Abstract

South Korean popular music, known colloquially as “K-pop,” began gaining popularity with international audiences in the 1990s, a part of hallyu, “the Korean Wave,” and has since become a global phenomenon. Fans are drawn to K-pop’s catchy music, blended lyrics, and wealth of audio-visual elements like carefully choreographed live performances and well-produced music videos. K-pop is considered an audio-visual genre, meant to engage with audiences optically as well as auditorily, and their music videos are no exception. Art history is a popular visual theme in these videos, appearing in set design and dressing, costumes, choreography, and in the centuries-old art form of the tableau vivant, or “living picture.” Popular Western artworks are frequently referenced, although there has been a shift in recent years towards incorporating more elements from traditional South Korean art and culture as well. While there has been scholarship surrounding the audio-visual elements of K-pop in general, this thesis focuses more specifically on the intersection of K-pop music videos and tableaux vivants. From boy group Stray Kids’ instantly-recognizable recreation of Michelangelo’s famous Creation of Adam in their music video “Back Door,” to girl group Red Velvet’s many references to Hieronymus Bosch’s The Garden of Earthly Delights in “Feel My Rhythm,” K-pop artists have utilized the tableau vivant in diverse ways, for different purposes. This paper explains how tableaux vivants are not only aesthetically-pleasing, but can also be narratively significant, helping viewers try to understand and interpret the sometimes straightforward, but often purposefully-ambiguous, visual storytelling in K-pop music videos.

Keywords

tableau vivant, tableaux vivants, K-pop, music videos, audio-visual art, Stray Kids, Red Velvet, YouTube

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