Problematic Korean Video Friday over at Poptimists: T-ara YA YA YA

[koganbot]

I posted T-ara's "Ya Ya Ya" vid over at poptimists, and I'm posting here as well, since, if the past is any guide, the poptimist mass are too intimidated by the soberness and severity of Korean music videos to offer an opinion, leaving it to us. But you should visit and check out what I said.

Watch on YouTube

Comments

[troisroyaumes]

I certainly don't disagree with your points about the the message of sexual initiative being a good thing--feminism in Korea has always been associated with acknowledging and expressing female sexuality. E.g. my mother, when talking about early 20th century feminism in Korea, mentions things like wearing makeup/revealing clothes or sexual freedom, neither of which would be associated with first wave feminism in the U.S. I also agree with your analysis that this is potentially problematized by their infantilization, and like most cultural phenomena, one can't simply reduce it to this is Good or Bad.

I do think there is a subliminal message that remains from videos like this as OTT as it seems; there always is, isn't it? After all, stereotypical humorous portrayals of Asian-Americans in U.S. media fuel the "ching chong" jokes that are made in ordinary life, regardless of how seriously anyone takes the stereotypes. It's also worth noting that Korea was the formerly non-industrialized non-West not so long ago and included in the Western stereotype of infantilism/barbarism; it was a Third World country when my parents were growing up, and I'm in my mid-20s. I don't know how the "us" vs. "them" dynamic will exactly fall out in this case though; I don't think Koreans typically associate themselves with Native Americans.

I was going to say that even if the stereotypes were originally generated in Europe and North America, there's no way a video like this gets made here anytime in the last 30 years.

I think even if we assume that such a video can't be made today, we can't deny that there is still is a lot of misappropriation of Native American symbols like headdresses and face paint (one of the many posts) and the negative portrayal of Native Americans/First Nations/etc. in contemporary U.S. media (e.g. blog about representation in children's literature, there are many other sites/posts that can be found by Googling). In fact, Ke$ha herself has come under this criticism, though I don't know if anyone has specifically talked about "Cannibal" (Racialicious open thread). Not to mention, media of 30+ years ago is probably still available for consumption, not just here but overseas as well.

I do think there's a magnification effect that takes place and is worth discussing: South Korea consumes a lot of U.S. media and absorbs the more subtle manifestation of stereotypes about ethnic minorities in the U.S., but when these stereotypes are reproduced in Korean media, they often seem more exaggerated since those minorities are not actually present in Korean society in large enough numbers to protest. Granted, I am not really situated to deconstruct the issue in great detail.

[koganbot]

Totally unrelated to this discussion: I still intend to write about those Korean indie videos you linked for me several months ago. Need to do a few more year-end wrap-ups first.

[troisroyaumes]

Would definitely like to hear what you think!