IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/pal/pbapdi/v18y2022i2d10.1057_s41254-020-00192-1.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Film as cultural diplomacy: South Korea’s nation branding through Parasite (2019)

Author

Listed:
  • Seow Ting Lee

    (University of Colorado at Boulder)

Abstract

This study examines the nation branding of South Korea through the Oscar-winning film Parasite (2019) to understand the South Korean government’s approach toward cultural diplomacy, and its outcomes. Despite growing depoliticalization and decentralization, South Korea’s cultural diplomacy policy remains unilateral in embracing Parasite’s success for nation branding while drawing on expanding private-sector resources to produce and market the film. To explicate South Korea’s nation brand vis-à-vis Parasite, a Leximancer analysis of 8808 texts investigated concepts that are associated with the film as a complex bundle of images, meanings, associations, and experiences in the minds of international audiences. The texts associate Parasite with the national entity of South Korea and the country’s most significant cultural content export, the Korean Wave. Sentiment analyses through Leximancer also show positive attitudes, thus helping to reinforce the nation branding of Parasite and its successes as a tangible South Korean national resource, consistent with a soft power approach.

Suggested Citation

  • Seow Ting Lee, 2022. "Film as cultural diplomacy: South Korea’s nation branding through Parasite (2019)," Place Branding and Public Diplomacy, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 18(2), pages 93-104, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:pbapdi:v:18:y:2022:i:2:d:10.1057_s41254-020-00192-1
    DOI: 10.1057/s41254-020-00192-1
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1057/s41254-020-00192-1
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1057/s41254-020-00192-1?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Nye, Joseph S., 2008. "Public Diplomacy and Soft Power," Scholarly Articles 11738397, Harvard Kennedy School of Government.
    2. Nicholas J. Cull, 2008. "Public Diplomacy: Taxonomies and Histories," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 616(1), pages 31-54, March.
    3. Joseph S. Nye Jr., 2008. "Public Diplomacy and Soft Power," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 616(1), pages 94-109, March.
    4. Hun Shik Kim, 2018. "When public diplomacy faces trade barriers and diplomatic frictions: the case of the Korean Wave," Place Branding and Public Diplomacy, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 14(4), pages 234-244, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Xiaotian Gao & Hamedi Mohd Adnan & Changsong Wang, 2024. "The Spectrum of Han: Cultural Psychology in Korean National Cinema," Studies in Media and Communication, Redfame publishing, vol. 12(1), pages 268-276, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Yoav Dubinsky, 2023. "Country image, cultural diplomacy, and sports during the COVID19 pandemic: Brand America and Super Bowl LV," Place Branding and Public Diplomacy, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 19(3), pages 249-265, September.
    2. Steven L. Pike, 2023. "What diplomats do: US citizen perspectives on the work of public diplomacy," Place Branding and Public Diplomacy, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 19(4), pages 442-455, December.
    3. Yoav Dubinsky, 2023. "Sports, Brand America and U.S. public diplomacy during the presidency of Donald Trump," Place Branding and Public Diplomacy, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 19(1), pages 167-180, March.
    4. Steven L. Pike & Dennis F. Kinsey, 2024. "Diplomatic identity and communication: using Q methodology to assess subjective perceptions of diplomatic practitioners," Place Branding and Public Diplomacy, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 20(1), pages 66-75, March.
    5. Hendrik W. Ohnesorge, 2022. "The method of comparative-historical analysis: a tailor-made approach to public diplomacy research," Place Branding and Public Diplomacy, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 18(3), pages 261-271, September.
    6. Andrea Pavón-Guinea & Mónica Codina, 2024. "Public diplomacy: a framework-based literature review and decentering research agenda," Place Branding and Public Diplomacy, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 20(3), pages 255-274, September.
    7. B. Theo Mazumdar, 2024. "Digital diplomacy: Internet-based public diplomacy activities or novel forms of public engagement?," Place Branding and Public Diplomacy, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 20(1), pages 24-43, March.
    8. Matthew T. Palmer & Eugene Bempong Nyantakyi & Jami A. Fullerton, 2023. "The US Peace Corps as a public diplomacy strategy," Place Branding and Public Diplomacy, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 19(1), pages 15-29, March.
    9. Lesego Alicia Keimetswe, 2023. "The impact of the Chinese Government Scholarship Program and Confucius Institute on China’s national image in Botswana: a soft power perspective," Place Branding and Public Diplomacy, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 19(4), pages 488-499, December.
    10. Nyam Elisha Yakubu, 2022. "An Appraisal of Hard Power in Contemporary Practice of Diplomacy," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 6(02), pages 342-351, February.
    11. Raquel Quevedo-Redondo & Marta Rebolledo & Nuria Navarro-Sierra, 2023. "Music as Soft Power: The Electoral Use of Spotify," Media and Communication, Cogitatio Press, vol. 11(2), pages 241-254.
    12. Yazeed Abdullah Almahraj, 2023. "British press coverage of international sports events hosted by Saudi Arabia: content analysis study in light of country concept model," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-9, December.
    13. SunHa Yeo & Hyelim Lee & Alex Eschbach, 2024. "Measuring soft power via positive spontaneous actions of foreign publics: The harder power of voluntary experience, voluntary megaphoning, and general interest," Place Branding and Public Diplomacy, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 20(2), pages 130-141, June.
    14. Mihails Potapovs, 2024. "Place branding: is it public policy, or isn’t it?," Place Branding and Public Diplomacy, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 20(3), pages 275-292, September.
    15. Seow Ting Lee & Hun Shik Kim, 2021. "Nation branding in the COVID-19 era: South Korea’s pandemic public diplomacy," Place Branding and Public Diplomacy, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 17(4), pages 382-396, December.
    16. Lucie Lu & Miles Williams, 2025. "Attention Versus Handshakes: Pathways of Influence in China's Foreign Aid and Loans," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 37(3), pages 655-674, April.
    17. Iván Goldman, 2024. "North Korea’s ‘New DPRK’ YouTube channel: new public diplomacy attempt or international propaganda? A case study," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-9, December.
    18. Nisha Garud-Patkar, 2022. "Mediated Public Diplomacy: Frame-building Contest Between the United States and Pakistan During a Conflict," International Studies, , vol. 59(1), pages 58-75, January.
    19. Nadia Kaneva & Cecilia Cassinger, 2022. "Centering gender in public diplomacy and nation branding: an invitation to reimagine the future of the field," Place Branding and Public Diplomacy, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 18(4), pages 305-313, December.
    20. Jacklyne Achieng' Aput & Anita Ndoti Kiamba & Peter Kagwanja, 2023. "Public Diplomacy in Regional Integration: Strategizing Policy Goals," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 7(10), pages 368-384, October.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:pal:pbapdi:v:18:y:2022:i:2:d:10.1057_s41254-020-00192-1. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.palgrave.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.