#elementary school social studies fandom rise up???

[acatimpersonatingahuman]

My siblings and I

I am the oldest of five siblings: three of us “full” siblings, the other two are children of our father. We nevertheless love the two of them to bits. I just wanted to ramble about them.

Even though it’s strange for me to start a post that has a focus on my siblings by writing about myself, I think I want to illustrate our siblinghood a bit and for, that you have to know at least about me.

Hi, I’m Kat, I’m currently 19 years old (born in March of 2001) and I believe I’m the sibling that knows the least what to do with their life at the moment. I began studying digital forensics in late September, but I soon realized that I didn’t really like it so I’m currently just looking and living, because I can’t quite accomodate all my interests yet to find out what to do in the future. I’m getting there, eventually, but for now I just need a bit of time. I moved out at 18 because I was actually  studying across the country, but I’m currently back home with my family due to the pandemic. I would describe myself as artsy and a bookworm (having read the most books out of the five of us) and, as far as I can tell, I’m the only introvert between my siblings and I. I’m the one gushing on and on about fandoms and am mostly into “emo” music, stuff like My Chemical Romance, Evanescence and Palaye Royale but I’m probably also the only one regularly listening to movie soundtracks (you should definitely listen to the Pride and Prejudice soundtrack by Dario Marianelli and the Finale song from The Rise of Skywalker by John Williams). Also, I’m the only one listening to metal from time to time. Enough about me though.

My brother J is the second oldest (born in December of 2002), making the two of us closer in age than him and our sister. He currently works in a kindergarten (part of a “program” you can do in Germany called FSJ). He’ll be finished in summer and will then focus on getting his Abitur to go on and study. I think he told me something about either computer science or becoming a lawyer. I don’t remember exactly, he told me some time last year, but he as a plan (although that might change, he wanted to become a pilot a few years back). He’s listening to German rap (which I absolutely don’t like) and the like. He’s an extrovert, he loves having his friends over (they’re nice fellows) and is the only one of the five of us looking after his weight. It might have to do with the fact that he had a bit more fat when he was younger and that he has since realized that his body actually might attract women when it’s in shape, so he started working out (or at least, like, jogging). He’s also into video games, which ones I don’t know, but yeah.

My sister R is the youngest of the first bunch (born in September of 2004). She is the one that grew up with social media the most, having a Snapchat account, several Instagram accounts and also a TikTok account I think. This might make me sound like a grandma, but I don’t necessarily get especially TikTok and Instagram and Snapchat (or similar social media services). Like, I understand the appeal of sharing your thoughts with the world (like we do on Twitter and on here), but especially Snapchat has me dumbfounded. Oh well. My sister also wears make-up, something I maybe would do if my skin wasn’t so sensitive. She’s up with the trends (or she tries to be - my bro is up with the trends too, also something I don’t quite get) and wears clothes typical for a teenager. She’s currently studying for her final exam and will attend another school afterwards to also get her Abitur. She’s thinking about becoming an elementary school teacher, but she still has three years before she’ll have to know, so yeah. Her music taste has a bit of J’s since she also listens to some German rap, but she’s also listening to the charts and she had a phase where she listened mainly to Taylor Swift about two years back.

My sister L is the second youngest, but the older of the second bunch (born in June of 2015). We were a bit shocked when we were told that we would get another sibling and my brother hoped that it would be another boy - hoping sadly didn’t help neither the first nor the second time. L is very open and loves to be around people - especially her friends from kindergarten, which is like everyone in her group. She likes unicorns and fairies and princesses, and I believe she’s still heavily influenced by the stuff her friends like (but she’s a young child, I expect nothing else). She’s hardheaded at times, but we all are, so that’s no surprise. She’s already interested in learning English, and although she doesn’t necessarily understand it, she can sing almost the entire song of “Let it Go” from the movie Frozen. She also wants to start doing ballet.

My youngest sister T (born August of 2017) is also very hardheaded. She’s trying to properly speak and coming along quite nicely. I believe she’s into animals, although she’s pretty scared of dogs.She enjoys similar things as L, and she has some kind of fascintion for earrings, be it mine, R’s or her mother’s. She also likes playing with other kids, but she needs a bit of time to play with someone when she doesn’t know someone (like stranger anxiety, you know).

I love all of my siblings. We work most of the time. Yes, there are some arguments, but we’re siblings, what else did you expect? We haven’t had a huge argument in a few months or even years despite spending relatively much time together, and I’m glad about that. They’re all very dear to my heart, and if something were to happen to anyone of them, I would be absolutely devastated. Although I might not look like the oldest and not look like I’m tough, I would always fuck shit up for them (even though they probably don’t know about that). Yes, we all (especially the oldest three of us) have certain different views on life and politics. But that’s life.

[itsjaneelasaad]

Week 9 - Media Fandom & Audience Subcultures

On November 7 when we sang happy birthday to Jennifer’s mom. We discussed Media Fandom and Audience subcultures. I find this chapter to be the most interesting one out of all the weeks of the second half of these blogs due to the fact I understand what being a fan is and what it was like especially during the time where social media was rising with “fan twitter”. “Fanatic is the term originally “referred to religious membership “of or belonging to the temple, a temple servant, a devotee” (Sullivan, 2013). “Fan Stereotypes” is the popular cultural materials that fans tend to spend their time thinking carefully about are also seen by many to be culturally worthless or simply there for entertainment purposes. The “Second-Wave” of fans studies questioned the normative conceptualization of fans because it seemed to be at odds with a great deal of mainstream enthusiasm across different sociodemographic groups for tv programs, movies, and popular music” (Sullivan, 2013). When I was in elementary school until high school, I was a big fan of Selena Gomez. I had the fan account on twitter and I was super up to date with her activity presence online and elsewhere. It was a different type of community – different accounts would be known to be internet friends with each other even if they were from different countries. It was just the idea that you can have a friend that was into the same person as yourself and your life experiences were similar. “Two aspects of media fandom have emerged as central to theorists in this tradition: (1) Social Aspect is where media fans brand together in either informal or more formally structured groups to share their mutual interest with others (2) Interpretive Aspect: fans act as interpreters and producers of media content” (Sullivan, 2013). For me, I was both. With the social aspect, I was able to connect with other people in the fandom and with the interpretive aspect, I was able to create memes or different edits about this celebrity. “Fan-fiction or fanfic, these short stories often feature existing characters from favorite fan texts or are written in the creative universe of the original text” (Sullivan, 2013). Some fans also take the time to write about those celebrities too but I was never one of them. There are two genres of fan fiction exist on the margins of fan communities due to their rather controversial nature – (1) “Slash” Fiction – refers to stories that detail an intense emotional and sexual relationship between the two primary male characters in the program; (2) Filking – the process of fan making music. These two genres also generate different user contents. With filking, fans would use this form to create songs about their favorite characters or people that they are a fan of. It was a form that rose with the start of YouTube. Fan fandom continues to rise and growing with every new artist and it is a phase in many people's lives even me that allowed them to grow and made them learn new things about themselves.

[seonghwa-things]

The Korean Wave: A Developing Relationship Between Korean and Western Music

This paper aims to explore the music of the Korean Wave, or Hallyu. Hallyu, which directly translates to “flow of Korea”, is a term for the rise in popularity of South Korean culture on a global scale.. The Korean music industry was greatly influenced by the American industry, and this can be seen clearly in their style of music, clothing, and videos. Over the course of 30 years, a large increase in students wanting to become entertainers can be seen, much of this was due to the fact that the industry had grown, making this profession more accepted..  Now, in 2018, the industry is large enough that idol groups, such as BTS, are bringing their music back to the American industry. Many companies in South Korea are creating larger groups, that include different ethnicities, further spreading their culture by bringing in fans from other countries. The increase in popularity can be seen statistically across YouTube, Gaon, and other platforms.

The Korean Wave, better known to some as the Hallyu, is the term used to describe the rising popularity of South Korean culture globally. The term “Hallyu” was first used in China, in 1998, to describe the sudden craze for Korean cultural products from Chinese youth (Kim 2014).   Now this is seen through things such as k-dramas (television shows), k-movies, and k-pop. K-pop is the industry which has taken off the most. It has been influenced by the American industry, shown both within their music and their styles. Because of the growing popularity of k-pop, it has become a more welcome occupation in Korea. The amount of fans has increased worldwide, giving k-pop the ability to enter the American industry, and for international members to join groups.

The American industry has had a huge effect on k-pop. During the Korean War, Americans and Koreans had a fairly close relationship. The American troop stationed in Korea -  USAMGIK - brought a radio channel called AFKN. The channel’s original intent was to inform American’s of Korean culture, yet instead seemed to do the opposite. Koreans became increasingly interested in the style of American music, and starting including it within concerts. Korean artists had to learn American songs and dances to perform for the soldiers. As the USAMGIK started leaving for the Vietnam War, the artists who once performed at these camps had to integrate these American elements with a Korean style to gain a more domestic audience. In the 1980’s and 1990’s, genres like hip-hop, pop and ballad became prevalent in the Korean industry - to the point that artists like Seo Taiji starting including rap and rock styles into their own hits (Stephen 2018).

This type of influence can still be seen heavily today. After the popularity of the Latin-American song “Despacito” by Luis Fonsi, the style seemed to reappear again a few months later in Korea. Songs like “Lo Siento” by Super Junior featuring Leslie Grace, “Senorita” by VAV, and “O Sole Mio” by SF9 became popular hits, all featuring Spanish lyrics, and a strong Latin guitar line (Herman 2018). As we see Charlie Puth rise in the American industry, we see males in the k-pop industry wanting to mimic his falsetto sound. Singers like Jungkook and Jimin of BTS have covered his songs, and groups such as NCT are showing males doing falsetto much more often (e.g. The 7th Sense or Simon Says). Jungkook even got a chance to perform a duet with Charlie Puth at the 2018 MGA, before BTS performed their hit “Fake Love”, with Puth singing the chorus (TWOWAIISHU 2018).

With this increase in popularity, the acceptability of being a performer has also improved. Statistics taken from elementary school students in 1981 showed that students didn’t even toy with the idea of being performs. When the survey was retaken in 1999, the amount of students that wanted to be entertainers was up to 9%. This study was done again in 2012, and the statistic had again grown - up to 38.8%. The main cause of this growth is “what some researchers call “cosmopolitan striving” or“han/melancholia””. Koreans tend to see Western success to have more social legitimacy. With the rise in popularity of k-pop, some of their own success has become legitimised, therefore making being an idol, or entertainer, more acceptable (Oh and Lee 2013, 115).

As the entertainment industry grows, so does the fanbase. The k-pop industry is giving fans many bands and groups to choose from, and very rarely is a fan part of just one fandom. Groups that don’t gain as much recognition in Korea are greatly recognized in Brazil, Japan and Europe. Countries like Austria don’t have as large of a fanbase, but the fans are still just as supportive. As stated in Song’s essay, “ German and Austrian people are very conservative, and they have a very strong pride in their own things.” This explains why in some countries, the fanbase grows slower. Many countries, including the United States take pride in their own industries, and aren’t always willing to open up to new things — especially in the older generations. Since “Gangnam Style” by PSY has gotten popular, the amount of k-pop fans in Austria has increased. And has been growing slowly, but steadily in the past years (Song 2013, 93-94).

K-pop’s popularity has recently increased significantly in the United States. Groups such as NCT and BTS have attended the AMAs in the last two years (Jin 2017, 1). Both groups, plus others like K.A.R.D, and Monsta X, have also released songs that are mostly in English within the past year to try and attract more attention from their American fans. While these hits have gotten quite popular, they aren’t the first to do so. Groups like Girls’ Generations, also known as SNSD, had their hit “The Boys” released in both English and Korean back in 2011, and were even on Good Morning America — which was easily accessible to them as several members are from America.  The Korean wave has been growing stronger and stronger over the years. CL, an idol formally from the group 2NE1, released multiple English songs with her group, such as “Can’t Nobody”. More recently, she has released her own song “Lifted” which is fully in English, and has worked with the group Black Eyed Peas to release the song “Dopeness” (SBS 2018).

Many Korean artists now tour North America, hitting big cities in both the United States and Canada. BTS had a world tour this year, going to America, Canada, and Europe. The tour was received so well that they are already planning another, perhaps even larger tour in 2019 (Vivid Seats 2018).  Groups such as Monsta X and GOT7 have become regular guests for big events, such as KCON, which has been held in both LA and New York over the last few years (KCONUSA 2018).  NCT, GOT7 and Day6 have plans to further their promotions in America, as they have members coming from the country.

While these groups may be sharing their music internationally, some of them are actually quite diverse within their groups. NCT, an eighteen — and soon to be twenty-one — member group under SM Entertainment, has male idols from all around the world. NCT stands for Neo Culture Technology, and the group’s concept is to have an unlimited amount of members. The group includes nine Korean born members (Taeyong, Taeil, Jisung, Jeno, Jaemin, Haechan, Jaehyun, Doyoung, Jungwoo), one American (Johnny), one Canadian (Mark), one Japanese (Yuta), seven Chinese (WinWin, Xiao Jun, Hendery, Renjun, Chenle, Kun, Lucas), one German (YangYang), and one Thai (Ten). NCT is split into many sub-units, to save them from the struggle of performing with so many people on stage. As of right now, they have 4 units, and a fifth one, NCT Vision — the Chinese members — will be debuting by the end of 2018. SM’s CEO, Lee Soo Man, has stated that he has plans to create a new unit, currently called NCT Vietnam. There have also been recent rumours of debuting a female unit within NCT (kprofiles 2018).

Many other idol groups are diverse as well, though most times with a smaller amount of people. RaNia, a female idol group under DR Music had Chinese (Ttabo,Yijo) , Thai (Namfon, Joy), and African American (Alex) members, and GOT7, a male idol group, under JYP Entertainment has Chinese (Jackson), Thai (BamBam), and American (Mark)  members. Not only is the diversity being seen in idol groups, but also within Korean bands. Day6 includes American (Jae) and Canadian (Young K) members, and W24’s lead singer is from Chile (Howon). This diversity is only able to happen because of how widespread k-pop has become. Many young fans dream of becoming idols, and sometimes an audition pulls through. (kprofiles 2018).

The diversity may seem great, but it must be done with care. EXP Edition, an all male, non-Korean group under IMMABB (I’m Making a Boy Band) has been met with malicious and hateful comments globally. The fact that they are mostly of caucasian descent isn’t the problem; many fans love the diversity. The problem is that this group has not gone through the years upon years of training that most idols have had to go through. For example, Johnny from NCT was in training for nine years before he could finally debut in 2016; he had been training since he was ten years old. Most of the anger about EXP Edition was that they spent no time training whatsoever. They wouldn’t have necessarily had to have started as young as idols like Johnny, but the training is necessary to compete in such an industry. A three member female group from Japan, Honey Popcorn, made their debut as k-pop idols in March of 2018. While none of the members in this group are Korean, they were received better, as they had gone through similar training to what k-pop idols would in Japan. It is understandable that with the spread of k-pop, there will be more people who want to become idols. To be successful in the industry however, you must go through the same training and struggles that other artists do (Blessedkpop 2018).

The Korean music industry has grown in America, reeling in many international artists. Due to this k-pop is becoming a bigger topic at households in Korea, and due to the fact that being an idol is more generally accepted as an occupation. Korean idol groups will be continuously touring North America, and likely releasing even more English tracks. The Korean Wave has certainly taken off, and it doesn’t look like it will be stopping anytime soon.

“15 Amazing English-Language K-Pop Songs.” 2018. SBS News. SBS News. May 22. https://www.sbs.com.au/popasia/blog/2018/05/22/15-amazing-english-language-k-pop-songs.

“2019 Concert Tours: Predicting the Top 2019 Tours.” 2018. Vivid Seats. Accessed December 1. https://www.vividseats.com/blog/2019-concert-tours-predictions.

Blessedkpop. 2018. “Honey Popcorn Expresses Gratitude And Discusses Divided Opinions About Their Debut.” Soompi. Soompi. March 21. https://www.soompi.com/article/1143605wpp/honey-popcorn-expresses-gratitude-discusses-divided-opinions-debut.

Herman, Tamar. 2018. “K-Pop Turns Toward Latin American Market With Collaborations And Tours.” Forbes. Forbes Magazine. June 1. https://www.forbes.com/sites/tamarherman/2018/05/31/k-pop-turns-towards-latin-amerian-market-with-collaborations-tours/#1d519513960d.

Jin, Dal Yong. An Analysis of the Korean Wave as Transnational Popular Culture: North American Youth Engage Through Social Media as TV Becomes Obsolete. Simon Fraser University. 2018.

“KCON USA OFFICIAL SITE.” 2018. KCON USA OFFICIAL SITE. Accessed December 1. http://www.kconusa.com/.

Kim, Youna. 2014. “The Korean Wave (Hallyu).” Accessed October 28, 2018.http://seaa.americananthro.org/2014/07/the-korean-wave-hallyu/

“Kpop Band Member Profiles and Korean Celebrity Profiles.” 2018. Kpop Profiles. Accessed November 28. https://kprofiles.com/.

Oh, Ingyu and Lee, Hyojung. K-pop in Korea: How the Pop Music Industry Is Changing a Post-Developmental Society. University of Hawai’i Press. 2014.

Stephen. 2018. “American Music Influence on Kpop in the Past and the Present.” Accessed December 1 https://blogs.ubc.ca/asia327girlsgen/2018/10/01/american-music-influence-on-kpop-in-the-past-and-the-present/.

Sung, Sang-Yeon. K-pop Reception and Participatory Fan Culture in Austria. University of Vienna Press. 2013.

TWOWAIISHU. 2018. “Charlie Puth, Jungkook, BTS Perform ‘See You Again’, ‘We Don’t Talk Anymore’, ‘FAKE LOVE’ @ 2018 MGA.” YouTube. YouTube. November 6. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pTA0260QKs.