총 40페이지

CultureInsight 17
SunMoonUniversity,“Theiconwhichispopularthesedaysis
acharacterwhowantstobeacreativesuccessandgainanew
and exciting life. Features such as these appeal to the masses,
and naturally, people want to be like them. That is why the
marketingfieldusesthemascommercialmodels.”
OurAttitudesTowardCulturalIcons
However, there are not just positive factors a cultural icon
conveys to the public. Look at Hu-gak, who is a winner of
“Superstar K,” a program in which contestants audition and
then are judged by the viewers. He had a hard time in life
because he had to have lived separately with his mother since
▲Park Tae-hwan, also known as marine boy, has now become a role model for
Koreanchildren.
he was three years old and quit middle school because of the
hardships of his life. He stands for justice of society because
playgolfatherlevel.AfterKimYu-nabecamefamous,people
ofhisowneffort.Hedeliversthemessagethatwecanachieve
wantedtheirchildrentobelikeher.
anything if we do our best. Indeed, some politicians refer to
An icon represents something that we can easily identify
Hu-gakwhentheyaddressthepublic.Theytrytoidentifywith
ourselves with by association. There are qualities and virtues
citizens by talking about Hu-gak. In doing this, politicians
that an icon has and we should learn about these before we
are abusing Hu-gak, exploiting his image by identifying with
invest ourselves too much in them, because if we just follow
him.Iftheyabusethepublicbyexploitinghisimage,theywill
our icons rashly, it usually results in our failure. Thus, we
probably not only hurt themselves but also him. Through his
should resist having decisive and ultimate opinions about our
image,though,theycouldriseupabovethemselvesusingHu-
icons. Consider the iPhone. Most people who buy an Apple
gaktogenuinelyimprovewhotheyare.Thisworksforothers
iPhonedosobecausetheythinkithashighquality,andifthey
besidespoliticians.
buy it, they will have high quality. Remember, though, that
Korea University made a distorted advertisement when Kim
many people who bought an iPhone last year suffered from
Yu-na entered their university. Its advertisement suggested
poor service in spite of the premium prices they paid for the
that Kim Yu-na became a world-class sports star because she
privilege of owning an iPhone. So we must be sensible in our
studiedathere.Throughdistortedadslikethis,weseehowthe
thinkingaboutanyicon.
images of the icons can become exploited and corrupted, and
Icons, we must remember, are manipulated through
how businesses, politicians, and even schools and universities
broadcasting. If they appear many times, regardless of their
mightuseandabusethepowerofanicon.
original image, their qualities and virtues can be changed
As an icon gains in popularity, people can be led easily to
withoutusnoticingit.
distort their values around the icon. According to Professor
According to Park Chi-wan, professor of the Department of
Lee, “Naturally, Hu-gak has a positive effect as he makes
Global Cultural Contents at Hankuk University of Foreign
a fortune by his own efforts. However, those who promote
Studies,weareattractedtothebeautyorhandsomenessofan
his way as the only road to success could discourage a lot of
icon. Among people whose image can be used to influence
peoplefromtryingwhattheythinkwouldworkforthem.Ifwe
society, good looks ranks highest. If the icons are affected
look only at who is in first place or at who is promoted to be
by this phenomena, we cannot ignore the fact that their pure
infirstplace,thenwemightregardthepersoninsecondplace
imageandcharacteraredamaged.
as a failure considering the recent sad events at KAIST. We
shouldnottake‘notgettingfirstplace’as‘afailure.’
Mostresearchersagreethatinthefuture,iconswillfunction
If people take the icon as their role model recklessly, it will
for society much as they do now. We have learned that icons
bedestructiveofthemselves,andsociety.Ofcourse,ifwewant
not only have positive but also negative factors going for
to follow good role models, then society can become better.
them,andwecanbesurethatthisisnotgoingtochange.Itis
However,havingnothoughtofthemselves,peoplearewilling
important, then, that we learn how icons affect us so we can
tofollowanythingandanybody.Forexample,ifagolfersuch
liveeffectivelywiththem.
as Park Se-ri gets the spotlight, parents want their children to
201000578@hufs.ac.kr
JUNE 2011

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