Concern-
I won't bother to explore all the facets of this song and video or do a traditional review, as there's already plenty of excellent writing about this MV here, here and here.
I'm sure that I also don't need to explain too much about the marketing wisdom behind it, as much of this is also covered in the linked articles. A quick recap: Stellar have been around since 2011, and have released several unpopular songs, and sustaining a flop group that makes no money for two years isn't cheap. With nothing left to lose, naturally the label went all-out on the sexy concept a last-ditch attempt to make this group viable and interesting to the public, and thus profitable. Who can blame them? The marketing move has paid off, at least for now - Stellar has been giddily surfing the wave of conservative moral outrage and their new video has raked in more web traffic than all of their other videos combined. Who knows what the long-term effects will be, but it's still a far preferable situation to the ass-end of k-pop that they were in up until now.
I thought it would be more interesting and effective to talk about some of the objections that people have to "sexy concepts" and sexiness in k-pop in general, because even though all of this stuff is supposedly "obvious", it can't be all that fucking obvious because the same old arguments keep coming up EVERY SINGLE FUCKING TIME somebody does a sexy concept. Since the frequency of this is now approaching several times per month, I figure I can save myself a lot of typing down the track if I cover off the key objections to sexy concepts in one blog post. Then I can just link you whiny pricks to it in a few months time when some nobody group releases their new song "tits out for the CEO" or whatever.
Let's split our sexy-concept objectors into a few broad categories:
The religious argument
In the early days of Christianity before the printing press appeared and made bibles cheaply available to the masses, the contents of the bible were closely guarded and regulated. Part of the reason for the church wishing to keep the bible under wraps was probably because all those monks didn't want to share what was actually their porn stash.
"As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste." - Song Of Solomon 2:3
I don't think it takes a religious scholar to figure that metaphor out. Or what about this:
"Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father."And they made their father drink wine that night: and the firstborn went in, and lay with her father; and he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose. And it came to pass on the morrow, that the firstborn said unto the younger, "Behold, I lay yesternight with my father: let us make him drink wine this night also; and go thou in, and lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father." - Genesis 19:32-34
And you thought the Japanese had the monopoly on father-daughter incest porn. There is fucking, fucking and more fucking all throughout the bible, making it the world's first mass-produced media item to use a sexy concept.
And don't even get me started on other religions - the ones that don't teach you how to fuck will dangle the carrot of virgin-fucking as a reward for following the rules. How low can orthodox religions go in the pursuit of sexy concepts? Lower than the girls in Stellar, I suspect.
The feminist argument
A little anecdote from personal experience, in "Entertainment Radar" format to protect the innocent/guilty:
Model Q is a female burlesque dancer in her 20s and a self-described feminist. She performs a burlesque strip show that tours around various venues, generally these are music venues rather than actual strip clubs, where she's often the "half-time entertainment" between music acts. The dance routines she choreographs herself, to music which she also selects, she reveals exactly as much/little skin as she wants to, and she gets paid for it. She manages herself and keeps 100% of her earnings (after taxes). Offstage, she's quite shy and sexually conservative, not a "slutty" type at all, and describes her act partly as a way to challenge and overcome her own naturally shy personality by forcing herself temporarily into a more bold, brash stage persona. Q also used to be quite unhealthy and overweight in her teens but through careful dieting and exercise has attained a much more toned body, something that she is proud of.
(note: not a picture of Q - Sistar's Bora is here purely for illustrative/fap purposes)
One day model Q is getting ready to perform at a venue. She is approached by someone backstage, another female who we'll call K. Q has never met K before and has no idea why K is there.
K asks Q who she is and what's she's doing backstage. Q explains what her act entails.
K: "I can't let you do that."
Q: "Why not?"
K: "I'm a feminist and this is exploitation!"
Q: "What? I'm a feminist too - and it's my own body, I'm proud of it and I can do what I want with it! It's not up to you! Who the fuck are you anyway?"
K: "You're not going onstage with that act, and that's all there is to it."
Sure enough, K complained to management and got Q's show shut down - only a few minutes before she was due to go onstage.
Who is the real feminist in this situation - the person who thinks female bodies should be shamefully covered up, or the person who thinks they should be proudly exposed? The person who wants to earn money for herself or the person who wants to stop other women from earning money for themselves? If K's hypocrisy was a chocolate mud cake, how sharp would the knife need to be for you to cut it and give a slice to your grandmother? Do arguments about "exploitation" even apply when it's you exploiting yourself? Isn't exploitation supposed to be wrong precisely because the person supposedly experiencing it is not the one in the driver's seat?
What about in other situations where a company is involved? Do you think the girls from Stellar were cruelly forced into their latest promotions? We'll never know for sure, but I think the smart money is on the idea that they were at least complicit, if probably not actively suggesting it. Park your pathetic high-horse "gender studies college student"-grade moralising in the handicapped zone of your brain for a moment and actually think about it for a few seconds; if you were some girl in a group and have wasted a few years of your life in training and then another two years being active in a total flop group, you'd be well and truly sick of that shit by now, and you'd see the clock ticking on your own viability as a future idol. If you weren't completely demoralised by that point you'd probably be thinking "fuck it, what the hell can we do to get some attention and success - it's time to go hard or go home". Maybe Stellar hated their sexy concept and were dragged kicking and screaming onto the stage in those high heels and stockings. Or maybe they begged their CEO to give them a sexy grown-up concept for a change, so they could be successful like all those other groups and finally get paid. Chances of both are slim though - the label probably just said "this is your next concept" and they said "okay then" because they understood the importance of being a solid team. Whenever you see a sexy concept and cry "exploitation", it pays to check in with the people who are actually supposedly being exploited, because you never know, maybe they're cool with it.
If you actually do some research on groups and their most/least liked concepts, the ones that the artists themselves tend to dislike the most are usually not the sexy ones, but the ones where they look like fucking dorks. If you're any kind of celebrity or in the public eye in any form people are inevitably going to rub one out to your picture anyway whether you look cute, sexy, feminine, masculine, sleazy, take-charge, slutty, princess-like, submissive, tough, dominating, scungy or whatever because sexual preferences come in all different flavours. Every female concept is a "sexy" concept to somebody... as is every male concept. Most of the people complaining about Minah not looking like a bookworm anymore probably just have a sexual fetish for bookworms.
The concerned music fan argument
"Oh but I'm not some crazy feminist prude or religious nutter..." I hear you say to yourself "...I'm just sick of all the sexy concepts. There's so many of them, it's getting so old!"
It's true that there's a lot of them. Hell, even the male groups are doing sexy female concepts now:
Why do you think that is? Well, it doesn't take a brain surgeon to figure this out. If you remember the Bloomberg documentary I posted a while back about the k-pop business, you'll remember the following quote about k-pop in general:
"...it gets people talking - in an age where chatter is the main currency, that's what you've got to do."
If you live in the Middle Ages in a fucking village and you want something to go away, you chase it out of the town with torches and pitchforks. That doesn't work in the age of the Internet where everyone's villages are connected with fiber-optics - all the nearby super-connected villages will just tune into your village to see what the digital black smoke plumes and screaming is all about and now suddenly your town pariah collects a whole ton of new fans. This is exactly how Rebecca Black became a millionaire, it's why the Westbro Baptist Church won't ever fucking go away either unless the people running it die in a freak vibrator-in-the-communal-spa accident and it's why no amount of hatred could kill T-ara off (if anything the humungous amounts of web traffic generated from their controversy assisted their popularity spread throughout other Asian countries). Having experienced probably the maximum amount of hatred it's possible for a bunch of singing dancing non-political polite-in-public girls to get, other companies have probably seen the T-ara situation and thought "okay... in a worst-case scenario we could still be as successful as T-ara, and they're still making top ten hits in Korean and playing showcases internationally... boy, we'd like to be able to do that... hmmm, how much could something that gets people talking like a sexy concept really hurt us?". Girl's Day, Sistar, Dal Shabet and AOA all recently found out the answer to that question was "not a fucking bit".
These days, if you truly want something to go away, here's a tip: rather than linking it everywhere and talking about it everywhere and saying "look at this, isn't this horrid" (when all you're really doing with that action is effectively saying "look at this, look at this, look at this") try shutting the fuck up about it. Completely. Don't mention it, ever. I don't particularly like [censored] so I don't talk about it, and I definitely won't ever talk about [censored] who is a complete [censored]. Of course, with anything sex-related people can't bring themselves to close their gaping maws, because they're secretly so fascinated. How much web traffic did this scene alone generate?
All attempts to stamp out porn, smut or sexiness in media will always be futile, because biology is always a stronger force than sociology or morality and as soon as you type the word "sex" thousands of people with aching libidos will swarm around like angry bees. If you want proof - more people find my own website by searching for k-pop porn than they do by searching my name:
My blogging seems to be doing well because of its sexy concept. If you clicked this blog post hoping to read the details about Girls' Generation's breaking sex controversy, you just proved me correct. For those who just skim read my blogs I'm now going to insert a few random images of Girls' Generation members and some text, just so those people don't see a lack of them and get wise to the point of this blog without actually reading a few sentences first, so excuse me while I go off on a bit of a tangent now just for those people. It's the least I can do. I'm also going to put a heading up so those people know when to start reading.
GIRLS' GENERATION'S BREAKING SEX CONTROVERSY
Look, here's a picture of someone in SNSD.
Nice outfit. What's that in her hand. Is it a translucent tissue? Could she be wiping the jizz from her face after a quickie? Oh wait, what's that machine and that cord... oh fuck it's a motherfucking oxygen mask holy fucking shit.
This picture here is also very pretty and has some cupcakes on a tray. They look really yummy and don't remind me of anything in particular. What's that on her left? Some dude standing above her, struggling to contain his boner no doubt. Why would she be on the floor like that? A pink mat has been laid out and it looks really soft and comfortable so I can only assume she's going to be spending some time down there, doing whatever she's doing. Gosh. I don't know about you but the vibe here is reminding me a little of Blue Velvet:
Blue Velvet is a really good film and you should check it out, although I think Lost Highway and Mulholland Drive are the best of David Lynch's films. Sorry, that's irrelevant, isn't it. This paragraph doesn't actually exist for any reason other than to pad out this section so SNSD fans who skipped straight here can see a block of text on first glance and they'll think that there are some juicy sex controversy details here when in fact this isn't the case and I'm just adding this section on the end to prove my point earlier about people not being able to resist the lure of sexual content especially when it concerns pop idols. No wonder companies repeatedly use these tactics. Notice how I'm using the word "sex" a lot, both in this paragraph and in the blog title, that will probably make it trend higher on some search engines. If this website had attached ads, I could make more money off them this way.
Mind you Blue Velvet was a pretty kinky film (plus it had sex in it) so maybe I'm not trolling and we're going to get a kinky sex controversy out of this after all. Hell, if The Human Centipede is fair game for k-pop, so is anything! Bring on the SNSD Blue Velvet sexy concept! Sex!
God was such a pimp back in the days. Getting old sucks.
ReplyDeleteI remember reading the bible as a kid and thinking "this dude did some amazing shit back in the day - what does he do now, just sit on his ass and get fat?"
Deletehttp://io9.com/gods-12-biggest-dick-moves-in-the-old-testament-1522970429
DeleteI always find it entertaining reading the comments of feminazis who constantly slut-shame idols for doing a sexy concept. If they are so angry about the "exploitation" then why don't they complain about the company? Most of them time, idols don't even have a choice in what they do.
ReplyDeleteFeminazis are some of the worst human beings on this planet.
I agree with a lot of basic feminist ideas like getting paid the same as men etc but the thing that always turned me off a lot of the more finnicky arguments in feminism was the huge amount of very intelligent women I've met in my life who all thought it was all a load of shit and could destroy any feminist argument in about two sentences.
DeleteAs a feminist, I can basically destroy most feminist arguments in about 20 seconds. The more outspoken feminists lack any real intelligence, and are migraine-inducing with their dull and repetitive arguments.
DeleteThey are also fat, don't shave their armpits and wear Birkenstocks....lol
DeleteI'm a very old feminist from way back. There is only one attitude to take if you're a true feminist. "It's all good". Women should allow other women to do their thing and stop judging them for their choices. There is no society on this planet where women are the dominant group. Women have and always will do whatever they need to do to survive. Plastic surgery to get a good husband. Fine. Strip, give BJs in the alley, wear a suit and be a corporate ball buster, stay at home mom, done. Women keep forgetting that men police our activities enough without us affirming their dominance. So the slut shaming and the judgement is playing right into the hands of a male population that mostly still thinks of women as a commodity, a vessel for their seed, a maid, a nurse or a mommy.
"If they are so angry about the "exploitation" then why don't they complain about the company?"
DeleteIt's not only the "feminazis" though, and I'm not talking only about slut shaming. I read a lot of fans complaining about how exploitative the industry is, how setting a "dating ban" is inhuman and how the working conditions of these idols are bad. The funniest thing is they eager to show the world their (fake) indignation. Most of them are well aware of the shit going on in the backstage. I'd argue a coherent choice would be to bo boycott/protest/stop being an eager fangirl who stays connected 24h a day t the internet, stop watching that stupid brainwashing variety shows and doramas they don't even understand because of language barriers, stop surfing fan cafes and shit for a couple of weeks, grow some interest into something "alternative" to these alluring sirens of kpop.... All this people do is complaining if their oppar/unnir disappears for a short time from their screen, asking for a comeback as soon as their idols get their rest periods, bitching and complaining if their favourite group gets "screwed" in some stupid award, buying undreds of useless merchandise to get the first row of a concert or a "meet and greet". These kind of people will never consider, even for a minute, the option to "quit" their fandom/facebook group/forum community. The industry exploits its workers? Objectifies women (and men as well)? True, and that's because of sheeps like us.
I'm getting the feeling that people are probably going to jump on me for this, but I don't agree that "K" in the example is less of a feminist (at least I think that's what you're implying). She might be going about it the wrong way, but treating objectification (especially sexual objectification) as if it's not harming feminism is bullshit. I read further down Kpopalypse was saying something about needing to explain why objectification and exploitation are awesome. I'd like that explanation, because I'm never going to agree or pardon the way it is in the industry without someone telling me why it could possibly be good.
DeleteIMO, the exploitation of women in the industry isn't so much as personal exploitation as setting back the whole idea of women being equal in the first place. Men being exploited like this is still crap, but I've yet to see a concept where they're solely dependent on a woman for their legitimacy. Probably helped by often not centering around featured girls in their mvs - in this, the exploitation is different. It's all promoting stereotypes, and, despite whether men admit it, the one women get labelled with is more restricting.
TT Johns - are you trolling? Otherwise all I'm getting is that civilization is all bullshit and what really needs to happen is that men be "men" and women be "women" who just lie around waiting to be used.
Aside from that...I'm well aware that most of my issues are with the industry, and I totally agree with ziodonato in that.
"Park your pathetic high-horse "gender studies college student"-grade moralising in the handicapped zone of your brain for a moment and actually think about it for a few seconds;"
ReplyDeleteYo, Kpopalypse... That ain't Kosher. CUZ YOU JUST WENT HAM!!!
Hot Air Missile
DeleteYES REAL FEMINISM YES WOMEN IN CHARGE OF THEIR SEXUALITY YES <3
ReplyDeletealthough it can be argued that in most kpop scenarios that doesn't apply at all because artists have little to no creative control.
They've generally got no control whatsoever.... but they also made a conscious decision to relinquish that control. The male idols have just as much non-control, and get sexualised even more.
DeleteIf anyone quotes the bible for an argument, that's probably their worse move, that 'holy' book has so much holes that it put swiss cheese in shame.
ReplyDeleteBtw Kama Sutra has nothing to do with religion.
ReplyDeleteThe website I linked that's hosting it is a website called "Sacred Texts". Perhaps you should tell them that.
DeleteYou hold a lot of solid arguments in this article/text or what you call it.
ReplyDeleteMy opinion is that it's a bit too much? I find it degrading and sexualising BUT I won't call the sluts or anything like that because that's bullshit, they probably had no say in it anyways. I wouldn't want any kids, boys or girls to watch this because I find their concept a little harmful, "oppa I'll do whatever you want, sexy or cute" or what it was their facebook campaign said that is something that could turn girls and boys into sexualising and objectifying. I have no idea where I'm going with this argument I just wanted to put my messy opinion out there. Good text anyways!
It's a byproduct of KPOP being strangled by Japanese tastes, KPOP wanted Japan's money so bad they decided to make AKB/Idol style groups who are "pure" and relied on media play to shame sexy concepts they had been doing for a while. I say a couple of months from now, sexy concepts will slowly walk back to the more familiar american pop style and KBS and the big three will realize that the money is in America and Europe and tolerate them more.
DeleteI see now that I missed with this topic a little and that I need to write another blog about why sexualisation and objectification are awesome.
DeleteAh, I love you Kpopkalypse oppa. Been waiting for something like this. Here is another 2 cents to offer to your argument.
ReplyDeleteThe sexy concept is a cycle.
I hate to break it to any KPOP fan who thinks KPOP wasn't sexy back then. Well then, why from 2003 to 2007 we had groups like Jewelry (When they were still good) who wore even skimpier outfits for performance and had more genuinely sexy confident concepts. If anything, this was the 5 year lapse I expected to happen since Japan's market for KPOP (Who seems to hate sexiness more than Korea but in a more subtle way) has declined which influenced KPOP's markets with it's shitty pedophilia and purity pandering. Every nugu girl group realized it was useless chasing after Japan's money so now they cater to us. The main problem with the new sexy concept though is most of them have that "Frustrated and Confused" style. I want to see Sexy concepts go back to the more confident and raunchy style that the cougar Hyori does (and Spica, to an extent)
And boy bands tackling sexy concepts? I say this is returning the early days of 2008 where groups like Big Bang (before GD became a Gackt wannabe) acted like they are million dollar playas. A funny thing is when the teaser was announced it had a 19+ but with the boys on stage with the girls it suddenly drops down to a 15+, double standards huh?
THIS ^
DeleteI came here for the first part of the article, couldn't care less about SNSD's shit unless is their not-comming new MV (if it'll ever come).
Great reflection. Great use of the Burlesque world particular experience of a performer. That's the Dita Von Teese statement all over again: you don't get to decide what's degrading for someone else.
And yes, it's a cycle. Jewelry are the best proof of that. It sort of came back in 2009, thought the sexyness was more coolness than actual sexy concepts.
I've seen the same slut shaming on western acts who actually decide themselves to do sexy concepts, write lyrics about sex, etc.
Also, regarding the above comment-reply, it's true that Japan for female groups tend to disregard the concepts that aren't cute, thought until the mid-2000's there was room for cooler stuff such like SPEED's, 7nin Dream and so.
Groups that follow a different route, usually don't get that popular, unless they are idol. The most they can tolerate is the gravure. Is kind of funny, because the young teens wearing bikinis and swim-suits are kind of closer to erotica and porn than any other sexy concept. And so perverted. But they will always tell you they're not because of the "pure" factor idols have borrowed from the Shinto religion.
I would like some examples of squandered opportunities from Japan please and a reason why people seem to have a hate boner for Japan nowadays.
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DeleteI have no insight into where this "shitty pedophilia and purity pandering" originated but you hit the nail on the head. I find it extremely dangerous for a society to infantilize their women to the degree I see in Korean entertainment. This isn't reserved for just Kpop idols. You see this in mainstream Korean dramas too. Grown women who have been through college, still sleep with a teddy bear and claim they've never been kissed. The obsession with female purity in Korean media is pretty scary. Especially since it would only take one google search to find out that ROK has a sex industry so large it contributes to the GDP. I've seen estimates of 100,000 to 200,000 sex workers in Korea, 46,000 hourly motels and private room salons. A recent article published in Korea said that 1 in 4 men visit a prostitute at least 4 times a month. I understand this may be an actual effort to curb the sexual appetites of Korean citizens. Or even worse to shore up the neo Confucian values that older Koreans may see slipping away by their exposure to the west. It's oppressive nonsense to the extreme. It's not empowering Koreans men or women it's all very repressive and backward.
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Delete"western acts who actually decide themselves to do sexy concepts, write lyrics about sex, etc."
ReplyDeleteI won't bet too much money on that
It happens. I can think of several examples from personal experience alone.
DeleteNot sure if you're implying these female don't exist or you're talking about something else. But they do exist.
DeleteMadonna kind of decided pretty much for herself what she wanted or didn't want to do. So does Christina Aguilera who actually had it hard back in the day with her own management when she decided to do Lady Marmalade's revamp. And she's expanded her sex-ploration into music beyond Stripped.
Then we could discuss Lil'Kim or Foxxy Brown, Salt'n'Peppa...
Janet has also a few songs that talk about sex.
So does Missy Elliot.
And they all did it their own ways. Some were just lyrics, some were also pursuing a sexual image.
And if anyone still doubt it, I invite them to look up for the first season of Braxton's Family Values and Tamar's rants about why she can't release her own music and how bad she wanted to show her sexyness.
Some female are just confident about their sexuality and they're not afraid to sing about it.
Of course they do exist! But I feel that is not the general rule and the company has always the last word on that. Again, that's just my assumption, I would have no problem with admitting my ignorance if proved wrong.
Delete"Black music" (Zomg Ziodonato, you're attributing music a colour, U RACIST!) palyed a very important role in conveying sexuality with its artists since the early 1950's, but that has been a long and troublesome process, black musicians are still stigmatized because of that. But they where alone against the world then, so they did just the fuck they wanted and gone against the grain. The "white" industry finally realized they could have profit from it and emulated them, but that came a sometimes later.
Trust me, the female I listed did have the last word in it. Especially Christina, Missy, Salt'n'Peppa and Lil'Kim.
DeleteLil'Kim raps about sex because that's what she knows better, same as Foxy Brown. Kim wasn't originally a rapper but just Notorius girlfriend, she got into the game because of him, but she is the one to choose her content.
Missy has always gone against all odds. She's constantly tried to defy the barriers record labels tried to put on her.
As for Christina, she's one of the most demanding vocalists out there. Someone who goes to the extend of dedicating a whole skit to tell a producer who didn't want to agree to her terms and conditions for her third album to literally Fuck Off, surely choses what she wants to sing about.
I'd also forgot about TLC, but they were more bounded by their label and producer Dallas Austin. However, the choice to speak about sex was theirs (and the idea). The controversial themes were more about certain relationship issues, like when Lisa didn't wanted to do Creep because it was about cheating.
Is not the general rule, of course, but my point was that these female acts do get bashed. A lot of people don't fully like Christina or Janet because they do sing about sex (not that everyone who doesn't like them is for this, of course). I wouldn't dare to say who's more explicit even using euphemisms, because both have songs like Woohoo, Sexhibition, Get Mine Get Yours or Just A Little While that introduce the matter.
R&B is 50 about sex and, to be fair, its origin is mostly from afro-american, but it also got contributions from other genres as well as from the early days, were also white musicians contributing to the genre. I know some people would see it as white-washing, but I wouldn't dare to call the likes of Carole King, Janis Joplin or Linda Lyndell white washers, they were just doing what they loved: music, yet they contributed to early Soul and R&B. And by contributing I mean they weren't toning it down, as well as King did wrote songs for black R&B singers as well as white crooners. So did Phill Spector, although he's such a psycho bastard and time finally proved it right, he still was very important for female R&B vocal groups back then.
And I am sure we could find female like these in other genres, I just happen to know more about R&B because that's what I like. More precisely US R&B, because whenever I try to find someone from the UK, their lyrics come out less explicit in that subject. From Beverley Knight, Jamelia, Terry Walker, even Mis-Teeq, they talked more about love and if they mentioned sex, it was way less explicit, like Black Buttar, Supersonic, One Night Stand... the songs are about sex but they're not describing that much of the process nor sexuality. Yet we could discuss outfits on the Mis-Teeq department, and they were quite indie and going mostly for what they liked to wear.
Sorry it came out long.
That's what she said.
DeleteThe "infantilization" thing... It probably acts like a "cover up" for the wrongdoings of a more mature audience. I guess it' s much more confortable and socially accepted to tell something like "that young celebrity is like a niece to me, she's so cute and innocent, I fell like i wanna support her and protect her, she reminds of my daughter" rather than sayin "oh man, look at that 17 yo chick, if I were a couple of years younger I would so fuck her!". I agree with TT Johns this constitutes a problem, as far as I know prostitution of minors is still a pretty big issue in Korea.
ReplyDeleteIt's still fetishisation and playing on gender relations to get people watching and make a few bucks. Whether you're stripping in a miniskirt and stockings or staring at the camera with 'oppa I love you so much' doe-eyes it's all part of the same thing and it all is supposed to have the same effect.
DeleteAbsolutely. It's also dangerous as hell to ignore the fact that teenagers have sex drives. We see this all the time, but the children will be corrupted. I never quite understand which children they are talking about, how young, adolescents? Here's what we found out pretty quickly in the U.S., when you don't teach them about sex they go out and do it without any instruction. A 15 year old that isn't thinking about sex at least once in awhile isn't normal. I don't really understand the desire to keep developing adolescents from learning, understanding or even experimenting with sex. The desire to keep our children child like for longer than is physically feasible to do so just makes their lives so much more complicated. It certainly hasn't eliminated any of the social ills that the opposite is supposed to curb. If anything I believe it contributes to societies problems by teaching people to be ashamed of something that is natural and normal.
DeleteSex education is still a political hot potato here in Italy. I always end up arguing with some random fellow italian kpop fans when they say "oh man, asians are so conservative...", it's like they don't understand we're living pretty much the same situation. Some blame it on the Catholic Church, and while I agree they have teir faults I believe they're only a part of a bigger picture, reality is much more complex than that. For example there are some dictatorships that claim themselves as "atheist" and have the same problems, but I digress.
DeleteI know Japanese scene it's to large and variegated to campare with the Korean one, but I can't help but noticing how quickly something is changing in the Entertainment business, probably the decline in record sales has helped a bit, the jpop entertainment has understood that and took advantage from it, showing a seemingly human side. The "idol culture" is losing some of its pieces, and urges to reconstructs its meanings. Just a couple of minutes ago I stumbled upon this post that somewhat of confirms some of my feelings: http://mbmelodies.tumblr.com/post/76984795478/berryzkobo-im-an-adult-2014-it-has-been
I don't think pop music should be all about sex.
ReplyDeleteAnd if I think a concept is only about sex, then I'm often somewhat appalled.
Lynch movies are always ok to mention, no relevancy needed !
DeleteI agree that Mulholland Drive is better and my favourite. Would have to see Blue Velvet and Lost Highway again to judge which one is better, since I haven't seen either in more than 7 or 8 years.
Twin Peaks is da best.
Too bad he succumbed to some voodoo crap.
He did?
DeleteYes, scientology-tier shit:
Deletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Lynch#Transcendental_Meditation
He's been into that bullshit for decades though.
DeleteMy conclusion: Kpop is like politics. You have your too-loose democrats, too-uptight conservatives/republicans, and I-don't-give-a-fuck-independents. Great article by the way!
ReplyDeleteActually all your American politicians are uptight. Mind you Australian ones are no better.
Deletebut- Nick Xenophon.
DeleteHave you heard of some of our politicians sex scandals??? Sratch that just politicians sex scandals period anywhere in the world. Or just "scandals" in general. Politics can get pretty kinky XD Either way its nothing like it should be.
DeleteI couldn't give a fraction of a fuck what concept these girl group use.
ReplyDeleteIf the song is bearable and I can fantasize about fucking one or more member then its a pass for me :D
*high-fives*
Deletevery insightful....great article, Kpopalypse you are a genius. You should write for Times magazine or any equivalent of the Entertainment genre
ReplyDeleteWhy don't you contact them and link them to some of my articles.
Deletethose aren't cupcakes seo is lying next to, they're most likely fruit tarts! get it right man!!
ReplyDeleteIt's not the fructose but the protien that makes them special
DeleteBut... but... what if I think the song is great and the MV is super hawt but they don't fit together?
ReplyDeleteLike RaNia's STYLE MV which was a great song and decent MV but it just ain't 1+1+=2?
Because I do wanna hear just how retarded my opinion is.
The fact that you're already arguing that 1 and 1 doesn't equal 2 should tell you something.
DeleteClicked the link. Good game kpopalypse.
ReplyDeleteFuck Disqus - I want comment software that unlocks achievements for people who find all my Easter Eggs.
DeleteI love you for mentioning Mulholland Drive.
ReplyDeleteI love that film. Also the only Lynch film I didn't need to rewatch to understand.
Delete