Germany’s next Tech Fail? 5 populäre Irrtümer über Virtual Reality

Nachdem unsere Wirklichkeit durch die Corona-Pandemie einen Riss bekommen hat, erkunden wir mit vm-people ausgiebig die Chancen und Grenzen der Virtual Reality. Mit unseren Veranstaltungen unter dem Label IMMERSIVE X eröffnen wir einem interessierten Publikum die Möglichkeit, selbst erste Schritte in dieser ungewohnten Umgebung zu gehen und eigene Erfahrungen mit der VR zu sammeln. Dabei […]

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Can K-pop be more politically sensitive? K-pop industry is asked to be politically ‘woke’ as it expands globally

Tzuyu holding a Taiwanese flag on Korean TV Show My Little Television in 2015, courtesy of MBC

In my previous article, I talked about the K-pop fandom and its activism. This time, I want to dig deeper into political topics that are linked to the K-pop scene. If the K-pop fandom is politically sensitive and engaged, how about the K-pop industry itself? What kind of political stance are they making? […]

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Soft masculinity and Flower Boys in Korean pop culture: Gender-fluidity? Or beauty obsession?

Soft masculinity and Flower Boys in Korean pop culture: Gender-fluidity? Or beauty obsession?

“Kkonminam” is a Korean term, literally a combination of the word for flower and a beautiful man, commonly used for describing handsome men in the Korean language. This term already explains a lot about the definition of masculinity in Korea, that it is somewhat different from the typical description of masculinity in the west. […]

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How German media perceives the K-pop phenomenon: Orientalism and Othering

How German media perceives K-pop phenomenon: Orientalism and Othering

When Edward Said first came up with his concept of Orientalism in his 1978 book, what he was referring to was mainly the perspective from the West romanticizing the Middle East culture. He was critically reflecting on the interpretation of the Orient in western society, pointing out that the concept of the Orient was constructed by the westerners. Regardless of how positive or negative the Westerners have described the culture and people from the Middle East, the idea of Orient was not depicting the reality of the Middle East and was rather exoticizing it as somewhat strange and different. Orientalism is, therefore, dangerous and problematic because it is taking the perspective of colonizers while ignoring the realities and the details of the non-Western culture. Even if Said’s concept was more focused on the exoticization of Arab culture, it is applicable when it comes to the Western media’s interpretation of the East Asian culture. […]

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Parasite and the western-centrism

Although Donald Trump was mocking the winning of the South Korean film Parasite of the Academy Awards saying “What the hell was that about? … They give them (South Koreans) the best movie of the year. Was that good?”, it is indeed an unusual case, a non-English and non-Western movie to be winning four Oscars […]

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K-Beauty? Korean beauty standards and the colorism issue

“Prejudice or discrimination against individuals with a dark skin tone, typically among people of the same ethnic or racial group1” is the definition of colorism. Why am I talking about this? It is because colorism is a crucial topic to be discussed in Korean pop culture as well as in many East Asian societies. In […]

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Gender Roles and Sexism in the K-pop Industries:Grieving the Death of Sulli

Gender roles and sexism in the k-pop industries

It’s been almost a year, a renowned K-pop star Sulli, a former member of a K-pop girl group, f(x), committed suicide. It was a tragic and shocking incident for me too, as I have grown up with f(x)’s songs and felt related to her as a same-aged girl from the same hometown. Especially, I loved […]

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Ende der Diskussion? Beitrag zur Debattenkultur für die Polar Gazette

Der Verleger Wolfgang Franßen, Strippenzieher beim Polar Verlag, hat mich gebeten einen Beitrag für die aktuelle Ausgabe der Polar Gazette zu verfassen.  Let’s take the Shit out of the Storm! In Zeiten wie diesen, da Qualitätsjournalismus zunehmend durch hastige und einseitige Berichterstattung substituiert wird, gewinnt die Partizipation des Einzelnen im Netz und auf der Straße an Bedeutung. Montagsdemo-Comeback, Online-Meinungspluralismus. Das heißt für […]

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Die Markenultras

In den 1950er Jahren machten Beobachter unter Anhängern italienischer Fußballvereine eine Veränderung aus. An vielen Orten begannen sich Jugendliche zusammenzuschließen, um ihre Lieblingsmannschaft gemeinsam zu unterstützen. Besondere Kennzeichen dieser Gruppen waren Rituale, mit denen die Spiele des eigenen Teams fortan begleitet wurden. Dazu gehörten unter anderem ein spezieller Dresscode, Choreografien im Stadion und Sprechgesänge. Nach […]

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A Journey to Transmedia – FoE5

Wer den Weg von vm-people mitverfolgt hat, dem wird aufgefallen sein, dass das wir tun, sich immer weiter von dem entfernt, was man im klassischen Sinne unter Marketing oder Werbung versteht. Sebastian Fitzek hat es in seiner ultimativen Lobhudelei anlässlich unseres Siebenjährigen im September so ausgedrückt: „Sie wollen Aufmerksamkeit schaffen, haben aber verstanden, dass die […]

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