Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Unnie's Wednesday Write Up: Fans that take it too seriously

Writing this week's WWU has posed me with a conundrum of sorts.  I want to be a well rounded writer & be able to write on a variety of topics & not allow myself to be pigeon holed as the actual "crazy" ahjumma.  Don't get me wrong, I absolutely adore writing the funny posts, that focus solely on the hotness of our oppas, the hotness of the kiss scenes (or lack thereof) etc.... And I know last week I said that in general I am not a serious person.  Which is true...I do have a tendency toward the foolish & laughable.  That is a self defense mechanism though.  My life has been full of trials & challenges, so to protect myself from focusing solely on the pain, I force myself to find the funny in... well, just about everything.  I think that's one of the draws for me to Korean Dramas so much.  When they do humor, they do it really well.  I love their humor.  Just like I like British, Irish, & Canadian humor.  So when it came time for this week's write up, I was pondering the merits of a serious research based post or just a lot of fluff to make you all smile.  And quite possibly make you shake your head at the nut job that calls herself  Unnie.  Seriously, who calls themselves Older Sister?!?!  o.O  In this respect I feel like an actor must feel when they face the threat of the dreaded "typecast".  *Shudder*

Therefore, I have decided....{{drum roll please}} to write a mostly serious post w/ a little humor thrown in when it gets uncomfortable.  I hope this works out in reality the way it sounds in my head.  One friend suggested I go the humorous route & I almost did but this idea has been in my head for over a week now & I just had to get it out.

*Blows bangs off forehead*



One of the things I found out after becoming a KPop fan is that each performer/group has their own group of fans.  And that the fan clubs have names.  This is a new concept to me, who grew up with US music.  It's not like MJ had a group of fans that called themselves the Billie Jeans or the Thrillers or the Mirrors.
{{Get it?  It's from his song, "Man in the Mirror"?}} 

They were just MJ fans.  Or the fans of Madonna calling themselves the Virgins/Vogues/Rays of Light, you get my point.  It just doesn't happen here, w/ the exception of Lady Gaga & her "Monsters", remember there are exceptions to every rule & Lady Gaga?  Well, she's always an exception.  But the KPop loving world takes their fan group names seriously.  They cast votes & the artists approve the fan group name.  This blows my mind.  I'm not quite sure why.  It was something I wanted to talk about though so I did a little research.  There are the group names; BigBang fans are called, "VIPs", 2NE1 fans are called, "Blackjacks".  And there are individual performers fan clubs.  Kim Hyun Joong's fan group's name are the "Henecias" & Lee Seung Gi's are called "Airens".  But there are also individual fan club names for members of each group.  For example from the group Big Bang; G Dragon fans are called *for obvious reasons* "Dragons", T.O.P fans are called "Charmers" *again a rather apt name as he is himself exceptionally charming, sigh*.  Even the actors themselves get fan club names.

The fans get even more serious when a group breaks up, as in the case of DBSK.  When Jaejoong, Junsu, & Yoochun broke away from DBSK (TVXQ) & formed JYJ, the fans, for the most part, divided down the middle.  Some stayed w/ DBSK & claimed that the 3 men that left, were traitors.  And the other half of the fans, went w/ JYJ & called SMEnt & the remaining  2 members of DBSK their own bad names.  A couple of weeks ago I wrote a post regarding the treatment Junsu received from SBS during the Special Olympics Opening Ceremony & how they turned the cameras off before he could perform on air.  I won't digress, if you didn't read it & your curiosity is now piqued you can see it HERE.  I was also tweeting it constantly, supporting JYJ & Junsu & Jaejoong & Yoochun like crazy.  That post alone gotten 497 views since it went LIVE on TCA.  More than any other of my WWU has ever gotten.  Shortly after that post one of my Jess Unnie followers on Twitter went on a rant using the foulest of language about how JYJ were the traitors & that I should stop spreading lies & a few other nasty things.  Shortly after that, I no longer had that follower, not because I blocked him/her but because they simply stopped following me.  I welcome all viewpoints, as long as they are given respectfully.  This was not respectful.

It shook me to hear such vitriol come from another human being over a band's break up.  Personally, I loved DBSK when it was the 5 guys & I still love it with Changmin & Yunho, 2 very talented & sexy men themselves.  But I also love JYJ.  But I wasn't around during the tumultuous & heart breaking break up.  So maybe I would be split as well.  My beef does not lie at the feet of the 2 men who stayed & continued to be DBSK.  It lies with SMEnt alone.  {{And all the broadcast companies & crooked politicians/judges who refuse to stand up to SMent.}}  One of the things I absolutely love about KPop is that it is so much fun to listen to & that it just makes me smile & makes me want to move.  But there are some songs that bring me to tears, especially after I hear the trials the group had to go through & I know where the song came from for them. It makes the song that much more poignant & moving & therefore more intimate for me the listener.  Once I learned the story behind JYJ & its formation & then heard the song Pierrot I realized that that song would always be an emotional listen for me.  Of course it's only a theory of mine, that Pierrot is about the whole JYJ/DBSK/SMEnt debacle.  It's sad that this happened, it's sad that 5 wonderful friends are no longer in complete sync with one another, as they once were, but it happened & getting angry with the fans of the opposite team is wrong & even sadder still.

It's okay to love both groups equally.  My only beef with K Pop/K Dramas are in fact some of its more fanatical fans.  You are all human beings, all human beings deserve respect, dignity & grace.  Stop fighting amongst yourselves & just support your difference of opinions.  Value each other's humanity for crying out loud.   I have always tried to be that person that tries to see things from every perspective.  I want to take the opportunity to see it from your viewpoint, so I can decide for myself, what is best for me.  There is always another point of view, another side to look at, & we have to remember it takes 2 to fight & it takes 2 to make it work.  If I had one wish it would be for ALL the fans to stop trying to run down each others idols & just cheer everyone on equally.  It's okay to have a bias & to support that bias to the very best of your ability.  I do.  But I remember that there are lots of incredibly talented artists in K Pop & K Dramas.  And each one has the right to his/her supporters too.  It's why I always have a hard time picking a favorite this or that.  I like them all.

{{*whispers but Kim Hyun Joong is my absolute 
favorite, shhhh....I'm trying to keep it on the DL
*giggle* not very successfully I'm afraid.}}


Just recently a pin began surfacing on Pinterest that I found intriguing & some what rude...
Sulli of the girl Kpop group, f(x) & Choi Minho of the boy KPop group SHINee
who recently starred together, in the K Drama, "To the Beautiful You". 

I will admit, I didn't know f(x) or its members that well, until I watched TTBY.  So by this fans remarks I was jumping on the bandwagon & following the crowd.  One of my fellow KPop loving friends responded in this manner to the pin itself on her Tumblr...

"Here is a prime example of one of the things I hate about the so-called “die hard” fans of any artist/actor/etc.  There are some who have been following a celeb since day one and have fallen in love with said person.  In love enough to follow their careers from the very beginning.  Whereas there are also those fans who are just now starting to follow that particular celebrity when he/she gets some recognition.  This is not “jumping on the bandwagon” after the fact thing.  This is the celeb getting new fans who may not have known about them prior to that “moment” that garnered them the recognition.  One fan is not better than the other.  We are all fans. PERIOD!!!" 

I thought it very well put. Very succinct in summing up this part of the fan craze as well.  Some of us have only been into KPop & K Drama for a little while & are still learning whose who of all of it.  Dongsaeng just covered this in her birthday tribute to Donghae of SuJu fame.  She knew of SuJu & had even heard a few of their songs & seen a few of their MVs.  But it wasn't until she started watching the K Drama Panda & Hedgehog that she really noticed Lee Donghae.  And from that moment on she had another bias.  Kim Jaejoong, Lee Donghae & I know another one she will reveal on Monday.

{{Yes I peeked!  Whatcha gonna do about it?}} 

Although I want it known I've loved him since day one.  Which simply means, she will have to stand in line behind me & about 20 billion other crazed fan-girls (& boys).

{{And no she hasn't fallen for my Hyun-y.  
She knows that, that simply isn't allowed. ^_^}}

I guess I sum up this post by saying, "You people need to chill out!"  KPop/KDramas & their stars are here to entertain & provide people for us to crush on healthily.  Not to obsess over, stalk & even kill for. o.O  They're trying to bring joy to the masses, we're the "masses" btw, you & I are the "Masses".  Let them do their jobs.  Sit back, relax, & enjoy the incredibly yummy view as they; act, sing, croon, dance, grind, & thrust their way into our hearts & fantasies.  But remember to log off the Internet every once in a while & see the world around you, from time to time.  It might help you to remember the people in your life are far more important than whether or not a group you like is splitting up or whether or not your favorite actor is getting the recognition that they so richly deserve, in your opinion.  There are real problems in the world, that deserve more attention & concern than the behind the scenes drama found in the entertainment world.  And this includes every country's entertainment world, including mine.  I have never ever bought a rag magazine.  I do not read them online.  I ignore the TV rag shows as well.  No TMZ is played in my house, no Entertainment Tonight & I only watch E to see Joan Rivers rag on the fashion faux pas' of the week.  I seriously love her vicious streak. In real life I don't care which actor is sleeping with whom, or who is getting divorced or who is in rehab.  Quite frankly, it's none of my business.  As long as they continue to entertain me, which is their actual job, I don't want to know their personal details.  Anymore than I want to know that about my neighbors.  TMI peeps, T.M.I!

And just to prove my point that I like lots of different groups enough I looked it up & I am a; Henecia, a Boice, a VIP, a Blackjack, an ELF, an Airen, a Nastie, a B2UTY, a Baby, an Orion, an A+, SHAWOL, a Triple S, & A Kiss Me.  So there.  I'm probably a few more in there as well but I figure if I keep going on & on this post will never end. ^^

You all survived another serious post by Unnie.  Well those of you that didn't immediately close the page when you found out it would be serious.  Are you okay?  Do you need to lie down?  Should I quickly insert inappropriate humor here?   How about if I give you something beautiful to listen to instead?  And before I go, just a reminder that as of right now I have exactly.... 7 full days before I leave for AZ & my dongsaeng.  And 8 days till we are on our road trip to So Cal. and only 10 days till BIGBANG LIVE AT THE HONDA CENTER in Anaheim. I am so SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEE excited!!  I CANNOT WAIT!!!  I am so looking forward to this trip.  It hit me today as I was trying to plan my family's menu for the next 2 weeks, so I could then write the grocery list.  I had to actually stop what I was doing & text my husband & ask him what he wanted to make the kids those 5 days I was going to be gone, so I could add those ingredients to the grocery list!  It hit me right then.  My 2 week menu includes 5 WHOLE DAYS where I don't have to cook....for anyone!!!  OH.  MY.  GOSH!!!!!  It sounds so incredibly heavenly to me.  I think 5 days off every 15 or 16 years sounds reasonable.  Don't you agree?  

{{HEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHE....they may have 
to take me to the funny farm I am so excited!}}

*Whew!  Okay, calm down Unnie.  Big Breath In....And Big Breath Out.  There I am much calmer & more rational now.*

Until next week AddiKts.

Saranghamnida,



Here are two beautifully performed MVs from DBSK when they were all together & in perfect sync.  Really truly moving Live Concert Performance MVs.  Enjoy AddiKts.  <3 Unnie.




 For a complete list of Fan Club Names, go to; All KPop Forums



3 comments:

  1. I'm sorry you were hit hard by an antipan. :( I agree - sometimes fans get a little too emotionally involved and need to take a step back and breathe a little.

    You peeked?!?! I'll tell you what I'm going to do about it. Remember where you'll be bunking next week dear Unnie.... xP Thanks for at least not revealing the great mystery ;)

    And as far as Donghae custody goes, how about we stand on opposite sides of the room and call to him and see which one he chooses? Sounds fair to me.

    I can't believe you'll be here in a week!!!! And that we're going to see Big Bang!!! Color me excited! SQUEEEEEEE!!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I love Donghae too of course. But I like Leetuek better so I'll LET you keep Donghae...for now. giggle

      But I was talking about the "secret" that will be revealed on Mon. I loved him WAY before you did, so get in the back of the line, sis. LOL Like it does either of us ANY good to say who liked who first. So delusional in our delusions, right?

      *Pssst...except for my Hyun-y & your Jae. THAT I totally see happening.* >:}

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    2. *Psst* Did you guys forget that Donghae is mine? LOL

      Delete

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