This example of "Fan Service" got everybody all hot & bothered. Wait! You don't know what "Fan Service" is? Well then as your TCA AddiKtion Therapist it's my job to once again illuminate a topic for the newbies.
Fan Service originated from Japanese & Korean Manga/Anime. Fan Service are extra scenes or overly done scenes, designed to excite &/or titillate the audience, but it has since morphed over to other areas of entertainment. Including our beloved K-Pop.
According to the online Urban Dictionary:
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Now, don't get Fan Service confused with Fan Fiction. Fan Fiction is different. Well, it's still the same basic concept of two people acting intimate towards one another (having relationships w/ each other), again mostly the males in the all boy bands, that in reality have no relationship other than friendship &/or are in the same group. The difference between the two is that Fan Fiction is just that. Fictional situations, whether cleverly cut Music Videos, or Videos in general &/or written stories, that the fans themselves made up alone, & have no real connection to the stars that appear in the fictional stories/videos.
Now there are a lot of different versions of Fan Service to be sure. It isn't all sexy /sexual situations. Sometimes it's just a sweet *selca of themselves to their fans, just to say, "Hi". Or to encourage the fans to keep "Hwaiting!" Although some are known for taking those *selcas to a sexy level for their fans...
Ahem....I'm talking to you Jang Keun Suk...
Sometimes the *selca is self promotion, at it'sworst best. I want my fans to think know that I'm a good citizen & full of love & service for MY fans. Like when Wooyoung, of K-Pop Boy Band 2PM, had a *selca taken of him standing in front of a table, loaded down w/ packaged bread, to be handed out to fans, who were attending the pre-recording of his Inkigayo performance.
And then he "tweeted" this *selca & what he was doing for the fans. Now, I'll be the first to admit I may just be a tad jaded, maybe he really did hand out that bread to all his fans. But as it is pre-packaged as you can see in the photo, he didn't package it himself, & after the photo was taken, there was no follow up photo of him handing out his gift to his fans directly. But do fans care about this? No. They just want to see their favorite stars.
But this is not the only type of fan service either....Nope recently Dongwoo of B2ST (Beast), offered a *selca of himself servicing his fans. How? By playing StarCraft with them. Star Craft is HUGE in South Korea! Created there & played there as though it were in the Olympics. Huge gamer competitions take place in Seoul for this game. If you've ever watched Simon & Martina, the super funny couple at Eat Your Kimchi then you already know about online/computer games & the craze they cause in South Korea. Or if you, like me, are a Gamer Widow, you understand that too. My husband & my son spend many hours in front of their computers playing online games, Diablo III, Star Craft, LOTR etc... So I can totally understand why his fans would go crazy to see him playing Star Craft with them.
But sometimes, it's as simple as just standing up out of the car, or poking your face through the window & giving the fans a smile, a wave, a wink, or a cute little facial expression. Nothing wrong Aegyo, when it's done properly, right? Who doesn't like a little facial Fan Service? All the different K news related websites & fan sites love to show *selcas of our favorite K Idols daily. There is always another *selca coming at us, usually with a title like this.... "So & So takes a cute selca of themselves showing their innocent & pure beauty." Or "So & So shows their fans selca love by showing how lovely they look without make up." And possibly my favorite... "Cute selca tweeted by So & So to say goodnight to their fans."
Just today, I went to get my hair done, time to hide the ahjumma I am, by covering my grays again.... ahhh the joys of aging. And some online friends asked to see my hair when it was done. I thought of all the selcas taken & shared daily in the K world & figured, "Eh, what the heck & why not?!?" So, I waited till I got out to my car & tried to take my picture w/ my iPhone. Unfortunately, there were other people about & I felt like a complete idiot, trying to take my own picture, with my own phone! It was truly so embarrassing. I took a couple of quick shots & picked, what I hope, was the least ridiculous of the two & posted it to my group. They were all very nice & gave lovely compliments, but it felt oddly unnerving & self serving to tell them "thank you" for telling me I looked nice, when I was the one who posted the stupid picture to begin with. Granted, I did it because they asked me to, but still, it just felt weird. As soon as I got home I asked if I could take the picture down, to no avail. These chingus love me, unconditionally, bad, ridiculous self portrait & all. Therefore they said no. One of them offered that they should all take selcas of themselves & post, of course I loved that idea, but as yet no one else is willing to look like a self serving idiot, like me. ^^
But there are those pictures/videos that fans get of their favorite idols/groups/bias', on stage mostly, offering the type of Fan Service that the Urban Dictionary peeps were talking about earlier. I know that Dongsaeng is not a fan of that kind of Fan Service, she said & I quote, "It feels like pandering." And honestly, typically it isn't my cup of tea either. IDK Wae.
As an example of a Fan Service moment, caught in still shot, by a fan, of a favored boy group during concert that I just did not care for I offer this...
I just didn't get it. Yes, I get that they are both incredibly hot guys. I get that they are in a pseudo sexual position. I get that they are intentionally trying to get the fans to scream & go crazy. And maybe therein lies my issue with this moment. It feels too rehearsed. Too perfectly posed. But then it wasn't a video but a still shot & maybe that is why it didn't do anything for me.
Now I will admit my own Hyun-y has sunk to the level of fan service himself. When during his Mnet performance during his Breakdown promotions, a year ago, he stripped off his shirt & danced in water. Delicious? Yes. Fan Service? Most definitely? Pandering? Eh...who cares! LOL
But then just this week, as I said earlier, every one went crazy for Jonghyun & Taemin of SHINee, during their concert performance. And for the first time, other than my Hyun-y's delicious performance, I also thought to myself....
"That's some good Fan Servicing!"
So I let you judge for yourself... {{You know in case you left the planet & didn't see it already.}}
So now to my question... Are you my fellow AddiKts a fan of Fan Service? Like the title of the post, I am curious...
Fan Service, yay or nay?
What do you think? Is it pandering? Is it playing to the lowest common denominator? Is it all just for publicity & it disgusts you? Or are you all for a little Fan Service, especially if it's like the SUJU or SHINee moments? Are you screaming at home to your computer, "SHOW ME MORE!!!" <{-_^}>
Do you like all the selcas or are you ready for your favorite K Idols to do something more productive with their time & their positions of fame & try to use their position, to affect change for the better, for the community or the world around us all?
I sincerely want to know AddiKts. All you have to do is go down to the comments link at the bottom of this post & click on it & then fill in your comment <OR> if Blogger is being uncooperative, you can head over to TCA FB page & leave your comment on the post, that I will put on TCA FB page, that links back to this actual post. You can also go to our Twitter page & tweet your comment back to us there, first you have to "follow" us on Twitter though. See how sneaky we are?
Now, before I end this post, I want to announce that it is pretty much official that SBS will be pre-empting the last 2 episodes of "A Gentleman's Dignity" until AFTER the London Olympics end.
Along with several other shows... to see the article in full, you can go to the TCA FB page, there is a link there to the actual article.
Now, I can end this post with all my love & wishes for you to all have a great week!
Saranghamnida,
P.S.
VoKab moment from TCA:
*Selca = is a self portrait taken w/ a celebrity's cellphone usually by the celebrity in the picture.
"A rather disturbing phenomenon that seems to originate in the Japanese and the Korean media primarily, where two people act intimate towards each other for the media. Mostly men of the same boy bands etc, fan service could include touching, holding hands or giving an impression to the fans that there is something more going on."
So what I want to know is...
.jpg)
Now, don't get Fan Service confused with Fan Fiction. Fan Fiction is different. Well, it's still the same basic concept of two people acting intimate towards one another (having relationships w/ each other), again mostly the males in the all boy bands, that in reality have no relationship other than friendship &/or are in the same group. The difference between the two is that Fan Fiction is just that. Fictional situations, whether cleverly cut Music Videos, or Videos in general &/or written stories, that the fans themselves made up alone, & have no real connection to the stars that appear in the fictional stories/videos.
Now there are a lot of different versions of Fan Service to be sure. It isn't all sexy /sexual situations. Sometimes it's just a sweet *selca of themselves to their fans, just to say, "Hi". Or to encourage the fans to keep "Hwaiting!" Although some are known for taking those *selcas to a sexy level for their fans...
Ahem....I'm talking to you Jang Keun Suk...
 |
| He took this *selca for his fans to show them how hot he is. Very humble....as usual JKS. BTW as usual not our photo, photo AND article found on allKpop |
Sometimes the *selca is self promotion, at it's
 |
| This picture & article also found on allKpop |
But this is not the only type of fan service either....Nope recently Dongwoo of B2ST (Beast), offered a *selca of himself servicing his fans. How? By playing StarCraft with them. Star Craft is HUGE in South Korea! Created there & played there as though it were in the Olympics. Huge gamer competitions take place in Seoul for this game. If you've ever watched Simon & Martina, the super funny couple at Eat Your Kimchi then you already know about online/computer games & the craze they cause in South Korea. Or if you, like me, are a Gamer Widow, you understand that too. My husband & my son spend many hours in front of their computers playing online games, Diablo III, Star Craft, LOTR etc... So I can totally understand why his fans would go crazy to see him playing Star Craft with them.
But sometimes, it's as simple as just standing up out of the car, or poking your face through the window & giving the fans a smile, a wave, a wink, or a cute little facial expression. Nothing wrong Aegyo, when it's done properly, right? Who doesn't like a little facial Fan Service? All the different K news related websites & fan sites love to show *selcas of our favorite K Idols daily. There is always another *selca coming at us, usually with a title like this.... "So & So takes a cute selca of themselves showing their innocent & pure beauty." Or "So & So shows their fans selca love by showing how lovely they look without make up." And possibly my favorite... "Cute selca tweeted by So & So to say goodnight to their fans."
Just today, I went to get my hair done, time to hide the ahjumma I am, by covering my grays again.... ahhh the joys of aging. And some online friends asked to see my hair when it was done. I thought of all the selcas taken & shared daily in the K world & figured, "Eh, what the heck & why not?!?" So, I waited till I got out to my car & tried to take my picture w/ my iPhone. Unfortunately, there were other people about & I felt like a complete idiot, trying to take my own picture, with my own phone! It was truly so embarrassing. I took a couple of quick shots & picked, what I hope, was the least ridiculous of the two & posted it to my group. They were all very nice & gave lovely compliments, but it felt oddly unnerving & self serving to tell them "thank you" for telling me I looked nice, when I was the one who posted the stupid picture to begin with. Granted, I did it because they asked me to, but still, it just felt weird. As soon as I got home I asked if I could take the picture down, to no avail. These chingus love me, unconditionally, bad, ridiculous self portrait & all. Therefore they said no. One of them offered that they should all take selcas of themselves & post, of course I loved that idea, but as yet no one else is willing to look like a self serving idiot, like me. ^^
But there are those pictures/videos that fans get of their favorite idols/groups/bias', on stage mostly, offering the type of Fan Service that the Urban Dictionary peeps were talking about earlier. I know that Dongsaeng is not a fan of that kind of Fan Service, she said & I quote, "It feels like pandering." And honestly, typically it isn't my cup of tea either. IDK Wae.
As an example of a Fan Service moment, caught in still shot, by a fan, of a favored boy group during concert that I just did not care for I offer this...
 |
| A SUJU moment that blew up the Pinterest boards for a week! Not too long ago. |
Now I will admit my own Hyun-y has sunk to the level of fan service himself. When during his Mnet performance during his Breakdown promotions, a year ago, he stripped off his shirt & danced in water. Delicious? Yes. Fan Service? Most definitely? Pandering? Eh...who cares! LOL
But then just this week, as I said earlier, every one went crazy for Jonghyun & Taemin of SHINee, during their concert performance. And for the first time, other than my Hyun-y's delicious performance, I also thought to myself....
"That's some good Fan Servicing!"
So I let you judge for yourself... {{You know in case you left the planet & didn't see it already.}}
So now to my question... Are you my fellow AddiKts a fan of Fan Service? Like the title of the post, I am curious...
Fan Service, yay or nay?
What do you think? Is it pandering? Is it playing to the lowest common denominator? Is it all just for publicity & it disgusts you? Or are you all for a little Fan Service, especially if it's like the SUJU or SHINee moments? Are you screaming at home to your computer, "SHOW ME MORE!!!" <{-_^}>
Do you like all the selcas or are you ready for your favorite K Idols to do something more productive with their time & their positions of fame & try to use their position, to affect change for the better, for the community or the world around us all?
I sincerely want to know AddiKts. All you have to do is go down to the comments link at the bottom of this post & click on it & then fill in your comment <OR> if Blogger is being uncooperative, you can head over to TCA FB page & leave your comment on the post, that I will put on TCA FB page, that links back to this actual post. You can also go to our Twitter page & tweet your comment back to us there, first you have to "follow" us on Twitter though. See how sneaky we are?
Now, before I end this post, I want to announce that it is pretty much official that SBS will be pre-empting the last 2 episodes of "A Gentleman's Dignity" until AFTER the London Olympics end.
{{SAD FACE HERE WAAAAAAAEEEEEE?????? It's not fair SBS!! Please change your mind?!?!?!}}
Along with several other shows... to see the article in full, you can go to the TCA FB page, there is a link there to the actual article.
Now, I can end this post with all my love & wishes for you to all have a great week!
Saranghamnida,
P.S.
VoKab moment from TCA:
*Selca = is a self portrait taken w/ a celebrity's cellphone usually by the celebrity in the picture.
nay! it's just not my thing.
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