A.
Influence
of Korean Pop
Korean
pop or K-Pop is a popular cultural genre originated in South Korea. Typically,
it is classified in the genre when it has a various audiovisual
characteristics. Due to its unique characteristics, K-Pop became popular in a
matter of time. Since it is new to the ears and eyes of the international
industry, K-Pop made its way to the top by providing a unique variety of music
and music videos.
According
to an article entitled “The rising tides of KPOP” by Julie Jackson of
thestar.com.my, the first half of 2011 is the rise of the Koran wave (also
known as Hallyu). According to Time Magazine, this year was known as “South
Korea’s greatest export”. But KPOP didn’t originate that year. Back at 1992,
two Korean groups namely “Seo Taiji” and “Boys” pioneered the industry. The new
generation of KPOP was pioneered by still-popular music idols BoA, Super
Junior, Girls’ Generation, Big Bang and Wonder Girls. The international
popularity of KPOP soon rises after that. The author also said that what fans
are crazy about is that the idols raised by South Korea focuses on talent alone
by making them train for more than a year to provide a perfect form of
entertainment.
It
is true. I know some artists that have trained for almost 7 years to improve
their talents and skills on some certain point. But there are some artists that
do not need to because that's their forte already. All they need to do is to
polish their talent. The company hiring the talents will always make sure that
the artists are perfect before they show they to the public.
B.
KPOP
fandoms
One known thing about KPOP
is that they always come with a certain group of fans or fandom. Without a
doubt, the thing that drives this people to build a fandom is to catch the
attention of the idols they admire. They build friendship through fandom and
that’s what’s keeping it alive. In fact, the fandoms are not just in a certain
region or country; it is composed of people around the world.
Some of these fandoms are
mention in a forum called fanfics.com in an article entitled “List of fandoms”
by XXIBGDRGN namely:
1.
Cassiopeia - DBSK's (or TVXQ) fanclub, Cassiopeia, is the name of a
constellation with 5 main stars & there are 5 members in DBSK.
2.
ELF
(EverLasting Friends) - Super Junior fans are called ELF because it stands for
Everlasting Friends.
3.
VIP - V.I.P. = Very Important Person. The second single
La La La is also referred to as Big Bang is V.I.P.
4.
SONE
- SNSD fans are called SONEs (pronouced "so one") because it means
that SNSD & their fans are one.
5.
Black Jacks - 21 is the highest number a person can
achieve while playing Blackjack.
The thing is, these fandoms
are consisted of a lot of people and they all have the same things to share
about their fandoms. The rapid growth of people demanding to join the fandom is
growing big and its rather unstoppable.
C.
The
negative effects
Here’s the thing, people
think that Fangirling is normal. Yes, it is. But what if people take it to
another level and forgot living normally?
Fan girls (and boys) might
say that being a fan girl gave them a positive benefit by making them
optimistic, friendly, etc., but they never realized that the lifestyle they
call healthy living is giving them a negative effect also.
1. Obsession
When
people adore someone, they tend to think that he/she is the perfect man/woman
they can ever think of. They will begin to watch videos and see pictures and
later on, it will lead to addiction or even worse, obsession.
In
an article entitled “The 101 On Crazy K-Pop Fangirls” by Guest of
soulbeats.com, the factors of obsession leads to the fan girl being mentally
disabled. The author categorized the fan girls into three.
The
“New/Dumb fan girls”: the author also defined them the
“trying-hard-to-blend-in-the-fandom-to-look-professional”. This people are the
most annoying in a way that because they are new to the KPOP industry, they
tend to tell and boast to everybody about what they’ve seen in the internet
about a certain KPOP group.
The
“Delusional fan girls”: they are the people who think that they own the idol
they are idolizing. They think of their idols as “gods”. When a certain
celebrity touches his/her idol, he/she will do everything to defeat that
certain celebrity. And take note; they attack in teams.
Lastly, (and the craziest) are the “WTF! Fan
girls”: the author described this section as the worst of them all. The thing
is, WTF! Fans will do anything for the sake of their fandom. They can even do
gross activity in order to catch the attention of their idol like writing a
letter using your period blood. (yes it’s true!).
The
author also said, “There are many
intelligent fangirls that understand the balance between entertainment and
life, but a good amount of K-pop fangirls are CRAZY, and yes I did, I said it:
crazy. I can guarantee you that in every performance, music video, variety
show, or whatever their “oppars” are in, you will see at least one fangirl
going crazy. If you have not encountered one of these fans than either you are
an extremely lucky person, or you don’t use the internet at all.” (http://seoulbeats.com/2012/01/the-101-on-crazy-kpop-fangirls/).
Moreover,
these fans do indeed have a problem that needs attention. If they are in fact
developmental or psychological, then their needs cannot be swept to the side.
The thing is, South Korea and many parts of Asia in general are still too
hesitant to confront issues of psychological disorder and what not. This needs to
change.
2.
Nationalism issues
A
lot of KPOP fans are saying that what they like about KPOP is that it’s very
unique. This is often heard from international fans. The things is, these
people idolize KPOP idols because they see what they’ve never seen around their
country, but is it really a good thing?
In
an article entitled “Analyzing Analysis: allkpop asks why K-pop fans can’t
unite as one, I have an answer” by IATFB of asianjunkie.com, what’s bad about
international KPOP fans is that they tend to forget their nationality when they
begin obsessing over Korean music culture. There are tendencies that they will
support their idols instead of their own industry. In the case of Korean fans,
they see KPOP as a form of entertainment exploitation instead of a sub-cultural
part of their country.
Majority
of the KPOP fans only like KPOP because of the dramas and PV's showed that's
why it's been very popular. It’s okay to listen to other nation's song but you
should never forget that you belong to a certain nationality.
