Showing posts with label my views. Show all posts
"The K-Pop Effect" - Plastic Surgery: A Positive or Negative Force?
It's undeniable--K-Pop has gone global, it's largest anchor being none other than PSY's fantastically viral hit song, Gangnam Style, which not only placed #2 on the iTunes chart (much higher up than any other K-Pop song known to man) but also, replaced Justin Bieber's Baby as the most watched YouTube video, LMFAO Party Rock anthem as the most liked and other celebrities who were releasing songs as the most talked about at that moment in time. But rather than thinking of simply the 'one-hit-wonder or two-hit-wonder, still-more-hits-than-your-biases', why don't we look more in the depths of the music, analyzing and viewing the positive and negative effects of not only K-Pop itself, but the Hallyu Wave and figuring out this question's answer: Is the K-Pop effect a positive or a negative force?
Us international fans mostly forget about Korea or simply, don't have a good view and make up the opinion of what Korean's think through netizen comments that have 100 likes and simple assumptions and guesstimates so to say, not really upholding the true effect of K-Pop. K-Pop in Korea can best be described as a 'fascination', hooking people with their catchy songs and receiving love with their outstanding and charming looks, the influence of how K-Pop infects daily lives otherwise known as 'The K-Pop Effect' , inheriting its name from SBS's Dateline. Watch the clip below which projects the actual effect of K-Pop on national Korean citizens starring the lovely Annie Ko of LOVEXSTEREO who was also interviewed by us and asked a question pertaining to her views on surgery.
Teenagers are the biggest victims of the K-Pop effect anywhere including the origin of South Korea, everyone knowing about Girls' Generation or Big Bang regardless of what age group they belong to (which is similar to that of your country knowing of the biggest pop artist--everyone not liking them but everyone acknowledging their existence), but the young ones usually being the most gullible and influenced. As seen in the video and can easily summarize the 16 minute clip, appearance is a huge and key factor for normal people especially for ones who acknowledge the existence of K-Pop. Most normal people apparently resort to plastic surgery as said by a Korean female in the clip who has lived overseas in America and most inspired by their favorite idols to get plastic surgery. To be honest, it's hard to escape the 'pressure to be perfect' when your favorite celebrities have gone through changes that are inexplicable when judging from past photos, idols being simply everywhere as stated in this article pertaining to idol actors.
Nevertheless, a Korean female who's otherwise known as 'JW Cinderella' of the JW plastic surgery clinic whom had actually went under the knife revealed her side of the story:
If you have a complex, you should have a surgery and be free from the complex, I strongly recommend. Of course, each person has their own beauty. However, surgery could improve their complex, it will be good.I agree with this to an extent, plastic surgery can free you from a complex and will be good if it does. But from the popular MTV show Girl Code, the girls decoded plastic surgery and the cast members even said things that can be summarized like this:
Makeup can fix anything plastic surgery can fix but plastic surgery is permanent. They can screw up surgery but if you're good at makeup, it'll be okay.
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| Maybe we should all be like Tanisha |
Why?
Because the media influences you to aim for perfection, all of those women who are a size 0, have the most radiant looking faces and are marketted as goddesses change your view on yourself.
Which is exactly what K-Pop does to women.
And that's the thing.
Now whether the strive to be perfect is a positive or negative force is debatable. I mean, of course, there are some cases where it could drive a woman to be less lazy and care more about herself, maybe taking a jog once in a while and actually washing and moisturizing her face. However, with the plethora of Korean women (and I mean plethora) throwing their money out of their pockets in order to get a straighter nose, larger eyes and a prettier smile just because of a few women on the television screen, I want to say that the K-Pop Effect definitely is not something positive. And whether or not we can fix the consequences of it is still unknown.
My Thoughts on Hyomin's Nice Body
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Better late than never, Hyomin came out with a solo music video some time ago, shaking her barely-existent ass without shame and giving off a Marina and the Diamonds' Primadonna vibe (I recommend clicking that link if you disliked Nice Body) but without the satire. Since I'm late, if you haven't watched it, shame on you. If you have, here's the video below again to refresh your memory.
Hyomin. She's my bias in T-ara. She's secretly the girl I yearn to scissor with. She's undeniably amongst the most attractive, if not, the most attractive female in the group. And she's the one who blew this debut up in flames.
Regardless of the plagiarism controversy which I honestly could give less fucks about, Hyomin had this chance with Nice Body to create a satirical masterpiece displaying the hardships of women, especially in a country as image-centric as South Korea, as they constantly strive to be the beautiful through horrible acts like anorexia, bulimia and weight loss treatments/pills. I mean, the lyrics were aiming towards it, saying:
You’re so hungry you look like a login what seemed like irony. However, she did not use this opportunity to be angry at societal standards like f(x) did, which I appreciate them for, with Red Light. She used this opportunity toliterally boast about having a nice body, not even adding irony or just a small bitter sweet chuckle at the end because apparently, this concept will not only sell more but recover T-ara's tainted image more.
Anyone can realize it with her facial expressions which clearly show how much more sexual prowess one has if they were 40 kilograms rather than a whopping 51.4 kilograms (I just gave my weight for the whole world to see. #teamfatass) which clearly is worth it to impress men who care only for appearance and not inward beauty.
I just wish Hyomin, instead of shaking what her mother gave her, used this opportunity for the good. I wish she made fun of societal standards and presented a call-to-action (or at least lead us to one) since she was on the right track with this song. It would have been more pleasurable and possibly give the girls more street cred. Also, I'm usually a feminist but she plays as if all guys are idiotic buffoons, really. I've met plenty of sapiophiles in my lifetime (THAT'S THE ONLY WAY I GET MY LERV) as well as guys who don't want women to be size -2 so please.
Likewise, this track did not make me lose respect for her, so don't get me wrong. It's just disappointment since she really could've... stood out amongst the crowd of overly provocative concepts.
I give this comeback a 2 out of 5. I didn't discuss the music video or song directly but for people who might shit themselves saying this is not a review: the song was average. The tune was not memorable but it was audible for the time being. The music video for the 15 version (the only one I saw) was worse than I anticipated. I thought there'd be more of a story other than 5 seconds of a fat Hyomin at the beginning and ending, but no. Hyomin lost quite a bit of weight, too.
What do you think of Nice Body? Great solo debut or could've been better? Place your comments below and remember to starve yourselves to meet the needs of men!
Sticks & Stones may Break your Bones, but Words will ALWAYS hurt you
It's a miracle if an idol doesn't screw up their career by saying something or doing something that either offends or is inappropriate in the eyes of the general population. With just a few simple words, they can lose thousands of fan club members, be un-contracted by an abundance of endorsement deals and be pushed to group disbandment. These idols get targeted daily, the idiom "forgive and forget" playing no pawn in the chess match and people who were unconditionally and indescribably in love with the speaker yesterday are now the same blood thirsty hounds today, their leaches off and their teeth clenched, wanting nothing more but the ultimate punishment--death-- being ensured to the doer, no mercy at the trial, no sympathy implored. And with this are just those few seconds that they wish nothing but to turn back. Those few seconds that they may have mildly wounded the persons unknowingly--like a tiny paper cut--yet are subject to exile. Those few seconds they released those words that left scarlet wetness to gorge from their bodies' open wounds like a poked water balloon, to leave a brutal scar that's looked upon every, single, day, that continuously awakens the memory of their fault, to push them off the cliff into the depths of thought and make them wish they have never been born or even--should remove themselves from the world because the convoluted, sickening and ultimately wrong idea that if the world doesn't find them useful, they are not, wanting nothing but to quickly satisfy the world with their lack of existence. To inflict pain and leave it aching and spreading around their bodies engulfing them and swallowing them into the pits of darkness, all because a few
Variety Shows are simply the home for idols to make their biggest mistakes, the best examples yet, KARA on Radio Star, in which bottles were thrown, useless tears were shed, insults were emitted and careers were ruined in the mere minutes given to the girls on the show. It's surprising to me that though so many idols like Girls' Generation's Tiffany are manager-like and control their group and themselves on what is being said, many other idols still believe that wherever they go, it's still a playground, where no rules are enforced and they can do whatever they want. Because of this, idols are faced with accusations of being rude, misbehaved and unmannerly and their images are hurt despite the years of training that are not used to develop talents but instead are used to better visuals, improve verbal utterings on live television and not look like an idiot outside.
Social Network is another way for idols to lose control. To them, websites are more than just a way to connect with fans. It's a 100% guaranteed way of getting attention from the people who will do almost anything to even breathe the same air their biases are breathing. It's not the ability to waste time dilly-dallying rather than going to a schedule that draws them to Instagram, Twitter and even more rarely, Facebook. But it's rather the attention they will receive and the overall growth of people giving them attention as they release more and more pictures and videos of them acting "dorky" or "a person just like you and me". Many idols play it cool with social networking for example, Girls' Generation's Taeyeon who has one of the most popular idol Instagram accounts to this day, nearly hitting the 2 million followers mark and still having yet to stir up controversy however, other idols such as T-ara and IU who both plummeted to rock bottom (IU rose from the pit, T-ara still has yet to improve) simply with either typed messages or images uploaded online? Pure victims of the word infection that's been spreading all throughout idols since day one. What many idols don't understand is that though they feel as if social networking should be a safe haven, more than just die-hard fans check their pages each and everyday. And being that the fact that the people who aren't deluded in the idea that 'oppar is so perf!', they tend to see around their words and are more critical on their actions.
Simple
Words.
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Remember Hyosung? The girl who single-handedly wiped out her whole group with just a simple sentence when trying to act like more than just a pretty face on a radio show.
“Our team respects each other’s individuality so our group doesn’t utilize democratization.”
Just like Hyosung, almost everyday, an abundance of Korean idols have a 'slip of the tongue' by saying something more naive than reasonable. This is the reason why numerous Korean netizens claim that idols are brainless baboons who, without idoldom, would be nothing but a burden to their parents. To them, they're insipid. They're bogus. They're deranged. And while a plethora of defensive international fans will nearly kill themselves saying that kind of language towards celebrities is false and unnecessary, you can't help but realize that those accusations actually aren't just filled with the rage towards idols in general and truly stem from somewhere--and with Hyosung, just like numerous other celebrities like INFINITE's Sunggyu who claimed women aged 30 and over are hags, anchorwoman Eun Young claiming women over 50kg are pigs and Super Junior's Shindong stupidly noting that women should not be fat and there is a standard between men and women for fatness in which men can be as fat as they want and women should not weigh more than a toothpick these remarks of stupidity and wishing for reflecting which cause the celebrity to lose fan base, respect or even their careers should not be taken lightly.
Variety Shows are simply the home for idols to make their biggest mistakes, the best examples yet, KARA on Radio Star, in which bottles were thrown, useless tears were shed, insults were emitted and careers were ruined in the mere minutes given to the girls on the show. It's surprising to me that though so many idols like Girls' Generation's Tiffany are manager-like and control their group and themselves on what is being said, many other idols still believe that wherever they go, it's still a playground, where no rules are enforced and they can do whatever they want. Because of this, idols are faced with accusations of being rude, misbehaved and unmannerly and their images are hurt despite the years of training that are not used to develop talents but instead are used to better visuals, improve verbal utterings on live television and not look like an idiot outside.
The problem with many variety shows however, are the fact that they continue to ask questions as if they have no boundaries. Going straight in for the kill rather than trying to relieve stress on the idol when asking their questions and forgetting to edit out parts that could otherwise make the idol seem idiotic or hurt their image.
What does all this mean?
There's no actual answer to this question. Idols tend to employ words, phrases or sentences in order to get their point across, add laughter to shows, tell secrets or simply not fall into the stupid category that idols always fall into. No matter what fans, companies or even the idols do, none of them can get away with the fact that the words they say can persuade, influence or hurt fans or even themselves. Even at the height of careers, there's always a camera watching, there's always a person listening and there's always a crowd waiting for them to fall to rock bottom just so they can spend their thirty minutes on lunch break laughing at how much an idiot the idol because that's simply what us netizens do. Idols are no more than a by-product of entertainment companies hands and should realize they are just tools to wallet stuffing and aren't looked at as even human beings to entertainment companies, to journalists, to anti-fans and to even fans. And at the end of the day, when all is said and done, fan cafes close, a plethora of articles release and careers are ended almost as fast as they began, it should always be remembered before hitting post on that one social networking site, before saying that one tiny little word that can change the whole meaning of a sentence on a variety show, before even thinking of a funny-to-you-however-maybe-not-so-funny-to-everyone-else kind of joke that sticks and stones may break your bones but words will always hurt you.
