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 arenāt the only people capable of comprehending social commentary. If anything, this line from the article is completely wrong: āNone of this commentary is particularly overt.ā 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 didnāt 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 writerās 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 āoppaā, 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 Springsteinās āBorn in the USAā. Surely it doesnāt make much cultural education to be aware that ākilling the yellow manā 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, itās 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:
I have read something about it in the newspapers here and there (gangnam style) but it totally went around me, this is first time I bothered to see some video. I dont follow trends 
(I make them, haha )
But I like the fact that Korean pop-scene is so succesful in the world. That will happen (not only in pop-culture) more and more with other Asian countries too
I love this song and video. Very catchy and funny!
LOL
korean are the most self centered and racist of all asian, probably one notch above the caste system Indians. I know cuz Iām asian and my korean fanatic sister admits it too!
Interesting video, in an area a block from my office, Besides that the only comment
is please keep ā the bossā out of this. Gratitude
Iāll climb back into my box seats nowā¦
I wonder whats the percentage of marketing in this phenomenon. Maybe not big, but who knows.
PSY has made his second appearance on Ellen to perform the song. This song is still riding the gravy train and it aināt stoppin. It totally makes me curious about the whole viral phenomenon. This song along with other recent korean girl pop groups has put Korea on the map for pop music. Though I wonder how seriously this craze is taken in the west, whether this will die down, or will Korean pop music will be a common genre among music listeners, not just the weird video or song that has a funny dance.
Nice song :laughing:
Not related to this song but if you like that you will like this one too 
especially around the 2 minute mark
Aww shit, the refrain sounds like "Sherry Sherry lady".. whats been heard cant be un-heard. :/