Gangnam Style

A lot of asian people in the audience, even for NY. :D

I like that song, its funny.. and I like asian girls. <3

OPPA GANGNAM STYLE

I really like this version, too:

What’s ironic about the parodies of Oppa Gangnam Style is that the song/mv is itself a parody of that element of Korean society.

Which element?

Proud Korean here. :smiley:

But I do hear that song too many times around Seoul (which Gangnam is in). XD

Cheers! :beer:

Gangnam Style is a reflection on the superficial element of the Gangnum district of Seoul (akin to beverly hills or any nouveau riche area). “Oppa” (an older male friend in Korean) is a commentary on both the pretentious quest for a mate and golddigging that invariably result. Watch the original carefully, and there are numerous scenes where the initial picture painted is not how it really is: his “beach” on the playground, business associates who turn out to be gangsters, the “pool” that’s just a hot tub, wearing a tux on the toilet. The vocals include references for example to “bean paste ladies”, who would get lunch at the cheapest place in town so they can save up for $5+ boutique coffees (or even better, for their oppa to buy them).

Props to the last video at 90s: for including that joke.

that tune just keeps on playing at the korean bars and restos here.hehe.:slight_smile:

Acoustic

I could really use a "like" button right now. ;)

Thanks for the explanation, its interesting.. tho it seems really weird to me. I guess one should have some insight to understand that.

here in Belgium it’s number 3 in the top 10 of the month :stuck_out_tongue:

http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/08/gangnam-style-dissected-the-subversive-message-within-south-koreas-music-video-sensation/261462/

I read the article in The Atlantic too.

I can't believe this one with the hotties hasn't been posted yet...

Hard as it might be to grasp, The Atlantic writers aren’t the only people capable of comprehending social commentary. If anything, this line from the article is completely wrong: “None of this commentary is particularly overt.” It rather is given the lyrics explicitly reference the well-known social stereotypes. I can only imagine these are all new revelations to the writer himself (writing for an exclusively western audience), who didn’t know anything about Korea before researching the article.

It might also be interesting to note that PSY himself is not necessarily excluded from his own commentary given he was born into relative wealth (thus the foreign education).

I'm sure your near-identical synopsis was a case of spontaneous parallel development then. The French are good at that, too.

So how many years did you actually spend in Korea?

A cursory glance at the article also seems to reveal that the writer’s ONLY source of relevant info was from the linked Korea culture blog entry: http://mydearkorea.blogspot.com/2012/08/korean-music-psys-gangnam-style-and.html

You might also see that the writer fails to note the significance of “oppa”, a concept rather prominently placed in the song title. Not surprising given the blog entry he happened to read also misses this.

A simple explanation of why synoptic breakdowns of rather blatant social commentary (accompanied by video illustration in this case) are similar can be displayed by an example of giving Americans the task of summarizing Springstein’s “Born in the USA”. Surely it doesn’t make much cultural education to be aware that “killing the yellow man” is a reference to ethnic aspect of the Vietnam War and not a forerunner to the present day Blue Man group. While this may not be so obvious to those not familiar with the relevant history and whatnot, it’s not exactly a leap to deduce the intentional ironic patriotism.

I just wish it would go away, irritating social fads are not appreciated here in the slightest! |( :Sp :weary: