K-Pop is a current popular music form that derives from South Korea, which has been expanding its fame to the global scope for a while now. It represents many aspects of globalisation: you get to enjoy something that is on the other side of the world, you are able to enjoy it from home on your screens and it creates a sense of unity with fan culture throughout people residing in different continents. But at the same time, it reflects ambiguities of globalisations too: the existing social hierarchies and senseless acts of representations are repeated through K-Pop. From regressive views on gender to evident misogyny, to imperialistic mentality, to extreme competitiveness of the industry that turns ambition of people into profitable devices. This thesis aims to contextualise and understand how K-Pop operates and what it represents to the global audience of today. Ultimately, an attempt to get rid of these views and mentalities will suggest how not to have to explain yourself to others , the latter being the title of my thesis.

A Very Personal Mini Manifesto
For Myself and This Thesis

I, having been a minority for nearly half of my life
And grew up old enough
To be a little more
Aware of my environment,
Circumstances, situations
I have come to face
My own wrongful way of thinking
That lived through me
Bothered me, bewildered me
And bound me

Through explaining my culture
To you, for once, that is
Not unimportant
Not minor
Not irrelevant
I will autonomously
And temporarily
Take a role as your local informant and
Explain to you how
This matter to you
Regardless
Of your interest
And reaction

After
I will break free
From this imagined place of
In-between worlds

Grow or Disarm
The guard
To never explain
Myself again

Contemplation I

K-Pop strengthens my cultural identity. It was my biggest obsession in my childhood days in Korea and it still is my occasional hobby at a mild level. But soon I realised it wasn't a culture of one country. Moving to Australia, there was always someone who knew so much about K-Pop that will leave me speechless. Speechless by their amount of knowledge in this foreign (for them) culture and also speechless because these conversations were usually one-sided, telling me how much they knew about it. Then the Caucasian friend next to them would ask: What is K-Pop? Is it like J-Pop? ¹ (which, by the way, is the most offensive thing you could say, considering the continuing conflict between the nations after the Japanese colonisation.) Nowadays, thanks to the global phenomenon of K-Pop, people often ask me in Korea: Is it true? Is it really famous? Do foreigners know K-Pop? Well, these are all the questions that I wouldn't answer in a simple yes or no. And that's why I had to take it from a personal level to this complicated socioeconomic, cultural, postcolonial, historical, racial, gendered, and global level to explain this myself, the topic of K-Pop.

First of all, as the reader might already assume, K stands for Korea. Before the term was settled and spread across the world, K-Pop was called under the bigger umbrella called Hallyu(韓流),the Korean Wave, meaning the ‘flow of Korea’ from the 1990s, coined to describe the increasing popularity of South Korean culture in Asia. K-Pop in its early stages would be called popular music from South Korea, as part of the Korean wave along with other cultural products such as dramas and films. In fact and quite obviously, it wouldn’t be called as it is if it was only for the people of Korea. In other words, the term K-Pop was written in a perspective of the English-speaking audience and it has become to define the music scene of the country to others ever since. It is a convenient term along with the others that were named as sub-genres of pop, such as Canto-Pop (pop music from China) and V-Pop (pop music from Vietnam) or J-Pop. According to Said, it is a natural process for humans to impose different cultures for the benefit of the receiver. But the Westerners associate Oriental always with the aspect of the West, like another version of itself. And their intention is for their own culture. (Said 67) 

K-Pop is difficult to be defined as a genre, unlike what the name suggests. One of the most referenced genres is electronic pop. As the most popular genre of pop music in the world, popularised by artists such as Black Eyed Peas and Lady Gaga, it is widely accessible source for referencing and digital sampling. Dance is an important characteristic of K-Pop which electronic pop can complement and the sound features such as auto-tune counteract with weak vocal skills of the performers. Electronic music has a long history which should be distinguished from electronic pop. Electronic pop itself also is rather a trend in pop culture than a genre: a hybrid of electronic, hip-hop and a commercialised dance music. And because the typical structure of a K-Pop song has parts for both the melody and rap and also the dance, K-Pop replicates the form of electronic pop and appropriates it accordingly for different parts. In other words, K-Pop's genre is a mix of what the global audience is familiar hearing. (D.Y. Lee)

Modern culture in Korea is closely aligned to its colonial history. K-Pop’s inspirations are agreeably from the popular music culture of two strong nations — the U.S. and Japan. Colonised by Japan for 35 years and administered by the U.S. for 3 years later on, (the country which also provided significant economic and military support for decades) it is difficult to overlook their impact on the nation’s culture, let alone K-Pop. The first interactions of Western music with Korea was with American and British missionary, then through the U.S. troops which resulted in a substantial influence on genres in the music scene of Korea until now. ² What we generally refer to as K-Pop within the Korean music scene circulates around so-called idol groups. An idol means wanna-bes of people in the Korean context, someone you want to look up to. An idol group is a young group of individuals that are selected and trained by the entertainment companies (at the same time record labels) who are assembled as a group according to the company's styles and marketing suits. A similar definition of idol appeared in Japanese pop culture in the 70s as a localised term with its origin from France in which K-Pop was later influenced by. ³

K-Pop bases its distribution on a global music platform, commonly, Youtube. Many scholars agreed that the success of K-Pop was a timely combination of fulfilling the need for the new, liberated generation of the world and the booming of the digital music industries. (I.G. Oh, Lie, Oh and Lee) Choosing internet-based streaming platforms such as Youtube was an unconventional decision, as many other countries insist on traditional distributions such as CDs and iTunes with significantly higher profit margins than Youtube. But through Youtube, K-Pop could reach billions of people without any local promotions. (Oh and Lee) Through Youtube, all the contents are actively created by broadcast channels as well as explicit Youtube contents and more importantly, regeneration of all kinds of contents through a huge fan base of 89 million across 113 countries. ^{4 5} Foreign media recognition was followed by digital popularity, and so as what it's called to be now: K-Pop, a global phenomenon.

Contemplation II

I wished not to explain for the following reasons. As briefly elaborated, K-Pop is a global industry that involves a massive number of people. Before I refuse to be responsible to explain, it confuses me that some people are completely unaware of the happening. And despite its popularity, K-Pop is nothing authentic or even new. Both positive and negative aspects resemble the common conditions in the modern capitalistic world and in which, makes it seem unimportant and embarrassing to discuss about.



Popular culture or the mass culture "consists of the aspects of attitudes, behaviours, beliefs, customs, and tastes" (Browne) that define the people of its own society. The era when K-Pop emerged was the era of radical changes in life and values of people of Korea. Democracy marked its beginning, consumerism was appearing in the public and popular culture forms of today including K-Pop began to flourish. Media scholar Kang defines the 90s in Korea as an "era of transition from ideology to consumerism." (Kang 머릿말) K-Pop, as a result, has been a product for the people reflecting some of the traditional traits such as competitiveness and regressive views on gender which have been exacerbated since.

It was only in recent years that the awareness of gender stereotypes was brought up in South Korean society and the K-Pop industry makes this particularly evidential. Apart from very few figures in the industry that hinted non-binary gender identity or a stereotype, ⁶ gender depictions are strictly divided into the masculine and the feminine. In terms of femininity, more specified types of categories and their conditions exist in the concepts of the girl groups, compared to the masculinity of the boy groups. While concepts for the boy groups are not much varied or often not assigned to them, girl groups have distinct concept specifications that they fall into, such as cute OR pure OR sexy OR girl-crush that define each group's visual, behavioural and stylistic presentations. A problem with such typification is that only "a few traits are foregrounded and change or "development" is kept to a minimum." (Dyer 28) These concepts on idol groups show no progress from their first-generation through girl groups such as Fin.K.L, S.E.S and Baby Vox. ⁷

Like any other pop music culture, with the help of patriarchal society, the active male gaze is prominent in the industry. The presentations of the female are done for the sexual pleasure of the male viewer (Eaton) often through the hyper-sexualisation on the female body. As censorship on television on revealing the body still exists to a minor extent in Korea, choreographies materialise the body with rather a sensual manner, for example, with legs. In a sensational song of Girl's Generation's Genie (2010), signature dance move of 'kicking' with their long legs wearing high heels was extremely popular. Girl's Day's performance of Something (2014) was featured with tight, long slit skirts with a feather on their pinky finger they moved along their legs to grab attention and in AOA's Miniskirt (2014) dance includes unzipping of the miniskirts they are wearing. The focus on "a body in an ostentatious display of breasts, legs, and buttocks, does mitigate the threat that women pose to 'the very fabric of . . . society', by reassuring the [male] viewer of his male privilege, as the possessor of the objectifying [male] gaze." (Wendy 41) To support the idea, girl groups with female empowerment (so-called girl-crush) concepts have a significantly lower number of male fans than female fans. ⁸

A more relevant and repetitive occurring of the objectification of the female in K-Pop than sexualising, considering the cultural and historical environment, is in the art of being cute. You may be familiar with a sexualised image of the Japanese girl wearing a school uniform (or not wearing it properly). Modern K-Pop version of this would be young female performers clearly showing that they are wearing shorts underneath the skirts so that people don't get mistaken that they are seeing underwear and dance professionally, but still wearing some form of school uniform. Despite the attempt to disguise as more progressed, female idol groups in K-Pop still share the same origin of mechanism with idol groups in Japan: fetishism on girls. 

It is safe to assume the Japanese influence on the notions around the girl (소녀/少女/little women), as they were established in Korea in the 1920s, the period when Korea was colonised by the Japanese empire. The emergence of the term is dependant on the term boy (소년/少年/little boy), to begin with. The term so-nyeon 소년(少年/little age) was used for both male and female before. But as the term gained masculine recognition, the same word was used to indicate a boy. This is when the word girl appeared, as a gender opponent of the boy. Therefore the idea of a girl is ambiguous and otherised with double standards: neither in the position of a baby or matured nor a male or female, unable to be paired with a mature male, but also not to be as independent as a boy. (S.J. Park 240) The problem with calling any matured woman a girl is that it frames a person to this uncertain position who is not fully independent, giving them less responsibility and autonomy than a grown individual. Moreover, the behavioural patterns of girl groups today parallel with societal norms in Japan in the 1900s. According to Choi, girls, especially school girls were contextualised as a pre-wife and pre-mother material before marriage and were categorised with conditions such as 'pure', 'weak' and 'mysterious' according to 3 set rules — affection, purity and beauty. (E.K. Choi as cited in H.Y. Lee 20) The visual representation of girls too, resembles this time. Girls depicted in popular media forms such manga was "characterised with unrealistically big and shiny eyes, slim and tall figures, frequently taking up the whole vertical section of the page to present them like models and excessive decorations on outfits." (H.Y. Lee 23) These characteristics link acutely with the extreme beauty standards in K-Pop. Later in Japan, magic girl genre was born and influenced the idol industry of J-Pop. Popular culture specialised journalist Hwang says that in the recent trend of girl groups in K-Pop, it is concerning that the act as "a 'girl' is not seen as fictional representation anymore, but as a real depiction of the performers themselves." (S.J. Kim)

The fixed notion of how 'girl' is prominent in many girl groups, also including the word itself in their names, such as Wondergirls, Girl's Generation, Girl's Day, Cosmic Girls, Oh My Girl, GFriend ... the list goes on. Few of them do represent 'girl power' which is considered to have defined the third wave of the feminist movement in the U.S. "Calling an adult woman a ‘girl’ was once insulting ... But now that we can choose and use the word ourselves, and not have it forced on us, ‘girl’ is increasingly rehabilitated as a term of relaxed familiarity, comfy confidence, the female analogue to ‘guy’ — and not a way of belittling adult women” (Baumgardner and Richards 52). 


However, there are a few definitive reasons that most girl groups do not express such feminist initiatives. Firstly, their lyrics are regressive in terms of being independent as a female. In a Girl's Generation's song I Got a Boy (2012), they are looking for a prince to save them: 'Ah my prince, when are you coming to save me? Like a white dream, will you live me up in your arms and fly?' In Blackpink's Boombayah (2016), they suddenly call out for oppa in the middle of the song. ⁹ And many other songs base on a norm that females stay shy in a relationship. Secondly, they openly take a position as a girl where immature behaviour such as crying to get what you want is allowed, for example in Twice's TT (2016)’I am so TT ¹⁰ , tell me that you will be my baby', or be characterised with purity, as someone who's never been in love in ’What Is Love' (2018). The last point is a matter of autonomy. Even if the song is about female empowerment in a correct manner, it is not sure if it was their decision or if they even took part in conceptualisation of it. The answer in most cases will be negative, due to the nature of the industry. It is perhaps necessary to point out that all chief producers in the notable entertainment companies are, male ¹¹ . This male authoritative structure in the industry represents what Mulvey has said in her article in 1975: "In a world order by sexual imbalance, pleasure in looking has been split between active/male and passive/female. The determining male gaze projects its phantasy on to the female figure which is styled accordingly."

Vulnerably positioned in the industry and broadly in the society, there are many instances where misogyny was exercised targeted on these 'girls'. People, especially heterosexual males, but also the media, couldn't handle the discomfort when they found out that Irene from Red Velvet has read the controversial feminist novel (which was an unnecessary controversy) Kim Ji-young, Born 1982, to an absurd level that her assumably male fans posted photos of destroying her pictures ¹² . But when male celebrities came out for having read the book, the internet brought no fuss ¹³ . Naeun from A-Pink had to delete her Instagram post with a phone case written 'Girls Can Do Anything' and her company made an official statement to assure that she was not a feminist. Sulli was one of the very few idols, if not only, who made herself known as a feminist and raised her voice against sexism in the industry. That being, liberation as basic as wearing what you want to wear. Marked as 'controversial,' she quickly became a victim of online trolling and sexual harassments which ended in her committing suicide in October 2019 ¹⁴ . Surely, we have to take into account that feminist debate in Korean society for the time being was overheated, leaving negative perception over the whole subject ¹⁵ . But this simultaneously means that public awareness was brought to the front and could not be ignored. Kept in the image of a girl, such backlash they receive is a demand by patriarchal society to remain silent, proving the incapability to accept them as citizens as equal as men.

The hierarchy between male and female in Korean society is symbolised in K-Pop too, through how boy groups and girl groups are consumed differently. Girl groups are more conspicuous in public than the boy groups in all aspects: they have more hit songs, appear more frequently in advertisements and perform more often in events. But still, they have a significantly lower market value, simply because the most profitable consumers in the industry are women. They are the ones who buy goods, tickets, vote, watch and listen to music primarily for their own pleasure, but more importantly to make the group they stan more successful ^{16 17} . This tendency is more visible in female fans of male groups than any other relationships. Male fans' obsession do not always lead to spending money for them on the other hand. As a result, while girl groups are visually consumed at every part of the media, marketing strategy for boy groups often rely on fandoms rather than public popularity, which makes them richer nevertheless. What we see is one sort of glass ceiling situations (Yoo and Kim), prevalent in our global society that the K-Pop industry did not break through.

As expected by now, K-Pop is considered as an entertainment industry rather than a music industry due to the way the groups are produced, or, manufactured. The artists are the commodities upon which the music industry festers on, in which the journey begins even before the career is promised. Entertainment companies recruit young trainees, as young as 10, and provide lessons to invest on their raw talents. The lessons are commonly on singing, dancing, and third or fourth language, but many companies also include acting, various instruments, speech or even a comedy lesson. Trainees are also not free in their personal lives. Many have been said that mobile phones are not allowed because of the restriction on dating and being active on social media is also controlled. They are forced to lose weight and under pressure to undergo cosmetic treatment or surgery. This system of training draws alignment with Motown in the 60s in U.S. ¹⁸ A management company Motown Record produced successful groups and it's been mentioned that they were taught public speaking, posture, walking, stage presence, etiquette, and personal grooming under the name of Motown Charm School. (Powell) In the production of girl groups especially, Yoon refers to girl groups of K-Pop as "a genealogical pass down from Motown as it shaped the original notions of girl groups and established the foundation as an enterprise". (S.H. Yoon)

If they do make a debut ¹⁹ , the controlling environment continues through their career treating them as commodities and the consequences go beyond the individual's capacity. This was partly revealed to the public by the case of TVXQ. Three members filed a lawsuit against their company SM over what we call now a 'slave contract', an unfair contract between artists or trainees and the company regarding the period, cancellation charge, privacy protection and profit ratio ²⁰ . Considering that TVXQ was extremely famous and wealthy, unjust practice in the industry for the unrecognised is unmeasurable. Cases of Beast or Shinhwa show aspect of ownership and commerciality more plainly. Entertainment companies usually own the trademark rights of the names of groups which legally restricts the artists from using their names after the contract ends ²¹ .

In addition to what has been discussed with female idols — vulnerable for online harassment and under pressure to be a perfect product — the emotional burden follows undoubtedly for all artists. They began to plead the psychological difficulties of all sorts, such as anxiety, panic, depressive disorders and suicidal behaviours. Many well-known idols have openly or under other reasons left or taken a break from their career, unable to find other solutions to it. This commonness will soon become new normality in the culture. Awareness and media attention on this is above being raised by the death toll of young idols in recent years ²² . And many suggest better care for their mental health by the entertainment companies, failing to make a connection between the rigid goal for perfection and the well-being of the people in the society, including those idols ²³ .

What made K-Pop successful was largely in its visuals. Through the highly competitive, often hopeless process of training system accompanied by extreme beauty and skill standards on performers, visual perfection is achieved upon idol groups. Through them, we can discover leads to the colonial history, influenced by American pop culture and abruptly adopting Japanese depiction on girls, which all together, is apparently the most appropriate culture in serving the current society, including its static notions on female and harmful ambition towards success. Ultimately, K-Pop as pop culture is "necessarily conservative, working in the interests of those in power" (Adorno and Horkheimer as cited in Milestone and Meyer 5): wealthy, male, a coloniser and the "West".

3.
Can K-Pop Conquer America? 24.



Once K-Pop started to become known outside of the country, Western media has been obsessively curious about if K-Pop will "conquer" the world. How did K-Pop conquer the world? How K-Pop conquered the West, BTS conquered America. What's Next for K-Pop?  ^25. Of course, whether or not it will "conquer" America or the West, is not a question, but rather a piece of evidence to their fear towards the other. Representation of K-Pop as a coloniser shows that they receive this foreign cultural influence as a threat that aggravates them in securing their privileged position in a global hierarchy. Moreover, by continuously framing K-Pop into this hostility, they create themselves a reason to be threatened, creating an imaginative 'truth'. Within what Foucault has named as 'regime of truth,' "struggles over the definition, understanding and construction of meanings around the subject are created." (Mercer and Julien 137)

Another resemblance brought by the Western media's discourse over K-Pop is a study of Edward Said on how Europe constructed a stereotypical image of 'the Orient.' He argues that within the framework of Western hegemony:

'Orientalism' was a discourse 'by which European culture was able to manage — and even produce — the Orient politically, sociologically, militarily, ideologically, scientifically and imaginatively during the post-Enlightenment period ... a complex Orient suitable for study in the academy, for display in the museum, for reconstruction in the colonial office, for theoretical illustration in anthropological, biological, linguistic, racial and historical theses about mankind and the universe, for instances of economic and sociological theories of development, revolution, cultural personalities, national or religious character'
    Said, Edward W. Orientalism. pp. 7-8.

Ironically but not surprisingly, colonial words like "conquer" or "territory" are frequently in use also in Korean media to other geographical boundaries to expose proudly the dominance that the nation's culture is having. Followed by K-Pop, Hallyu, K-Distribution Expands Its Global Territory With Southeast-Asia as a Scaffold  ^26. is the title of a news article featuring how Korean companies are expanding its business alongside the success of K-Pop. This tendency of being imperialistic in self-presentation demonstrates the expansion of the notion to the economic world and suggests its danger of economic domination that K-Pop will bring due to the nature of capitalism.

Japan has been the lead cultural influencer to the rest of Asia for a long time, "interwoven with the power relations and geopolitics embedded in the history of Japanese imperialism and colonialism." (Iwabuchi 15) In a nationalistic sense, K-Pop has a role to revolt against the coloniser and the nation of the absolute power across the globe. Despite some apparent influences as discussed before, K-Pop tends to affirm a distinction when it comes to comparison to Japanese pop culture. BoA's pioneering success in Japan in the early 2000s had an enormous spotlight in Korean media that it was broadcasted on national news. Her reason for success was often marked as 'a genius young girl from Korea who had stunning skills in both singing and dancing, which is absent in the J-Pop market.' Idols in Japan specifically, are consumed as mere entertainers who can be excused for lack of skills. A TV program Produce101 (2016) featured a system of voting for the trainees (out of 101 girls), completely by the choice of the viewers to make a team as an idol group to debut. The system is agreeably an adopted form from the Japanese AKB48 groups, a proven formula to be successful in the market (I.Y. Ahn) with its commodity fetishism. People expressed discomfort and embarrassment towards the idea and it received a substantial amount of criticism, — until it aired ^27. It therefore explains why Korean people will particularly feel empowered in sentences such as How Korean Pop Conquered Japan ^28.

Over Korea by the "West", about Southeast Asia for Korea and to Japan from Korea, the notion of presenting a nation's culture superior to the other either by nature of hierarchy or through making efforts is transporting across. Geopolitical boundaries are emphasised during the process, but the distinctions themselves are rather fictional. As Anderson proposes the definition of the nation as:

“... an imagined political community-and imagined as both inherently limited and sovereign... Communities are to be distinguished, not by their falsity/genuineness, but by the style in which they are imagined... Finally, [the nation] is imagined as a community, because, regardless of the actual inequality and exploitation that may prevail in each, the nation is conceived as a deep, horizontal comradeship.”
Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities pp. 6-7

Additionally, Barker argues that different communities are aware of cultural differences by human nature and do not perceive the other as better or worse, but the feelings of antagonism between nations grow once the outsiders are admitted. (Barker 21) In other words, after all, one can draw a conclusion that these invisible power battles between nations are an absurd discussion triggered by globalisation.


 In the early modern days of Korea, all foreigners were mistaken for an American person and what we call now foreign (외국의) was replaced with Western(서양의) which made odd terms such as Westerner(서양인), Western culture(서양 문화) and Western art history(서양 미술사) to be normalised in the society. This custom of identification in a small nation fits right into the bigger hegemonic cycle of globalisation, a discussion over the dichotomy of the West and the East. It represents an understanding that is simply but precisely explained as an "artificial and polemical”(Jan Nederveen Pieterse 126) binary, resulting in a tendency to associate "the global" with "the West" which has also merged with the United States. (Darling-Wolf 7) While discussing different global audience of K-Pop, the following writings also have the intention of underlining the apparent distinctions that K-Pop adopted and contributing to the global hierarchies of power.

The global influence of K-Pop can be seen as a counterflow against a dominator in globalisation which is also the summarised definition of cultural hybridity. "Instead of an American popular culture dominating a Korean entertainment scene, Korean culture is believed to be successful in the Western market." (G.Y. KIM) However, there is a difficulty stating that K-Pop has any "Koreanness" in it, due to the origins of the genre being a mix of various global music as it was discussed in the first chapter. And therefore, Hallyu scholar Oh emphasises, K-pop is “[n]ot the globalisation of Korean culture, but the Koreanisation of world culture.” (I.G. Oh 132) Another criticised aspect of its hybridity is that it fails to consider in relation to power structure in real life that is present as a result of postcolonial history. In addition to what was mentioned before, the first-ever 'girl group' to be successful in the U.S. was in the 1950s: The Kim Sisters began their career as performers for the U.S. troops in Korea after the war ²⁹ , along with the Japanese influence on Korean culture. Hence the question of hybridity points the argument to the opposite direction again: repeating of the existing power structure.

Cultural proximity is considered to be one factor of success of K-Pop to the global audience. After local or nationally produced contents fail to satisfy people, their choice falls on the second preference defined by historical, ethnic, religious, linguistic, geographical and other similarities, as the audience looks for something that is culturally relatable. (Straubhaar 273) This would explain its popularity in Asia and multicultural countries such as the U.S. and Australia among the generations of Asian immigration. What is interesting to notice is that the same mechanism is used by the minorities too, making Latinos the second largest ethnic group of K-Pop fans in the U.S. Under or misrepresented by the national media, alternative choice for many young people was the new, catchy and all-encompassing music culture on the internet. However, due to the socioeconomic inequality, this simultaneously implicates that it will always remain as a minor culture, as long as the power structure remains the same. When BTS, a boy group that broke all the records possible as a K-Pop artist in the U.S., was announced in the latest Billboards Music Awards, the fans were screaming so loud that it shook the celebrities in the premises. But they also looked confused, like who are they..? Why do they have so many fans..? ³⁰

Cultural appropriation is another problem that repeats the structure of power. It is very much present in the visuals and musical styles of K-Pop — from a direct mockery of American Indian costumes to the accustomed visuals in hiphop music videos with the sexualisation of the female body. Nevertheless, a significant ratio of global K-Pop fans is coloured. It is not that they are not aware of the issue, as shown in the interview by The New York Times, Crossing Cultures: Black K-Pop Fans in America, which they ask for credits that K-Pop has quietly borrowed from their culture. (New York Times) The rationalisation for them draws possible relevance to the emergence of 'soul food', where deployed African-American soldiers found comfort in the food of their origin, more importantly, the comfort of being away from the racism that they faced in the U.S. (Connuck). While Korean society is becoming more aware of soft and hard racism in the society, K-Pop remains sacred, not fully or sensibly discussing the issues yet, while sub-genres of K-Pop; K-Hiphop and K-R&B, continues to expand and thrive to other countries. 

In the meantime, White fans identify themselves without awkwardness and sit rather comfortably for their fan practice. One part of the Youtube phenomenon was the streams of videos titled this-group-reacts-to-this-and-they-are-loving-it. In addition to the fact that the hype of these reaction videos is gained through the exercising of otherness, what is interesting to notice in K-Pop scene is the extension of fan culture to fans who make reaction videos, creating minor celebrity-fans. In David Oh's study in 'White, English-speaking celebrity-fans on Youtube,' he argues that through demonstrating "deep commitments to non-White music and artists," through their videos, their resistive practice is symbolised that is "constrained by White racial logics that support post-racism and gendered logics of their local spaces." (D.C. Oh)

One effective strategy of K-Pop is through promoting multi-nationality of the groups. At the beginning of the popular music scene in Korea, foreign members were mostly Korean-Americans, for their fluency in the language and the appropriateness for the American-influenced genres. But as the industry started expanding and recognised possibilities in the overseas market, having foreign members turned into a marketing interest. Chinese members started to get implemented in the Hallyu phenomenon, SM Entertainment organised a sub-unit of Superjunior named Superjunior M with Chinese members and speakers, basing their activities in China only. Likewise, foreign members tend to have a specific purpose. Starting with Nichkhun from 2PM in 2008, Thai members appear in the industry frequently. Blackpink, a successful girl group with a Thai member Lisa, has one of the highest Youtube view counts from Thailand ³¹ . Along with another Thai member Bambam in a boy group GOT7, they dominate the advertisement scene of the country. These Thai members had a crucial role in localising Korean culture, let alone K-Pop, to Thailand. 

Still, K-Pop is not considered to be multicultural, but exclusively Korean. Foreign members are expected to speak Korean, go through the same training system and to be fit under the same standard of beauty in Korean society, showing no diversity in skin tone and body figures as a result. At the same time, their national identity is often consumed as an authentic entertainment. Wearing traditional costumes, being asked to speak their language on shows, playing a traditional instrument and dancing to traditional music, while they remain in the Korean context directed by Korean producers and initially for the Korean viewers watching television. Through these representations and objectification, their identity is stuck in a double standard of being Korean and the Other.

Likewise, K-Pop adopted the discriminative nature of globalness which has not been critically reflected. The vision is then represented through K-Pop again to the audience who will imagine the global correspondingly, as most people are not in a position to "acquire the extensive first-hand knowledge of different cultural environments needed to develop “a primarily global identity”
(Strauhbaar 6)" (Darling-Wolf 12) Furthermore, Rantanen emphasises the crucial role of media in forming the impressions of "the global" and considers them as a constituting part of the mediation. (Rantanen 8) K-Pop as a digital media stretch across time and space, repeating the unconventional power structure existing in the society and continues to strengthen the Western-centric notions around the globalness.

Contemplation III

In the work of Hito Steyerl's How Not To Be Seen(2014), she expresses not only about wanting to be invisible but also to be recognised as human beings, even when you are wearing a burqa or being "a woman over 50" or living in a gated community. In the same manner, I hoped to find a way to not explain myself with a wish to remain known as part of the global culture, not as a unique something from outside the normal realm. But there is no definite fulfilment in this current world. Rather, I am asserting the impossibility of it through it. As long as the hierarchies exist — hierarchies divided by biological, social, cultural, economic differences and the distinctions they make — one would always be less known for the major other, the more largely distributed selves and their cultures. K in K-Pop will always be minor, with minor ethnicity and minor language, at least for the foreseeable future.


 K-Pop operates in perspective of the others, named by an outsider and mingled with foreign influences. We have recognised "the deeply embedded ways that the past is still with us in the present." (Gates 7) As a country with a colonial history, two powerful nations, a coloniser and the nation that mediated post-colonial era inevitably influenced the basis of popular culture, partly, K-Pop. The relevance was drawn from the U.S. about the genre and producing styles and from Japan about the notions on a 'girl'. In other words, it is paradoxical that K-Pop is communicated as a representative of Korean culture and that it poses an apparent threat to Western culture.

K-Pop has since been cultivating the influence in its own terms and hence reflecting strong cultural traits — competitive nature and the patriarchy in the modern Korean society. K-Pop produces a toxic creation with the entertainment companies in a fundamentally more powerful position. Trainees and artists become the commodities of the companies where the exploitative practice is common, disguised as their own will for success. They tolerate being controlled and observed, under arbitrary measures by the industry and society which creates an environment where resistance is difficult to be made. As Dongwan Kim has written after Sulli's death ³² , "Grown-ups expect young people to stay healthy and happy when they are starved and exhausted. They should be sexy but should not have sex and should be tough but should not fight with anyone." Mass culture reflects the society of the time. The music and entertainment industry and their normality of the destructive system show that it is becoming embedded as a culture rather than accidental events.

What it represents to the global audience is the same global ecology of existing hierarchies. K-Pop is spreading unconscious knowledge of gender, racial and socioeconomic discriminations with the same ideas on who the dominant and the dominated might be in each category — the dominant, being the male, White and the "West". K-Pop takes a part in globalisation with or without intention through travelling images and knowledge across time and places. The circulation of hegemonic representations reaches different countries that will continue to shape the notion of globalness accordingly to individuals. Therefore, awareness of its context and impacts and a critical reflection are demanded in the culture of K-Pop, for the less centred discussions about the world.

And finally, I have answered different questions from different people, from a different period of time about K-Pop that has been gaining more contexts and complexity as it grew. Along with K-Pop, my personal journey is travelling further too and someday, both my culture and my identity, both to myself and others, will be understood without having to be explained. Before such a future to ever come, I suggest to start speaking in your own terms. Not as how others have defined and witnessed it. With own observations and expectations. In uncomfortable but truthful ways that show how the world together has developed this phenomenon and is now circulating around us. With bare eyes but with educated minds. To be aware of what it will carry to the future. We would not only wish but act towards, the ways to not have to explain ourselves.


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