my thoughts on Yoonchae and her fandom/general perception as a member of Katseye, as well as how she serves as a particular vehicle (and for what) in fandom/rpf space
i stole this title literally entirely from the preview post lmao
also this is diabolically long [3.6k words] so i truly appreciate whoever takes the time to sit and read hahaha
Talking to people I know irl that are fairly or entirely removed from fandom consumption of Katseye and getting their opinions on the group is so interesting to me because it gives me a frame of reference for that audience, in addition to my tiny circle of delusional Tumblr rpfers (lightheartedly, lovingly). The most recent conversation I had surrounding this was so informative in this regard, partly because to begin with, the other person actually liked Katseye – which really helps lol! I find that trying to discuss Katseye reception is oftentimes so difficult and tedious and inconclusive if the other party goes into it a hater, or writing them off immediately, because it almost entirely erases the fact that for a good year they were on an insane upswing and they were truly the world's faves... Something about to be a true hater you need to be a lover first? Obviously I understand why people who are less attached to these girls would find it easier to dismiss them when they start putting out music or moving forward in a less than desirable creative direction or whatever, but as someone who is not less attached, I'm here to stick it out. That one post that was like 'discussing the future of Katseye with my 10yo cousin' which is in fact something I have done with my own adolescent cousins. It's serious to me!!
Anyways. From there I learned that this friend is a Yoonchae bias (she never said it outright but she was raving about her extensively so I'm taking the liberty to assume), so I asked why and she gave the expected answers: that she's classy, she's cute, she's comparatively less 'messy',* etc etc. Has all the standards of a regular kpop idol (friend was of the opinion that in the case of Katseye disbandment, Yoonchae would do really well in a regular kpop group), and with a wonderful* personality to match. Also probably relevant tidbit: this friend is a pretty standard kpop fan and was before Katseye was a thing – so, completely inversely to me, she uses kpop as a frame of reference, whereas I learned about the general mold by getting into Katseye if that makes sense. I recognize that I'm not nearly as informed on the extensive workings of kpop as an industry and as a means of forming groups/the methodology of it all, but I also never said my opinion was factual or concrete and I hope it's obvious from how much I say it that I'm always open to discussion and criticism lmao. Please take all my thoughts with this prefacing history in mind!
Okay. So allllll this to say: what does that say about how Yoonchae is perceived in fandom, if this is her (albeit positive, though I've never really heard much noise against her in general so I'm, again, taking the liberty to assume it's a general opinion) reception to a regular schmegular kpop fan? Well, I'm here to take up the answer, as the flip side of that coin: a Katseye fan venturing into kpop as an rpfer.
Overarchingly: Katseye feels like taking all the fun allure of kpop (the marketing, the extensive merchandising and consumerism aspects, the methodology behind the artistry, the advertisement and presentation towards the general public), and making it accessible entirely to western/worldwide audiences. Primarily because, yes, they all speak in English but touch on a fairly wide range of diversity of ethnicities and other language capabilities, but for other reasons as well – like their sheer 'relatability': they're liberally, effortlessly humorous on lives (literally the way I got into Katseye in the first place was getting one too many TikTok compilations of their funny live moments and finding myself laughing my ass off despite having no clue who these girls were); they're pretty open with discussion on topics like mental health, food, relationships, and queerness – all things that would be regulated strictly, or avoided entirely, coming out the mouths of a kpop group. Blah blah blah, the joke about media training: their ability to speak up, swear, date, etc. openly makes them feel like they have autonomy. To me, this is by far their most magnetic quality: We feel more connected to people that feel real, authentic, genuine: it’s what we seek in our idols (also, consider what the word idol itself invokes in the first place: someone that feels like a pillar of aspiration, someone who we admire and want to emulate), and it’s what cranks up that sense of parasocialism that is so rampant in kpop to the max.
A lot of this is blanket statement-ing and/or fairly obvious already, but I just wanted to lay out my thoughts regardless. Katseye took everything that makes kpop so addictive and combined it with a sense of genuineness that jumps out at you because of how disarmingly simple and easy connecting with them feels. I don't deny that they really are genuine (to some extent, as all idols are, but with Katseye, it's like. We know where these girls come from, we also know why and how they were formed – although this is ALSO another thought for another day), nor that genuineness cannot exist in tandem with regular kpop idolhood (ask me about my thoughts on Lily Morrow and her relationship to authenticity <3).
I just think all of this really culminates in Yoonchae, in particular.
So. Yoonchae is Korean (duh, everyone says). We all know the story: she flew all the way from South Korea to LA at fifteen to compete in Dream Academy, fought her way to debut, and emerged a member of the Katseye lineup, gradually learning English the whole time as she conquered the hearts of both regular and kpop fans alike: audience expansion at its finest and most successful. ← an extremely crass way to put it all, but you get the gist. Earlier above, I put stars at the phrases 'comparatively less messy' and 'wonderful personality': I want to expand on them a little more here. The jokes about Yoonchae's media training, or 'Korean personality', or more kpop-idol-appropriate qualities are tired – but no matter how tired they may be, there's still some truth to them, at least because of how she's subsequently perceived: Yoonchae is known for, comparatively, not having any scandals or drama or whatever under her belt; she doesn't participate in, say, dishing out swear words or maybe less than favourable throwaway remarks on lives or at concerts, etc., etc., you get the idea. You could argue that she gets leeway because she's the youngest, and the 'most' foreign, but this perspective also becomes harmful when you consider the Yoonchae homophobic jokes and all that bullshit, and to tell the truth, it's not even that she gets leeway – it's that it is true, to some extent. Yoonchae really hasn't done anything. All this to say, kpop fans and other general audiences alike love Yoonchae because she keeps it classy, and her personality lends to this, as well: she is so loveable!! From the beginning there has always been something to like about her: her shyness, her innocence, her natural cuteness. How everyone took her under their wing to care for her and guide her, especially as the youngest newcomer to the western world, and in the cultural epicentre that is LA, no less. She was malleable, absorbant to the tics and traits of her members and the world around her. And then the progression of watching her slowly gain confidence, get comfortable, build up a personality that is humorous (her knack for comedic timing in English is so impressive), still sweet but with that touch of fire in how she loves to back-and-forth with everyone, determined, hot and bold but not in a way that feels obnoxious. She speaks with her members' inflections and uses their slang; she is so visibly happy when she can speak in her native language to her fans and to her family.
I hope I'm making sense with this/getting my point across. The idea is that, essentially, Yoonchae is the literal embodiment of the bridge between the kpop and the broader global audience (all of which is, conceptually, Katseye as a group): she is perfect, ideal idol material, a spotless record maintained hand-in-hand with the authenticity everyone seeks and loves and feels connected to. Yoonchae's media training jokes/she was weirded tf out by her members' behaviour/the argument that she should've been in a simple kpop girl group really tire me because a lot of this can just be attributed to culture shock/unfamiliarity (meaning they are insensitive and xenophobic as jokes), and as for the latter point, well. I respectfully disagree. While I don't doubt that she would've fared perfectly fine in a regular kpop group, I really like that she got to be a part of something as unique as Katseye, because she really did have a one-of-a-kind experience that had its moments, opportunities that she wouldn't have had access to under different circumstances by virtue of Katseye creating these opportunities.
Brief tangent, but. While I love seeing who Yoonchae has blossomed into while in the group that she is in, I also don't care for the 'so glad we didn't lose her to idolhood she can be Free and Herself' narrative, or whatever it is. I actually think that this sentiment in general, the idea that idols are strictly there to do work and that they don't get any personal fulfillment out of their idolhood, almost completely disregards (and #imo is frankly disrespectful) the work that actual kpop idols are currently doing to allow for more of their personal input and autonomy shine in their artistry. We have idols penning concepts and writing lyrics and working on production and collaborating or directing choreography!! They're not complete puppets of the industry. I think this take denies the existence of this fight for authenticity altogether, which seems pretty antithetical to what these people claim to want. Kpop is a highly regulated and commercialized industry, yes, but if you pay attention, you are able to find the genuineness you crave to feel from your idols!!
(Or like. Maybe I've completely fallen victim to parasocialism and I should just fall in line with the rest of the jaded fans who understand kpop idols are nothing but pretty faces to sing fun songs and dance for my entertainment. I don't know. I'm an optimistic person at heart but I really do worry I come off as delusional in my quest to humanize these people. Am I really crazy for thinking they do care to some extent??!! I think it all depends… Whatever…)
Anyways. We'll never know how Yoonchae's personality would have emerged had she debuted in a regular kpop group, but it seems pretty callous to say she would have been (emotionally, socially, etc.) stunted or regressed or something otherwise just because we have the privilege of seeing how she acts as a member of Katseye. I think it's less a matter of what type of group she ended up in and moreso simply how your environment shapes you. Like, idols have personalities too, guys…
The way people talk about the diversity in Katseye really comes off as crude to me sometimes, because regardless of whatever the intentions were behind the inclusivity and formation of the group, you cannot deny the reality of the countless little kids out there looking at these girls on tv and going, 'hey, she looks like me!!' I think that there's definitely something to be said about how sometimes the group is postured using their ethnic/cultural identities as markers or identifiers, and how that becomes something definitive that can become a takeaway for other less concrete aspects of the group and the individuals, but you know. Another time. The meaningfulness those kids experience will always be something real and special to me, because representation really does matter, and it's heartwarming to see how many young people truly felt/feel connected to the members. Yet another facet of authenticity, and the capability of forming connections. Yoonchae is special, and significant, to me, precisely because of her role as a bridge between two worlds/identities/cultures etc. – though not without my observations on how that manifests in her perception.
To briefly get personal (unfortunately I am lore dumper supreme but hey at least it's actually kind of relevant right now), I'm half-Korean. I was raised on Korean family customs and traditions, I've been unnie to my sisters for as long as I can remember – I'm mixed; I like to think my parents did a great job intermingling both aspects of their cultures into my upbringing, and I feel quite connected to my heritage. Despite this, though, I can't fluently speak either of my mother tongues, and I am wholly culturally Western born-and-raised before I am culturally Asian, even though I am ethnically Asian entirely. I was never really into kpop growing up. I knew what it was peripherally and had like two friends who were into it, but it kind of just remained in the vicinity, mostly via my dad playing Blackpink in the car. Them, Nobody by Wonder Girls, and Stay With Me from the Guardian soundtrack (fwiw both of those are still some of my favourite songs of all time) were my only significant exposures to kpop/k-music as a genre, and beyond that it never truly grabbed me throughout my entire childhood. Then, Katseye came along and completely changed that, and, well. I’ve already explained my progression. There’s a part of me that feels ashamed that I didn’t just… get into this thing that comes from my own culture directly, but I also understand why — and I also understand why Katseye was so effective at getting the job done. I mean, I’ve been typing about it for the last three days.
So where does Yoonchae come into this specifically? I’m not going to say I outright see myself in Yoonchae, because I think I recognize our differences before our similarities — but it doesn’t mean I don’t identify with her entirely, either. There's hardly ever been the space for both aspects of Western and Eastern/ethnic heritage to coexist in the way that it does in Yoonchae, and the minute nuance of that is something that has really made it easier for me to identify what bothers me so much about how Yoonchae is sometimes portrayed in fan spaces and fic. Because it's a coexistence that I feel reflects my own upbringing, if not in reverse, so specifically and particularly.
I think that Yoonchae is used as a vehicle for all sorts of narratives because of the range she's able to cover in terms of her role in the group, if that makes sense. She is a very unique idol by all standards, considering her familiarity with both idol regulation/training and general upholdings, alongside her experience in Katseye, an unconventional group by virtue of their kpop methodology, but global identity. This gives her the plausibility to play more standardized kpop fic roles that sometimes feel like guidelines when it comes to writing k-group fic, as well as the plausibility to be more Americanized – something a lot of English speaking fans, and fans who aren't kpop stans, are more comfortable writing due to familiarity. Even when it comes to English-speaking idols or idols who were raised culturally Western, they still exist and interact within the confines of their k-group, which 'restricts' them to cultural and social norms that aren't easily understood or accessible to English-speaking/Western fandom. Yoonchae is the rare case of a Korean in a Western/American/global group, where she sort of floats in this vast middle ground where she is widely accessible as a character to write in a way I don't think exists with many other members of any other groups, kpop or otherwise. I guess there's always flexibility with AUs set somewhere ambiguously American/western, but the characters stop feeling like extensions of the idols they're being drawn from and more like OCs should you venture too far along that spectrum. Again, though, this is coming from me, a canon-compliant affinitive, so that's what my opinion and thoughts are mostly in regards to.
Yoonchae is also half of a massively popular fandom ship, Meichae – a ship on which I've already shared the bulk of my thoughts here (this is a link to the polished dreamwidth post I published but it's essentially the meichae post I created a few days ago). Speaking of Yoonchae in specific, I think that unfortunately sometimes she can be easily reduced to a reactionary prop to Megan, narratively. Megan is another variation of fandom catnip that makes her easily accessible, but she tends to be the proactive character. When it comes to writing her and Yoonchae, it feels like Yoonchae is used as a device for whatever is being projected onto Megan, despite how little it may feel true to Yoonchae and Megan as actual people. The unnie kink is one example of this, but it also jumps out at me when Yoonchae is shown as, say, a shy, meek yearner who's only there to trail haplessly after Megan. It's not even that she doesn't really have agency in this story, one where she may indeed be pining desperately after Megan – I'm not saying Yoonchae can't indeed be a shy yearner who's afraid to speak up. It's just that it feels like she doesn't have agency as a character at all as she pines, if that makes any sense. Yoonchae has a complex inner world, and I understand being intimidated by the idea of tackling it, not even just for Yoonchae but when it comes to writing any character or any point of view. But I find it disheartening how often it feels like Yoonchae is the one reduced to getting Korean-adjacent kink fantasy, or complete puppetry in the story, or anything else, projected onto her. I think that also, her role as maknae has contributed sliiiiightly to this treatment – by virtue of her being the youngest, it becomes easier to shoehorn her into a more clueless/innocent/passive role. It's another facet of kpop that carried over into Katseye, and Yoonchae herself has expressed slight disdain at how sometimes it feels reductive. Hand-in-hand with her initial shyness and hesitancy at communication due to her limited English communication abilities, I think it all just culminated into an unfortunate, lingering takeaway of her character. To me, Yoonchae has consistently had so much to offer when it comes to personality, dynamics with the others, dynamic with Megan, public persona as an idol, and everything else, for the last couple years – any point in time that you may pick to study her at provides something interesting! It's so complex because it's not like Yoonchae completely rejects her role as maknae, or her identity as Korean, or her lesser proficiency in English. These are all things that are true – It's not fake or wrong to identify her as such. But I think that oftentimes these become labels, or things to classify her with, instead of as parts of Yoonchae as a person that come in tandem with her personality, and every other aspect of her character – and labeling, to me, means rejecting the idea of growth, and the idea that she can transform or progress past this view of her.
It's hard to pin down exactly how I feel like the 'disservice' is being done towards Yoonchae, because at the end of the day I will not sit here and proclaim that there is one True way you should be writing Yoonchae and you should all listen to me because we're both Korean. Like I promise I'm not trying to stake any authority over this just because of that and I am genuinely so scared that that's how I'm coming off😭😭. I guess I'm just frustrated!! The reason rpf is so interesting and engrossing to me is because it's character study. Because the root of the character is in a real person that none of us (hopefully??) know in real life, and therefore who none of us truly understand behind the public persona they are actively consciously putting on for us, there is no real right or wrong when it comes to interpreting said persona. But still: there's a level of care in attempting to view these people as exactly that – multidimensional, complex, multifaceted individuals – and to portray them as such in our own parasocial creations. Isn't that really what we're all doing, anyways? Do we ever truly understand each other, even the people we interact with directly on the daily? Sometimes I feel like I'm parasocially dissecting every person I know in my life. Every relationship I have feels like character study. I know I genuinely sound insane when I say that, but – it's something about the idea of taking the time and care to try to understand who a person is, why they are the way they are, what motivates them, what they care about, etc. When it comes to approaching rpf, it's reassuring to me when that same care is shown towards these personas and selves presented to us – I like the picking apart, I like the dissection, I like the rumination. That's where all the fun and the fascination lies for me, and what I seek when I come on here to talk about Yoonchae for upwards of 3k words.
I hope this was insightful / a semi-enjoyable read if anything… and, again, this is all just my opinion and it's free to disregard and continue on with whatever pleases you when it comes to your own rpf. As always, I'm open and happy to discuss!
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