Simranjit Kaur

“Media constructs reality and shapes how audiences see the world. But the world created by media is partial and biased, only ever telling part of a story. The world views it represents are usually of privileged groups.” (Sternberg, 2018) The aim of this essay is to analyse the western media’s representations of Asian Celebrities and deduce how they have changed over the past 7 years, by comparing the representations of two Korean music icons- PSY and BTS. Focusing majorly on the Anglo-American perspectives towards a non-anglo ethnicity, the two icons will be used as metonyms of Korean race and Asian ethnicity.

In 2012, when the viral music video ‘Gangnam Style’ took over the global internet, mainstream media across the western countries made attempts at understanding cultural ideologies that were inherently different from their own. “Ideology is a system of ideas that unconsciously shapes and constrains both our beliefs and behaviors.” (Ott & Mack, 2013) In the above article, Maura frames Psy’s success in breaking through the American Music Industry as entirely dependent upon his “horsey dance move”. Bainbridge (2011) describes the concept of framing as “A process of selecting and rejecting information in the construction of a news story by placing emphasis on a particular aspect or angle.” In this context, the article is clearly angled to emphasize Psy’s ‘funny imaginary giddyup’ and how hilarious his dance is. Instead of saying “prepare for the Psy takeover”, she phrases it as “prepare for the invisible horse dance takeover”. This connotes that the western culture is willing to accept Psy’s dance but not him as an artist. In doing so, the author actively takes part in assimilation which is “The process of showing a racial group in positive light while simultaneously dehistoricising them”. (Ott & Mack, 2013)

The author celebrates Psy going viral but her emphasis on the comparison of Psy’s dance moves to other mainstream trends in the Anglo-American industry, portrays Korean popular culture or “K-pop as a product of global trade, as a US-originated product, but one that has been transformed enough to be re-imported into the US as a Korean export.” (Kwon, 2017) Hereby establishing American hegemony, Psy’s discography is ignorantly put aside, as is his stable fame in his own country. “The focus is not on Psy as an outgoing Asian performer who works tirelessly to bring a part of Korean culture to the Western corners of the world, but on Psy as a money-making machine.”(Kwong, 2012) Other factors leading to the audiovisual collaboration- Gangnam Style trending across the globe are also ignored as the article reduces Psy’s fame to a silly viral dance. Underlying connotations in the article signify Psy merely as a trend, somewhat dehumanizing him. There are no mentions of the song itself, nor any interpretation of the music video.

Originally the lyrics of ‘Gangnam Style’ were aimed at satirically mocking the deeply rooted class differences in the Korean society and criticizing the people who get buried under debts just to enjoy a high public profile. Gangnam, as the article says, is the high-class area situated in Seoul, home to the flashy elite and the rich Bourgeoise. Most of the general public did not understand the true meaning of the song due to the language barrier. Instead of laughing with Psy, people were keen on laughing at him. “In the absence of satirical decoding, the qualities of the image are intensified, and viewers are left focusing on the melody, the comical visuals, and Psy’s physicality.” (Park, 2015) When his video was played on the Ellen Degeneres Show (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZmkU5Pg1sw), the audience burst into laughter. “It becomes clear that Psy’s value as a guest is centered on his comical dance; he is relegated to an object of humor who elicits laughs with his minstrel performance.” (Park) Western media sold the image of Psy as a joke, yet Psy took full advantage, being the punch line.  More often than not, articles like the above, resulted in creating a stereotypical Asian image for Psy by portraying his ethnic minority as an inferior group.

“A critical investigation of this pop cultural craze reveals that Psy’s popularity in the United States is due in large part because he conforms to the role of the funny, sexless, Asian clown—a figure one can laugh at.” (Park, 2015.) Here, the major reason for Psy’s American popularity is that he doesn’t threaten the stereotypical representations of Asian-masculinity. Perceptions of which are seen as either kung-fu fighters like Bruce Lee or the typical Asian nerd, or the happy-go-lucky comedian. Park also states that “Although Asian women are stereotypically viewed as exotic and sexual, Asian males are often portrayed as emasculated comic fodder.” Psy’s chubby physique and personality easily fits the comedian type.  Park continues that people “are likely to translate texts into their own cultural schema that reinforce dominant ideologies. Psy’s image and performativity do no disrupt hegemonic ideals of masculinity; he embodies the emasculated Asian male clown variant that the mainstream can easily consume.”

As worded in Theological reflections on “Gangnam Style” (2014), “Psy may be popular in the United States in part because he fits some of these negative stereotypes deeply inscribed in our history and in the consciousness of most Americans.” But he was, and remains a trendsetter, who the Korean society believes, opened the doors for Hallyu (the wave of Korean culture) in the west. Taking advantage of the same, the second text for this essay, entered the mainstream American music Industry.

The internet and websites the likes of twitter, are making it easier to produce mass media day by day. Anyone can upload their opinion and influence ideology. Social Media is one of the main factors behind the large scale success of BTS. A month ago, Korean boy-group BTS (Acronym for Bangtan Sonyeondan, now Beyond The Scene in english) made history at the Billboard Music Awards, bagging the Top Social Artist Award for the second time with over 300 million votes in a fan voted category. “BTS is the first Asian artist to win the Billboard Music Awards Top Social Artist Category” (Aisyah, 2017) Justin Bieber who had previously won the award for 6 consecutive years stood second with merely 20 million votes. Aisyah further states, “As the receiver of the prestigious 2017 Billboard Award, BTS’s fan base which is called ‘ARMY’ has proven to be the biggest fandom in the global music industry.” When BTS were breaking stereotypes and language barriers, entering the mainstream American Music Industry, they were commonly addressed as ‘The ASIAN One Direction’ or ‘Psy’s little Brothers’.  

In the above meme on the left, twitter user @moreasazonada connotes their message through the use of arbitrary signs such as language and sarcasm in the form of quotation marks. They use BTS member Jimin’s picture, where he clearly looks like an annoyed Asian male. By putting these different texts in a single tweet, they create a Syntagm or “A collection of signs arranged in a way to create meaning.” (Sternberg, 2018) The message being implied here is that the user is aggravated with western audiences and media alike, addressing BTS as the Asian versions of One Direction. The tweet on the right, by twitter handle @taehyungpics, addresses the issue head on, by denoting through clear simplistic words that BTS is neither the Asian One Direction, nor are they Psy’s little brothers. Another form of stereotyping is through grouping together people with similar appearances. Although most media pieces comparing or stereotyping BTS in any way, get taken down pretty quick- thanks to their massive fandom, memes like the ones above continue to orbit the internet.

Netizens frequently compare Asian musicians in general to their white counterparts, proving how “casual racism is embedded in everyday language.” (Sternberg, 2018) More often than not, BTS were compared to ‘White’ boybands like One Direction and The Beatles, reinforcing the ideology that the norm is white. “American talk show host Ellen DeGeneres likened her audiences’ enthusiastic reactions to BTS during her show on November 27 to the “Beatlemania” of the 1960s.” (Kang, 2018)  While western media seemed to celebrate their breakthrough on the surface, there were underlying connotations that presented BTS as outsiders belonging to a non-anglo ethnicity, simultaneously othering them. “Othering is the process of marginalizing minorities by defining them in relationship to the (white) majority, which functions as the norm or the natural order.” (Ott & Mack, 2013) Questions in interviews were mostly about how hard it was for them to break into the music charts with Korean songs, a feat which is considerably a white privilege to the artists singing in the universal language English. Instead of inquiring about their backgrounds and passions as artists, a greater focus was put upon knowing who their ‘white’ celebrity crushes were or which Anglo-American artists they listened to.

Despite being considered as the ‘Other’, BTS are being treated as real artists who write and produce their own music. Unlike the case of Psy, western media is constructing their image as real people. For example, on the Ellen Degeneres show, BTS were properly interviewed as international celebrities whereas Psy was only called upon to teach Britney Spears his Horsey Dance move. BTS consists of 7 good looking men who can challenge the hegemony of Anglo-American male artists. Their media representation doesn’t conform to the stereotypical Asian male yet they are getting a shot at challenging all negative stereotypes against Asian men due to their fans. The BTS Army is challenging the norm by “providing opportunities for non-anglo people to represent themselves.” (Sternberg, 2018)

Psy himself grew up in the Gangnam area and belongs to YG entertainment. In a way, he can be considered privileged in terms of class in the K-pop industry. However BTS and their company- Big Hit Entertainment went through debts in BTS’s younger days. “Big Hit Entertainment is a mediocre label company in the Korean entertainment industry compared to the three iconic companies, namely SM, YG and JYP Entertainment which have dominated the K-Pop industry over the last few decades.” (Aisyah, 2017) Here, BTS appears as the battler “who survived against the odds and tough environment”. (Sternberg, 2018)  Rarely any form of media represents this Diversity, rather choosing to “overlook the complexity of cultural groups,” (Sternberg) to stereotype them all as one.

Both BTS and Psy’s music was not purposely directed towards western audiences. Their content was tailored for Korean and Asian audiences, yet both achieved immense success through different methods. “Gangnam Style was phenomenal, but Psy’s persona was consumed as a character, not as an artist. He didn’t have a strong fan base like other idol groups.” (Choi, 2018. as cited in BTS pave way for Kpop.) Psy’s success can be addressed as a short-lived trend whereas BTS are constantly developing a stable fandom across the globe. Time mentions BTS as one of The 25 Most Influential People on the Internet stating that “Overtaking Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez to spend 27 consecutive weeks atop Billboard’s ‘Social 50’ chart, which tracks popularity across different platforms, would be an impressive feat for any artist.” Although BTS’s success is relatively new and there is not much research about it yet, it can arguably be said that BTS are doing a great job at challenging the stereotypes against Asian Musicians, by continuing to use their regional language to prove that music transcends language and ethnicity.

References

1. Aisyah, A. (2017). Korean-English language translational action of K-Pop social media content: A case study on Bangtan Sonyeondan’s (BTS) official Twitter. 3L: Language, Linguistics, Literature, 23(3), 67–80. doi:10.17576/3L-2017-2303-05
2. Bainbridge, J., Goc, N., & Tynan, L. (2011). Media Texts Media & journalism: new approaches to theory and practice (2nd ed ed., pp. 163-180). South Melbourne, Vic: Oxford University Press.
3. Cheah, J., & Kim, G. J. (2014). Theological reflections on “gangnam style” : a racial, sexual, and cultural critique. Retrieved from https://ebookcentral.proquest.com
4. Judkins, M. (2013). ‘Gangnam Style’s’ invisible horse dance craze: Giddyup. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/arts-post/post/2012/08/23/0dec6ace-ed29-11e1-b09d-07d971dee30a_blog.html?utm_term=.7243706e115b
5. Kang, H.K. & Choi, S. (2018). BTS pave way for K-pop golden age in US, achieving what Psy and Wonder Girls failed to accomplish. Retrieved from http://www.scmp.com/culture/music/article/2127984/bts-pave-way-k-pop-golden-age-us-achieving-what-psy-and-wonder-girls
6. Kwon, E. J. 2017. Korean Wave: Discourse Analysis on Korean Popular Culture in US and UK Digital Newspapers. Retrieved from http://theses.ubn.ru.nl/bitstream/handle/123456789/4898/Kwon%2C%20Eunjee.pdf?sequence=1
7. Kwong, M. (2012). Psy’s Gangnam Style: This Isn’t Really Multiculturalism. Retrieved from https://mabelkwong.com/2012/10/25/psys-gangnam-style-this-aint-multiculturalism/
8. Ott, B. L., & Mack, R. L. (2013). Critical media studies : an introduction. Retrieved from http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/qut/detail.action?docID=1557284. Created from qut on 2017-04-26 00:46:03.
9. Park, M. (2015). Psy-Zing up the Mainstreaming of “Gangnam Style.” Journal of Communication Inquiry, 39(3), 195–212. doi:10.1177/0196859915575068
10. Sternberg, J. (2018). KCB101 Media and Communication Texts: Media, culture and ideology [Online Module]. Retrieved from https://rise.articulate.com/share/9EoMvDteyir-Ned0Ysel5-0Hu4Ucckfe#/lessons/sf_ML5CtLsDvMqkDc3cjE9HN3DLQD9HO?_k=xg97w6 
11. Sternberg, J. (2018). KCB101 Media and Communication Texts: How signs create meaning: Part 1 [Vodcast]. Retrieved from https://blackboard.qut.edu.au/webapps/blackboard/content/listContent.jsp?course_id=_137715_1&content_id=_7318890_1
12. Sternberg, J. (2018). KCB101 Media and Communication Texts: Media representations of race [Online Module]. Retrieved from https://rise.articulate.com/share/kWLlUd6wr1F_9IwccdUffl0Qh0oBCnOo
13. Time Staff & Bruner, R. (2017). The 25 Most Influential People on the Internet. Retrieved from http://time.com/4815217/most-influential-people-internet/