Neoliberal feminism in contemporary South Korean popular music: discourse of resilience, politics of positive psychology, and female subjectivity

Abstract

This paper examines how South Korean popular music (K-pop) promotes neoliberal feminism by a discourse of resilience. In a therapeutic narrative of overcoming obstacles and achieving goals, K-pop videos deliver a hegemonic message that individuals have to be responsible for their success and well-being rather than blaming external, institutional conditions. While ostensibly promoting female empowerment, the videos update and reinforce patriarchal gender norms and expectations. To substantiate this point, I analyze music videos of the most successful K-pop group, Girls’ Generation’s “Into the New World” (2007) and “All Night” (2017) to investigate how they promote resilience discourse along with neoliberal positive psychology as a hegemonic ideal of female subjectivity