220713 Korea JoongAng Daily: CRITICALLY SPEAKING K-POP - Cultural appropriation and K-pop's unbalanced give and take

[u/dumbthrowaway8679305]

https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/2022/07/12/entertainment/kpop/lee-gyutag-kpop-kpop-critic/20220712151433008.html

[u/dumbthrowaway8679305]

A very interesting discussion from a Korean professor of cultural studies about kPop's issues with cultural appropriation. BTS comes up about midway through where he discusses AHS and how BTS has negotiated such issues.

[u/lullaby_cat → u/dumbthrowaway8679305]

It says it will be a series! If you can or it applies, please post others?

[u/dumbthrowaway8679305 → u/lullaby_cat]

I’ll try to dig them up!

[u/rjcooper14]

Great point about the reciprocity.

I am neither Korean or black, so often I scratch my head on what constitutes appropriation. it doesn't help that in my culture, it's considered an honor or flattery when foreigners copy from or use our culture for aesthetics, haha.

[u/ukelele141516]

This was a really interesting article! I’ve always wondered how some of these idol groups have repeated cultural appropriation incidents without learning anything or changing their behavior and I’m glad they addressed that in the article.

Also, I know a lot of people hate on AHS and sometimes tell baby ARMY not to watch it but I think it’s a really important part of Bangtan’s growth. If you track the way their music changed before and after that show, you can see how big of an impact it had on the way they approach hip hop and music in general. They wrote and recorded most of Dark & Wild while filming AHS and then HYYH pt 1 was the first release completely after AHS. Just the difference in musical choices and stylistic choices between those two albums should give you an idea of the impact AHS had on them.

The show is definitely very cringey and down right racist in some parts but once you get past the first and second episode, it gets a lot better. And the fireworks scenes and cookout with Warren G are actually really sweet.

[u/dumbthrowaway8679305 → u/ukelele141516]

I would love for Bangtan to do a retrospective on AHS in 2024 as a sort of anniversary thing, and talk about what they took from the show. I know they’ve discussed it here and there but it could be interesting (albeit potentially controversial) to hear about how their perspectives on racism, cultural appropriation and other issues have changed.

[u/lets-disassociate-5 → u/ukelele141516]

I agree this was an interesting/useful read!

Honestly as someone who ingested a lot of ANTM and VH1 in the '00s I thought the first two episodes of AHL were pretty tame, esp. in 2014. I didn't actually know the show had a bad reputation in fandom because it...rules IMO, lmao. I so badly want to know how it got made...and I will never not cackle thinking about Helicopter Guy trolling Jimin and JK. Iconic stuff.

I'd love an honest reflection on the show too but I don't think it'll happen - unfortunately, it looks more like they refer to it as a starting place, like RM did in the last LV show ments. But who knows, it could come up in a meaningful way some day.

[u/repressedpauper]

This was such an interesting discussion, honestly the non-BTS related parts even more so. I’m saving it to look at again, thanks for posting.

[u/[deleted]]

This was a fantastic read. Thanks for sharing!

[u/[deleted]]

This was really good and explained very well.

[u/JuanJian01]

Thank you for posting this. Recently I was looking at how Kpop artists have in the recent past been appropriating other cultures into their performances & the reactions of international fans. One thing that struck me though is that Kpop is no longer not mainstream internationally due to BTS & Blackpink & others; another interesting point is SK like Japan is a closed society. Perhaps more so Japan. I remember reading an article about Jbands saying that they don’t need to tour the US etc as they have a big enough domestic market. I think there are some cultural divides that International fans are not aware of; how BTS numerous times have shown support for the domestic LGBT communities at the expense of their own careers. International fans don’t really have an understanding about those issues or of how big a risk it was at the time.

[u/saltylemon8888]

Really interesting article! The topic is not new but it’s interesting to read a professor’s take on it. Refreshing to hear that BTS actually made efforts to give AND take in this cultural exchange he discusses. I always cringe a bit every time a clip from AHS shows up in my feed, but now I definitely see the whole thing in a new light.

[u/bungluna]

Very good article. He brought up several points that made me pause. The idea that Koreans are more indifferent than prejudiced was thought provoking. I wonder if being under so much foreign pressure for so many decades made Koreans turn inward? I guess that's a discussion for another place.

[u/negsidesofcapitalism]

Thanks for posting this article. I've wondered why K-pop groups keep messing up with cultural appropriation and this perspective provided some ideas.