Communication and International Relations

More than 10,000 people gathered in a concert hall in Paris in the summer of 2011. The show, called SM Town Live, began, and the singers who come up to the stage were f(x), a Korean girl group. In the middle of Europe, one of the biggest entertainment companies in Korea, SM, held a live concert with all their singers for the fans in Europe.

The huge success of SM Town Live in Paris may sound a bit strange; usually, in this globalized world, American or British singers get fame internationally. Western culture dominated the world in the beginning of the globalization era. However, today’s era is more like a global culture where people are tied together. European teenagers listened to Korean music on the Internet and began to accept and love Korean culture. And finally, when their favorite singers came to Europe, they were very enthusiastic at the concert. The new media system, the Internet, influences social relationships and helps people to easily exchange their own culture. If European people did not have an easy way to learn about K-Pop, or Korean pop music, the concert would not be successful. The concert perfectly illustrates how people share and build a global culture through media.