I wanted to finish my rant from earlier about YouTube video essays. I kind of liked Salem Tovar's video about the male and female gaze. I think a lot of times these academic terms become mainstream and then lose a lot of their original meaning. I especially liked the part where she talk about how men and women are attracted to Jimin because of his soft feminine qualities.
One video essay I don't like is olisunvia's video about Asian self fetishization. Is self fetishization even a real term? I don't like it bc she seems to blame Asians for oli London and Ariana grande trying to mimic Asian looks. Its like she's trying to say that kpop is so popular that of course people are going to try to emulate it. But blaming a whole race of people for others objectifying them is so offensive.
She also tries to make aegyo into a bad thing which is so weird. Aegyo is literally one of the most harmless things (unless a kpop idol is being forced to do it on a variety show). "Acting cute" isn't something that only exists in Korea. In many cultures they don't have a name for it but acting cute to try and get what you want literally happens everywhere.
I'm tired of video essays with social and feminist theories trying to make problems where there are none.