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

[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.”