Overall, Mukbang has helped a lot of people avoid being unemployment by making mukbang broadcasters become a job and be able to earn income from it. It also brings happiness by helping others not to feel lonely when having their meal alone. And last but not least, it has encouraged people to remember using their meals on time and say no to meals skipping. However, its advantages only benefits for the short run only, but for the long run, young people will tend to separate themselves from the real world and limit their communication with others, not to mention about the saturation of the job when too many people want to become a mukbang broadcasters, it will be a tough competition in order to gain attraction from the viewers.
REFERENCES
Adora, W 2016, "5 questions with youtube mukbang star BenDeen", Cleo.com.sg, viewed 11th May 2018, <http://www.cleo.com.sg/entertain-me/food/youtube-mukbang-star-bendeen/>
AllKpop 2016, "Mukbang Star reveals his secret to maintaining a perfectly sculpted body", Allkpop.com, viewed 10th May 2018, <https://www.allkpop.com/buzz/2016/02/mukbang-star-reveals-his-secret-to-maintaining-a-perfectly-sculpted-body>
Ambore, D 2015, "Dateline: Kimchi Crazy", SBS.
Coleman, J 2016, "Is “Social Eating” Appetizing?", Grocer, vol.239, no.8264, p.20.
Euny, H 2016, "Why some Koreans make $10000 a month to eat on camera", QZ.com, viewed 12th May 2018, <https://qz.com/592710/why-some-koreans-make-10000-a-month-to-eat-on-camera/>
Great Big Story 2017, "Mukbang with Millions: Inside the World of Livestream Eating", Greatbigstory.com, viewed 13th May 2018, <https://www.greatbigstory.com/stories/this-is-mukbang>
Joan, M 2014, "Let’s Eat drama creates appetizing dining trending among singles", Kdramastars.com, viewed 11th May 2018, <http://www.kdramastars.com/articles/15816/20140214/let-s-eat-drama-creates-appetizing-dining-trend-among-singles.htm>
John, Y 2016, "Top 10 Korean Youtubers, Seoulspace.com", viewed 10th May 2018, <http://seoulspace.com/2016/06/03/top-10-korean-youtubers/>
Katie, J 2018, "Inside 'mukbang': How some professional binge-eaters earn thousands", Today.com, viewed 10th May 2018, <https://www.today.com/food/what-mukbang-inside-viral-korean-food-phenomenon-t123251>
Oh, M & Larson, J 2011, "Digital Development in Korea: Building an Information Society", Routledge, Florence.
Rumy, D 2018, "Mukbang streamers embracing amplified sounds to create new stories", Koreaherald.com, viewed 11th May 2018, <http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20180403000592&ACE_SEARCH=1>
Sara, M 2014, "South Korean woman known as The Diva make £5,600 a month streaming herself eating online for three hours a day", Dailymail.co.uk, viewed 10th May 2018, <http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2547254/South-Korean-woman-known-The-Diva-makes-9-400-month-streaming-eating-online-three-hours-day-manages-stay-chopstick-thin.html>
Stephen, E 2015, "The Koreans who televise themselves eating dinner", BBC.com, viewed 12th May 2018, <http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-31130947>
Explaining why mukbang is becoming a hot trend in Korea these years, a survey conducted by Dateline pointed out that the trend is not only a new way of making money, but also reflects a dangerous syndrome – the loneliness of the Korean youth (Ambrose, D 2015). Korean people don’t like to eat alone. When coming to a restaurant, they would rather go with their friends. If they don’t have any, they will eat at home (Coleman, J 2016). BJ Park Seo Yeon interviewed with Daily Mail UK saying that: “Young Koreans lives are not as fancy as what people see from Korean dramas. The viewers of these broadcasting are usually people, who don’t want to eat alone, or feeling lonely and some of them are having trouble when they don’t feel delicious while eating”. Jeff Yang – a famous cultural critic and vice president of the global research company “The Future Company” explained that due to the economic recession and rising unemployment have led many South Koreans to live, cook and eat alone. Furthermore, the syndrome happens with people who are till single or hasn’t married yet (Euny, H 2016).
Mukbang has shown bad sides in most of Korean lives. The fast pace of economic growth has led a lot of Koreans to suffer loneliness. Over working hour prevented the youth from hanging out with their friends and having rich life’s activities. Pressure from work, study, finance have made young Koreans narrowed themselves gradually from the life outside. Loneliness has driven them to go backward to normal traditional lifestyles (Oh, M & Larson, J 2011).
Mukbang broadcasting not only help the viewers to feel less lonely but also healing the own BJ. BJ Kim Sung Jin started eating and livestream in front of the camera since he was 11. Due to the working situation, his parents are always working far from home. The boy stated that livestream while he is using his meal is a method that he could use to get over his loneliness. The boy also mentioned that by livestream his eating everyday has helped him to eat more moderate and remember to use eat on time (Rumy, D 2018).
Mukbang popularity has inspired many Korean producers to bring “Eating Broadcasting” concept into movies and shows. “Let’s Eat” is a popular Korean movie about food. In the movie, the actors are gathered together by the love of food that they all shared. The movie focused on filming the appearance of the food and the eating way of the actor. Each episode will have its own theme and the food that is suitable for the theme. New restaurants and different type of foods will be revealed through every episode. After each episode, the restaurant that has been used to film became a hot topic and everybody all went there to try the food that the actors ate (Joan, M 2014). Furthermore, the popular variety show in Korea - Happy Together has established a whole new section in their variety program by adding a cooking section for the guest (John, Y 2016).
The Reason Why Mukbang Went Viral
Mukbang broadcasters usually have to eat a big amount of food which considered suitable for a 3-people family meal. And the way the broadcasters eat can also affect the numbers of viewers and subscribers that they have. The broadcasters can’t eat humble or slowly, their motions need to be strong and the eating speed has to be above average speed, also, their mouth has to chewed the food the way that can stimulate the appetite of the viewers (Great Big Story, 2017). It is when they can be considered as a successful mukbang broadcasters.
Youtube famous channel about Mukbang BenDeen have pointed out that a table full of food will easily attracted the viewers than the table that only have food just enough for one person to eat (Adora, W 2016). And one more special detail about the mukbang broadcasters in Korea is that even though they have to eat a lot of dishes at a time, but their body shape is still skinny and fit. It is because mukbang broadcasters only eat one meal on the day they film mukbang, for the rest of the day, they don’t eat anything or some will rapidly run to the gym after filming their mukbang (AllKpop 2016).
Mukbang is a new trend in Korea, and Mukbang broadcasters can earn up to $4,000 just for one week. Through AfreecaTV, if a mukbang broadcasters sign up as a Broadcast Jockey (BJ), the interaction between them and the viewers can help these broadcasters to earn up to $20,000 a month depends on how big and popular their channel is. For Youtube, mukbang broadcasters whom all video clips surpassed 50,000 views can receive up to $55,000 a year when brands found out about their channel and decide to advertise on the clip (Katie, J 2018). Up until now, more than 5000 Koreans have their main job as a mukbang broadcaster.
MUKBANG
DO NGUYEN NAM PHUONG
The word Muk-Bang started to appear in South Korea in 2010. The word is a combination between muk-ja (eating) and bang-song (broadcasting).
Mukbang is a form of audio-visual which is broadcasted online where the host will eat a large quantity of food in front of their web-cam set up and interacting with the viewers through social online platform (Stephen, E 2015).
Mukbang rises as a phenomenon in AfreecaTV – the largest video hosting and streaming service in Korea, then the trend has spread to Youtube and now mukbang video can be found everywhere in the online platform.
