even see it when they try to act serious. Seen in the video below:
Let’s see: sickness, death, breaking up, staring longingly into large bodies of water. Check, check, check and check…all the cliches are there.
Korean videos remind me of the year I taught a 6th grade English class in the states. The students were still trying to find who they were. So, if they wanted to write a sad story they would add death. If they wanted to make a happy story they didn’t add death. There wasn’t much beyond that.
Korean videos are the same. Sad videos = death. Not sad videos = not death/dancing around like a 10 year old who’s left alone in their bedroom with their first Rihanna CD.
Mexican Videos:
Mexican videos don’t usually have such a happy / sad juxtaposition. Instead of focusing on death as the ultimate sadness, they tend to focus more on regular life and the melancholy it brings. It indicates to me a culture that is more mature and sure of who they are and able to express themselves without resorting to a series of tried and true absolutes.
While this provides for better art, the music videos just aren’t as interesting. Take this example for instance.
The video has some discussion worthy points and it definitely has a more artistic edge than its Korean counterparts.
However, once we watch it, what more is there to say?
Yes, it sucks to be a poor man who spends their money on a girl who ends up cheating on you. Thanks for reminding me. Now if you’ll excuse me I need to check up on the new Big Bang video that just came out.
So, while Mexican music videos have a certain maturity and assuredness to themselves I just don’t find them as entertaining, unlike the absurdity of Korean videos that will either leave you feeling nothing different than sad or happy every time, and in doing so border on some sort of unintentional sense of the avant gard.
Writings from Torreon 