[Pannchoa] Knets talk about American "cool kids" view of KPOP

[My Everything]

No matter how we claim that Psy and BTS raised the awareness of Korea, they still can't care less about Korea. They still don't even know who BTS is and those cool inssa (t/n: cool kids in the school, "insiders") in high-teen dramas will never listen to KPOP they still just live in their own world.
I don't know if it's like this anywhere else than USA, but USA are living in their own world and they really don't care about what's happening around them, it's like they don't see the necessity to careㅋ 

Even when there's talks about how some things in Korea is better than USA, they still talk about it with no soul in them 

 

 

post response:

[+264][-54]

original post: here

1. [+224, -12]
That's true, but they also have this bias that KPOP is an otaku thing. To the Americans, they look at us like Japanese people who love anime

2. [+194, -5]
That's why we need to develop our national power

3. [+119, -50]
This isn't fake, I've lived overseas and the kids overseas all hate on KPOP, especially BTS. When they pass next to me, they would purposely say stuff like "BTS sucks" and make me madㅋㅋㅋ I never really listened to KPOP but they're always like that to me

4. [+105, -0]
If you want this to disappear, we should abandon the thought of Western superiority...We all unconsciously think that way, we always want to gain more popularity with Western countries, for example we look at Westerners' looks and when we compare we always think they look better, we need to recognize that and fix that first

5. [+94, -2]
Is it because I don't understand all this stuff, but why do we need Westerners to acknowledge us all the time?ㅋㅋㅋ  They have the right to not care about us... It's the same thing saying how we don't really care about Romania or Afghanistan
 

Source

[freya]

Nationalism is a weird drug they mixed in kids breakfasts in the 20th Century and has never gone away

[breadbutter]

5. [+94, -2]
Is it because I don't understand all this stuff, but why do we need Westerners to acknowledge us all the time?ㅋㅋㅋ  They have the right to not care about us... It's the same thing saying how we don't really care about Romania or Afghanistan

 

I actually agree with this. Why... would the general public be obligated to explore Korean culture? Especially in comparison to every other country?

[sdtwfs]

-

Edited January 13, 2020 by n3bula
:)

[satoori]

12 minutes ago, n3bula said:

I don't think it's a Kpop thing though. People have always loved shitting on boy bands.
Most people never really cared for One Direction or Justin Bieber because the hype was mainly from their fandoms. But girl groups won't get the same reaction.

this sort of...

as you said, it's not a just a kpop thing. boy bands in general are looked down upon. the media influence society. and american media doesn't do anything to improve that image for bts either. however depending on what school and what neighborhood, the "cool" kids are from, well girls, are sometimes big fans of boy groups too.

 

hmmm i don't know...i feel an all asian girl groups would be cool for a split second...then treated as some sort of fetish and otaku thing for men

Edited January 13, 2020 by satoori

[spopo]

3. [+119, -50]
This isn't fake, I've lived overseas and the kids overseas all hate on KPOP, especially BTS. When they pass next to me, they would purposely say stuff like "BTS sucks" and make me madㅋㅋㅋ I never really listened to KPOP but they're always like that to me

Maybe if you're like... in elementary school lmao.  Nobody cares one way or the other.  The US is a big place.  Cities with larger Asian-American populations (e.g. LA, SF, NY, Honolulu) will have kids who have a greater interest in Asian pop culture.  But for the most part, it's still a niche thing, and that's not because there's something "uncool" about SK.  Americans don't care that much about French pop culture, or Indian pop culture, or Ethiopian pop culture, either.  Americans like American stuff; they can understand it, and it's relevant to their lives.  It has nothing to do with being "cool."

[chamber]

Sorry they sound very entitled. 

[blossoms]

why do they think kpop is something people NEED to listen to and if they don't they are 'living in their own world' 

no one is obligated to listen to or like anything dude

[puellarum generatio]

why should they care or even know about kpop ?

[puellarum generatio]

1 hour ago, freya said:

Nationalism is a weird drug they mixed in kids breakfasts in the 20th Century and has never gone away

19th to be exact

[satoori]

6 minutes ago, spopo said:

Americans like American stuff; they can understand it, and it's relevant to their lives. 

good point too

an all asian group will always have it hard in america (and kpop groups don't even speak english...)

still many barriers. the main one being the majority (so americans themselves)

asians are a minority.

all white boy groups still seem to do better then any other in america

i guess, being in a diverse group is an asian idol best chance at getting some respect from the majority

 

 

Edited January 13, 2020 by satoori

[Solfa]

1 hour ago, breadbutter said:

5. [+94, -2]
Is it because I don't understand all this stuff, but why do we need Westerners to acknowledge us all the time?ㅋㅋㅋ  They have the right to not care about us... It's the same thing saying how we don't really care about Romania or Afghanistan

 

I actually agree with this. Why... would the general public be obligated to explore Korean culture? Especially in comparison to every other country?

Exactly, people are free to like whatever they want to. Kpop becoming popular in the US with a niche population, but not mainstream, is perfectly fine. That’s how Anime is too. People simply have different tastes in music and TV. It’s a good thing we have the internet that helps us explore and enjoy so many varieties of entertainment, instead of being limited to only one thing. Having choices is wonderful. 

[starsocks]

2 hours ago, My Everything said:

5. [+94, -2]
Is it because I don't understand all this stuff, but why do we need Westerners to acknowledge us all the time?ㅋㅋㅋ  They have the right to not care about us... It's the same thing saying how we don't really care about Romania or Afghanistan

This, but it's also a fact that there's a lot of unfounded stigma against asian entertainment as a whole

[Ege-vika]

Why should they listen to kpop in us tv shows when they have us-pop.

Kinda strange.

[sakurahanabira]

3 minutes ago, Ege-vika said:

Why should they listen to kpop in us tv shows when they have us-pop.

Kinda strange.

US pop is just called pop...

But speaking as an American, they don't even play music from other countries except maybe some UK artists/bands on American TV shows so idg why these netizens would be so surprised that nobody in American TV shows listens to Kpop. The only show I know of that involved or mentioned Kpop was that flop Nickelodeon show Make It Pop.

[seokii]

Honestly from the comments it kinda just sounds like they're talking about judgy high school kids being judgy high school kids. People think it's weird I like kpop but they don't like ostracize me for it lol

[Mehhh]

4. [+105, -0]
If you want this to disappear, we should abandon the thought of Western superiority...We all unconsciously think that way, we always want to gain more popularity with Western countries, for example we look at Westerners' looks and when we compare we always think they look better, we need to recognize that and fix that first

5. [+94, -2]
Is it because I don't understand all this stuff, but why do we need Westerners to acknowledge us all the time?ㅋㅋㅋ  They have the right to not care about us... It's the same thing saying how we don't really care about Romania or Afghanistan

 

this, this is the right mindset tho

just go there, make money, and come back just like u did in Japan, China, SEA

why y'all have to care what those Americans think 

[Oli London]

It wasn't the cool kids who hated on kpop when I was in high school. It was just some basic plain white girls.

Lotta factors into why people don't listen to kpop, which are racism, xenophobia, dislike of boy groups(but that doesn't stop them from being successful), dislike of what teenage girls like, thinking kpop is gay(idk how girls lining up to throw themselves at bg members is gay tho).  Also people don't have to like or listen to kpop even if it's because of the factors i mentioned above.

[Gerimolda]

Bashing something is not okay, but each person has a different taste

[Nerea869]

Sooooo cultural technology is not working?

Edited January 15, 2020 by Nerea869
Typo

[Jikrytae]

On 1/13/2020 at 11:15 AM, bittermelon said:

It wasn't the cool kids who hated on kpop when I was in high school. It was just some basic plain white girls.

Lotta factors into why people don't listen to kpop, which are racism, xenophobia, dislike of boy groups(but that doesn't stop them from being successful), dislike of what teenage girls like, thinking kpop is gay(idk how girls lining up to throw themselves at bg members is gay tho).  Also people don't have to like or listen to kpop even if it's because of the factors i mentioned above.

Maybe this is something that happens elsewhere, but I've honestly never witnessed the word "gay" being used to insult female fans of anything. It's always aimed squarely at the male fans... and that's precisely one of the reasons why. The disproportionate popularity of boy bands in the industry, and the ways in which they're marketed to appeal to crazed fangirls. The entire boy band formula, no matter the culture of origin, has always revolved around catering explicitly to a female fanbase, and sexualization is one of the ways this is accomplished. The whole thing is practically designed to ostracize any potential hetero male fans right from the start. Boy bands have always been mocked by the general public for similar reasons, and I think it's why they always come and go like a fad, at least in America. Something has to be socially acceptable for both genders in order for it to maintain widespread appeal.

But people also stigmatize pop as a musical genre, so that a male following a "pop princess" or a girl group is still seen as gay if the music itself is too "girly," which frankly, it often is. Even when the female singers are also presented in a sexualized manner, it's not going to matter if the music itself is offensive to hetero male sensiblities. This is another thing that has always made pop music a difficult proposition for hetero male fans, and isn't a feature exclusive to kpop. 

And finally, there's the fact that a hugely disproportionate number of kpop fans actually are gay by the looks of it. They shouldn't be judged for this, but that's not exactly going to change the way others perceive the demographic.

As for racism, maybe I'm just being naive, but I honestly think this is a topic that gets too much play in kpop circles. I think the lack of mainstream success for kpop acts in America stems much more from cultural differences (like them not being able to speak English) and just a general lack of interest more so than racism or xenophobia. There are plenty of racists in this country, but that is much more true among the older generations, who are extremely unlikely to listen to these sorts of pop acts anyway. If you want to know why most young Americans don't listen to kpop, it would be wise to not jump to the conclusion that they simply hate Asians.

I think the main reason kpop acts don't go mainstream in America is that they simply don't try hard enough. The companies don't promote them to the degree needed to get noticed in this country, always half-assing it in some way, and the acts themselves don't learn English or re-record their songs in English. And yes, this is absolutely necessary. With the exception of our Hispanic population, Americans don't do foreign-language music. We just don't.

The only way to get any real momentum going is a media blitz like the one Blackpink received last year, but for a much longer duration. They will need to actually be in America, or whatever country they wish to become popular in, for extended periods of promotion and touring, putting their popularity in Korea at risk as a result. Would you be willing to see your favorite groups make that sacrifice, and possibly turn out like the Wonder Girls? Just how important is mainstream attention outside of East Asia?

[Oli London]

55 minutes ago, Jikrytae said:

Maybe this is something that happens elsewhere, but I've honestly never witnessed the word "gay" being used to insult female fans of anything.

 

Perhaps I should have elaborated on this, but I meant that male kpop idols are seen as gay bc they wear makeup and stuff. Like you won't catch a straight guy sharing to his friends and gushing about how much he likes a boy group when the boy group is showing off their abs or hip thrusting in a mv. Guys would be like "gay~". Yet at the same time, pretty boy groups attract girls. So guys would be hating on boy groups for being "gay" while simutaniously hating them for attracting girls.

 

Edit: P.S. How many mainstream asian artists do you see in the u.s.? That's right, none. Charice, Far East Movement, Psy, they all had their moments. BTS is the only one who hit mainstream success in the U.S. and are still on top years later.

Edited January 16, 2020 by bittermelon

[Jikrytae]

44 minutes ago, bittermelon said:

Perhaps I should have elaborated on this, but I meant that male kpop idols are seen as gay bc they wear makeup and stuff. Like you won't catch a straight guy sharing to his friends and gushing about how much he likes a boy group when the boy group is showing off their abs or hip thrusting in a mv. Guys would be like "gay~". Yet at the same time, pretty boy groups attract girls. So guys would be hating on boy groups for being "gay" while simutaniously hating them for attracting girls.

 

Edit: P.S. How many mainstream asian artists do you see in the u.s.? That's right, none. Charice, Far East Movement, Psy, they all had their moments. BTS is the only one who hit mainstream success in the U.S. and are still on top years later.

Effeminate guys are going to get made fun of regardless of who they attract. That's just how it is. 

Now... Mainstream Asian artists in America? As in artists literally from Asia, not Asian-American? I don't think there are any. If there are, I know for a fact that none of them are named BTS. I don't have anything against them, but those of you from other countries really need to stop kidding yourselves about their so-called "mainstream success" here. They aren't on top of anything, they're still a niche act. No matter how many public appearances their company pays for them to make on big shows, the reaction of the general public is always the same, "Who are these guys? And why are they singing in Chinese?" Any American, including the unbiased kpop fans like myself, will gladly tell you this. Don't let their rabid fanbase fool you. They perpetuate Korean fan culture, where an online popularity poll can have a million votes and half of them came from the same person.

There will never be a mainstream Asian act in the US until they make the sort of effort I outlined in my previous post. Performing on a few award shows and New Year's Eve isn't going to cut it. 

Edited January 16, 2020 by Jikrytae

[NUABO]

Americans expect female singers to have big boobs and a ghetto booty which is extremely rare in kpop.

[LoonAespa]

Nobody has to like Kpop you know, lmao she sounds so entitled, Kpop is nothing special.