Younghan Choflows. East Asian popular culture as a mélange of iterations describes both a series of regional
pop flows and their simultaneous juxtaposition. In a previous study on the Korean Wave in
East Asia, I suggest reframing the Korean Wave as an iteration of East Asian pop culture (Cho
2011). Building on Paul Gilroy’s uses of iteration (1993, 1996), I further contend that iteration
refers to recurrent streams or variant flows from the same (or the base), but, at the same time,
it is something more than simple repetition. Following this reasoning, I suggest interpreting
“the Korean Wave as an iteration of [East Asian pop culture], rather than an invariant repetition
of Korean culture, a unique phenomenon, or a derivative substitute for Western pop culture”
(2011, 388). The Korean Wave, as an iteration of East Asian pop culture, shares similar or com-
mon elements with previous regional flows, such as Hong Kong films and Japanese dramas.
The concept of iteration “acknowledges the mutual borrowing of East Asian pop culture his-
torically while conceding the presence of national difference, even though this borrowing is
uneven” (Yang 2012, 421). It enables the Korean Wave to be understood in the context of—and
connected to—other pan-Asian cultural phenomena.
Such a perspective is valuable for several reasons. First, the historical narrative expands our
understanding of the American pop culture influence on East Asian pop culture. The Korean
Wave, for example, reflects not only regional pop flows but also American influence, but it
should not be seen as a simple copy of its precedents. For instance, Girls’ Generation, a very pop-
ular K-pop idol group, has included distinctively American elements in its melodies, choreogra-
phy, and costumes in its recent albums such as I Got a Boy (2013) and Mr.Mr. (2014), while it had
a very cute, or kawaii, style for its debut in 2007. The historical narrative enables us to avoid the
theoretical conundrum of regarding any regional pop flow either as a unique phenomenon or
as a simple imitation of its Western counterpart. Any effort to fully explain East Asian pop cul-
ture must consider the long-term continuances and interactions of American and regional pop
cultural products. This historical narrative explicates how regional pop flows as iteration “con-
tribute to the historicity as well as the multiplicity of East Asian pop culture” (Cho 2011, 388).
Second, the historical narrative provides a useful perspective on the concept of iteration,
which in turn highlights the temporal coexistence among regional pop flows. As I outlined in
the previous sections, American pop culture, Hong Kong films, Japanese dramas, and the Korean
Wave have undergone periods of ebb and flow on the main stage of East Asian pop culture
since the 1950s. However, it needs to be noted that such a narrative does not necessarily imply
that one cultural trend completely replaced its predecessor. Hong Kong films, which enjoyed
their prime in the 1980s, are still able to sporadically attract large regional audiences, and their
inventive style and narrative structures inspired works that were part of later regional trends. For
instance, the Hong Kong film Internal Affairs (2002), which “enjoyed widespread success in many
East Asian countries” (Choi 2010, 146), was noted for its influence on the character, plot, and
main struggles of the Korean film New World (2013). Framing regional pop flows as iterations
highlights the historical genealogy as well as the contemporary overlap among regional pop
flows. Such temporal coexistence can be found in the traces of American influence in current
regional pop products. In this sense, East Asia can be described as a cultural quilt of various
regional pop cultures. Such an articulation of East Asian pop culture as a mélange of iterations
highlights the multiplicity and reciprocity in East Asian pop culture.
Third, this historical perspective stands in opposition to those demonizing the East Asian
audiences who enjoy regional pop flows. At first glance, such a stigmatization is no longer taken
for granted in current trends in postcolonial studies, cultural studies, and even globalization
studies, which usually advocate agency and oppositional reading by local critics and audiences.
Considering the endemic popularity of regional pop flows, however, it is no surprise to encoun-
ter some concerned voices. Local cultural critics in East Asia are often extremely sensitive to and