August 04, 2013
Just a few hours ago it was revealed that EXOtics would not be able to attend Inkigayo to see their beloved group EXO perform their new song Growl due to their inability to maintain a peaceful environment during the live show as well as previous instances where they broke rules, damaging the fandom and labeling them as 'crazy' with a harsh blow. While the extreme behavior of these fangirls (commonly classified under the umbrella term of Sasaeng fans) is definitely not foreign to EXO and to kpop in general, this official news release taking a firm stand against these fans is definitely an unexpected one.
Do these EXOtics who have perhaps simply gone slightly wild in the pursuit of their EXO biases deserve this treatment? And to the bigger question - do Sasaeng fans actually belong? Members Andi, Tiffany and Jeana share their views below.
Andi: So I've seen some pretty crazy stuff regarding fangirls and the stupid/crazy things they do to catch the attention of their oppars and the like. Some have managed to follow idols into the bathroom, others have even gone as far as breaking into idols' homes. Woollim Entertainment even once issued a notice stating that if the fangirls didn't calm the fuck down, they would postpone Infinite's comeback. Fangirls do a lot of crazy shit, but lets take a moment to look at the pinnacle of crazy fangirls: the EXO fans. If you haven't heard of it already, there was an incident before where someone was recording an EXO fans' stampede towards the line for Inkigayo and getting slapped for it. If you look at the picture above, you can see obscene posters fans have made and waved them about proudly in the hopes of Kris seeing them. I don't know about you, but I'd be pretty creeped out if my fans were waving that around at my concerts.
This kind of behavior is the reason why the EXO fandom in particular is now banned from Inkigayo. EXO fans have become violent, irrational, and to be honest, they've been acting like a bunch of meth addicts. Not only that, this shines a bad light on the members of EXO themselves because idols are always associated closely with their fan base. Now that's not to say that this is a symptom of EXO fans alone. SONEs too have shown to be rude and disrespectful, particularly towards ELFs when they wanted to take over the section cordoned off for Super Junior fans during a concert. Plus, don't forget the whole concerning the whole Only13 deal. This says a lot about SM fans as a whole.
Tiffany: I'm actually somewhat pleased that they're banning EXOtics from Inkigayo, but not in the devilish, anti-EXO way that you're probably thinking of. I feel like with this small little step of banning fans who broke the safety rules that actually kind of endangered some of the actual EXO members, it can open up wider doors in the future... maybe laws to protect idols from sasaeng fans or at the very least, better company security (I'm pretty sure they have enough money to hire a few more bodyguards) to prevent another thing like Taeyeon being pulled off stage to happen again.
Now, I'm not saying that all EXO fans are bad, but being that EXO is a quasi-rookie (word stolen from Andi) and are already receiving a bad reputation like this, let's think of what could happen with EXO in five years if they last that long and don't get the amount of protection and the less delusional fans that they need? What about ten years?
Taken from a tumblr post is legit audio of fangirls sneaking into EXO-M's Tao's hotel room and recording him showering and singing to G-Dragon's Crayon.
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| D.O. seeing sasaengs and fleeing |
This has seriously just been coming to madness and really, I feel no sympathy to anyone but the actual sane EXOtics who wanted to go to the concert to see EXO, the f(x) and Henry fans who have experienced EXO fans pretending to be their fans, sneaking in, causing ruckus and putting a bad reputation on them as well as for EXO because it seems like out of every single active K-Pop group so far, they're the ones that should be most fearful for what happens next... them not wanting to end up like John Lennon who got murdered by a guy who was supposedly one of his fans.
Andi: Like Tiffany said, I too feel bad for EXOtics that aren't absolutely insane and just want to support their favorite group without causing trouble. Unfortunately, for cases like these, it makes all fans look bad despite that not being the case. Because there's so much attention on the bad side of it all, the good side barely gets any recognition. This is also bad for EXO's moral due to the fact that their fans won't be around to give them support during music shows. On the other hand, this is good for the safety of others until EXO fans can learn to calm themselves.
Jeana: I agree with Andi and Tiffany in many ways. Firstly, I do feel indignant for the not-so-crazy EXOtics who had their genuine hopes to watch EXO's comeback stage on Inkigayo burst like bubbles, because of the erratic behavior of fellow EXOtics. Yet at the same time, it is heartening how someone of authority, in this case Inkigayo, is finally explicitly drawing a limit to the accepted conduct of fans When Sasaeng fans get so deluded and irrational by blinded love for their idols that they continuously strive to push the boundaries of fan behavior, I believe that a third party should eventually step in when things get out of hand, for the sake of the idols themselves. The 3 of us don't live in Korea, so the only Sasaeng situation we know to happen there is that of several accounts depicted here and there through social media, something I believe to be completely unrepresentative of the true situation there. Beyond threatening the safety of EXO as previously mentioned, Sasaeng fans exert immense emotional and psychological stress on them. [Check out: Tao addressed fans that had recorded him singing in the shower through his weibo] Honestly, just by scrolling through stories of Sasaeng-EXO encouters, I am genuinely worried for EXO.
I hope that EXOtics can learn to respect and love EXO with more sincerity. Life as an idol is tough, and so instead of putting them down with self-seeking acts, let us love EXO wholeheartedly and to support them in whatever they do. Love isn't self-centralized - It's not about us going all out to receive attention from them - but it's about wanting to protect the other party, and wanting them to succeed. It's definitely hard, but let's all learn to suppress our urges to run up to trace our fingers along the hot bodies of our idols. After all, love is about respect.
What do you think of the crazy EXOtics already causing ruckus to the world? Comment below!
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this is what happens when young teenage girls get emotional, there's no stopping them and they would do anything to touch and see their artists.
ReplyDeleteEXO fans on the internet have also made me not like EXO. For example when other artists win a music show a ton of comments would say why not EXO?
you know a fandom is bad when they actually make it harder for people to like their artists.
Very true and as one netizen said:
ReplyDelete"They should realize that the image of fans = image of the artist."
People always say on the internet something along the lines of 'it's stupid for you to not like an artist cause of the fanclub' but it's inevitable. If you like the artist, you'd have to associate yourself with the fanclub and if you see a few bad apples, it truly impacts all of them.
If SM has to tell EXO fans to calm their ovaries down then we already have a problem here. I think that this is a good idea to protect EXO from the crazy fangirls, and until they can calm themselves down, they should continue the ban.
ReplyDeleteI may have Lack of information about SNSD in the Past..but
ReplyDeletethe way i see..
its the Same FORMULA SM use SNSD to Exo fans..
Marketing?
Media Noise?...
media Play..?..
Don't hate me..just plain opinion and over analyzing
It's actually pretty true! Most SM groups are marketed that way to get more of those crazy fans and for people to love SM groups as a whole.
ReplyDeleteYeah, marketing :)
I'm glad I'm not the only one who notices this behavior from Exotics. They will bash on other artists too like "This group doesn't deserve to win, Exo deserves to win because...*insert whatever rant or anger they have to say* In my entire life of Kpop I never came across a fandom this bad as Exotics they are the worst.
ReplyDelete