One of the biggest K-pop production & management companies, SM Entertainment has recently presented a new girl group called ‘aespa’. It became immediately a hot
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?
The second lockdown in Germany has just started last week. I assume many of us are planning to binge-watch series and films on Netflix. Perhaps
“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.
Netflix has revealed its documentary featuring one of the most successful K-pop girl bands, Blackpink. Blackpink consisted of 4 members, Jisoo, Jennie, Rosé, and Lisa.
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.
“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.
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
I will have to admit that I was a huge consumer of K-pop as a teenager, and I used to be a supporter of several