By David Tizzard
In a 2018 academic article titled "Regulating the Idol: The Life and Death of a South Korean Music Star" co-written by respected K-pop professor CedarBough T. Saeji, we are told that fans often slowly encounter "the dark side of K-pop and Korean society."
Yes, I see many of you nodding. Very true. Great country, fun music, but ― like anywhere else ― some problems to be addressed. Beyond the glitz and glamor there are some unseemly elements.
We are not allowed to mention "the dark side of K-pop" now though. If you do, you are accused of Orientalism or not paying enough attention to the various tragedies and horrific incidents that happen in other industries. Football, gaming, politics, My Little Pony.
It is a shibboleth. In the past two years, the language deemed acceptable has changed.
Shhh. Be quiet. They are listening.
And it even extends to the very nature of what K-pop is. The previous Associated Press definition had it as "a South Korean musical genre often characterized by synthesized music." Again, seems reasonable. No?
Its 2020 update now has it as "Music performed by music stars and bands originating from South Korea."
K-pop is not a genre anymore and woe betide the person who tries to suggest that it is. It also means that only Koreans can really do K-pop and groups such as Kaachi and EXP Edition are merely engaging in cultural appropriation.
Serious stuff.
So just a quick recap for those not up to speed, and you can be forgiven for not being so because the industry and surrounding movement often portrays itself through a process of cultural amnesia: You are not allowed to mention the dark side of K-pop as a phrase and you are not allowed to say K-pop is a genre.
The South Korean undergrads I teach in a Hallyu class do it all the time in both Korean and English, but let's just promise not to tell the academic theorists and twitter gatekeepers.
The point of this is that while people argue about what K-pop is and is not, problems in the industry and society continue to surface.
Yes, it is changing.
Yes, Queendom now has female acts wearing trousers.
Yes, BTS has gotten all existential and features the ideas of Carl Jung and Ursula K. Le Guin in its work.
Yes BLACKPINK is in your area at record levels and helping break down dated views of what is and is not possible for women and Asians.
And yes, Mina, previously of the group AOA, posted on social media on Friday saying that she had been bullied for 10 years by the leader of her outfit, Jimin.
Mina, real name Kwon Min-ah, claims she was forced into the industry for money to support her family. This also curtailed any hopes of a real education leaving her unable to discern what was really going on for the longest time.
Mina suggests that Jimin forced her to take sleeping pills and mood stabilizers over the decade. This led her to seek suicide and she has since posted photos of her wrists on Instagram bearing the scars of her attempts.
These latest revelations come after another member of the group Chanmi quit AOA a few years back. Her mother gave a revealing interview to the press.
Chanmi's mother, Lim Cheon-suk, revealed how her daughter was not paid for five years, was not allowed a personal phone, suffered depression and eating disorders, and would have to pay nearly $2 million just to quit the group according to the terms of her contract with FNC Entertainment.
And you thought your job was bad?
FNC Entertainment was founded in 2006 by Han Seong-ho. Apparently, FNC stands for "fish and cake". Sounds rather ghastly, doesn't it?
The internet tells us, "The name is based on the miracle of feeding the multitude using only five loaves and the two fish. This is because Han Seong-ho is a devout Christian, he uses the name to hope for miracles to happen for the company."
So where is the cake? And is this kind of stuff really as noble as it professes?
Marie Antoinette apocryphally suggested that the peasants eat cake while they starved during a famine. Marie was a young beautiful blonde, blue-eyed 14-year-old princess essentially sold to the French to soothe relations between her native Austria and Paris ― a story not too dissimilar to the one painted by Chanmi's mother.
Marie became Queen of France, dazzling people with her beauty and luxurious ways. She had everything.
But the Revolution soon came for her. And so did The Terror.
Led by Maximilien Robespierre, the reign of terror that accompanied the revolution was iconoclastic. It tore down statues and monuments. It accused anyone of not emphatically siding with it of treason. Heroes were slain.
It carried out public executions and massacres based on spurious accusations and without proper trial or procedural guarantees. It was a frenzied mob. It officially killed 17,000 people through the guillotine though many hundreds of thousands more are said to have suffered as a result.
In the end, it took the life of the once young princess Marie Antoinette. Her head was chopped off in a public square in 1793 and her body flung into an unmarked grave.
The Terror also came for its instigator ― Robespierre was also publically executed. No-one is safe. The snake eventually eats its own tail.
We are not quite yet there in K-pop (the genre or otherwise). But people are suffering. People are dying. And there are too many arguments about what the correct academic and theoretical nomenclature is while the real world throws up a brutal reality.
Almost as if there's an … what should we say … an unilluminated section of the specific area of the music industry.
I have seen movements toward reconciliation; toward talk of mental suffering. The reporting of acts of bullying and ― more locally ― "gapjil" as an abuse of power manifested and exacerbated by a still very hierarchal society.
Society is not going to hell in a handcart. It is getting better at the national level. But we must reach out and help individuals and be allowed to discuss problems properly if the county is to solve them.
Kanye West has just announced he is running for President of the United States and has the support of Elon Musk. (Read that again. It is true).
Perhaps we need Lee Hyo-ri to step up and run South Korea for a while. She might sort this out once and for all so the country can continue doing what it has done so well thus far.
She can establish Yoo Jae-suk and Rain as her running mates, set up a new presidential residence on Jeju that focuses on yoga and music, and have IU as a chief adviser.
I would vote for her. And maybe rather than continued photo-ops with the North, there can be a real effort at making life better for the people of South Korea who continue.
And if you think this is crazy, remember: it is 2020.
David Tizzard (datizzard@swu.ac.kr) is an assistant professor at Seoul Women's University, where he teaches Korean Studies, and he is an adjunct professor at Hanyang University lecturing in World History and Political Science. He discusses the week's hottest issues on TBS eFM (101.3FM) on "Life Abroad" live every Thursday from 9:35-10 a.m.
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| David Tizzard |
Yes, I see many of you nodding. Very true. Great country, fun music, but ― like anywhere else ― some problems to be addressed. Beyond the glitz and glamor there are some unseemly elements.
We are not allowed to mention "the dark side of K-pop" now though. If you do, you are accused of Orientalism or not paying enough attention to the various tragedies and horrific incidents that happen in other industries. Football, gaming, politics, My Little Pony.
It is a shibboleth. In the past two years, the language deemed acceptable has changed.
Shhh. Be quiet. They are listening.
And it even extends to the very nature of what K-pop is. The previous Associated Press definition had it as "a South Korean musical genre often characterized by synthesized music." Again, seems reasonable. No?
Its 2020 update now has it as "Music performed by music stars and bands originating from South Korea."
K-pop is not a genre anymore and woe betide the person who tries to suggest that it is. It also means that only Koreans can really do K-pop and groups such as Kaachi and EXP Edition are merely engaging in cultural appropriation.
Serious stuff.
So just a quick recap for those not up to speed, and you can be forgiven for not being so because the industry and surrounding movement often portrays itself through a process of cultural amnesia: You are not allowed to mention the dark side of K-pop as a phrase and you are not allowed to say K-pop is a genre.
The South Korean undergrads I teach in a Hallyu class do it all the time in both Korean and English, but let's just promise not to tell the academic theorists and twitter gatekeepers.
The point of this is that while people argue about what K-pop is and is not, problems in the industry and society continue to surface.
Yes, it is changing.
Yes, Queendom now has female acts wearing trousers.
Yes, BTS has gotten all existential and features the ideas of Carl Jung and Ursula K. Le Guin in its work.
Yes BLACKPINK is in your area at record levels and helping break down dated views of what is and is not possible for women and Asians.
And yes, Mina, previously of the group AOA, posted on social media on Friday saying that she had been bullied for 10 years by the leader of her outfit, Jimin.
Mina, real name Kwon Min-ah, claims she was forced into the industry for money to support her family. This also curtailed any hopes of a real education leaving her unable to discern what was really going on for the longest time.
Mina suggests that Jimin forced her to take sleeping pills and mood stabilizers over the decade. This led her to seek suicide and she has since posted photos of her wrists on Instagram bearing the scars of her attempts.
These latest revelations come after another member of the group Chanmi quit AOA a few years back. Her mother gave a revealing interview to the press.
Chanmi's mother, Lim Cheon-suk, revealed how her daughter was not paid for five years, was not allowed a personal phone, suffered depression and eating disorders, and would have to pay nearly $2 million just to quit the group according to the terms of her contract with FNC Entertainment.
And you thought your job was bad?
FNC Entertainment was founded in 2006 by Han Seong-ho. Apparently, FNC stands for "fish and cake". Sounds rather ghastly, doesn't it?
The internet tells us, "The name is based on the miracle of feeding the multitude using only five loaves and the two fish. This is because Han Seong-ho is a devout Christian, he uses the name to hope for miracles to happen for the company."
So where is the cake? And is this kind of stuff really as noble as it professes?
Marie Antoinette apocryphally suggested that the peasants eat cake while they starved during a famine. Marie was a young beautiful blonde, blue-eyed 14-year-old princess essentially sold to the French to soothe relations between her native Austria and Paris ― a story not too dissimilar to the one painted by Chanmi's mother.
Marie became Queen of France, dazzling people with her beauty and luxurious ways. She had everything.
But the Revolution soon came for her. And so did The Terror.
Led by Maximilien Robespierre, the reign of terror that accompanied the revolution was iconoclastic. It tore down statues and monuments. It accused anyone of not emphatically siding with it of treason. Heroes were slain.
It carried out public executions and massacres based on spurious accusations and without proper trial or procedural guarantees. It was a frenzied mob. It officially killed 17,000 people through the guillotine though many hundreds of thousands more are said to have suffered as a result.
In the end, it took the life of the once young princess Marie Antoinette. Her head was chopped off in a public square in 1793 and her body flung into an unmarked grave.
The Terror also came for its instigator ― Robespierre was also publically executed. No-one is safe. The snake eventually eats its own tail.
We are not quite yet there in K-pop (the genre or otherwise). But people are suffering. People are dying. And there are too many arguments about what the correct academic and theoretical nomenclature is while the real world throws up a brutal reality.
Almost as if there's an … what should we say … an unilluminated section of the specific area of the music industry.
I have seen movements toward reconciliation; toward talk of mental suffering. The reporting of acts of bullying and ― more locally ― "gapjil" as an abuse of power manifested and exacerbated by a still very hierarchal society.
Society is not going to hell in a handcart. It is getting better at the national level. But we must reach out and help individuals and be allowed to discuss problems properly if the county is to solve them.
Kanye West has just announced he is running for President of the United States and has the support of Elon Musk. (Read that again. It is true).
Perhaps we need Lee Hyo-ri to step up and run South Korea for a while. She might sort this out once and for all so the country can continue doing what it has done so well thus far.
She can establish Yoo Jae-suk and Rain as her running mates, set up a new presidential residence on Jeju that focuses on yoga and music, and have IU as a chief adviser.
I would vote for her. And maybe rather than continued photo-ops with the North, there can be a real effort at making life better for the people of South Korea who continue.
And if you think this is crazy, remember: it is 2020.
David Tizzard (datizzard@swu.ac.kr) is an assistant professor at Seoul Women's University, where he teaches Korean Studies, and he is an adjunct professor at Hanyang University lecturing in World History and Political Science. He discusses the week's hottest issues on TBS eFM (101.3FM) on "Life Abroad" live every Thursday from 9:35-10 a.m.
