The Korean exploitation machine is at it again. Another group of carefully-crafted, cookie-cutter Korean girls hits the airwaves with their carefully-crafted, cookie-cutter music and sweet, cute, and just sexy enough to be suggestive gyrations. Never mind that one of them is 15 years old. Another is 16. It’s the K-Pop way – eye candy sells.
Face it. If there’s a way to make money, they come out of the woodwork to push that envelope. And maybe I should feel sorry for these kids, but it’s hard. They’re living the dream, so what should I care? I don’t have to watch it or listen to them.
But, as usual, I’m perpetually concerned in what it says about our society. I say this merely as yet another word of warning. If it’s what they want to do, then let them have it. But is it? Even if they’re too young to understand, there’s no shortage of young Korean boys and girls who really (think they) want to live that way. All of the glamor. All of the drama. None of the privacy. Is this a good world? I don’t think they know any better.
I read recently an article about Netflix’s Stranger Things star Millie Bobby Brown turning 18. She had men literally drooling over her, waiting for the big day when she would be “legal.” Emma Watson of Harry Potter fame, and Natalie Portman – both female child stars – had similar experiences. The sexualization of young girls is a huge business. It’s an entire niche of the multi-billion dollar pornography business.
So what does the Korean machine do? Well, trot out more cute, sexy young girls. I mean, it’s alright as long as they leave their clothes on, right? And this isn’t about blaming them for their clothing choices. It’s about reality. Sex sells. And while these girls are incredibly talented and athletic (as are pretty much all K-pop stars), they’re also being dolled up and sold seductively for an audience that either unrealistically aspires to be like them, or lusts after them. It’s the world in which we live, where, under the veneer of a clean and modern façade, things aren’t really that peachy after all. A world of messy and greedy human beings, where not nearly enough of us step up to say “Knock it off and treat people like human beings and not commodities.”
The problem is though that it seems like we don’t know what a human being is any more. For those in the West, a person’s humanity was generally measured by a Judeo-Christian definition. We were image-bearers who demanded to be respected as such (although we failed miserably and consistently when applying that to others). In the East, a person’s place and value was informed by the hierarchical structure of a Confucian-influenced society (or through something like the caste system of India).
Nowadays though, it’s fairly clear that human value is determined by actual monetary worth (and personal opinion – but that’s a different story). It’s a kind of slavery-light. We’ve always had those who desired to be rich and famous. And even to some extent, to be discovered and groomed. The K-pop machine has got it down to an art though. The K-pop idol is not so much discovered as made. The trope of putting in the work with nothing but a guitar and a dream is unheard of in the industry. It’s pretty obvious that they’ve got a formula – a look. Every group has to have their x and y and z. The brooding, sultry type. The hip-hop tough. The funny, outgoing clown. And of course, the magnae – the baby of the group. They’re all trained mercilessly on etiquette and presentation. They are a product. And they’re worth hundreds of millions to their owners.
These are just the ramblings and railings of an old man. K-pop has long bothered me because it is so formulaic and unimaginative. The artists are just the vehicles for delivering music that pretty much sounds and looks the same. It’s shallow and meaningless (like the Kardashians), but it sells, and I guess that’s all that matters to its masters and fans.
Here’s a good opinion piece/review.