Friday Afternoon Pick Me Up
August 31, 2012 § 1 Comment
Unashamedly, I am one of the 66 million viewers of the now-unavoidable viral sensation that is Gangnam Style (Boyfriend counts for about 1/8th of the total count). And despite being able to speak my native tongue (more or less), I didn’t actually take the time to understand its lyrics and quickly dismissed the song as just another catchy whim in passing.
Turns out, the lyrics and video are something of a brilliantly subtle-but-not-so-subtle commentary on Korea’s culture/obsession with portraying the luxurious life:
This skewering of the Gangnam life can be easy to miss for non-Korean. Psy boasts that he’s a real man who drinks a whole cup of coffee in one gulp, for example, insisting he wants a women who drinks coffee. “I think some of you may be wondering why he’s making such a big deal out of coffee, but it’s not your ordinary coffee,” U.S.-based Korean blogger Jea Kim wrote at her site, My Dear Korea…”In Korea, there’s a joke poking fun at women who eat 2,000-won (about $2) ramen for lunch and then spend 6,000 won on Starbucks coffee.” They’re called Doenjangnyeo, or “soybean paste women” for their propensity to crimp on essentials so they can over-spend on conspicuous luxuries, of which coffee is, believe it or not, one of the most common. “The number of coffee shops has gone up tremendously, particularly in Gangnam,” Hong said. “Coffee shops have become the place where people go to be seen and spend ridiculous amounts of money.”
– Excerpt from Max Fisher’s article on The Atlantic.
soopastryheart 
Love that article, including the top comment.