Problematic Korean Video Friday over at Poptimists: Co-Ed School's BBIRIBBOM BBAERIBOM

[koganbot]

At Maddie's suggestion, I posted Co-Ed School's "삐리뽐 빼리뽐 (Bbiribbom Bbaeribom)" over on poptimists as this week's problematic Korean video:

"[HD] CO-ED SCHOOL (남녀공학) - 삐리뽐 빼리뽐 (Bbiribbom Bbaeribom) M/V" (Watch on YouTube)

This presents the mentally ill as goofy and silly in kiddie-candy colors, so as potential objects of ridicule, I guess, though also as fun. The positive side would be that, in playing crazy, the Co-Ed Schoolers get to be way goofy and silly and colorful and fun. My question here - and I don't know the answer - is: does stuff like this actually harm anyone? That is, does it help perpetuate attitudes that lead to bullying, to cuts in services, and so forth? I think that most people know that mental illness is actually sad, grim, dangerous. For example, one of my best friends in high school became a paranoid schizophrenic in his early twenties and several years later committed suicide. But that doesn't necessarily make me get all upset at a video in which stereotypically catatonic, obsessive inmates get to dance in bright colors. This video doesn't do right by my friend's agony, but so what?

(And anyway, whether or not I get upset doesn't answer the question of whether anyone gets harmed. How do you answer such a question? How do you know?)

Think the song is a good one and I like the beat, though the singers are weak; typical anonymous Italodisco singers from 1985 could have given this more feeling. Fun is getting in the way of feeling, here. So this rendition is unfair to fun.

Co-Ed School's "Too Late" is a more gripping track and video, though again the singers don't give it what it needs.

Comments

[askbask.livejournal.com]

The Kara drama has been the biggest k-pop story of the year and more or less trumped anything in 2010 and 2009 as well. And it's interesting because it has let us look behind the scenes at contract negotiations (as the players have been oddly open about their demands and complaints and the progress of the bargaining, to a point).

In short:

* Three, initially four, out of five members of Kara announce that they're jumping ship before their contract ends (at the peak of their Asian popularity), because of a series of complaints against DSP, including:

-Lack of transparency on the economical side. Specifically they feel that they have not been paid a reasonable amount of money for their many successful adventures in Japan in 2010.
-Lack of communication. They claim that the Japanese contract was signed without them having seen it / been explained its contents.
-Poor management in general. The CEO is ill and on leave, and his wife has taken over the business. They claim that that is when things went wrong.
-They say that they've had activities scheduled without their consent.

*One member, Gyuri, is somewhat inexplicably outside of this situation from the start. One, Hara, was initially in on it, but backed out because she reportedly didn't know what she was getting herself into.

* Initially they're expected to sue, but they begin negotiations after a few days. The parents are very much involved, and are believed to have initiated taking action.

* The members present their demands, which includes total transparency and somewhat unrealistically that the current CEO leaves.

* DSP say, in a statement, that they won't give them all of that, but are willing to compromise.

* Earlier this week: A temporary agreement is in place, and all five members will complete their currently scheduled activities in Japan. The members give a statement that they want all five to be together, no matter what else happens. No one knows what promises the DSP have given, or what will happen once these activities are over.


=

Headscratching on a whole new level from commenters web-wide. No one really knows anything. Many comparisons made to SM Entertainment boy band DBSK, where three out of five members ended up leaving permanently some years ago.

[koganbot]

Interesting that it's such a big story, since of course such things happen in the U.S. too, but it's rarely major news. I can't imagine that a whole lot of Backstreet Boys fans spent much time thinking about Lou Pearlman back in the day, or that New Edition fans thought long and hard about Maurice Starr.

I'm guessing that some of the difference between the U.S. and Korea is that in the U.S. the corporations play less of a role in developing the acts creatively, having long training and gestation periods, etc. Though I bet if someone like Miley Cyrus had gotten into a fight with Disney, that'd have gotten people's attention. But

[koganbot]

...But the only fight with management that I really paid attention to was Pink's fight for creative control on Missundaztood, and the reason I paid attention was because the record company used it in their publicity, to laud Pink for having fought against them!

[askbask.livejournal.com]

And it's part of a bigger picture. The Korean government has, for the past few years, introduced regulations to shorten the maximum length of artist's contracts, and correct other issues with the lack of control over their careers. Since other cases have been taken to court, with popular acts, it's an issue the Korean media has written a lot about.

There's also the story of this happening to the ambassadors of K-pop's advancement into Japan, not just any old group.

[koganbot]

One thing I find interesting in the U.S. (and I don't know how pervasive this is, or if it's always to the good, singing and songwriting not necessarily being similar talents) is that even on the "pop" end of things producers, biz people, etc. are deciding that they get better results when the performers have a hand in the writing and the production. I wrote a little about that in one of my Rules Of The Game columns. I'd be curious if Korea goes in that direction too, with production and songwriting being farmed out to independent contractors and performers helping to produce and write. Not that I assume that current U.S. practices will be Korea's future - Korea getting to the point where it's doing better than the U.S. economically, so U.S. might be less of a model - but if the trend in the audience is towards seeing performers as writers and such, not just ("just") as characters, this might happen. You of course will know way more than I about how the audience there views the performers.

(Maybe in the U.S. the biz people don't necessarily think they get better results but rather, given the culture, they feel they have no choice. But the commercial and artistic results from, e.g., Taylor Swift have been extraordinary, even if her lyrics had the most nuance when Liz Rose was with her as a co-writer.)

[askbask.livejournal.com]

Articles like this (translated from a Korean news site) suggest that 'realer' pop stars as an idea is trendy in Korea as well. The article is silly and sort of grasping at straws, since IU didn't actually take part in writing Good Day, but that they're trying to make the point tells us something.

Unqualified guesswork: It seems to me that k-pop idols have done more of what you describe, working together with 'professional songwriters in their 30s and 40s', in the past 3-4 years than at the beginning of the millennium. Unqualified because I haven't looked through credits or cover leaflets from back then. But BoA didn't do any of that at first, and now she does. Miryo of Brown Eyed Girls actually has her own studio and is apparently producing parts of their new album. A typical girl group like After School has a couple of members contributing. There are several female solo artists more like the ones you mention in your column as well, though not as mega-popular as IU is right now. On Navi's new album she's co-credited on about half the tracks and sole credited on two. Younha is a similar figure.. and one of the songwriters in his 40s she's worked with is the host of that Navi clip above.

The studio system over there should encourage that. They're trained from a young age and so many of them play instruments, working in the same building as producers and songwriters. SNSD, December: Yuri said, “The members have been studying since a long time ago to write lyrics and make music. For this album, my lyrics were chosen because it fit better with the melody. It’s not just me, though, but all the members are continuing to take on new challenges. When we come out with a new song or album, you can be expectant of a full composition as well.” Yoona requested, “Please be expectant. There are members who are preparing to compose music and write lyrics. We’ll be showing them slowly and one by one.”