Anonymous asked: www(.)asianjunkie(.)com/2012/02/b-a-p-takes-imitation-a-step-further-wishes-to-be-black/
Not too sure why you put this in my box though…. but I will talk about what I think.
http://www.asianjunkie.com/2012/02/b-a-p-takes-imitation-a-step-further-wishes-to-be-black/
Here’s what was in the link:
Trying to emulate a style is soooooooooooooooooooooo last week, the new hotness is wanting to change race.
The six member group — comprised of leader Bang Yong Guk, Zelo, Himchan, Youngjae, Jongup, and Daehyun – sat down with Star News recently to discuss their dreams and goals.
Bang Yong Guk added, “All six of us all hate following what others do. Rather than following someone else, we want to be a team that is followed by others. We practiced day and night before our debut to be noticed as such a group.”
Bang Yong Guk described the versatility of their musical style with, “We are currently a white canvas that any picture can be drawn on.” He continued, “All the members love African-American music filled with soul. If I can be born again, I’d like to be born as an African-American and do music.”
I think a lot of idols tend to fetishize the idea of being black. Because in their mind black people consist of only one type of person: Entertainers.
I think it comes from of a place of ignorance. At first it is flattering- how much they admire black music and entertainment… until you realize A) they think that is ALL black culture consists of and B) they don’t care much about respecting black people.
“Fetishization: to see an object completely detached from the mechanisms of its production, especially the economic exploitation involved,” in this case the economic exploitation is the entertainment value, and you detach the humanity and the experience of black people.
In that same vein a lot of international kpop fans fetishize being Asian.
The problem with this is you negate that race’s entire experience because you are only praising your fragmented and caricature-like view of what it means to be black/Asian. You negate the racial struggles of that entire group, you negate them from existing outside the context, which in this case is vessels for entertainment, you placed them in- you are making them objects.
They are no longer multi-faceted people with vices and virtues of their own accord with a common culture or ethinicity- but they are all one caricature for you to objectify.
And that shit cray.
I am reblogging from my personal because we on feminoonas had an anon who asked “What if I’m only physically/sexually attracted to men with East Asian features?”
It worries me being a part of the kpop fandom when people say these things because there’s a couple of things you have take into account along with the listed reasons above:
Are you sure you are aren’t used attracted to the celebrities and then taking these skewed perceptions of what beauty is and applying it to entire group of people? Not everyone looks like how Idols looks. Entertainment industry is the #1 in taking a body type, certain features and making them the zenith of ultimate beauty- when it is not. Beauty is subjective and no one person, body type should be a prototype for what people “should” look like. Not all Asians look like Taeyang and not all Asians are Korean.
And in Kpop the idols- especially the women- have to adhere to ridiculous standards in height, weight, and looks. You as a consumer are constantly being fed these fallacious ideals of what people look like…. when you say you “only like Korean or Asians” you are just perpetuating these same harmful beauty standards because you except the Asians that you fetishize to look and behave like that.
Just some food for thought.
