@article{ART003310511},
author={Lee, Hyun Joong},
title={Deterritorialization of ‘Korean-style’ and the Transition to a Global Genre: Expanded Hybridity of K-Cinema in K-Pop: Demon Hunters},
journal={Journal of Popular Narrative},
issn={1738-3188},
year={2026},
volume={32},
number={1},
pages={433-463},
doi={10.18856/jpn.2026.32.1.012}
TY - JOUR
AU - Lee, Hyun Joong
TI - Deterritorialization of ‘Korean-style’ and the Transition to a Global Genre: Expanded Hybridity of K-Cinema in K-Pop: Demon Hunters
JO - Journal of Popular Narrative
PY - 2026
VL - 32
IS - 1
PB - The Association of Popular Narrative
SP - 433
EP - 463
SN - 1738-3188
AB - This study aims to trace the semantic shift of the term "Korean-style" (Hanguk-hyeong), which emerged in the late 1990s, and to define the current status of "K-Cinema" as a transnational cinema. In the discourse of "Korean-style blockbusters" of the past, the term "Korean-style" served as a defensive mechanism and a localization strategy against the overwhelming "Other" represented by Hollywood. However, in the era of digital platforms, K-Cinema has expanded its meaning to become a mainstream genre and brand within the global cultural industry.
To verify this shift concretely, this study focuses on analyzing the Sony Pictures Animation film, K-Pop: Demon Hunters. This work, for which a major Hollywood studio selected K-Pop as a core subject from the planning stage, demonstrates that Korean culture has moved beyond post-colonial mimicry to be actively appropriated by the mainstream system at the level of production. Internally, the text creates a unique hybridity by combining the performative aesthetics of K-Pop with the grammar of the Hollywood action genre.
Theoretically, this film is interpreted as a text that subverts the hierarchy of Orientalism criticized by Edward Said and autonomously forms the "Third Space" proposed by Homi K. Bhabha. Here, Korean culture operates not merely as an exotic spectacle but as a core rule supporting the narrative world. In conclusion, this study argues that K-Cinema is evolving from a national cinema limited by physical borders into a transnational platform and methodology where global capital and human resources combine through the medium of Korean codes.
KW - K-Cinema;Transnational Cinema;Korean-style Blockbuster;Korean-style Genre Films;Hybridity;K-Pop: Demon Hunters;The Third Space
DO - 10.18856/jpn.2026.32.1.012
ER -
Lee, Hyun Joong. (2026). Deterritorialization of ‘Korean-style’ and the Transition to a Global Genre: Expanded Hybridity of K-Cinema in K-Pop: Demon Hunters. Journal of Popular Narrative, 32(1), 433-463.
Lee, Hyun Joong. 2026, "Deterritorialization of ‘Korean-style’ and the Transition to a Global Genre: Expanded Hybridity of K-Cinema in K-Pop: Demon Hunters", Journal of Popular Narrative, vol.32, no.1 pp.433-463. Available from: doi:10.18856/jpn.2026.32.1.012
Lee, Hyun Joong "Deterritorialization of ‘Korean-style’ and the Transition to a Global Genre: Expanded Hybridity of K-Cinema in K-Pop: Demon Hunters" Journal of Popular Narrative 32.1 pp.433-463 (2026) : 433.
Lee, Hyun Joong. Deterritorialization of ‘Korean-style’ and the Transition to a Global Genre: Expanded Hybridity of K-Cinema in K-Pop: Demon Hunters. 2026; 32(1), 433-463. Available from: doi:10.18856/jpn.2026.32.1.012
Lee, Hyun Joong. "Deterritorialization of ‘Korean-style’ and the Transition to a Global Genre: Expanded Hybridity of K-Cinema in K-Pop: Demon Hunters" Journal of Popular Narrative 32, no.1 (2026) : 433-463.doi: 10.18856/jpn.2026.32.1.012
Lee, Hyun Joong. Deterritorialization of ‘Korean-style’ and the Transition to a Global Genre: Expanded Hybridity of K-Cinema in K-Pop: Demon Hunters. Journal of Popular Narrative, 32(1), 433-463. doi: 10.18856/jpn.2026.32.1.012
Lee, Hyun Joong. Deterritorialization of ‘Korean-style’ and the Transition to a Global Genre: Expanded Hybridity of K-Cinema in K-Pop: Demon Hunters. Journal of Popular Narrative. 2026; 32(1) 433-463. doi: 10.18856/jpn.2026.32.1.012
Lee, Hyun Joong. Deterritorialization of ‘Korean-style’ and the Transition to a Global Genre: Expanded Hybridity of K-Cinema in K-Pop: Demon Hunters. 2026; 32(1), 433-463. Available from: doi:10.18856/jpn.2026.32.1.012
Lee, Hyun Joong. "Deterritorialization of ‘Korean-style’ and the Transition to a Global Genre: Expanded Hybridity of K-Cinema in K-Pop: Demon Hunters" Journal of Popular Narrative 32, no.1 (2026) : 433-463.doi: 10.18856/jpn.2026.32.1.012
