By Jane Han
NEW YORK ― I'm finding myself surprised these days as I continue to see how Anne Hathaway is getting brutally bashed for, well, being herself. When it comes to hating on celebrities, there's usually at least one clear legitimate reason ― whether it's a rumor or a fact ― behind the attack. But not for Hathaway. People just don't like her.
Just as the Oscars red carpet kicked off last week, the so-called Hathahaters, a growing cult of Hathaway critics, unleashed an online attack against the 30-year-old star for pretty much everything, from her clothes and oversized smile to her acceptance speech.
If there were a U.S. equivalent of the Naver real-time search ranking, the No. 1 spot would've no doubt been Hathaway's.
Unfortunately for the Oscar winner, the hating didn't end that night. The next day, the day after and even a week later, the Twitterverse, online and even mainstream media only grew more vehement in picking the actress apart.
A quick search of ''Anne Hathaway'' and the word ''hate'' together on Google shows pages and pages of all the ''reasons'' ― hair, voice and the list goes on ― people dislike her.
Watching all the hate, I was naturally reminded of the way Korean celebrities struggle with Web slander. Of course the situation is a whole lot more serious in Korea where malicious online comments have sometimes gone as far as driving stars to commit suicide.
So should we be worried that Hathaway, who has never really been everyone's cup of tea, may go to extremes? Of course not.
She's much too ''cool'' about the criticism directed at her.
''It does get to me. But you have to remember in life that there's a positive to every negative and negative to every positive. The miracle of the universe is that, as far as they know, there's 51 percent matter versus 49 percent anti-matter. Things tip in the scale of the positive. So that is what I focus on,'' the actress recently said, in an effort to shrug off the mounting negative comments.
Clearly, she's a woman who knows how to deal with her haters.
So why can't Korean celebrities be just as easy-going about online slander?
I'd sum it up into two main reasons.
First of all, Koreans are culturally much too image-conscious to let anything negative slide. I'm Korean. I can relate to that. It's simply too bothersome to know that an unidentified number of people out there is hating on you.
We know from past unfortunate incidents that certain celebrities suffered from serious depression due to Internet gossip before ultimately taking their own lives.
They let faceless criticism get the better of them.
But the other big thing is that Korean netizens really know how to step it up when it comes to ganging up on one person.
Trashing someone doesn't just end on Twitter. Haters create online cafes, blogs and even full-blown domains to dissect an individual into a gazillion pieces. They go as far as digging up the person's kindergarten records all the way to background checking his or her great uncle's employment history. Pretty freaky.
So brushing off this sort of witch hunt is more easier said than done.
Plus, the Hathaway-style indifferent approach to criticism may actually end up annoying Korean anti-fans more since what they want deep down is to see the celebrity in at least some degree of agony.
But her way does seem to work with her critics in America, where self-esteem is culturally valued and rewarded. People generally like to see confidence over humility.
So is there a particular way to handle criticism in Korea? I'm no expert, but all I can say is that showing indifference alone is probably not going to cut it.
Practicing more self-confidence isn't going to hurt though, especially when celebrity suicides have motivated thousands of imitative suicides in Korea.
The latest Hathaway hate fest can just be a passing celebrity story, but who knows? Maybe it's really something all of us can learn from.
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| Anne Hathaway |
Just as the Oscars red carpet kicked off last week, the so-called Hathahaters, a growing cult of Hathaway critics, unleashed an online attack against the 30-year-old star for pretty much everything, from her clothes and oversized smile to her acceptance speech.
If there were a U.S. equivalent of the Naver real-time search ranking, the No. 1 spot would've no doubt been Hathaway's.
Unfortunately for the Oscar winner, the hating didn't end that night. The next day, the day after and even a week later, the Twitterverse, online and even mainstream media only grew more vehement in picking the actress apart.
A quick search of ''Anne Hathaway'' and the word ''hate'' together on Google shows pages and pages of all the ''reasons'' ― hair, voice and the list goes on ― people dislike her.
Watching all the hate, I was naturally reminded of the way Korean celebrities struggle with Web slander. Of course the situation is a whole lot more serious in Korea where malicious online comments have sometimes gone as far as driving stars to commit suicide.
So should we be worried that Hathaway, who has never really been everyone's cup of tea, may go to extremes? Of course not.
She's much too ''cool'' about the criticism directed at her.
''It does get to me. But you have to remember in life that there's a positive to every negative and negative to every positive. The miracle of the universe is that, as far as they know, there's 51 percent matter versus 49 percent anti-matter. Things tip in the scale of the positive. So that is what I focus on,'' the actress recently said, in an effort to shrug off the mounting negative comments.
Clearly, she's a woman who knows how to deal with her haters.
So why can't Korean celebrities be just as easy-going about online slander?
I'd sum it up into two main reasons.
First of all, Koreans are culturally much too image-conscious to let anything negative slide. I'm Korean. I can relate to that. It's simply too bothersome to know that an unidentified number of people out there is hating on you.
We know from past unfortunate incidents that certain celebrities suffered from serious depression due to Internet gossip before ultimately taking their own lives.
They let faceless criticism get the better of them.
But the other big thing is that Korean netizens really know how to step it up when it comes to ganging up on one person.
Trashing someone doesn't just end on Twitter. Haters create online cafes, blogs and even full-blown domains to dissect an individual into a gazillion pieces. They go as far as digging up the person's kindergarten records all the way to background checking his or her great uncle's employment history. Pretty freaky.
So brushing off this sort of witch hunt is more easier said than done.
Plus, the Hathaway-style indifferent approach to criticism may actually end up annoying Korean anti-fans more since what they want deep down is to see the celebrity in at least some degree of agony.
But her way does seem to work with her critics in America, where self-esteem is culturally valued and rewarded. People generally like to see confidence over humility.
So is there a particular way to handle criticism in Korea? I'm no expert, but all I can say is that showing indifference alone is probably not going to cut it.
Practicing more self-confidence isn't going to hurt though, especially when celebrity suicides have motivated thousands of imitative suicides in Korea.
The latest Hathaway hate fest can just be a passing celebrity story, but who knows? Maybe it's really something all of us can learn from.
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