Author Archives: seunggih@usc.edu

Gang-gang-sul-lae

Nationality: South Korean
Age: 53
Occupation: Doctor
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: March 27th, 2018
Primary Language: Korean
Language: English, Mandarin

Story 

Gang-gang-sul-lae is a Korean folk dance that is exclusively performed by women of the community. It is also known as Ganggangsuwollae (강강수월래 in Hangeul/ 强羌水越來 in Hanja, which are Traditional Chinese Characters. It is a traditional dance where group of women hold hands in a circle, spinning around and singing. 

My mother, who I collected this data from said: “When I learned the history of Gang-gang-sul-lae in elementary school, I was told that admiral Yi Sun-sin (이순신) , during the Japanese invasion of Korea in the 16th Century, devised a plan to dress all the women into men’s clothing and dance around in circles. Then the Japanese soliders thought that admiral Yi had a big army and retreated in intimidation.”

Context

I remember first seeing Gang-gang-sul-lae in the field of my public school when celebrating Chuseok (추석/ Mid-Autumn Festival). It was during 2005, which was the same year when I started attending elementary school. I remember my mother and I dressing up in Hanbok (한복/ Traditional Korean Attire) and having a valuable cultural experience provided by the local community. This traditional dance has significance to my mother and many other Korean women as they have partaken in Gang-gang-sul-lae themselves. Because my mother now resides in Los Angeles and has not performed the Gang-gang-sul-lae for over a decade, singing and spinning around the living room while holding her son’s hand apparently brought back a “joyous memory”. 

Analysis

Despite being well known through its role it allegedly served in the 1592-1598 Japanese invasions of Korea, Gang-gang-sul-lae’s role in modern day society serves as a symbol of Korean culture and ‘heritage’. It is rare to see youth to play though performing the dance, it can always be seen at cultural events, which are especially prevalent during traditional holidays such as the first full moon of the lunar calendar and the mid-autumn festival.

Bigfoot in the Videogame in GTA: San Andreas

Nationality: South Korean
Age: 22
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: April 2nd, 2018
Primary Language: English
Language: Korean, Mandarin

Story

 

“How can you not know of the Bigfoot myth? I thought GTA: San Andreas was your favorite game growing up? Anyways, the Bigfoot in the game is exactly like the Bigfoot legend in real life. There were rumors that there was Bigfoot in the forest of the game and I remember finding out about it because my friend Jordan told me that he was attacked by one and had to restart a mission.”

 

Context

 

I collected this from my older brother, who has been an avid gamer with me since as long as I can remember. When we went abroad to Vancouver, Canada, to study English, we soon found out that GTA: San Andreas was very popular amongst our peers, despite us all being elementary school children and GTA San Andreas being rated as ‘Mature’ due to blood and gore, intense violence, strong language, strong sexual content and use of drugs.

The bigfoot myth has significant to my brother because he says that GTA: San Andreas was a constant topic amongst his friends and they would conduct their own searches for bigfoot within the game when having sleepovers at each other’s houses.

 

Analysis

 

To this day, despite there being searches conducted by thousands of people on the internet, no one has yet to have proven the existence of bigfoot on GTA: San Andreas, just like how nobody has yet to have presented concrete evidence supporting the existence of bigfoot in real life. Although the origin of the rumor cannot be identified, it is interesting to see how real life urban legends can translate into a video game community.

Although the Bigfoot of GTA: San Andreas is not a myth as it does not ponder the before and after of our world, its truth value seems sacred as the bigfoot myth lead to a formation of a community that searches for myths of GTA: San Andreas and tries to confirm them. The GTA myths wiki is available at http://gta-myths.wikia.com/. Despite the game being released in 2004, the excitement around Bigfoot in the game is still alive, as on Youtube, there are people attempting to find Bigfoot or playing with a modified game, still embracing the gaming legend to this day.

 

 

Catching Mew in Pokémon Red and Blue

Nationality: South Korean
Age: 22
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: April 2nd 2018
Primary Language: English
Language: Korean Mandarin

Story

 

“Dude this just went viral again yesterday on Twitter. Catching Mew under a tuck in Pokémon Red and Blue was a rumor that was circulating before we were even born. People thought that a Mew was hiding under a truck and they thought they could move it and catch it. Turns out there is no mew under the truck but the game was bugged so you could abuse them to catch mew elsewhere. Anyways, there was a update on Pokémon Go and now you can catch Mew in it but people are finding it in real life under trucks man haha.”

 

Context

 

I acquired this data from my older brother, who is a competitive Pokémon Video Game Championships (VGC) player that avidly travels to local and regional events, as well as qualifying and attending the 2017 Worlds Championships.

My brother heard of this story while chatting over his friends that play VGC on twitter. Twitter is the main social platform these players utilize to communicate with each other. The saw the tweet of the Mew under the truck and they all laughed about how they truly belived it as a child.

Mew is a legendary Pokémon that was not meant to be acquirable in the Pokémon Red and Blue. However, game developers later said that there was a gltich that could be abused in the game that allowed players to catch Mew.

Pokémon Go is a smartphone game that allows users to catch Pokémon in real life. The camera shows the surrounding areas as is, but Pokémon can be found when seen through the screen. As players started to find the legendary Pokémon Mew under trucks, just like the rumor they believed in years ago, they shared their experience on social media, which went viral.

 

Analysis

 

Catching Mew in Pokémon Red and Blue is a gaming legend. This is because of alleged stories that people hear of players catching the supposedly impossible to catch Pokémon in a very real and accessible place within the game.

 

Neko Funjatta (ねこふんじゃった)

Nationality: Japanese
Age: 22
Occupation: Student
Residence: Massachusetts, Boston
Performance Date: March 29th, 2018
Primary Language: English
Language: Japanese, Mandarin

Song

Neko Funjatta is a Japanese children’s song about stepping on a cat.

 

Line Original Script Phonetic Script Translation
1 ねこふんじゃった　ねこふんじゃった Neko funjatta neko funjatta I stepped on a cat, I stepped on a cat

 
2 ねこふんづけちゃったら　ひっかいた Neko funzukechattara hikkaita I stepped on a cat and it scratched me

 
3 ねこひっかいた　ねこひっかいた Neko hikkaita neko hikkaita It scratched me, it scratched me

 
4 ねこびっくりして　ひっかいた Neko bikkurishite hikkaita

 

 Cat was shocked and it scratched me

 

 

Context

 

I collected this from my Japanese friend that I befriended during my times studying abroad in Shanghai, China. She learned of Nekko Funjatta while learning the piano from her mother during her childhood. It is significant to her because as an avid piano player to this day, it is one of the first pieces of music that she could play and sing along.

 

Analysis

 

The Nekko Funjatta is sung over the tune of Der Flohwalzer (Flea Waltz). Unlike the German version however, the Japanese version has lyrics. Although the tune is renown over the world, in Japan, people know of Nekko Funjatta over Flea Waltz because the lyrics of the song is valued as somewhat of a tradition. One of the first pieces that children will perform to their parents is this song due to its easy to recognize and play tune as well as its playful and repetitive lyrics. This is how, through adding a verbal aspect to the song, the Japanese elevated the already renowned tune into a cultural song of their own.

 

 

Annotate

 

Other examples similar to Nekko Funjatta are Der Flohwalzer (Flea Waltz) in Germany and Kissanpolkka (Cat’s Polka) in Finland

 

Heung-bu and Nol-bu (흥부와 놀부)

Nationality: South Korean
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Residence: Shanghai, CHina
Performance Date: March 29th, 2018
Primary Language: English
Language: Korean, Mandarin

Story

 

“Okay so Heung-bu and Nol-bu are brothers and Nol-bu is the older one and Heung-bu is the younger one. Heung-bu is poor but generous and kind while Nol-bu is greedy even when he is rich. One day, Heung-bu saves a swallow from being attacked by a snake. The swallow falls from its nest during the attack and breaks its leg. Heung-bu, being the kind guy, treats its legs to help it heal. Once its leg healed, the swallow flys away.

Later, when it became spring, the swallow came back and returned with the… y’know… the 박 (bak/ gourd) seeds. Heung-bu planted the seeds and later when the gourds grew, his family split them open only to find it filled to the brim with gold. He sold them for cash and became super rich. He bought himself and his family a house to live in with the money.

Nol-bu heard that Heung-bu got rich and asked him how he got rich. When Heung-bu told the story about the bird, Nol-bu went and broke a swallow’s leg himself. Next spring, the swallow came back with a gourd seed. Nol-bu planted and when he opened the gourds after they grew, muddy water came out flooding his house and debt collectors came and he became broke. They then went to Heung-bu to apologize to him for treating him bad for being poor. Heung-bu forgave them and they lived together that’s it.”

 

Context

 

I collected this from my high school friend who lives in Shanghai, China. Despite living abroad, I was amazed when I went over to his house because his bookshelf was filled with Korean children’s folktales. He stated in the interview that because he moved abroad to Shanghai at a young age of three, his parents feared that he would lose to ability to speak Korean or not be able to identify renowned traditional stories. So his father made sure to always buy books when he traveled back to Korea for business and carry them back in suitcases. Because he is the youngest child from both the maternal and paternal side of the family, he states that he has no younger cousins to give the books to so he plans to make sure his children read the same books as he did.

Heung-bu and Nol-bu is significant to my friend because it was a book that he saw at Korean weekend schools (hosted on Saturdays) that he did not own at his house so he remembers specifically asking his dad to buy it for him on his next trip back to South Korea.

Additional context of the story that was missed out by my informant was a minute story detail of Heung-bu going to Nol-bu’s house in an attempt to get some food to feed for his children. Nol-bu’s wife declines the begging Heung-bu by slapping him with a 주걱 (Joo-guk/ Rice Spatula) that she was using to cook rice. Some of the cooked rice that was on the spatula got stuck onto Heung-bu’s cheek and Heung-bu proceeded to go home and feed those rice grains to his starving wife and children. Heung-bu was obviously humiliated by Nol-bu’s wife’s violence, but he still is trying to provide for his folks.

 

Analysis

 

Heung-bu and Nol-bu has a moral: if you are a kind and giving person, good things will happen. However, if you act greedy and selfish, bad things will happen. Traditional folk tales such as this subconsciously instill moral values to the children reading it to act kind and caring for others. This is more effective than being told to act kinder as the readers see an example, although fictional, of somebody being recognized and rewarded for acts of good.