Well said, javabeans! Thanks for doing a piece on this.

Amy, thank god there's another sensible voice out there. I felt kind of silly writing this initially, because I felt like I was stating the obvious. I thought the initial reaction to the Rain piece was so positive that I was surprised to see such a strong backlash. I thought maybe a few people would be upset, but I was startled to see the number of people -- even English-speaking Rain fans -- up in arms and offended over it.

I loved that egg/bibimbap line too! Although that Hyundai line in the song subtitles cracked me up too. As well as the "He's singin' in Korean... oh yeah, he's singin' in Korean..." ;)

Sarah,

I hadn't realized that the Korea media has commented on Colbert piece on Rain. Thanks for enlightening me on that.

I found the piece Colbert did wildly funny. But then, I love Colbert. I also watch Bill Maher religiously too - yes, I'm a bleeding liberal. Koreans who believe the Colbert piece was mocking Rain really aren't "it-getters!" I think the fact that Colbert did a piece on Rain should energize Rain fans since Colbert has such a large following in the U.S. and caters to mostly the younger audience (the audience Rain wants to have?).

I really liked "I'm all over it like egg over bowl of bibimbop" the best!

Amy

p.s. My caucasian husband and I saw the Colbert piece together last week and he got it! Also, I own 3 Rain CDs so I'm speaking as a fan of Rain as well!

Oh my god, it was funny and in very good taste. I don't understand the big fuss, it was the funniest thing I seen in awhile...when I think about it now, I'm just laughing. gosh people just need to take a chill pill..hha.

julie, i'm glad you feel better about it now! Initially i was annoyed at the korean press for misunderstanding, but i figured that was counterproductive.

The fact that so many Americans are Non-It-Getters show that Colbert isn't universally appreciated, even in his own language. Satire is sophisticated. And I have to remind myself every time I get annoyed with the Korean mentality (my parents and I used to argue profusely about stuff like this) that Korea may be overly defensive, but it's understandable why. They've only been a first-world nation for a short while, and have centuries of oppression and occupation built into their national psyche. So they're very protective of their national image -- I get that, even though most of the time I forget first.

The fact that Korean reports are focusing on the Korean-centric "slurs" show that their insecurities are still very raw -- all the news reports dwell on the fact that Colbert made mention of the terms "Hyundai," "kimchee" etc. as though they were used pejoratively. It's like you don't get why people are laughing in your general vicinity, so you assume they're laughing AT you. Some have even seen Colbert throwing the TIME magazine through the glass pane as "symbolic" -- because the magazine had Rain's face on it. They didn't see that it was a silly, harmless gesture just designed to parody Rain's window-breaking video scene.

I just hope they see that Stephen Colbert, for all his bluster and cheekiness, is a good-natured guy and this segment was really done very respectfully. He clearly put a lot of research into accuracy. And it was funny! Best of both worlds.

Raising Korean children in "white world" I tend to be sensitive- probably overly- to people mocking things Korean/Asian. I saw this clip right after I had read an email from a person talking about Korea as if it were a 3rd world country. I was ticked off anyway. So, when I saw the Jong-Il comment and the MASH references, it bugged me. Parodies are great, but I wish that the general audience had some respect for what was being parodied (does that even make sense? :-P ). I thought of some of my more clueless friends/family watching this only to poke fun. That being said...the video is hilarious and it is done with respect on Colbert's part- it is an actual parody of a Bi video (they took the time to copy it!), and he even knows what bibimbap is!! I can't say that about anyone in my extended family. heehee The exposure for Bi is wonderful, of course. Regardles, I love your blog javabeans, and if you say it is ok, then I will relax! You are awesome girl!

I totally agree ~ you can easily tell from just watching it that he is definitely not mocking Rain in any way or fashion. I didn't even realize there were people that were offended by it, I thought it was totally amazing ~ free publicity for Rain! I don't know how well his US debut will go but I totally think that this is positive for him...I'm sure JYP understands haha. And yes for the commentesr above^^ that bibimbab line still kills me lol.

Exactly. Stuff on Colbert is pretty mainstream- they should treat it as a compliment.
And hey, free publicity!

i personally thought it was a compliment when someone as notorious as colbert decided to do a segment on rain. but my question is, was rain even insulted by the segment? i mean i haven't heard him say anything about it, but really, if rain isn't upset, why should everyone else be?

however insulted some people are, it's as you said java, satire.

I adore RAIN... Colbert, I have never heard of before but my curiosity was peeked so, I viewed the clip.

The man was funny and his skit was funny.

It's all about advertising people. Web-sites, my space, forums, youtube; wake-up, advertising in any shape or form rules!!!

You could be the most talented 'popsicle' in the world and it wouldn't mean jack if people do not know your name. And, dare-I-say; RAIN baby, you just got plugged... :)

I read from another open forum that Rain wasn't affected by Colbert at all. He was quite tickled by it actually. hmm..don't know how true that is..I don't follow Rain's news.

But...this was so funny! He should not be mad at all...because this is free publicity.
If you want to be successful in a different culture, you've got to take everything about the culture and adapt. That includes "Sense of Humor"...Ahh...but why is the US market so important to break into? Everybody's doing it. Should go to CHINA! =)

Javabeans-- very nice post. I thought the Bi paraody was pretty funny, and I'm actually surprised that there was such a strong response in the korean media. Anyways, before I read your post, I had no idea what Stephen Colbert (the character) stood for or and didn't have a clue as to who he (the character and the man) was... Anyways, your explanation of him piques my interest! I'm checking him out XD.

I agree with everyone! Publicity for Rain and Colbert's hilarious! Thanks for the clarification though.. sure some people needed that!

When i first saw da vid on that... i personally wasnt even affected.... even tho. i am a huge rain fan... and yahh as u said.. da only thing dat bothered me was da kid jong il thing.. but yeahh ppl shud calm down... =]

I thought it was GREAT publicity for Rain. It was hilarious. I was even hoping Rain's people would ask for a guest spot on the Stephen Colbert Show. :)

I LUVEEEDDDD the parody. i personally thought it was GREATTTT advertisement & i think the media is being REALLY stupid about it. Even though I admit the kim jon il part was a bit ehhhh, I think the rest was great parody. He was jabbing at Rain because Colbert was "jealous" right? Good grief, I think Korean fans get WAYYY too defensive about their stars. even though i really like Rain, It never crossed my mind that this was racial. I think reporters need to learn that Colbert makes fun of EVERYONE not just koreans. all in all, Rain should be happy. More recognition=more success.

if that's the case i hope he does the same for se7en~ give him exposure~

wow, i had NO idea they were attacking Stephen Colbert's segment on that, but they definitely need to listen to and understand what he's saying.

at first i was a bit scared, actually, because i thought Rain might be getting bad publicity.. but when i watched the video of it i laughed and was glad that Rain was getting some good-humored publicity that would only benefit him. (i even sent the link to my brother, who literally called me this morning to tell me how funny it was) *sigh, korean fans really do need to cut the defensiveness.

Now if only all of the big Korean newspaper websites can link to this page so they can understand Stephen didn't mean any harm or was being disrespectful -_-.

As usual, javabeans, big fan of your summaries.

It's sad to see that the Korean media has blown this wayyy out of proportion. If they only understood how GOOD it is for Colbert to be doing this--how much recognition that this will give Bi/Rain in the younger American audience. Maybe they need someone to explain it to them, because from my experience (mainly my mother) some Koreans don't really understand satire and sarcasm. Haha..oh well :].

Anyways, I thought that the parody was HILARIOUS as did many of my other Korean friends. Like you said though..the only thing I didn't really like was the "Kid Jong Il" reference. =/ But hey, it was still pretty funny. Hopefully the Korean media will lighten up about this and Bi/Rain look at it as an insult and see it as a positve thing that helped him gain more recogintion in the U.S. =]

oh my gosh, when i saw the Colbert clip last week, i fell down laughing watching that thing. Colbert is so clever and witty in the things that he says. i watch him when i have the time, and i enjoy it everytime.
i'm surprised that the Korean press is going insane over this segment...i mean, it's seems so obvious that IT'S ALL A JOKE!!! i think koreans should be proud or at least amused at the fact that Colbert took time in his extremely well known show to do a five-minute segment on Rain. if i was korean, i would be sorta glad that the korean culture has sparked some hype or interest in the american culture. it's nice when two cultures intertwine...and it's even better when it's Colbert doing it. haha.
my favorite parts were when Colbert acted surprised that the #1 most influential person was RAIN..."At #2...What! Who's at #1? It can be?! My old nemisis, 24-yr-old R&B pop sensation Rain." and when he mentioned a title of a Rain song..."Now sure he's got some good songs like 'Ne gah neu wot dong chim dei'...haha.

To be honest, i was rather surprised that the korean media took colbert's piece on rain the wrong way. It was obiously satirical and widely funny. It was in fact pleasant to see a korean star like Rain actually getting metioned in the US media plus colbert's attempts in speaking korean were hilarious!!! lol

I was SO elated when I saw the Colbert parody. What a positive, funny piece. Thank goodness, it's about time especially after these last couple weeks. Plus Free marketing for Rain! As I'm pretty sure 90% of Colbert's viewers had no idea whom Rain is and most of them will end up goggling him for more info. The next day at work, after the Colbert piece aired, at least 5 co-workers came up to me asking Who Rain was? After a brief bio of Rain, a few of his videos, a couple of downloaded mp3s, a clip of his latest movie "I'm A Cyborg But It's Okay" Rain had 5 new fans. So seriously, this is a very VERY positive thing.

wow thanks for this sarah.im so behiind. ive been out. you gotta admit this was hilarious.thought not everyone would think so, icant really blame them. lol. but really, first time to watch the colbert thing.and i thought the daily show with john stewart was hilarious. hahha im glad u cleared this up for many. im pretty sure, rain just got a popularity boost in the US. if not for being funny maybe they saw something too. hahahhaha maybe koreans arent as used to american humor...not everyone can really.

I didn't realize this piece was taken in such a bad way until recently, but then personally I've loved Colbert since Day One and sometimes don't realize satire doesn't fly the same with everyone. But actually, I felt like he said nothing offensive at all about Rain, it was more like he was bringing out his good qualities while at the same time making fun of his own (Colbert's own) "conservative" or naive remarks. The Colbert Report goes so much further than just the usual stuff and I think Stephen Colbert makes us look at things in a healthier light by not using vulgar, crude humor but smart, albeit sometimes silly satire. I just made a post on my own blog the other day because I was so pleased that K-Pop and especially Rain are truly in the limelight--I mean I'd rather see Stephen Colbert bring out a good k-pop song and parody it smartly then see the same old caricatures of Koreans and Asians that MadTV or some other shows pull off. Those, in my opinion, are offensive and stupid, and just perpetrate stereotypes.

If anything, I bet a lot of Americans discovered Rain and K-Pop after that airing! And I'm sure JYP was delighted, who as an international producer must definitely realize this well meaning ribbing means big exposure, I don't think they missed the well meaning point, and thats why we haven't heard anything from Rain's camp. If Rain's going to make a US debut and make an actual impact, there will probably be a lot more American satire to get used to in the time to come--AND its a GOOD THING :)

I'm glad you wrote about it too Javabeans!

sad to hear the korean media has completely misunderstood Colbert's parody. I guess i dont blame them in a way because it is understandable that satire can be lost in translation, but i just wish they were more open minded, or at least investigate before jumping into conclusions too quickly. I agree with those who say that this will only help Rain's crossover to the US because so many ppl watch Colbert, especially young ppl...which is his target audience. I bet there were many ppl who saw the show that day and wondered, who the hell is this kid named Rain? and googled him up.....

i just hope that he will be an "it-getter" and explain to those in the korean media ad fans who are not, that this was simply for FUN and it is something that American Entertainers do ALL the time....they mock ppl with no harm intended...

***Sighs***

Wow, this has been blown out of proportion. My opinion is, this is a big exposure for Rain,
if he really want's to get into the US market. This Colbert show had already acknowledged
Rain being more popular than him, and I think what should be done next is for Rain to
appear on the same show, however that would be asking for too much since Rain doesn't speak
decent english yet.

Korean's need to chill out big time, they were being acknowledged as SOMEBODY to reckon with
already, and their reaction is like one big step backward.

well said Sarah! I was feeling the same way about Korean media and I was going to blog it tonight but you've done a wonderful job here that all I need to do is direct our readers to your blog. :)

I think overall, our fellow Koreans are still a little sensitive and insecure about how the world perceives Korea. Also, based on my personal experiences, sarcasm is rarely used in Korea because it's considered impolite, which might explain why many Koreans took a lot of jokes literally, finding references to "hyundai" "bibimbap" etc offensive and mean.

However, I've read some articles in Korean that points out that Koreans, especially netizens are somewhat overreacting, which is a good sign and a relief. It looks like some people can take a joke after all - or at least try to.

As for Rain, if he can befriend Colbert, it will do wonders to his popularity.

I agree Colbert doesn't hate Bi, but he did mock a little bit, not on Bi, he mocked mostly Americans, well, and English readers in general.

The way he emphasized over and over, "he sings in Korean, he sings in Korean", every American understand that he's saying:

"Time's readers, what are you thinking? Bi sings in Korean, and you even understand it to vote for him? Almost all of you know Korean now? Nah, all TRUE Times' readers, you don't even give a damn about the vote, and let Bi's fans do whatever to what used to be the world indicator of power. If America and the world turns into such a show, I can turns into a better singer than Bi"

That's the message, but given Koreans' sensitivity towards anything represent their nationality, and their unfamiliarity with the language and "American way of humor", certainly they ticked off.

And all this it's just sad, it only gets harder for Koreans in the US, they have enough after Virginia tech already, they don't need to be in more confusion about what Americans think of them.

Colbert should be more tactful next time, I think

i personally really enjoyed the parody it was amazing
the media is really over reacting by reading all things on the surface value instead of checking up the background of colbert's comedy!

it was a good laugh (:

the REAL stephen *is* present sometimes-geez! one could easily make the case that traces of his true self show up on a regular basis actually.

ok, i concede that, Liz -- although the "real" stephen's appearances are largely when he breaks character, so ostensibly he's not really supposed to be present.

Javabeans, i am i love with Rain, not only his performances, but his acting, but you explained everything with logic, so i am cool. But i am curious about the only thing you found: "mildly discomfiting was the reference as “Kid Jong Il"

Would you please explain that to me?
Thanks!!

Tuttie, "Kid Jong Il" >> Kim Jong Il

I seriously don't believe there's any intention to compare Rain to Kim Jong Il -- it was a silly pun that I didn't find particularly funny.

this was all well said *applause*
I have seen the video and I must say that I was really amused~ altho when I watched the video and heard Kid Jong Il, Hyundai and Kimchee~ I know there were going to be violent reactions, I knew it.
Well, I guess they have just to be openminded and not be so defensive and accept what satire really is~ true satire is cutting and brilliant but satire can also be too frank and edgy and over the top, but satire is satire its never meant to offend but then it cant help to offend ^^

I'm Korean and I found the Steven Colbert parody of Rain hilarious.
Steven Colbert ROcks!!
All my friends also thought it was funny...
JYP Entertainment, Rain's management company, also stated that Steven Colbert's parody was not an attack.
It just shows that Bi's starting to be more well known...
He's worth making a parody out of.
FUN.

Just a note -- I've edited the post (at the bottom) to add that Rain doesn't personally seem to take offense. If anyone has a link to his direct statement, though, I'd love to read what it says!

I tink pple should really take it with a pinch of salt.. Just laff it off like any joke.. its good publicity, now more pple in the US will sit up n know abt Rain. At least he is famous enuff to get onto the show.

JYP prob laffing it off as a joke too. I m a big fan of Rain but i still laff it off as a joke. If the media n fans are gg to be so uptight abt this, then Rain breaking into the US market will b harder than wat wat it is now..

Thanks Sarah for this..

As for the "Kid Jong Il" thing -- I don't find it particularly funny, either, but I assumed it was meant as a parody of the equally-unfunny racist remarks many pundits make.

KT, you're surely entitled to your opinion and that's fine. But the articles I posted ARE on the negative side, so I have to respond to your contention that I'm misreporting that. Aside from SBS (which I stated was more balanced), they all used words like "attack," "ridicule," "insult," "jealousy." I think the current sentiment, now that the initial furor has died down, is much less violent than it was when some of the articles were first written. I'm just saying that these reactions were there. And after the initial wave of reporting, I see there have been some additional comments from Korean fans who understand the situation better and are saying that it's just a joke. I think it's mostly blown over now though I'm sure there are some people who are still upset.

I think you're overreacting a bit. ~_~;;
The news articles you posted, only like 1 or 2 of them said anything about it being an attack to Rain. The others were just stating the fact that he made the parody. I don't know.

I mean I'm not disagreeing with you about the Korean fans taking it overboard. But the whole Kid Jong Il thing was a bit harsh... ._. It's never funny to get compared to him. He's a crazy man. -___-;
But other than that, that section was funny. XD

I kind of don't like that fact how Korean fans are all stuck together. @_@ I'm a Korean fangirl but I'm not crazy, obsessed, I'mgoingtogostalkthem. I guess the views of American society and Korean society are just too different. -___-;

I laughed my ass off when I first saw it (and sent the YouTube link to all my friends, heh).

Aside from the nature of the show/character, the whole thing was so obviously tongue-in-cheek that I'm kinda surprised at the negative overreaction. I mean, come on. D'oh.

Hope it's true that Bi isn't bothered by it. He should be flattered. Free publicity, y'all.

Props for posting about it, javabeans. ^_^ I friggin heart Colbert.

I don't think Bi was annoyed nor irritated by it at all. In fact, I don't think he even has the time to bother about such things.

Anywayz, I also didn't expect the Korean Media to act all fussy about the matter. Maybe it's the language barrier. We know it's nothing to get all itched or irritated about, but the korean viewers or whatever could have been swayed by just looking at the report and not understand the jest within because of the language.

I saw the vid and I laughed my a*s out! It was soooo hilarious.. and as an avid follower of Rain for 3 years, I didn't feel the least annoyed or ticked off. And I agree it's good for Rain too.. to have been discussed and talked about in an American TV Program, he's gotta be SOMETHING other than just a normal person.

I'd just say..calm down Korea! (follows Sarah's call)

Tsuki, I'm not sure, but I think you may have confused what I said with Colbert? The part you just quoted isn't Colbert's words, they're my sentiments. If you want to view what Colbert said himself, you can click on the link to the video at the Colbert Nation site...

"You know what? I like Rain/Bi. He has a nice voice, he's a great dancer, and he's a hard worker. I don't particularly think he'll succeed in the US market but I wish him luck anyway." Even though I'm an avid fan of rain, I really don't think that it is anything wrong with what Colbert said, cuz he might be right. The US market is tough, and don't they have enough RnB/Hip Hoppers from before? We'll just hope the best for Rain anywz...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vg4Imx-3Wkc

Rains Promotion Clip for Atlanta on youTube

but thats what you call fandom. even the smallest critics can get them so defensive of other people, its no wonder that they would be so defensive when it comes to critics that are screamed to their face. Maybe its also the fact a huge portion of Rain's fans are koreans or asians that never live in an english speaking country to sense the heavy sarcasm. But I thought it was blatant sarcasm.

I'm never a Rain fan, maybe thats why I found it heaps funny. I thought the mocking was completely hillarious, and it really shows on the quality. the phrases sent me to laughing to no end.

I actually think that it is giving Rain publicity over in the US. By the looks of it, Stephen Colbert looks like a really famous person over there, and for him to be speaking about a Korean singer, i think its free publciity on Rain's side. I even have one of my classmate asking be 'how big was rain in HK?' after the stephen colbert episode. I dont know how he got to confuse hong kong and korean, but at least he's curious =P

thanks for writing an article about this btw =)

Yeah, actually I thought it was good publicity for Rain, by showing others what he does; by making it seem the other way around

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/opinon/2007/05/162_3247.html