This is the result of the need to vent and put my frustration into words ā even if it falls apart like most of my writing. Basically about intl k-fandom and its (sometimes sadly exploitative) social justice ventures. I honestly donāt want to stir drama or continue spreading the negative energy but this was just a little therapeutic thing to write so feel free to ignore! With my insecurity this will be deleted soon anyhow. What am I even doing?!?.
āOrientalism can be discussed and analyzed as the corporate institution for dealing with the Orientādealing with it by making statements about it, authorizing views of it, describing it, by teaching it, settling it, ruling over it: in short, Orientalism as a Western style for dominating, restricting and having authority over the Orient.ā ā Edward Said, Orientalism
If I were to describe the issue I have with international kpop fandom (or to be more accurate, from my perspective in mostly Shinee fandom), this quotation would cover it. Oftentimes, kpop fandom is a community that shows love towards their idol group(s), passionately expressing and promoting their unadulterated love for the music, dance, and people ā despite the obvious barriers from language and distance. In my naivety, I used to think, this is a benefit of globalization, the sharing and acceptance of different cultures. However, as more time passed, it pained me to find that no, the situation is not as ideal as I had imagined.
Instead, what I found is that the divide still exists: āthe usā vs. āthe otherā mentality.
To be short, much of international fandom is only there to consume the parts of Korea they desire, the romanticized image portrayed in kpop and kdramas. That is when fandom is ready to show affection and attachment to Korean culture. But, when other parts of culture (deep culture ā cue the iceburg diagram folks!) appear, something that is likely not familiar to a āWesternā perspective and no longer dealing with surface level fetishizations of Asians, such as Korean beauty standards, the valuing of the group over the individual, or the relationship that exists between different East Asian ethnicities, that is when international fandom plays the distance card. No longer are they the kpop fan, but the rational and objective (and implicitly superior) person passing judgement on how this other culture should be, how it should function. Beyond being blatant ethnocentrism, this behaviour of choosing when to embrace and detach from a culture serves the very function of Orientalism (well maybe a bit of a modern twist on it), placing Western society as the more civilized and ethical culture over those in East Asia.
Moving on from my theoretical babbling and placing it in a more lived scenario, international fandom often wonders why Korean fandom and media (usually but not always) ignores their demands for change. It is because of this reason ā because most of the time (I have seen beautiful exceptions of course, but not often enough) international fandom pushes for change through a lens of perceived cultural authority: My western reasoning and logic, which I take as universal, is the right way and yours is wrong. How many times have I seen international fans argue āyou canāt use Korean culture as an excuseā? Then may I counter argue, why are you allowed to erase the cultural reasoning of another population while yours receives the privilege of remaining perfectly intact? To be perfectly blunt, this behaviour is a similar replication of the American government sticking their nose into other countriesā businesses and trying to act as the police of the world. There is little or no effort in trying to understand another culture, yet the magical assumption is that somehow the right is granted to be involved in change for that culture. Please then, donāt be surprised if Koreans donāt respond the way you want (or other cultures for that matter).
But hey, does that mean other cultures should be untouchable and that international fandom shouldnāt be involved in addressing problematic issues? No, that is not what I am saying at all. What I would hope could take place is a respectful dialogue. For all the pretense of those in fandom who claim to take an educated stance, what should be a part of that is critical thinking (oh gods yeah Iām going there). What being critical means isnāt tearing apart another side to bits; what it means is researching and understanding multiple perspectives and comparing them with your own ā and only once that information is gathered and synthesized, do you take a stance. And even then, you still negotiate that stance once you have engaged another person in dialogue. Itās troubling when I read so many social justice posts concerning Koreans and immediately think, this person has never spoken to a Korean person in their life (or even an East Asian who might be a little more familiar with those issues that can touch more broadly on East Asian culture). Honestly, again, how can you demand change of a culture when you donāt even involve the very people of that culture?
I would include a little organized paragraph here about how during a dialogue, one must also consider paradigm shifts, which are changes in thinking that are initially met by a stage of discomfort to confusion to change in reasoning to acceptance of new knowledge ā and that these take time ā and that youāve been allowed this time to formulate your own values and must allow the proper time for others to accept unfamiliar ways of thinking and to not forcefully push just because your reasoning isnāt immediately accepted ā But Iām too tired.
Anyway, Iāve rambled on long enough and understand that I probably havenāt been the most coherent and that even I may have to negotiate my own perspective in this post based on feedback and information as it comes ā but I just wanted to end on a bit of a reality check too. I offered dialogue as a solution and realize it isnāt an easy task (itās easier than approaching overriding systems though, which really should be targeted but again far out of steam to explain). But it is the respectful and engaging method and hey, unfortunately youāre going to be rejected more than once but thatās just the reality of these things.
tl;dr: If you are going to pass judgement and place demands on Koreans from a one-sided ethnocentric view (yes believe it or not your western view is not universal), dismissing and disregarding their perspective, do not expect an ounce of respect or consideration. Oh and realize behaving that way can be just as problematic or damaging to cultures (and people) other than your own.
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