Yonhap News (Korean) reports that Korea’s netizens are unsure as to how to take Stephen Colbert’s skit on Rain [Marmot's Hole]. Some felt the skit was racist and degrading to Korea, while many others thought it wasn’t a big deal and might actually boost Rain’s profile in the United States. For what it’s worth, Rain apparently though it was funny [Star News, Korean], and one of his associates said it was meaningful that Rain ended up on such a famous program. Star News was also quite impressed by Colbert’s Korean pronunciation.
Netizens divided on Stephen Colbert skit
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I’d say those who take it as racist are taking themselves and Korea too seriously. If anything it speaks to American ignorance of things Korean (generally, and not necessarily without reason). Now Rain can be included in the answer to the question, “what else is Korean?” Along with MASH, Hyundai, and Kimchi.
before i watched the vid, i just assumed that it would be filled with references to dog eating, la riots, ect. i was surprised to see that there was none of that.
the vid was funny and marmot is right; would we have seen something like this even ten years ago? i mean, c’mon, an american guy singing in korean on us tv?
the koreans who think that colbert might be racist got too much time to think about nothing.
ps i thought colbert’s pronunciation was good for someone who probably never spoke a word of korean prior to his brawl with ‘rain’.
I just had a quick peek at the message board connected to the Naver news story. The messages with the most recs express two sentiments: 1) It’s a comedy show, so what’s the big deal; and 2) Rain getting the most votes in the influential persons poll is a national disgrace. Korean netizens aren’t known for their cool heads, so I was pleasantly surprised by sensible reactions of many. Maybe Koreans won’t “break the sensitivity meter” on this one.
Looks like none of the reporters or Rain recognized that the picture of Rain isn’t Rain.
Kudos to an expat, Robert, for not falling into the they-all-look-alike trap.
I thought that it was pretty funny as well – somewhat immature comedy but comedy nonetheless.
The people that were unhappy about it are probably the sort that are unhappy about pretty much everything that is not sunshine and lollipops.
“the koreans who think that colbert might be racist got too much time to think about nothing.”
Those netizens are the 백수 netizens…
My girlfriend (Korean) claims it was in fact Rain in the picture…Just a crappy picture. But I wouldn’t know.
The picture in the third link (Star News) looks perfectly like Rain to me. Or are we talking about different pic?
That’s the one…
“If anything it speaks to American ignorance of things Korean”
That’s one of the things Colbert was poking fun at.
My wife thought it was hilarious, by the way. I’m sure she wasn’t the only one. This of irreverent comedy is becoming increasingly popular on Korean TV. Has any of you ever watched this show:
http://mnet.mnet.com/Nprogram/pure19/?bidx=pure19
Correction: This sort of irreverent…
Korean netizens:
http://www.aahom.org/img/store/drinkBird40x40.jpg
Civil Defense Drill in Seoul tomorrow
Oh no, they actually translated one of the worst articles and now it’s on chosun.com. Sigh.
http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200705/200705140015.html
I did notice that the Netizens did a very good job of putting these ‘reporters’ in their place. One person that wrote a response criticizing one of the articles has 40 in favour, 0 against:
http://newscomm.nate.com/sc/bbs/bbs_view.asp?ArticleID=2007051321580093213&LinkID=2&BBSLinkID=&id=4622601&CurrentPage=1&BeforePage
Okay, I’ve typed up the transcript here:
http://wiki.galbijim.com/Stephen_Colbert_Rain_Spoof
That’s in case anyone needs to show a Korean they know what it really was about. I’m not sure what he was saying in two parts of the song though.
The nerve!!
The guy that wrote the chosun article obviously didn’t “get it”…
I’ve said it once, I’ll say it a 1000 times… Korean’s don’t understand sarcasm. One of the reasons I usually don’t find Korean comedians to be funny.
^ Your unfounded generalization aside, you do realize that Korean reaction to the Colbert skit has generally been positive, right?
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