The Burst of Asian Art into the Modern World

By Nikita Sasi

It started off with movies, then Anime and now finally, K-pop.

Asia has taken over the world at a notably fast rate.

Surely, being the largest continent in the world, this shouldn’t be coming as a surprise, but Western culture has been in domination for far too long. Before, it was through literal domination, but now, it’s just a tad bit different; in the form of music, language and film.

Although Asia itself is a multitude of various cultures, from the Middle Eastern dances to the south Asian food, the picture that comes into a person’s mind when picturing Asia is usually of the eastern countries, such as China, Japan, or Korea.

One of the earliest Asian influences came in the form of martial art films. From the 70s to the 90s, English dubbed martial art movies were at their peak of fame. Their styles of fighting were unlike any other, and every scene had the viewers biting their nails in anticipation. With the likes of Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan, it was no wonder as to why their captivating action grabbed the world’s attention. Nowadays, Kung-Fu and Judo are shown in all types of movies, with films such as The Matrix and Kill Bill borrowing moves.

Japan is a pioneer in the impact made by Asia. Its intriguing comics and cartoons, called “Manga” and “Anime” respectively, burst into the world one after the other. “Naruto” was one of the very first anime put into the spotlight. Every child was glued to their television screens, watching with expecting eyes as intense battles were fought and friendships were made onscreen. It introduced everyone to the spectacle, and it only went up from there. Hundreds of thousands of choices became available, with Anime and Manga appearing in almost all genres. Although the popularity of anime has had a small decline internationally, it still has millions of faithful fans around the world (including this writer, right here).

The 21st century saw what is perhaps the most influential Asian phenomenon till date; Hallyu, or as it is more commonly known, the Korean Wave. South Korea was shot into popularity as its music and dramas began taking over countries through the internet. Although it was seeing a steady increase, it was not until 2012 that K-pop saw its potential; the video of Psy’s “Gangnam Style” gathered 1 billion views within just six months and was the most viewed video on YouTube for five years. Thus started the full power of the Korean Wave, with artists and groups such as EXO, BTS and Girls’ Generation capturing hearts left and right.

While there are many more modern Asian art forms influencing the world, such as India’s Bollywood movies and the Arab World’s dances, the big three described above have surely changed the way Asia is viewed. Their popularity shows no sign of declining and Asia’s influence will surely only increase.