무속의 프리즘으로 본 K컬처의 뿌리와 힘

The widely held belief is that the success of K-pop can be attributed to factors such as outstanding planning, eye-catching performances, and extensive social media reach. However, two authors point out that this is not enough to fully explain why people experience such a strong emotional immersion in K-pop content. The real power of K-pop content lies in an intangible cultural sensitivity that has accumulated over time in Korean culture, according to the authors.

This sensitivity manifests in traditional rituals influenced by shamanism, which have become a cultural tool for Koreans to read the world and organize their lives.

Rather than being about belief or disbelief, shamanism has served as a cultural tool for Koreans to navigate the world and organize their lives. Like a shaman's good in resolving people's anxieties and desires, modern K-pop idols use stage performances and fan communities to gather scattered emotions into a single rhythm. Similarly, Korean animated series like "K-Pop Demons Hunter," movies like "Ghost," and TV dramas like "Ghost" all depict Korean-style occultism as a means of resolving entangled relationships.

The process of resolving entangled relationships involves participation, where music, dance, rhythm, words, tears, clothing, props, and the reactions of those around them move in tandem within a single performance, thereby re-establishing relationships and breaking down the entanglements.

This Korean trait of emotional engineering, "Han and Sinmim," which emerges from these processes, is a product of this relationship-resolution mechanism. The author argues that in today's world where information and data are abundant, young people seek astrology, tarot, and other means to address relationship entanglements and the resulting anxieties.

However, it is important to note that this is merely a small cushion for dealing with anxieties, rather than a guide to life. The author's diagnosis is that the hidden world, acceptance of which resolves entangled emotions, and the movement of these emotions through the body and the shared stage, transforming anxieties into a communal stage, is a "long-standing cultural technique of the Korean people" that has resurfaced in modern popular culture, shaking the sensibilities of global audiences.