Popular culture project/Concept draft

Popular Culture Project Guidelines

Topic Selection: Your topic will need to include:

1.) A specific type of popular culture + media (Korean dramas, Japanese film, etc.)

2.) Social, historical or cultural issue of an East Asian country (Beauty standards in South Korea etc)

a. You must use some form of popular culture as evidence for your argument.

Topic Examples: Here are some examples from previous semesters. If you are unsure what to do or

not familiar with East Asian popular culture, feel free to use it.

** (Some of them may need to be improved/altered)

Research Questions

Japan Related

1. Why was anime able to gain global popularity despite targeting a Japanese audience?

2. Why is Hikikomori primarily a Japanese mental illness and how is its representation in animation

affecting attitudes towards the issue?

3. Why is going to a “prestigious” university essential to success in Japan?

4. Why are female characters in Japanese anime hypersexualized?

5. How has modern Japanese idol culture distorted reality among large groups of fans and why is it

a problem?

6. Why does Japan have one of the highest rates of gender inequality among OCED countries and

how may anime reflect and influence this problem?

7. Why has plastic surgery become normalized in South Korea, but not in Japan despite being a

vast number of social and cultural similarities.

8. Why have arcades continued to thrive in Japan, but not in the United States?

9. How do Korean boy pop groups and Japanese boy groups differ in terms of marketing, fans, and

competition?

10. How is the animation industry able to sustain despite widespread piracy and online streaming

of copyrighted material?

South Korea Related

1. Why is mental health stigmatized in East Asia and why has South Korea made more progress

than Japan in acknowledging mental health problems?

2. Why are group artists still effective in East Asia, but not in the United States?

3. Why is cosmetic surgery so widespread in South Korea?

4. Why are beauty and showmanship more important than vocal talent in the K-Pop industry?

5. Why are K-pop groups either all male or all female? What is it about the K-pop fan base that

inhibits the success of hybrid groups?

6. How are K-pop trainees recruited and what factors determine which trainees debut and which

don’t?

7. Why was “insert your favorite group here” able to succeed in Asia despite cultural and language

barriers in an already competitive Asian music industry.

China Related

1. How has China’s recent emergence as an economic super power affected its view of popular

culture as a viable form of soft power?

2. Why is one’s quality of character so essential to success in the Chinese entertainment industry?

3. Why is rap music stigmatized in China?

4. How do Chinese popular music groups differ from their Japanese and Korean counterparts and

why?

5. Why has the Hong Kong film industry which dominated the late 80s and 90s with its martial arts

films and comedies been on the decline?

6. How has China’s popular culture industry been able to survive despite existing in a country that

is well known for piracy.