Tuesday, June 17, 2008

"Rain" and Stephen Colbert

I know a while ago we discussed the appearance of Rain on the Colbert Report and the reaction it got from North Koreans. I found this article
from the Korea Times trying to explain to the North Korean people why they should not be offended by Rain's appearance on the show, but think of it as a good thing. When reading the article it is interesting to hear how much the author goes into detail in describing Mr. Colbert and what it is about his humor that is intriguing but unoffensive. It strikes me as one more way we can see the way North Korean society is closed off from the rest of the world. Additionally, the author tries to insist that it is a good thing that Rain- who I'm positive most Americans had no idea existed (I certainly didn't) - was being featured on a popular American television program. He doesn't explicitly say this, but by having rain on the show it could open Americans eyes to North Korea not just as apart of the axis of evil, or the face of madman Kim Jong-il, but in a more humanistic view. Yes North Koreans have pop stars just like us, and their music is just as ridiculous as ours.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

North Korea? Ehm... Rain is South Korean...

Anonymous said...

Erm...., Rain (Bi) is a South Korean...