Masarykova univerzita Filozofická fakulta

Katedra anglistiky a amerikanistiky

Bakalářská diplomová práce

2019 Altynai Ibraimova Masaryk University Faculty of Arts

Department of English and American Studies

English Language and Literature

Altynai Ibraimova

K-pop as a Cultural Mirror of Racial Dynamics in the U.S.

Bachelor’s Diploma Thesis

Supervisor: Jeffrey Alan Vanderziel, B.A.

2019

I declare that I have worked on this thesis independently, using only the primary and secondary sources listed in the bibliography.

…………………………………………….. Author’s signature

I would like to thank my supervisor, professor Vanderziel for his guidance and support throughout the years. Along with many other teachers at our department, he has given me an ability far more lasting than knowledge, an ability to think critically and learn on my own. I would also like to thank Ms. Petra, pr. Filipová and pr. Mikyšková for being such amazing role models of strong, intelligent and witty women, who have extended my understanding of what I thought I could be. And finally, I’d like to thank our department staff, pr. Elavsky, pr. Beneš, Marie, Kuba, Monika, Štěpán and all the other people I’ve had luck to meet in the last three years. As hard as being abroad and alone may have been, your kindness and acceptance have made worth every single decision that led me here.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction ...... 1

2. K-pop: An Overview…...... 5

3. Asian Americans...... 10

K-pop as a Pan-Ethnic Voice...... 10

The Role of the Genre in Reinforcing Negative Asian Stereotypes...... 13

The Influence of Orientalism on the Perceptions of K-pop...... 15

4. African Americans...... 19

K-pop as a Neutral Cultural Space, Its Implications...... 19

Racism and Cultural Appropriation……...... 21

Prospects of Change...... 24

5. Conclusion...... 27

6. Bibliography...... 29

7. Abstract / Resumé...... 37

1. Introduction

2018 became a hallmark for Korean pop music, or K-pop for short, as it saw a

South Korean boy-band BTS hit the Billboard chart with their album Love Yourself:

Tear, making it “the first predominantly non-English album to top the chart in over a decade” (Herman, “2018 Sees K-pop”). Additionally, the act won the Billboard Award for the Top Social Artist of the year (Cirisano) and “became the first ever K-Pop group to” give a speech at the UN General Assembly (Wilkinson). The unexpected surge of group’s popularity in the U.S. has drawn attention from academia and media alike, who consequently noted one particularly unusual thing about K-pop: the overwhelming diversity of its fandom.

The tendency has been illuminated by the outlets like The New York Times1 and scholars Ju and Lee or Longenecker and Lee, who have written on minority groups in the fanbase, such as African and Asian Americans. Accordingly, the 2017 survey by

MineMr2, illustrated by the chart on the next page, has shown that the fandom rates are, indeed, the highest among these groups; it has further indicated the similar popularity of the genre with Hispanics (“Millenial K-pop Fans in the US”). In other words, it appears that K-pop tends to have a particular appeal to people of color, which, considering how

“taste” often “functions as a sort of social orientation,” makes the genre an interesting, if not telling, sociocultural phenomenon (Bourdieu 466). For this reason, this study aims to analyze the reasons behind as well as implications of K-pop’s popularity among racial minorities in the U.S.

1 see Fineman et al.

2 “It was an online survey conducted among those age 18-35 in the US and the sample size was n=1939.”

(MineMr, “Letter to the Author”)

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Fig. 1. Rates of K-pop fans in the U.S. based on their racial identity from: “Millenial K- pop Fans in the US.” MineMR Millenial Tracker 2017. minemr.com/millennial-k-pop- fans-in-the-us/.

The present work consists of three primary parts: a brief overview of K-pop followed by two study cases with each examining one – namely Asian American and

African American3 – racial subcommunity of the fandom. Examining these fan groups in the third and fourth chapters respectively, this paper looks at the ways in which the racial and cultural identities of these fan communities intersect with cultural connotations of K-pop, resulting in new, layered meanings, which often defy simple categorisations. For instance, as the third chapter will see, the genre provides a strong cultural identity for many of its Asian American listeners, yet at the same time risks entrenching the already existing racial and gender stereotypes about them. Similarly, for the Black American fans K-pop can serve as a way to express interests outside of the

3 While Hispanics make up as large a subgroup of the fandom as African Americans, the scholarly and media attention to them has been very scarce to date. For this reason, it was thought best to avoid making evaluations about an entire subsection of the fandom given the little data there is.

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precepts of what is typically associated with, and therefore to some degree imposed on, them, in this manner allowing the fans to subvert the binary “poles of black and white” they are usually defined through (O’Brien 3). And yet, as with Asian Americans the genre also poses an issue in regard to their cultural identity, since it frequently appropriates Black music without acknowledging the influence. In this manner, K-pop can be seen as a multi-vectored phenomenon, the meaning of which becomes actively shaped by its audiences’ cultural localities. In effect, this renders the music style a valuable reflection of the dynamics of race in the U.S.

In terms of its theoretical approach, this study draws on a variety of frameworks, particularly those of fan and discourse studies, intersectionality and critical race theory.

A number of materials are used for this, such as academic research and news pieces, but also media articles and fan blogs, used so as to support the theoretical parts of this work with practical examples of K-pop fans’ points of view. A study of this type, however, is naturally restricted by a set of constraints, notably its data collection methods.

Considering that popular culture as recent and dynamic as K-pop does not yield itself to measuring easily, the majority of the studies used in this work thereby consist of qualitative researches based on small-scale interviews with K-pop fans across the U.S.

On the other hand, one could argue that such an approach makes room for insights more in-depth than a quantitative study would.

A second limiting aspect of the work is its race-based frame of analysis, which risks generalizing as well as essentializing the vastly heterogenous communities of

African and Asian Americans. To mitigate such outcomes, it should be noted that the study approaches Asian and Black Americans as neither biologically nor culturally based groups but rather politically motivated ones. In this view, they are shaped by the need to have more power as a group, which in effect leads to a construction of identity

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that specifically focuses on the similarities between the group members, even if in reality there may exist many more differences. Notwithstanding the constructed nature, however, racial identity is an impactful social, cultural and political factor, which in this manner should be analyzed and studied. This work’s focus, therefore, is put on race as an aspect of fans’ identities, which exists among a multitude of others.

Finally, my own cultural background and experiences as a member of a racial minority group4 may serve as a limitation on my position as a researcher. At the same time, however, one could counterargue that “to understand how popular culture works on our emotions,” as Jenkins puts it, “we have to pull it close, get intimate with it, let it work its magic on us, and then write about our own engagement” (10). For this reason, I hope that instead of hindering the analysis my position as a researcher will rather allow me to offer the reader a new perspective on the subject matter.

4 I come from Central Asia and have lived in the Czech Republic for 4 years. 4

2. K-pop: An Overview

As an umbrella term for a variety of music genres, K-pop generally refers to music which is produced and has mainstream success in South Korea5. It dates back to the early 90s, when a hip-hop group called Seo Taiji and Boys rose to prominence as they introduced rap to the Korean music scene (Jin and Ryoo 117-118). At the time of

Korea’s rapid liberalization, this new, Western sound became emblematic of the country’s social progress, and soon its success led all major record labels to adopt the new-found formula (Lie, K-pop 58-61). As a way to increase its competitiveness, however, the labels decided to further develop the genre into a cohesive system of production (Jin, New 116), which would integrate not only music, but also fashion, choreography and close engagement with audience (Y. Kim 73-75). As a result, K-pop has become as it is today: a hybridized fusion of Western soundscapes with Korean aesthetics, laced with the all-encompassing perfection it is simultaneously praised and criticized for.

One way or the other, the focus on perfection is profound in K-pop, since it allows the genre to compete on the global music market despite being “at a disadvantage in language, culture, and ethnicity” (Y. Kim 82). Thus, almost every K- pop project is managed by a team of professionally trained songwriters, choreographers and designers, whose works become then represented by as professionally-trained artists

(Lie, “What is K in K-pop?” 357). Also known as idols, these artists spend years training, as they learn “dancing, singing, speaking foreign languages, public speaking, and even visual arts” before the debut (Y. Kim 75). Yet, the high risks and costs associated with such an approach – as record labels may spend as much as “3 million”

5 From here onwards Korea.

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dollars per training and promotion of one idol – in effect make economic imperative particularly strong for the K-pop industry (Oh and Park 380).

This factor thus plays into a variety of controversial practices common in the genre, as seeking to secure a profit record companies often put harsh requirements on idols and turn to gruelling control over their personal lives. As an example, artists often have to work under particularly tight schedules, which sometimes can translate into as many as 15 hours of work a day, for weeks on end (“K-pop” 12:17-12:37, 23:00-23:12).

Labels, for their part, usually attribute this to the need to ensure that the artist will succeed and therefore pay off all of the costs spent on their training (Ho 480-481). And the same logic is applied to the rules of behavior required from the performers. For instance, they are often expected to strictly regulate their weight (Benjamin) and, according to a former trainee, are not allowed to date, “drink… go out… [or] have social media” (“10 Strict Rules” 2:10-13:38). In some cases, artists can get fired for violating these rules, since in so-doing they essentially risk losing their fanbase and, hence, the revenue of their record labels (Gerken et al.). Along the same lines, the economic incentives of the industry often lead to certain formulaicness of the genre, as entertainment companies seek to use tested, profit-making formulas. This is particularly evident, for example, in the abundance of multi-member groups and gender archetypes in the industry, which are able to “appeal to a wide audience of consumers” through their diversity (Sions 47). Such a large number of revenue-driven practices, however, has frequently garnered criticism toward K-pop as an “artificial” genre, existing mostly

“for profit rather than artistic value” (Y. Kim 84-85).

Not all outcomes, however, of this condition have been negative, since the strong economic dependence of the industry on its listeners has also meant more power for the latter to shape the genre. This has become especially true with the advance of

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social media and digital technologies, which have rendered the industry reliant on its fans’ active engagement with the genre, such as through sharing, hash-tagging or repetitive streaming, all while not costing the audience themselves anything6. And as

Forbes points out, it is this kind of engagement from the K-pop listeners – which can be as much as 4000 times more active in comparison to the fans of Western music – that has led to the international visibility and success of K-pop groups (Blake). Altogether, this has turned the fans, as E. Jung observes, into “equally important players” in shaping the phenomenon’s future, which has thus forced the industry to take them into consideration more than ever before (qtd. in Jin, “An Analysis of the Korean Wave”

408).

As an illustration, this fan-orientedness of the genre can be traced in its transnationality, which often tries to accommodate to K-pop’s global listeners by reflecting their multinational background. To take a case in point, the industry often includes at least one foreign member in a group or an idol with experience abroad. To name a few, Jackson Wang, an idol from a boy-band Got7, comes from ;

Wendy, a singer in a girl-group , is a South Korean raised in Canada, while another famous girl-group member Rosé was born in New Zealand and raised in

Australia. As S. Jung emphasizes, these members serve as intermediaries for “the broader overseas market” (168), and the same holds for K-pop song lyrics, which often incorporate or are fully written in a variety of languages, including English7, Chinese8,

6 And as Oh and Park illuminate, some entertainments agencies get as much as 80% of their total revenue from this business model (384).

7 Such as “Lifted” by CL, “With U” by Big Bang, “Regular” by NCT 127, “Me Like Yuh” by Eric Nam.

8 “Growl” by Exo-M, “Boy in Luv” by BTS, “Goodbye Baby” by Miss A, “Nobody” by Wonder Girls.

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Japanese9 or Spanish10. In this manner, the global reach of the phenomenon necessitates it to adjust to its diverse audiences, eventually leading to the transnationality of the product and, thereby, giving the listeners a voice in defining the genre.

But economic imperatives and influence of audience aside, there is a number of additional factors playing not an insignificant part in K-pop, such as its local cultural context or Korean national interests. In regard to the former, while this paper has introduced commercial interests as the key characteristic of K-pop, still many of its practices are often reinforced by the cultural environment of the industry. For example, the afore-mentioned tendency of the genre for producing multi-member groups, while serving to increase the audience, could be also viewed as a reflection of collectivist values predominant in Korea, which generally places a higher priority on a group as opposed to self (“”). Similarly, the strict work ethic required from the artists could illuminate not only the need for revenue but also the strength of social expectations common in such societies as well as the value placed by Koreans on work

– for according to CNN, the country ranks “the third highest” among OECD countries in terms of “number of hours worked” (Moulite). In other words, though in many ways global, K-pop is not completely isolated from its local context, which in this manner influences the genre and should be taken in consideration when approaching the phenomenon.

And the same holds for its political connotations, since the locality of the genre likewise becomes a factor to be reckoned with. As Jin notes, Korean government “has begun to be actively involved in the cultural sector” during the last decade, whether

9 “Cookie Jar” and “Sappy” by Red Velvet, “Good Day” by IU, “TT” by Twice, “Mr. Mr.” by Girls’

Generation.

10 “Havana” by IU, “Lo Siento” by Super Junior, “Lullaby” by Got7.

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through the form of subsidies or direct regulation of Korean cultural exports (New

Korean Wave 6), which has been seen by many11 as an exercise in soft power. And indeed, the Korean government officials such as Kim Gwang-Soo have confirmed this to be the case, explaining that the popularity of K-pop has been “beneficial to the

[state’s] national interests,” which is why they “provide full support” for the industry

(qtd. in “K-pop” 15:22-16:37). The genre has further become so integral a part of

Korea’s national image that it was included in the 2018 ‘Spring is Coming’ concert in

Pyongyang, during which K-pop groups like Red Velvet gave a performance to North

Korean audience, Kim Jong-Un included, as a part of South and North Koreas’ reciprocal cultural visits (“South Korean K-pop Stars”). To put it another way, the potential of K-pop in promoting Korea’s national image has been frequently noted and supported by the state, which in effect developed the genre into a form of Korea’s soft power. And as can be thus seen, by now K-pop has gone far beyond being a music genre only – for it is also a nexus of capital, global and local cultural forces, national interests and all the contradictions that follow.

This chapter has presented a general overview of K-pop with a major centre of attention put on its institutions and practices. Contrarily, the following sections of the study focus on the receiving end of the phenomenon, its listeners.

11 H. Jung 25, Sions 47, Lin and Rudolf 28.

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3. Asian Americans

In their research12 on the relation between race and music preferences, Marshall and Naumann point out how “music can be used to create and maintain a strong [racial] identity in contexts in which an individual feels they are becoming culturally distant from an important racial group” (87). The study, however, quickly notes that this is mostly applicable to Black and White music listeners, since the majority of American popular music genres are often associated with these two groups only (81). For the rest, also known as “the racial middle,” there often exists little to no conceptual space

(O’Brien 1-2). This is true not only for the realm of music but also “global popular culture” in general, in which “the major players have [generally] been Caucasian with some African American/Black figures” (H. Jung 30) or U.S. academic thought, which in

O’Brien view, has “often conceptualized” groups like “Latinos and Asians from the vantage point of blacks and whites” (33).

In this environment of limited cultural existence, it thus becomes likely for these groups to start looking for other sources of representation, which would fill in this conceptual void and provide their members with a sense of cultural belonging. The question is, therefore, whether for Asian Americans K-pop could become such a source.

K-pop as a Pan-Ethnic Voice

12 It was a poll in which participants of various races (A) were asked to name their favourite music artists and genres. Afterwards, the results of the poll were made anonymous and given to a different set of respondents (B), who were then asked to guess the race of the participants A based on their music tastes.

The conclusions of the study were twofold: 1) among all racial groups in the study A, Black Americans turned out to prefer the music associated with their culture the most; 2) the respondents B associated this music with the group the most as well, often, and sometimes even wrongly, identifying the participants A as Black if they saw them prefer African American artists.

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There are several aspects of the genre that make this likely, with one of them being the amount of Asian representation in K-pop. As has been briefly mentioned, the industry puts a large focus on the Korean and in broader sense East Asian aesthetics, meaning that the performers are almost invariably of Asian descent. By contrast, the presence of such figures on the American media landscape is rare – for instance, out of one hundred top-grossing movies in 2017, four had an Asian American actor as a lead

(Smith et al. 18). And although this generally corresponds to the actual percentage of the group population in the U.S., that is 5.8%, it is still worth noting that such a rate of representation translates into a low overall number of Asian American characters with whom a group of 17 million could identify (U.S. Census Bureau).

To complicate things further, the representation they do have in the U.S. is still often ridden with misconceptions and stereotypes. As Huh points out, even some of the most progressive contemporary depictions of the community13 rarely manage to go beyond portraying either the typical “smart but ‘dorky’” or “comical” characters (15), not to mention the historically racist portrayal of the community, which arguably continues and will continue to exercise influence over the present through the works of classics14. Meanwhile, as one fan describes her impression, “Asian men in K-pop… are portrayed as real people as opposed to how they are portrayed in American media. They are not type-casted into these roles that perpetrate false stereotypes” (Rosalie, qtd. in H.

Jung 114). As can be thus seen, the frequently clichéd representation of the community

13 Such as Fresh Off the Boat or Dr. Ken, which are among few American TV series that feature an Asian

American cast and/or lead.

14 Such as Breakfast at Tiffany’s by Blake Edwards, Bridge on the River Kwai by David Lean, Flower

Drum Song by Roger and Hammerstein, which although usual or progressive for their time, preserve and reinforce stereotypes about Asians/Asian Americans that are harmful in the contemporary context.

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in the American media, or lack of any representation at all, end up thereby compelling some Asian Americans to gravitate towards K-pop as an alternative.

As such, it can provide them with visual, racial and linguistic affirmation of their identities, or as another fan explains: “BTS [a K-pop group] … have taught me that

Asians have as much of a chance to be represented, even if we speak a different language or do not embody the dominant ‘Western’ ideals of the music industry” (Wu).

In other words, Wu’s pan-ethnic association with Korean performers allows her to find comfort as well as confidence in her racial identity. Similarly, the genre can be affirming in the cultural plane.

Or to quote Danico et al., its Asian American audience “find a shared ground for cultural identification” with K-pop artists (420), most likely by relating to the

“Confucian ideas” of the Korean society, “such as… maintaining family values and the importance of filial piety” as well as by relating to the problems and conflicts that stem from these values (S. Jung 53). And while it would be a mistake to suggest that the community as culturally diverse as Asian American would homogenously subscribe to these values, it is worth noting that for those who would, K-pop could therefore become a compelling cultural outlet. This may be even more so considering that the majority of

Asian American population, or “74 percent… are born outside the United States”

(Danico et al. 602), which makes, in this manner, their cultural connections to their countries of origins – and hence the ability to relate to Korean mentality – even stronger.

Furthermore, there is also an aspect of K-pop’s cultural hybridity, which combines American and East Asian cultures, which could likewise evoke a sense of proximity in its Asian American audience. An excerpt from Hyeri Jung’s research on the genre exemplifies this particularly well:

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Binzy, a second-generation South Asian American, expressed how she

perceives herself as neither 100 percent South Asian nor American. She

struggled as she sometimes found both American and Indian culture unrelatable.

Then she found K-pop and other facets of Korean popular culture that are Asian

but not too Asian, which made her feel more comfortable. (110-111)

“[S]o for me,” concludes Binzy, “Korean culture is like a nice combination of both” her

Asian and American cultural identities (qtd. in H. Jung 111). Supporting this is the study by Jin and Yoon, which has shown that this pattern applies on the larger scale as well, as the majority of its 35 “respondents enjoyed Korean pop culture not because of its alleged Korean or Asian sensibilities, but because of… [its] impure mixture of

Western and local cultures,” in effect making it more familiar and appealing to Asian

Americans (1286-1287). In this manner, and quite ironically, the very quality of K-pop for which it is often criticized as inauthentic and imitative of American culture15, its hybridity, makes the genre relatable for those of its listeners who similarly fall through the cracks of cultural purity.

Thus, as this subchapter has seen, K-pop can serve as a form of representation for Asian Americans, as it offers them a visual, conceptual and cultural space it may be hard for them to find on the American cultural landscape. As such, the genre provides these listeners with an affirmation of their marginalized identity, or as perhaps expressed more vividly by Liao: “K-pop has helped me unlearn the lesson that my

Korean-Chinese blood somehow made me less than.”

The Role of the Genre in Reinforcing Negative Asian Stereotypes

The positive effects of representation, however, are tainted by the less attractive aspect of K-pop: its role in perpetuating gender and racial stereotypes.

15 Jin and Ryoo 127; Jin, New Korean Wave 128; Lie 140.

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As Danico et al. observe, the prevalence of “visual aspects” in K-pop “has led… management companies” to focus on “not only a singer’s talent but body and personality as well” (617). As a result, “[g]ender performance” has become “part and parcel of [K-pop’s] image construction,” often existing in binaries, such as “sexualized innocence and… sexualized aggressiveness” for women or “‘beast-like’” and “cute… masculinity” for men16 (Danico et al. 617). One may see how such notions risk reinforcing the Asian American stereotypes, since the majority of them accord with the historic tropes about the community. For example, the ‘innocent/aggressive’ dichotomy for female K-pop artists strongly echoes the American movie tradition of portraying the

Asian female as “either overly docile, obedient, and subtly sexy or [as] a woman warrior able to overpower men physically and emotionally,” in other words a dragon lady (E.

Jung, “Transnational Migrations” 58). For men, it is the notion of cuteness, which in the

American cultural context, too, ends up reinforcing the conventional media conceptions of Asian men as “overly studious… weak, shy… in short – un-masculine and undesirable” (E. Jung “Transnational Migrations” 58).

Apart from gendered, however, the stereotyping is also more general. For example, as Lee points out, the popularity of K-pop has led “the general public” to start taking K-pop “artists as their main point of reference for all Asian [American] people”

(qtd. in Aran). In other words, they are conflating ethnicity with culture, taking those of

Asian descent as culturally Asian as well and consequently ascribing to them the

16 Or at least perceived as existing in binaries, from the point of American academic scholars such as

Danico et al., Sions, and S. Jung. It leaves open the question of, however, to which extent the cultural background of the scholars themselves might influence their perception of gender representation in K- pop, particularly since others, like H. Jung, contend that it might in fact be much more fluid (78-89).

Considering though that this subchapter focuses on the negative effects of K-pop as produced within the

American cultural context, the perspective used in this section is that of the general public.

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qualities of Korean performers, such as politeness, studiousness, non-Americanness.

Such mistaken cultural identification, however, entrenches the already existing stereotyping of the community as overly “disciplined and success-oriented” (J. S. Park) as well as unassimilable and, overall, “not fully American” (Lee and Kye 254).

In this manner, the influence of K-pop can be seen as twofold: on one hand, it is culturally affirming in its ability to represent Asian Americans under the larger pan- ethnic umbrella of the Asian community; on the other, the nature of that representation risks reinforcing the marginalized status of the group, as it acts out the old cultural and gender stereotypes about Asians. More broadly, these findings indicate how the popularity of the genre in the U.S. and its reception can be reflective of the racial dynamics of the country. To delve into this process further, the following subchapter shifts from the topic of K-pop or its listeners toward that of the discourse surrounding the phenomenon.

The Influence of Orientalism on the Perceptions of K-pop

The reason for this has to do with the fact that while the genre, its effects and fandoms have been scrutinized quite extensively under both academic and media lenses, the views of the latter themselves, which play a considerable part in shaping public consciousness, have not. Meanwhile, they too can reflect their share on the issues of race in the U.S., particularly since, as this subchapter contends, the contemporary perceptions of the genre are often colored by the orientalist past of the country.

Primarily, this influence takes place along three axes of K-pop’s critique: that of gender, authenticity and humanity in the genre. In regard to the first one, while this paper has discussed how soft masculinity of K-pop performers conforms to Asian male stereotypes, it might be useful to also consider how the existence of the stereotype itself in a way predetermines the perceptions of Asian masculinity. Or in other words, it

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might be precisely because Asians have been designated as feminine for as long as 2 hundred years of the U.S. history (M. Park 9-12) that the contemporary configurations of Korean masculinity end up reinforcing the stereotype, as they are set to be perceived through that frame from the very beginning.

The existence of such a frame can be seen, for example, in the vocabulary surrounding discussions of gender performance in K-pop, as it often frames male performers in terms such as “androgynous” (Lie, K-pop 59), “highly effeminate” (Ch.

Oh 123) or “gay” (Oh and Park 372). Prompted by the aesthetics of the performers, which include a thin frame, dyed hair, make-up or soft and friendly behavior, such perceptions of genderlessness illuminate the persisting emasculation of Asian artists, whose culturally-specific17, non-Western types of masculinity become recategorized by both academia and the general public as androgynous or effeminate. Echoing, in this manner, the historical U.S. conceptions of Asian men as ‘un-masculine’, such perspectives flesh out the continuous influence of orientalism on the U.S. public thought.

The same holds for the perceptions of K-pop’s authenticity. For example, the present work has briefly mentioned how the hybridity of the genre, which combines

American music elements with Korean production, becomes a frequent point of its criticism, for the American public begin to consequently consider the genre as “another version of [their own] pop music,” which “superficially mix[es] in U.S. styles and genres” (Jin, New Korean Wave 128). And yet, as H. Jung points out, such views can be

“problematic because of the ways they claim an authenticity to U.S. culture,” which has

17 As Sions writes, the two largest configurations of Korean masculinity – ‘beast-like’ and ‘cute masculinity’ – are enrooted in East Asian culture, in which the first type stems from the “Confucian notions of masculinity,” in which “[t]he male is presented as a strong figure ‘to be revered,’” and the second comes from the Japanese concept of “kawaii, or cute masculinity” (47).

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itself “been highly influenced by Oriental cultures” (17). As the author continues, it might be useful “to consider who” gets to “define one’s cultural authenticity” in these circumstances as well as what purposes it might serve (H. Jung 17), particularly seeing how the perceptions of K-pop’s mimicry essentially reinforce the historical narrative of

“the Orient” as an “inauthentic” “version of the West” (Macfie).

Finally, there is an aspect of humanity. For instance, K-pop is often discussed in ways which present the phenomenon as a “manufactured” (S. Jung 79, Oh and Park

382), “mass-produced” (Y. Kim 84) “propaganda machine” (Sions 47), whose artists resemble “similar to each other” (Y. Kim 84) “robots” (Oh and Park 383). And while the criticism itself might not necessarily be unfounded, it is interesting to see how its vocabulary represents what Roh et al. call a techno-orientalist discourse. Such discourse, as they explain, “constructs Asians as mere simulacra” and “cogs of hyperproduction,” which in effect creates “a prevailing sense of the inhumanity of

Asian labor – the very antithesis of Western liberal humanism” (Roh et al. 5). Akin to the previous notions of Asian ‘feminine masculinity’ or ‘inauthenticity’, it essentially seeks to place Asians in a binary opposition to white Euro-Americans, in which the inferiority of the former becomes proved through the group’s perceived lack of true masculinity, authenticity or humanity. In this manner, the discourse on K-pop can be seen as a site of the implicit struggle for cultural power and dominance, in which the orientalist past of the U.S. culture continues to shape its contemporary notions of ‘the

East’.

In summation, this chapter has tried to cover three major ways in which Korean pop music intersects with the issues of Asian American history and politics. First, it showed how, prompted by the lack of conceptual space in American culture, Asian

Americans turn to K-pop as an alternative. Second, it argued that the representation they

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find in it is still often tainted by a set of gender and racial stereotypes, which, seeing the mainstream popularity of the genre in the U.S., risks entrenching them in the country’s cultural consciousness even more. And yet as the third subchapter argued, it might be useful to consider the relation in reverse as well, by looking at not only how K-pop informs American views of Asia but also how the latter themselves, too, inform the perceptions of K-pop.

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4. African Americans A group that has long been a core part of the U.S. culture, Black Americans seem to be on opposite to Asian Americans’ side of the spectrum when it comes to the amount of conceptual space. For one, unlike the ‘model minority’ the community is much more present on the musical landscape of the country, wherein the most popular genres have often stemmed from Black culture. And in effect, the numerousness of cultural associations ensuing from this allows the group to express its identity quite successfully, as indicated for example by the previously mentioned Marshall and

Naumann’s study, which showed how African Americans are able to signal their race through music tastes more effectively than any other group.

At the same time, however, it is worth remembering the other conclusion of the study: that as a consequence of such strong associations the general public begins to overly stereotype the community, essentially expecting them to listen to African

American-associated genres only. Hence, one could argue that despite the seeming opposition between the Asian Americans’ and Black Americans’ positions on the

American cultural landscape, their situations may in fact be much more similar. Since while for Asian Americans the lack of cultural space means a necessity to look for other sources of representation, such as K-pop, in the case of the African American community, it might be precisely the existence of such cultural place, characterized by rigid historical connotations, that could compel some of its members to turn to the genre as an alternative.

K-pop as a Neutral Cultural Space, Its Implications

In this perspective the Asian origin of the music style, which connotes fewer racial undertones in comparison to American ones, provides Black K-pop fans with an alternative space in which their position does not become intrinsically defined through

19

the “white-over-black racial order” characteristic for the U.S. (O’Brien 2). In effect, to quote D. C. Oh, such transcultural interest in Korean music “challenges Black essentialism and provides freedom to define one’s self” for the fans, as it overrides the common cultural stereotypes of what Black Americans would usually listen to (272). A good example of this would be a YouTube blogger Smith-Grant, or as he puts it, “a big black guy,” whose videos on K-pop have become so popular that they “now show up as the top results when you search ‘Black People React To’ on YouTube,” in effect

“pushing all the other videos that perpetuate racist stereotypes down” (Wong). In this manner, the Smith-Grant’s example indicates how K-pop can be used by African

Americans as a way to liberate themselves as well subvert the common cultural expectations saddled upon the minority.

Additionally, this kind of interest undermines the conventional sexual politics surrounding Black and Asian bodies, which generally imagine them as either hyper- sexual (Rebollo-Gil and Moras 130) and masculine, as in the case of African

Americans, or “hyper-feminine” and asexual, as in the case of Asian Americans (E.

Jung, “K-pop Female Idols” 14). In effect, such hierarchization stigmatizes Black

American women and Asian American men the most, since it represents them as particularly deviant from their respective gender and sexuality norms. And as Lee makes a point on the example of Asian American men, such perceived deviancy consequently leads to the romantic and sexual undesirability of these groups, as indicated, for example, by their low intermarriage rates18 (84-87). Thus, it can be argued that the interest of Black female fans in male K-pop performers serves to upend these stereotypes, as it essentially depicts a conceptual union between the two groups whom these stereotypes stigmatize the most.

18 Which are twice as low as those of African American men or Asian American women.

20

More broadly, the alliance subverts the U.S. racial order, which often puts

African and Asian Americans in an irrevocable conflict with each other. For example, the racial triangulation theory proposed by C. J. Kim postulates how Asian Americans are often set as an example for other minority groups, such as Black Americans, in effect creating polarization between them. But as this juxtaposition implicitly racializes both of the groups by comparing them to each other as ‘Others’, such a hierarchy ends up essentially “reinforc[ing] White dominance and privilege,” as C. J. Kim continues

(107). Therefore, in defying the expectation of a conflict, the Asian-Black alliance as symbolized by the African American fandom of K-pop can work to disrupt the racial system which seeks to marginalize these groups.

In this manner, the interest of Black American listeners in K-pop can be seen as in many ways similar to that of Asian Americans: both stem, to certain extent, from a desire for an alternative cultural space and both work to disrupt the discriminatory hierarchies that the members of these communities are put in. And yet in both cases, the benefit of the alternative becomes soon undermined by more controversial aspects of the genre.

Racism and Cultural Appropriation

With its extensive use of hip-hop, RnB and soul (Anderson 292-301), K-pop has often been a subject of criticism for cultural appropriation (Ch. Oh 123). Fitting into centuries-long narrative of exploitation of Black culture, the issue can thereby become a particularly controversial one. Thus, some fans describe how they feel repelled by the lack of “desire [in K-pop] to give any credit to the forefathers of the movements that [it] now make[s] profit off of” as well as misrepresentation of the original meaning of the music (“How to Be”). “I want people to understand that hip hop is more than a dope

21

beat and rhymes,” as one such fan explains, “it’s the story of an eternal struggle that people continue to die for” (“How to Be”).

Others, however, may feel burdened precisely by the fact that as African

American K-pop fans they have to continuously politicize and question their interests.

In words of a blogger ELFqueen, it can be frustrating “[w]hen people expect you to be mad about idols wearing braids, dreads, bandanas, etc. and you seriously aren’t.” Along the same lines, a YouTube blogger Cecee explains how “[a]s a Black K-pop fan, the issue comes up constantly, and it’s always brought up. Why do you like K-pop? Do they even like you back in the sense of, like, do they even respect Black culture and blah blah” (qtd. in D. C. Oh 278). In this manner, the issue of appropriation can become a twofold one for the fans, on one side of which there is a question of K-pop’s role in perpetuating stigmatization of Black people but on the other one, a continuous social expectation as to the ways that they as African Americans should or should not feel about it.

And the debate becomes even more complicated once the issues of xenophobia come into play, since K-pop is notoriously known for its anti-Black racism, the instances of which range from performers’ mocking imitations of African Americans19 to their use of blackface20 or vocalization of n-words in songs21. And as with the previous question of appropriation, the issue prompts a variety of responses from the fans.

One line of argument appeals to the differences of cultural contexts between the

U.S. and Korea, which in effect changes the connotations of some of the afore-

19 “International Fans React to Red Velvet's Wendy ‘Mimicking’ Black Girls.”

20 Han 8, 12; H. Jung 91; Mark; Herman, “K-pop Girl Group Apologizes for Blackface

‘Uptown Funk’ Performance.”

21 Cho and Dahir; IATFB.

22

mentioned cases, since neither performers nor producers “belong to the historical continuum of racialization of African American-ness in the U.S.” (Ch. Oh 124). In addition, the difference puts a limit on Koreans’ ability to fully understand American racial politics, which in this manner reshapes the gravity of their actions once again. Or as one fan explains, American media

is the only media that they [Koreans] have been presented about Black people

[,] the same media White people perpetuate here in America and… export… out,

so that’s all they [Koreans] are going to know. That’s why my offended-ness is

not deep-seated offended-ness with Korean artists as it’d be with White artists.

The N-word is not part of Korean history. It’s not taught, and the true definition

is not easily accessible in Korea. (J.C., qtd. in H. Jung 98-99)

For other fans, the issue is more problematic still. As they point out, even though such racism may be “more ignorant than malicious... that’s not an excuse,” since this kind of behavior perpetuates the harmful stereotypes and perceptions of Black people all around the world, especially considering the global reach of the genre (Hellzeeba, qtd. in Han

9). Furthermore, the fans draw attention to the fact that “[a] lot of K-Pop stars have lived in the USA” and thus cannot be wholly ignorant about the meaning of their actions

(Megganna, qtd. in Han 9) or that it is a responsibility of record companies to prevent these incidences (“K-pop Idols and Blackface”).

In this manner, the issues of appropriation and racism in K-pop can be seen as in many ways undermining its potential to be a form of alternative media, in effect prompting a variety of conflicts within its African American fandom. As such, these conflicts disclose the culturally complex environments that its members have to navigate, wherein their interest in music becomes compromised by its racially offensive aspects, but a critical response to this would in turn mean an inability for the fans to

23

enjoy something without having to constantly politicize their interests and bring up their race.

More abstractly, these discussions illuminate a shift toward a more global level of public discourse on race – one in which the U.S. domestic racial politics become complicated by quite different historical contexts of the non-Anglo-American world, which might not necessarily share the same understanding of what is racially offensive or have an intent of being hurtful – but also one which raises a critical question of whether such cultural relativism can be used as a justification for behavior that perpetuates oppression.

Prospects of Change

To answer this question more resolutely, it might be useful to consider the influence that these critical positions can have on the genre. For as this paper has mentioned before, one of the defining characteristics of the K-pop industry lies in its strong economic dependence on the fandom, which consequently prompts the genre to accommodate to its listeners. Therefore, it is not unlikely that between the neutrally relativist approaches to K-pop and negatively critical ones, it is the latter that could help to actually promote the change in the industry.

The recent trends in the genre provide ample evidence of this. For example, as

Akhtar notes, over the last few years K-pop has witnessed an “exponential growth” in regard to collaborations with Western artists, “thanks to social media” and the public attention that the international fanbase generates through them. What is most notable about this, however, is that the majority of such high-profile K-pop collaborations have been made with artists of color, such as John Legend22, Leslie Grace23, will.i.am24,

22 “Written in the Stars” by John Legend and Wendy (2018)

23 “Lo Siento” by Super Junior ft. Leslie Grace (2018)

24

Nicki Minaj25, Gallant26, Bruno Mars27, Jason Derulo28, Steve Aoki29 and Snoop

Dogg30. Correlating with the years in which the K-pop industry has begun to actively promote itself on the Western market (Herman, “Why K-pop”) as well as the fact that a large portion of its American fandom consists of people of color (“Millenial K-pop

Fans”), these decisions can be argued to be not so much coincidental as, in fact, rather strategic.

And this holds true not only for the sheer quantity of transcultural collaborations but also their quality. A vivid illustration of this is a famous K-pop act Super Junior, who have been incorporating elements of Latin culture in their works since 2014. But if

5 years ago in so doing their music videos31 would be full of racial stereotypes, such as

“a poncho, boots… a fake mustaches” and a brownface (Carbajal), their latest releases32 have come to feature actual Latin American artists and songwriters, shed all of the previous racist elements and incorporate Spanish lyrics. And although it is not easy to demonstrate a directly causal relationship between these changes and fans’ criticisms, a strong correlation between the two suggests that the K-pop industry is prone to be highly influenced by its audiences and therefore, the negative critique on the part of the latter can become an effective tool in changing the industry. Seen from this perspective,

24 “Dopeness” by The Black Eyed Peas ft. CL (2018)

25 “Idol” by BTS ft. Nicki Minaj (2018)

26 “Cave Me In” by , Gallant, and Eric Nam (2017)

27 “Press Your Number” by Taemin, written by Bruno Mars (2016)

28 “Let's Shut Up & Dance” by Jason Derulo, LAY, NCT 127 (2019)

29 “Waste it on Me” by Steve Aoki ft. BTS (2018)

30 “Hangover” by PSY ft. Snoop Dogg (2014)

31 Such as “Mamacita” by Super Junior (2014)

32 “One More Time (Otra Vez)” by Super Junior & Reik (2018); “Lo Siento” by Super Junior ft. Leslie

Grace (2018)

25

the question of whether K-pop should be approached in a neutral, culturally relativist manner or a negatively critical one appears to incline toward the latter.

Furthermore, such frame of thinking can be applied to this study itself, which previously maintained that American criticisms of K-pop’s ‘inhumanity’ and

‘inauthenticity’ stem from its orientalist discourse on Asia. As the pragmatic approach would have it, however, these critical views are beneficial irrelevant of their influence, as they can help to produce better working conditions for the K-pop artists or to promote a larger diversity of music styles in the industry. In this manner the genre, its fandoms and discussions surrounding them can be seen to exist in a complex set of relations, often entailing multiple, sometimes contradictory readings at the same time.

In the case of African Americans, these meanings of K-pop thereby vary from it being an alternative cultural space to an industry that in fact reinforces their marginalization by re-enacting the same problems that they face in the U.S. But, as the third subchapter has seen, it would not be completely correct to consider Black K-pop fans as only a passive and receptive side of this relation, for by actively engaging with the genre and criticizing it, this subsection of the fandom helps to gradually reshape the industry in ways that make it a more liberal cultural space.

26

5. Conclusion

This study aimed to analyze the racial dimension underlying K-pop’s presence in the U.S. By examining two of its fandom sections, African and Asian American one, the present work tried to answer three questions: what are the reasons for the popularity of the genre among these groups, what are its negative aspects and, finally, additional implications?

To certain extent, the results proved to be quite similar for both groups. Thus, they comparably viewed K-pop as a form of an alternative cultural space, but while for

Asian Americans this space was a matter of finding visual, conceptual and cultural representation they lacked in the U.S., Black Americans preferred K-pop for rather opposite reasons. In some instances, it allowed them to break the common stereotypes about the community and in others find a space which would be distant from the problems of race in America. This, however, turned out to be compromised by the genre’s own racist and appropriative practices or, in the case of Asian Americans, its racially and sexually stereotypical portrayals of Asians.

To these views, though, this paper proposed some further countercriticism. For example, an analysis of the vocabulary surrounding K-pop demonstrated the persistence of orientalist influence in some of these criticisms of the genre. And by comparison, several scholars33 suggested that the views of Black K-pop fans were similarly informed by the racial history of their own country and thus sometimes led the fans and the general public to misunderstand some incidents in K-pop as expressions of racism or appropriation. And still, while such countercriticism held certain merit, a more pragmatic view showed that the negative critique of K-pop was more effective in

33 H. Jung 89-100; Ch. Oh 123-124. 27

improving the controversial aspects of the industry than the culturally relativist approach.

Thus, by engaging such multiple perspectives on the topic, this paper sought to illuminate the complexity of K-pop’s meaning, irreducible to simple categorizations since the genre essentially exists in a dynamic and two-way relation with its audience.

As such, it becomes shaped by their own culturally local aspects and can therefore serve as a form of a sociocultural mirror. Such an approach to K-pop helped thus raise a variety of critical questions in this work, such as: do minorities get enough true representation and conceptual freedom in the U.S.? How far can America’s racial politics be applied to the rest of the world? And to what extent do its negative views of other cultures become underpinned by the factual necessity and to what – by the struggle for cultural dominance?

And while it was not in the scope of this paper to answer these questions, it might hopefully have offered the reader a more panoramic understanding of the topic of

K-pop and its cultural significance. In regard to further research on this subject, it would be helpful to expand on the meta-analytical approaches towards the genre, specifically by examining the understudied realm of discourse on K-pop. For example, scholars could analyze the implicit purposes behind different views on the genre as well as their underlying historical and cultural conditioning. Considering how K-pop has lately become a significant “contraflow in the Western-dominated flow of media,” such discourse analysis might thus prove a valuable reflection of the ways in which the Euro-

American public deals with its gradually changing position in global pop culture (Jin and Yoon 1279). Thus, the K-pop phenomenon can become a helpful and plentiful ground for sociocultural analysis, which will hopefully draw more academic and critical attention in years to come.

28

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“10 Strict Rules Kpop Artists Must Follow | 그레이스.” YouTube, uploaded by Grazy

Grace. 30 Sept. 2018, www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJiCE4GhxwI&t=888s.

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7. Abstract

This thesis focuses on the phenomenon of Korean pop music (K-pop) in the U.S.

By analysing interviews with the fans and their blogs, this qualitative study seeks to explain the popularity of the genre among U.S. racial minorities, the downsides of such popularity and additional implications.

After a short introduction and overview of K-pop, the work proceeds to examine two of K-pop’s minority fan groups, Asian American and African American one.

Both of the case studies show that these fan communities are interested in the genre because of its ability to serve as an alternative cultural space, free from the conventional American connotations of race that marginalizes these fans. On the downside, however, the study demonstrates that this potential becomes undermined by K-pop’s own racially controversial practices, such as stereotypical gender representation of Asian performers or appropriation of African American culture and anti-Black racism. By further examining the U.S. discourse surrounding the phenomenon, this paper contends that in some instances, the criticisms of the genre become rather informed by the U.S.’s own racial history. The presence of such cultural influence, however, does not necessarily negate the validity of the criticism itself, as this study concludes, since it can wield a positive influence on K-pop by prompting the genre to change. Altogether, these findings indicate the complexity of

K-pop and its perception, which becomes shaped as much by the audience as by the industry itself and in this manner suggests a necessity to engage multiple perspectives when dealing with the topic.

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Resumé

Tato práce se zabývá fenoménem Korejské pop muziky (K-popu) v kontextu současné Americké kultury. Zvláštní pozornost se věnuje otázce popularity tohoto žánru mezi americkými rasovými minoritami: příčinám jejich zájmu, negativním stránkám z něho pramenících a jiným sociálním implikacím. Hlavní metodou analýzy je kvalitativní výzkum akademických interview s K-pop fanoušky a jejich fan blogů.

Práce se začíná krátkým úvodem a přehledem tématu K-pop, podle čehož sleduje případová studie asijsko-amerických a afroamerických fanoušků žánru. Obě studie poukázují na přítažlivost K-popu pro tyto fanoušky kvůli jeho schopností působit pro ně jako alternativní kulturní prostor, nevazaný tradičními americkými implikacemi rasy utlačující tyto skupiny. Nicméně, tento potenciál je ohrožován samotnými rasistickými aspekty žánru, jakými jsou stereotypní a sexistická reprezentace asiatů či k-popová apropriace afroamerické kultury a rasismus proti černochům. Na konci obou kapitol se soustředí na to, jak historické stopy orientalismu a rasismu v U.S.A. ovlivňují současné americké vnímání K-popu a tím pádem vyvolává jeho negativní kritiku. Ten vliv však nemusí být úplně negativním, jelikož jak zmiňuje poslední část této práce, jeho následkem dochází k pozitivním změnam v žánru. Závěr práce shrnuje výsledky analýzy, jež celkově poukázují na komplexnost tématu K-pop a tím pádem i nezbytnost brát ohled na různorodost pohledů na tento žánr, včetně těch fanouškových.

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