Update:
Perhaps I was too quick to pronounce Dong Bang Shin Gi as the brightest flamers in the K-pop world. An alert reader made me aware of this you tube video. Watch it with someone you love.
Original Post
Since there doesn't seem to be much in the news these days over here in Korea, I thought it would be a good time to update my loyal viewers on the latest happenings in the Korean Pop world.
The new single from Super Junior that you all have been waiting for is finally out. It's called 행복. The obvious English translation for that word is 'happiness', but of all the English words that share that meaning, the word 'gay' might have been a better choice to capture all the major themes in the video.
This video (click here to see it) is great because it just shows the Super Juniors as real people, not some big shot egotistical music stars. Just like your normal Korean male teenagers, they wake up in the morning, put on their hot pink pants one leg at a time, spend several hours getting their hair primped and their lipstick, eye-liner and rouge just right, go to the gym and play all sorts of giggly-fun games with each other and sneak in a little kiss on the cheek every now and then if they feel a bit saucy. See here for more Super Junior fun.
Yeah, the kids are alright.
For those of you who read this blog who are not familiar with Korea, this is a very fair representation of the average male Korean teenager. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Oh sure, they all wear their school uniforms in public, but when they get home they all head straight for their pink shirts and make up and take turns doing each other's hair. Every single one of them. No exceptions. Not one.
The real entertainment begins when you read the comments below the clip and see their fans try to deny that there is anything gay about that video. Ah, got to love the cute little innocents.
A question for all of you to ponder. Why is that Asian girls get off on gay guy love while their western counterparts would vomit profusely if forced to watch these kinds of videos? What are the long term ramifications of a whole generation of young Asian girls attracted to boys who look more feminine than they do? Are these not questions that demand answers?
Selected Comments from Previous Blog
Comments
Whackin' that gay hornet's nest again, I see.
Posted by: jag | July 27, 2007 at 04:50 AM
Ryan Seacrest just said "Holy shit that's gay!"
Posted by: iheartblueballs | July 29, 2007 at 02:29 AM
I wish SES made videos like that. I'd be all over Bada and Eugene touching each other and making goo-goo eyes at one another.
Posted by: Brian | July 30, 2007 at 01:51 AM
More Crudder! More Cru...oh wait. Wrong blog.
Posted by: Hugh | July 30, 2007 at 07:41 PM
Blueballs: Ryan Seacrest is not gay. It was Simon Cowell who sucked off Ryan, not the other way around, so stop with the slander.
PS. Get a blog already. I'm tired of having to scroll down for your comments over at Marmot's Hole. Otherwise, I'm considering cutting and pasting your comments over at Marmot's on to my blog and claiming them as my own.
Brian: Considering the levels of slutitude female Korean pop singers are already lowering themselves to, your wish may soon be granted.
Hugh: To be confused, even temporarily, with the great Ed Crudder is indeed an honor. The man is a model for all expats in Korea.
Posted by: partypooper | August 01, 2007 at 01:05 AM
I correctly predicted that the guy shaving would kiss the other guy and leave some shaving cream on his cheek. Do I get a prize?
Posted by: Brian | August 01, 2007 at 05:20 AM
That video is fag-tastic.
Bum-suk: "I'm going to shower"
So-hung: "You wanna me to wash your back?"
Bum-suk: "No, I wanna you to do a dirty sanchez, felch, teabag, and rusty trombone on me. Then we lucky pierre with Yu-suk."
Posted by: Yes, It's a Gigantic Panda | August 02, 2007 at 05:58 AM
Even the fat guy is gay-pretty now.
Posted by: Paul | August 02, 2007 at 08:49 AM
I often read your blog and am entertained by your hilarious exaagerations, but then I ran across this. You are not exaagerating one bit here nad it scares me.
Those guys do not qualify for penises. I want to find them and use a machete to do their transgender surgery. I would just be worried they would try to hit on me.
The danger of having an entire generation of girls grow up in love with guys gayer than them, is that they will enter college, realize that they want a real man and find someone outside of Asia. Sorry all you Korean men.
No wonder these male she-bands are so scared and try everything to get out of military duty. I can only imagine the ass-whipping they get from real men in the military. Imagine if one of these fags was your tae-kwon-do partner. You would bust him up.
I can only say amen to the commenter above who wrote: "I wish SES made videos like that. I'd be all over Bada and Eugene touching each other and making goo-goo eyes at one another." I loved SES before they broke up. This producer needs to get SES together and produce their videos again. I would go for a free hug from Eugene or Pada.
Posted by: Faggots Gather Here! | August 02, 2007 at 05:53 PM
"Imagine if one of these fags was your tae-kwon-do partner. You would bust him up."
Just so you know 2 members of Super Junior - Sungmin and Hankyung know martial arts. lol It'll be sad day when a gay man beats -your- ass.
Posted by: Huzzah | August 02, 2007 at 07:30 PM
OMFG !!!!
ARE YOU HUMANS ???
OH NO !!
YOU PEOPLE MUST
GO TO HELL !!!!
OMFG !!!!
ARE YOU HUMANS ???
OH NO !!
YOU PEOPLE MUST
GO TO HELL !!!!
[original comment repeats the same message about 50 times. That's just how angry little polly is]
Posted by: polly | August 03, 2007 at 05:06 AM
On a more serious note, I find this whole "jupki" gay-joke thing to be pretty offensive in light of the fact that if any one of those guys actually did come out and say he was gay the same fans who laugh and giggle at his gay-streak now would no doubt toss him aside like a bad piece of meat.
Just like Hong Suk-chon, it's OK to act gay for laughs... but hell comes down on anyone who actually is gay.
Posted by: Brian | August 03, 2007 at 06:06 PM
Polly, Polly, Polly. Although I'm not human (I'm a Giant Panda) I could still split you like cordwood and make you squeal for more. So don't swear at us if we make fun of fairy Korean guys with too much makeup.
Posted by: Ultra-Suave Panda | August 04, 2007 at 03:14 AM
I'm TVXQ and SuJu fan but I'm deeply amused with your writing :D ... Lol actually I'm one of the fan that ........really hopes that they're really gay ahahahaha~ XDDDDDDD
Please write more. Wanna see those immature fans react about this things... LOL
Posted by: Amused | August 07, 2007 at 08:32 AM
i think you have a death wish.
Posted by: sheesh | September 01, 2007 at 01:58 AM
First of all, Asia has a very different outlook on life than the West. They value delicacy and feminism in all genders. What is right and normal? It depends on the person who views it. Just because most people in America do not view it in the same way because of their upcoming does not mean this type of outlook is wrong. Is getting steroid-pumped muscles the right perspective? Why can't people respect each other's cultures? Why is there a need to force our opinions on others?
Posted by: Why? | September 04, 2007 at 06:11 PM
What you see in these videos is NOT how are Asian men and culture. These boy bands are simply gay. I don't know what's wrong with their fans that they can't see that.
Posted by: sentosa | September 05, 2007 at 09:41 PM
Don't you know? Gay guys are the new 'in' thing. Don't bash them just because they get more than you.
Posted by: lol | September 08, 2007 at 03:54 PM
These videos are parodies on their own fame. Artists like TVXQ and SuJu know how they're portrayed to the general public and play up to it because the fans like it.
Posted by: idek | September 08, 2007 at 04:00 PM
I am so glad I found this lol You are very very wise. That video was gay in so many ways...It seemed like the song didn't quite match up so I made this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I10GyYzawss
Posted by: Anrui | September 16, 2007 at 09:47 PM
Stop! Stop! You're making me horny........................
Posted by: Leone | October 02, 2007 at 02:02 PM
People, you're missing something extremely key here: these guys don't control their own images. They didn't form a band to express any kind of identity. They are treated like marketable products, trained and owned by their management companies. These groups are chosen when they are teenagers and their images are dictated to them by their management company, SM. Everything they do is overseen by their company, which is specifically packaging them for a female audience.
Now let's think of girls (and women) in Korea and the kinds of men they are used to seeing. Times may be changing, but there are still a lot of misogynist men in Korea. These "pretty boys" are the polar opposite of the militarized, soju-drinking, room-salon-frequenting men who spit all over the streets. Girls are drawn to them for this reason, and that is why SM portrays the boys this way. These guys may hate doing these things, for all we know. But they have no control over it. We need to recognize that their images may not reflect who they really are at all.
The DBSK video comes from a 1-hour drama in which part of the plot involves Jaejoong mistakenly thinking that Yunho likes him. Jaejoong freaks out every time Yunho touches him. And of course the writers put in lots of moments of them touching each other partly because it's funny to watch Jaejoong squirm and partly because the fans go crazy over it. At the end of the drama, it turns out that it's all a misunderstanding and everyone is straight. But this means that the fans get to watch the boys touch each other for an hour. It's called fanservice. So this video doesn't indicate anything about whether there are gay people in Korea. (Although I'm sure there are gay guys who enjoy it.) These boy bands are marketed to girls, so if it says anything, it is about what SM thinks will attract girls. And it seems to be working.
Now, about the difference between Asian girls' attraction to this gay image and Western girls' repulsion to it, I think it's because of the idea (from Japanese manga) that gay relationships are more "pure" because they are loving each other despite societal pressures, not because of them. Whereas in the West (and I think in actual Japanese gay culture), gay culture has developed to be overtly sexual, these portrayals of male-male relationships, which are marketed to women, focus more on love. That's a big difference from common Western portrayals of gay men.
Don't quote me on this; I'm not an expert yet. But this is my perception given what I know so far.
Posted by: huncamunca | November 19, 2007 at 09:40 PM
^ Yes, it's called "fan service" in short. The idea is that some gay time on screen gets the girls to go crazy, and it ought to be familiar to those who watch stuff like anime.
DBSK aren't gay. Some of them, in truth, are more muscular, and taller too, than the average expat calling them flamers.
Posted by: bluesblue | November 20, 2007 at 10:26 AM
So if being tall and muscular can be seen as evidence that a band isn't flamingly gay, then where does that leave the Village People?
Posted by: fanservice | November 20, 2007 at 12:30 PM
I'm a little upset about the insinuated gay-bashing present throughout both the youtube comments of the videos and in this discussion. What's wrong with acting gay? Or being gay? It doesn't make you any less of a man. And acting like a girl doesn't equal being gay. And being gay doesn't mean it's all about sex. I'm gay and I love emotional gay love stories.
I echo what Brian had to say, the real sad thing is that it's alright to pretend to be gay but not to be really gay. Thankfully those attitudes are changing though.
Posted by: Terhi | December 27, 2007 at 03:53 AM
