teampied

In my first text post, I touched upon one of the reasons why we get into K-Pop. Well, now I’m gonna touch upon one of the reasons why it doesn’t make sense to get into K-Pop. Idols.

Sounds crazy right? Believe me though, you may get into K-Pop because of idols, but you’re not being logical if what you’re looking for in this music genre (or, should I say, industry) is an idol, an almost perfect human being to look up to and strive to be like.

Let’s start by saying that a perfect human being would be something impossible. Humans are imperfect, they make mistakes all the time – which is why I said “almost perfect.” Even if we agree that true perfection isn’t what we’re looking for, it doesn’t make sense to aspire to be like an idol, because if you do, you’re not aspiring to be a person, but an image. It is well known that, usually, celebrities not only hide discomfort or sadness under a smile, but also create a persona with which they present themselves to the public. In the hyper-manufactured world of K-Pop, what percentage of idols’ so called “personalities” should be believed to be genuine? I don’t know. I have absolutely no idea.

Why am I even talking about this anyway? Well, I also could answer with “I don’t know,” but the truth is, I’m getting tired of K-Pop fans putting idols under labels the second something “bad” involving them happens, completely refusing to forgive and to forget, bringing it up every time they can. Something happens and then BOOM: You’re a fox, a bitch, a traitor, a bully, a liar; you’re racist, colorist, ableist, homophobic, selfish, vulgar, disrespectful; you hate women, you hate men, you have attitude problems… the list goes on and on.

So yeah, I’m tired of this name-calling. But what the hell does it have to do with it being illogical to have idols as role models? Oh, it has A LOT in common. Actually, my problem with these two things is due to the same reason: idols are human. They’re human too, just like you and me. I repeat, humans aren’t perfect, humans make mistakes, YES humans say hurtful shit, YES humans do things they wouldn’t do if they knew better. Humans fuck up. And all these fans putting labels on idols should know this, because they too are human and they too have fucked up. No, you aren’t a fucking saint. YOU’RE FLAWED. You may not remember the hurtful things you did or said because, lol, of course, who wants to remember what they did wrong? Who even wants to admit that they did wrong? But wait, I have two other questions that are more important: who wants to be reminded of the shit they did in the past that they feel sorry about? And who wants to be defined by the shit they did in the past that they feel sorry about? I don’t even need to answer those.

Cool. So exactly on what grounds do fans think they can just go and make lists defining idols as shitty people? On what grounds do fans think they are any better than the idols they are putting under so much scrutiny? And my favorite: ON WHAT FUCKING GROUNDS do fans think they are any better than the fans of those – here comes the magic word – “problematic” idols? If you were paying attention to what I said before, you can easily conclude that there’s not a single person in this world that isn’t problematic (Right! Because we’re human!). Great. So let’s continue.

To those who think they’re superior for not stanning “problematic” idols: firstly, why are you so preoccupied with finding “clean” people to be a fan of? Unless you’re looking for a role model, I don’t think there’s a reason for you to prefer “good” idols over “problematic” ones. Because if you like the music, you’ll still like it; if you like the visuals, you’ll still like them. So what’s with this obsession? Secondly, how close are you to your idols to be able to assert they’re not “problematic” (not even mentioning that a customized definition of “problematic” according to each fan’s preferences would have to be used to judge, because again, no one is perfect)? So why are you stanning them anyway, if you don’t know for sure who they really are?

Someone might argue that even if they don’t know if their idol is problematic, at least they aren’t stanning the ones that have already been labeled as such. Ok, let’s talk about that. But I’ll stop saying “problematic” because it gets annoying and, given that the problematic-ness of some idols is basically invented by K-Pop fans, it makes us deviate from the main topic: idols not being, well, fit for being idolized. Now let’s get into these “superior” fans’ heads and take an idol who hasn’t ever had a scandal of some sort (good luck finding one; I bet as time passes the ones who come to mind now will have become unfit) as an example of someone who’s a good role model.

I’m sorry to break it to you, but even this person fails as a role model. Actually, you’d have to be crazy to think of ANY idol as a role model – sure, you may like some things about them, but it’s illogical as hell to consider them to be ideal as a whole. Just think about it: do you really wanna idolize someone that almost completely gave up their freedom to get so much as a chance of enjoying the most ephemeral thing in life, fame? Do you see a person who allowed others to starve them, to put them in dangerous and uncomfortable situations, to exploit them, all for fame, as a role model? Would you want your kids (or anyone that you care about) to look up to a person who agreed not to have a cellphone, or date, or go out with friends, or see their loved ones, because they simply wanted fame? There’s a reason the term “slave contract” exists. And I’m going by these fans’ logic: how problematic is THAT?

So yeah… I don’t even know why idols are called “idols”. I mean, I get why they are presented as idols, but it’s a misconception to actually consider them as such. Anyway, “superior” fans, have them as role models if you want, just know that makes, by your own standards, zero sense. Because your faves are just as flawed as other people’s. Because they’re all human. Just like you.

So stop judging.

I never thought I’d be writing a post about Ladies’ Code’s car accident and everything it has led to, or that it’d be my first text post. Sadly, it is. Sadly, this is happening. That sentence we’ve all had in our minds these days, “This is happening”, is really hard to understand, even though we have no choice but to accept its meaning.

I’ve expressed part of what I felt on Twitter, and that was all I ever intended to do. I say “part of” because I felt too many things all at once, thought too much, was too confused to even be sure of how I was reacting to this.

However, once I start writing, it’s really hard for me to stop. The text in this post was originally going to be just a comment on Grey-nim’s, so it’s definitely not all I have to say about this. It’s actually just my thoughts on a very specific topic. Here it goes.

Grey was the first person I saw talking about how it's terribly difficult to associate K-Pop with something as sad as death. I had thought about that quite a lot while wondering why this was affecting all of us so much. Many of us, if not all, turn to K-Pop to distract ourselves from our lives, if not specifically to find some happiness. Well, people all over the world turn to entertainment to distract themselves from their lives. That’s the point, after all.

But there are many forms of entertainment, and K-Pop is automatically labeled as “bubbly”. Sure, there may be some “dark” concepts but that’s all they are, concepts. And even if being happy is a concept too, that’s what K-Pop’s “main” concept is. That’s the way in which idols are shown every time we see them on interviews, music shows, variety shows, etc. That’s how everything surrounding this genre is marketed, and ultimately that’s how we like it. We like, and are used to, idols being happy. Smiling, laughing, doing aegyo, those kinds of things. That’s what we expect to see when we think of idols (let’s forget sexiness, “charisma” and all that for a moment), and that’s partially why we turn to K-Pop.

To have something as devastating, as real as death appear in our bubbly, light-hearted K-Pop world, which we somehow weirdly thought was “safe”, is truly shocking.

All that may sound selfish. Just wanting things to be (or at least seem) happy and perfect all the time because you need that for your enjoyment or something. Someone could say, “well, it’s entertainment, what did you expect?” But there’s something about K-Pop that makes it a different kind of entertainment. I know, it’s sick because everything about it is just manufactured, while there’s no question idols are people. The thing is, we don’t just see them perform. Given how the K-Pop industry and everything South Korea has built around it works, we also (and very often, should I say) have the opportunity to see them fool around and have fun, work hard and feel exhausted, be upset and cry. Stuff we all do too, because we’re human. Then we can relate to them, at least to some extent.

Of course in the end this is all so some people can make money out of that fondness the public feels for idols but, remembering Ahjussi’s post, that doesn’t mean there aren’t people who sincerely enjoy making others happy through their work. Because that’s what makes them happy. Therefore, there’s also truth in saying people like us can actually want an idol to be happy, and K-Pop to stay bubbly, because that’s what makes us happy. Not in a selfish way, but in a “we’re just human, searching for happiness is what we do” way. If someone makes you happy, chances are high you want them to be happy too, right?

That’s why death is so shocking, especially in such a cheerful environment. A cheerful environment that involves real people we call “idols”.

Those idols, who are the embodiment of positive feelings to us… They may seem perfect; we may even want to see them as perfect. But they’re just as flawed as we are, because they’re only human, just like us. That’s why they deserve happiness as much as we do. This is where Grey’s comment on how idols are (mis)treated comes in. It just makes sense; we should let whoever makes us happy be happy. I don’t doubt being allowed to have a life besides that of an entertainer, and being treated as a human being instead of as a... thing, would make them happy.

Now that I think about it, all this I wrote is strangely the best explanation to my reaction when I first saw the news. Night time, I was finally done with classes for the day, took my phone to see what’s new and unwind on my way home. But what I saw… man, it was unbelievable. I was totally taken aback. Grey’s “Death and K-pop just don't mix in my mind” sums up what I was too perplexed to even realize I was experiencing at that moment.

May EunB rest in peace, I’m sure she’s still smiling somewhere. Also, let’s not forget there’s a member who’s still fighting for her life, two trying to cope with what has happened, and one who’s barely aware of it. Plus, the other people involved in the accident, their family and friends. Hell, even just acquaintances. If we’re this affected, I can’t imagine how they’re feeling.