Occupied Territories

K-pop group miss A I’ve been thinking about promo images and how they are used in K-pop recently. Here’s an excellent analysis of a recent promo image of G-Dragon. It goes deep into the cultural and historical meanings behind the photo, and it’s really quite interesting. But even when the images don’t really mean anything, they are just wonderful as images, such as the one of miss A above. They often have that wonderful “pop” that grabs your attention immediately, and even when they’re “merely” nice to look at, they also effectively convey emotions, attitudes, etc. in their poses. There’s so much expressive energy in the photo above: just look at the eyes of each member, all of which express something slightly different (and let’s remember that Asian emoticons, for instance, focus on the eyes and not the mouth, which makes the image above all the more interesting, something of a real live version of the expressivity contained in emoticon culture). It’s also just so easy to get lost in K-pop fashion: I know I’ve watched some f(x) videos over and over again just to bask in the awesomeness of Sulli’s fashion (a topic for a future post, I hope). But also, one thing this image brings to mind is a blog post I read recently on why exposed legs (and I’m assuming this applies to midriff as well to some extent) are much more acceptable in Korea than exposed cleavage (and are regarded as less sexual). If you take a look at this photo of miss A, it might appear somewhat sexual (three of the girls are showing varying amounts of their legs and two are showing their midriff), but the one thing you may not notice initially is that none of the girls are showing their cleavage, not even a little bit. In fact, I can’t remember, off the top of my head, seeing cleavage in any K-pop promo images or music videos. It’s a good reminder that when outsiders like me look at Korean culture, it’s important to be aware of the cultural baggage you’re carrying with you and that, in the Korean context, the things you think are notable might be rather benign from a Korean perspective. (The blog I linked to above re: legs vs. cleavage is called The Grand Narrative, and it’s written by a man named James Turnbull. He writes on Korean culture, gender, sexuality, music, and related topics, and if you have even the remotest interest in these things, it’s absolutely essential reading.)

K-pop group miss A

I’ve been thinking about promo images and how they are used in K-pop recently. Here’s an excellent analysis of a recent promo image of G-Dragon. It goes deep into the cultural and historical meanings behind the photo, and it’s really quite interesting. But even when the images don’t really mean anything, they are just wonderful as images, such as the one of miss A above. They often have that wonderful “pop” that grabs your attention immediately, and even when they’re “merely” nice to look at, they also effectively convey emotions, attitudes, etc. in their poses.

There’s so much expressive energy in the photo above: just look at the eyes of each member, all of which express something slightly different (and let’s remember that Asian emoticons, for instance, focus on the eyes and not the mouth, which makes the image above all the more interesting, something of a real live version of the expressivity contained in emoticon culture). It’s also just so easy to get lost in K-pop fashion: I know I’ve watched some f(x) videos over and over again just to bask in the awesomeness of Sulli’s fashion (a topic for a future post, I hope).

But also, one thing this image brings to mind is a blog post I read recently on why exposed legs (and I’m assuming this applies to midriff as well to some extent) are much more acceptable in Korea than exposed cleavage (and are regarded as less sexual). If you take a look at this photo of miss A, it might appear somewhat sexual (three of the girls are showing varying amounts of their legs and two are showing their midriff), but the one thing you may not notice initially is that none of the girls are showing their cleavage, not even a little bit. In fact, I can’t remember, off the top of my head, seeing cleavage in any K-pop promo images or music videos. It’s a good reminder that when outsiders like me look at Korean culture, it’s important to be aware of the cultural baggage you’re carrying with you and that, in the Korean context, the things you think are notable might be rather benign from a Korean perspective.

(The blog I linked to above re: legs vs. cleavage is called The Grand Narrative, and it’s written by a man named James Turnbull. He writes on Korean culture, gender, sexuality, music, and related topics, and if you have even the remotest interest in these things, it’s absolutely essential reading.)

  1. occupiedterritories posted this