ABSTRACT
This chapter considers why global audiences enjoy Korean popular culture. By identifying several significant commonalities across the Korean Wave that resonate with global audiences, particularly global youth, the chapter examines why global audiences are eager to enjoy locally created cultural content in their own countries despite having no cultural ties to Korea. The chapter articulates whether transnational proximity works as a new theoretical framework for explaining the nascent flow of Korean popular culture in the global cultural sphere. The chapter also discusses whether the Korean Wave can shift the contour of cultural flows within the global scene in the era of prominent digital platforms, such as Netflix and Disney+. It proposes that the contra-flow of culture has not yet occurred and that the global dominance of American culture and digital technologies prevails. The chapter reviews the evolution of theoretical frameworks in explaining the Korean Wave by discussing the role of transnational proximity in replacing cultural proximity.
