What
K-pop says?! [Topic 6]
Lu
Yin
K-pop is super popular in this era.
Although I don’t listen to Korean
songs that often, group names like BTS, EXO, Bigbang, and Blackpink are never
unfamiliar to me, as these names are frequently brought up by my friends in our
conversations. Curious about why K-pop is so fascinating to my peers, I started
to watch K-pop music videos. BTS’ “Boy with Luv” and Blackpink’s “Kill This
Love” soon captured my eyes. While both “Boy With Luv” and “Kill This Love”
pursue a colorful, youthful aesthetic pattern and portray the luxuriousness that
is associated with the privileged class, they also challenge the gender norm by
showing male bodies in non-masculine ways and women to acclaim greater agency
in their relationships with men.
Colorfulness and youthfulness are the
main elements of the aesthetic pattern we see in “Boy with Luv” and “Kill This
Love.” In the beginning of “Boy with Luv,” the background is a building of warm
orange, blue, yellow, and pink that appeals to my attention. Soon, all members
of BTS appear in the MV, wearing with different types of pink suit. Such unexpected
but interesting choice of color excites me. The interaction of the background
and BTS members’ outfit presents a vivid scene that I could not move my eyes
from. In the middle part of the MV, the background suddenly changes into a
painting of buildings at night. The decision of using a colorful painting
rather than real buildings and sky certainly avoids the actual darkness of the night.
With more than a hundred colors throughout the MV, “Boy with Luv” continues to
draw the audience’s attention. The MV “Kill This Love” also focuses on colorfulness.
While the outfits and makeup of Blackpink members are multicolored, the background
is frequently changed, which makes the MV seems more vibrant. Besides
colorfulness, both MVs also focus on depicting the youthfulness. Altogether, BTS
and Blackpink members’ smooth skin, exaggerated eyeliner, vibrant hair color, highly
fashionable clothing, cuteness, and dynamic dances in “Boy with Luv” and “Kill
This Love” glorify the beauty and energy of being young. Despite their
different contents and lyrics, both MVs share the similar aesthetic pattern
that emphasizes colorfulness and youthfulness—a pattern we see in other K-pop
MVs as well. However, visual satisfaction should not completely replace the
depth and maturity of a music video. Right now, the popularity of the specific
aesthetic pattern—a celebration of colorfulness and youthfulness— becomes a
standard, making almost all artists to “exhibit the same features as other
products” (Adorno & Horkheimer, 1994). K-pop MVs that invite the audience
to ponder upon deeper and difficult questions or reveal the negative side of
the society almost do not exist. Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer (1994) probably
would say that such reality is due to the fact that current aesthetic standard
is “based in the first place on consumers’ needs,” and therefore, it is “accepted
with so little resistance” (Adorno & Horkheimer, 1994). Hopefully, there
will be more audience who desire to see different types of K-pop MVs and are
willingly to engage in certain dark side of our society. Only the change of the
customer’s need may drive the market to produce MVs with different aesthetic
patterns.
Music videos “Boy with Luv” and
“Kill This Love” also portray the luxuriousness of the privileged class. In
both MVs, BTS and Blackpink members play the roles of wealthy youths. Not only
their outfit are highly fashionable, with intricate designs and expensive
materials, but they also occupy spaces like a fancy stage in a theatre and a huge
mansion with organ and dazzling decorations. Moreover, BTS and Blackpink
members in both MVs care about nothing other than love and are willing to
squander their money purely on pursuing love or unleashing negative feelings
that love brought. Such materialistic living style in both MVs reflects the
social norm of wealthy and privileged people whom we often see as extravagant and
lighthearted individuals in societies.
BTS and Blackpink’s MVs also
challenge the social norm of gender. While “Boy with Luv” shows male bodies in
a non-masculine way, “Kill This Love” demonstrates female’s agency and power in
a romantic relationship. Although masculinity is often demonstrated through
muscle, strength, and toughness, BTS members in “Boy with Luv” wear makeup,
colored contact lens, and earrings, all of which are often associated with
femininity and are exclusive to females. Meanwhile, the dancing and acting in
the MV exhibit BTS members’ gentleness, cuteness, and their bodies’
flexibility, characteristics that are not often associated with men. In this
way, “Boy with Luv” makes the statement that male should be able to freely
express themselves in ways that may be considered as non-masculine, and the
MV’s popularity around the world shows that such unconventional expression is
accepted by increasing amount of people, especially the youth. Different from
“Boy with Luv,” “Kill This Love” shows female’s strong self-agency in the
romantic relationship. In the MV, the dance and lyrics coordinate to reveal the
girl’s determined mind in ending toxic relationships. While fast and energetic
movements in front of the shopping mall and a broken factory reveal these
girls’ willingness to take responsibility of their own bodies and escape from
toxic relationships with their male partners, repeated lines like “I cannot
stand myself being so weak” and “kill this love” demonstrate these girls’ determination to claim self-agency in
relationships. Although women are usually considered to have less power than
men in relationships, this MV challenges such power imbalance and encourages
girls to bravely act in ways that they desire to. As a form of pop culture, K-pop
can even be seen as an ideology that “refer to power relations outside of those
of class,” as certain elements of K-pop aims to alter the power of patriarchal
ideology and power imbalance that is based on gender (Storey, 1993).
The sociological interpretation of
K-pop is certainly meaningful and rewarding!
Works Cited
Storey, J. (1993). An introduction to cultural theory and popular culture. London: Prentice
Hall.
Theodor A, Horkheimer
M. (1944). Dialectic of Enlightenment.
Lu Yin presents a fascinating analysis at the youthful and colorful aesthetic patterns and their gender and class dimensions in two famous K-pop groups’ videos: BTS’s “Boy in Luv” and Blackpink’s “Kill This Love”. Namely, the youthful and colorful aesthetics, primarily depicted through the fashion and physical appearances, allude to the privileges of the wealthy and their materialistic extravagance but also simultaneously challenge gender norms. Lu Yin identifies BTS’s makeup, colorful outfits, and cutesy dance moves and Blackpink’s multicolored fashion as common elements, which are also found in many K-pop videos recently. Viewers around the world have bought into this trend: these K-pop star’s fashion trends are now shaping the way consumers are interested in certain products/styles. I extend Lu Yin’s presentation of these fashion tropes to Devon Power’s concept of trends. Powers argues that trends are interesting because of “how they influence social life—how they inform us about and encourage us to follow what other people are doing” and cites that “fashion is where trends have governed changes and patterns most thoroughly and conspicuously” (Powers, 2019). Thus, BTS and Blackpink’s common colorful and youthful fashion not only plays with gender and class norms, but reveals the powerful influence of these Korean celebrities and figures on today’s fashion and cosmetics trends in both Asia and the US. These patterns are seen in consumer culture—it is very much “on trend” right now and sells and more and more are adopting this trend. In terms of trends forecasting, it will be interesting to see the role of these K-pop stars and their influence on future fashion trends and how these aesthetics will also continuously reflect changing attitudes towards gender and class norms as Lu Yin discusses.
ReplyDeletePowers, D. (2019). On trend: The business of forecasting the future. Champaign, IL: University of Illinois Press.
-ROBIN HU
Lu, I really appreciate your analysis of K-pop videos. I especially enjoyed your discussion about the contrast between the consumer culture perpetuated by the videos in contrast with the challenge they present of gender norms. K-Pop has become popular culture not just in Asia, but around the world and as such is presenting these patterns to a wide audience.
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting to compare the Korean representation of these performers in contrast with cute culture that we discussed and read about. Dale, in his article, notes how some have defined cuteness as “a performative appeal to others”, much like these Korean bands do in order to pursue their commercial goals. Lu Yin talks about the obvious performance that these celebrities engage in, with their “smooth skin, exaggerated eyeliner, vibrant hair color, highly fashionable clothing, cuteness, and dynamic dances”. The groups both focus on an appeal to youthfulness, but they’re also sexualized by fans in a way that we can certainly critique.
The K-Pop industry plays into the tropes of the fascination with the adolescent body as a means to achieve commercial success. Particularly with the female performing groups, they seem to favor the performances of women who are on the brink of womanhood, much like the “shojo” we discussed in class.
Dale’s review presents the tensions of cute culture, and the power dynamics it is able to shift. Indeed, he notes how Botz-Bornstein addresses the ways that cute culture enables shifting gender norms in a way that other pop culture cannot access by allowing for an “embrace of instability and creative insubordination”. It will be interesting to see if and how cute studies have incorporated the global phenomena of K-pop stars to their research and how Korea's history influences their particular manifestation of social norms.
Dale, J. (2016). Cute studies: An emerging field (Links to an external site.). East Asian Journal of Popular Culture 2(1).
Lu Yin, I find your analysis on the patterns of K-pop MVs and the sociological interpretation of K-pop appealing to me. One of my best friends is obsessed with one of the members in BTS. I can never forget the period when she kept recommending their movies, songs and outfits to me. I have also listened to songs from Blackpink and witnessed my friends’ affection for them. Undoubtedly, K-pop has become a pop culture because it is widely favored by youngsters. And the souvenirs like posters and printed photos with stars’ signature add to its commercial overtones.
ReplyDeleteThe highlight is your finding on the challenge to the social norm of gender. As you have mentioned, the makeup and dancing in “Boy with Luv”presented the male group in a non-masculine way, while “Kill This Love” demonstrates female’s agency and power in a relationship, which can be regarded as an anti-male gaze. K-pop MVs partly break the boundaries of how stars in different genders are presented to the public. Here, female stars are no longer linked to sole sexuality, and male stars being exquisite are no longer linked to sissy.
Andy Zeisler mentioned when pop culture does not limit images of women, women in real world may not have been inspired to look for another and better representations. The development of MVs has a long history. I have to say some of MVs aim at women’s sexual appealing to attract more audience. But in “Kill This Love”, it reveals girl’s determined mind in ending toxic relationships, instead of depicting them to be submissive and miserable.
Works Cited:
Storey, J. (2009). What is popular culture? Cultural Theory and Popular Culture, pp. 1-16.
Zeisler, A. (2008). Feminism and pop culture. New York, NY: Seal Press. Pp. 1-21
- Xinyi Wu
Lu, I have really enjoyed your post on K-pop MVs! I think it is very interesting that you specifically analyzed their aesthetic patterns and how they connect to consumerism, which are details that most viewers frequently neglect but are nonetheless very significant in popular culture analysis.
ReplyDeleteYou have done a very detailed explanation on the use of colors in K-pop MVs and have made a very strong argument on how it is becoming a trend in the industry. Though I only sometimes watch K-pop videos, I do see that this aesthetics seems to intentionally create a vibrant and joyful tone. Many of the K-pop groups rarely utilize dark colors for their music videos, even when their songs are about problems in life like “Kill this Love” by Blackpink.
I also love how you point out the luxurious representation of consumerism in both MVs, such as outfits and designs. I think this is especially becoming a trend in K-pop girl groups’ MVs. Blackpink, for instance, makes multiple designer outfit changes in every single video. This reminds me of an argument in Zeisler’s book, Feminism and Pop Culture. Zeisler (2008, p. 12) highlights that “the evolution of the women’s movement has been mirrored in pockets of popular culture.” I think K-pop MVs are highly reflective of the commercialized feminism ideals, which are closely tied to consumerism as girl power. The MVs encourage their fans, who are predominantly girls, that they should consume a lot of products and have good taste as a consumer to gain a feminist self-determination in a patriarchal world.
References:
Zeisler, A. (2008). Feminism and pop culture. Berkeley, CA: Seal Press.
-Yanfan (Vivian) Wang
Lu Yin, your comparison of the two kpop MVs was very interesting to read. Youthfulness as a theme in these MVs is something I never really considered when watching them (especially for ‘Kill This Love’). Blackpink tends to convey more of a “girl crush” concept which differs from the youthful/cutesy girl groups that the public tends to associate with kpop, so it was great to see it from a different perspective.
ReplyDeleteIn your blog post, I especially liked your analysis with the Adorno and Horkheimer (1994) quote, “…exhibit the same features as other products,” to push for more variety within the kpop industry. It is true that many artists don’t provide an outlet for their audience to question the negatives in society because of the fact that audiences rely on catchy tones and appealing visuals as a way to recover from work (Adorno & Horkheimer, 1994). The wider audience isn’t looking for something that needs deeper analysis, so that type of music isn’t produced as often because it doesn’t generate as much commercial success. However, an anomaly is BTS.
I want to further your comparison by incorporating the idea of “western success” as a concept developing in the kpop community that has brought BTS and Blackpink to the forefront of kpop. One factor that led to BTS’ huge success abroad (particularly in America) is because of the fact that they used their music as a way to address mental health, LGBT rights, self-love, and many other themes. In the West, these topics are becoming more prevalent in open discussions, but in Asia, a lot of the topics that they bring up are still seen as taboo in a sense. For example, one of their earlier title tracks, N.O., criticized South Korea’s toxic education system and the expectations society had for youth that limited their creative choices. This release did not catch the attention of the Korean public, but they were starting to grow a decent fanbase abroad. Nowadays, BTS’ American popularity has also influenced their title tracks to sound more “generically pop” to appeal to a larger western audience. A lot of the imagery in the ‘Boy With Luv’ MV caters to that (ticket booth, American diner, La La Land imagery, and broadway signs) while referencing their past eras. With their explosion in popularity, BTS remains humble and well-perceived because they’re still connected to their roots. This point differs depending on the person, but as an ARMY since 2014, their releases have never disappointed me and I’ve never felt detached from them. Even with their huge fanbase, they continue to interact with the fandom as much as they can, strengthening the fandom’s perceived interconnectedness (Abidin, 2015). Through livestreams, Weply, and Twitter, they constantly share how appreciative they are of our support and emphasizing the fact that it has and will always be a team effort between them as celebrities and us as fans; it feels like a family.
On the other hand, I would attribute Blackpink’s huge western success mostly to the fact that they came from a huge and incredibly privileged and established entertainment industry that already boosted them into the spotlight from the very beginning of their careers. 3/4 of the Blackpink members could also speak English, so it only aided their ease into the American market since they weren’t seen as completely foreign individuals. In ‘Kill This Love,’ their conformity to the American/western audience lies in its instrumentals (which has a lot of brass instruments) and their styling choices that appropriate black culture (Lisa’s braids; yikes, a whole separate topic to dissect about the kpop industry). Their company, YG, has always seemed to desire success outside of Korea due to the company’s long history of appropriative styling.
Overall, both groups have large fanbases in America, but their growth differs drastically, and their strong foothold in America is also displayed in some way in their respective MVs.
—Vivienne Chen