Tuesday, 2 October 2012

PSY Gangnam Style

PSY Gangnam Style made history as the first East Asian pop single to make it to number one in the Official UK Top 40 Singles Chart over the weekend.



Gangnam Style Youtube Video has attracted 3billion hits worldwide

Whilst naive British East Asians jump for joy that another East Asian FOB cultural craze has taken off in Britain, The Guardian's Arwa Mahdawi in her article 'Whats So Funny About Gangnam Style' explains Gangnam Style success in the west and hits home the reality of media representation of East Asian men in British society...
'South Korean Park Jae-sang ("Psy" for short) is promoting upmarket frocks and luxury fridges is somewhat ironic, considering Gangnam Style's lampooning of the rampant consumerism that pervades what has been described as South Korea's Beverly Hills. The song's lyrics, for example, poke fun at soybean-paste girls who eat cheaply in private so that they can afford to drink mocha frappe lattes in public. Of course, this social commentary is largely lost on non-Korean speakers who don't know their kimchi from their Kim Lee; it's hardly Gangnam Style's political message that is behind its success in the west.'
'Gangnam Style is just an over-the-top video where a fat man does a comical dance and sings repetitive lyrics that don't make sense to most of us. Which basically describes every Flo Rida song ever. This is partly the point of the video, which parodies not just cultural mores specific to South Korea, but cultural excesses easily recognisable to western viewers. Gangnam Style's lyrics may be in Korean, but its visuals are in clear American.'
'The last time the west laughed so uproariously at a Korean singer was when an animated Kim Jong-il bewailed how "ronery" he was in the film Team America, and how nobody took him "serirousry". The puppet had a point: popular western media doesn't tend to take east Asian men seriously – even when they're brutal dictators. The stereotype of a portly, non-threatening Charlie Chan-type who speaks "comical" English is still very much alive, apparent in everything from hungry Kim Jong-un memes to Abercrombie and Fitch T-shirts. And it's hard to escape the uncomfortable feeling that this stereotype is contributing something to the laughter around Gangnam Style.'
Other Article:  UK X Factor Representation of East Asian Men 
Posted by
Labels: ,

20 comments:

  1. Anonymous3 October 2012 at 20:02

    Sad thing is that if William Hung did this, he would have made the final of American Idol.

    ReplyDelete
  2. happybritishchinese4 October 2012 at 08:33

    Considering there's a huge anglo/american influence in the korean entertainment industry its not surprising how they can take a Korean celeb /pop idol and export it to the west, completely taking it out of context on purpose.

    http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-09-26/the-man-behind-the-moves-psy-of-gangnam-style-fame

    In the comments section , someone noticed he was made to look a clown than treated with respect like any other western celeb

    'His video is great and the parodies are fun to watch as well. It's disappointing that shows like Ellen and the Today Show didn't bother to give this guy a proper introduction to their American audiences. Whoever manages those shows should be ashamed of themselves. They reduced a successful singer to a court jester. Because he's foreign maybe? '

    Whilst a Korean FOB can appreciate gangnam as PART of his own entertainment and culture, the clueless Facebook BBCs celebrating this misrepresentation http://clip2net.com/s/2mvkc

    Some BBCs are so fucking pathetic.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous4 October 2012 at 19:05

      We already know that, of course the core of British Born Chinese community is politically illiterate, theyre not cultural critics, but add to it the nerd and geek factors that tend to dominate the BBC psyche, and you end up with the most docile immature grey ethnic minority in Britain. Non-Chinese cultural critics know more about East Asian diaspora issues than the average apolitical BBC.

      Delete
  3. Anonymous5 October 2012 at 18:27

    what makes BBCs nerds and geeks BBCz?

    give some examples...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous5 October 2012 at 18:45

      oh come on, surely you must know what a geek or nerd is and what geeky nerdy behaviour is? You dont need me to explain it.

      Delete
  4. Anonymous5 October 2012 at 19:51

    stereotypes differ among people... you mean like obsessed with sci-fi etc?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous5 October 2012 at 22:08

      For males, typical keywords include some of these....maths, science, IT, engineering, accountancy, technology, gadgets, anime, tendency to mass collect certain things...such as comics, DVDs, models, premiership/barcelona football jerseys etc, glasses, video games, gaming. watching top gear.

      Character and behaviour wise they have a certain aura about them, look and dress a certain way, some are awkward, some idiotically twatish, hard to describe really in words, but when you know when you meet one.

      Steven Cheung making this dumb video exhibits this kind of twatish behaviour seen in many BBC males.

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQ3DfKs54Gs&list=

      Delete
    2. Anonymous5 October 2012 at 22:23

      some modern bbs nerds/geeks who are feeling artistic will study graphic design or illustration, usually their interest in drawing stemmed from anime/manga.

      Delete
    3. happybritishchinese6 October 2012 at 13:34

      From art that I've seen, the issue I have with some BBCs copying from anime manga is they blatantly copy without having the incentive to create their own twist on it, whilst copying I understand is part of the process, some never seem to graduate beyond the simulated fantasy stage.

      Delete
  5. happybritishchinese6 October 2012 at 10:39

    @Anonymous5 October 2012 18:27

    I would define one aspect of a nerd as someone who is an obsessive, for example someone who has no interest on the topic at hand thinking he is more clever than the person he is asking, asks questions that are only intended to make the responder appear foolish, like that moronic zionist twat, Sacha Baron Cohen for example.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous6 October 2012 at 15:20

    This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous6 October 2012 at 20:35

      I majored in Humanities, not that its any of your business. Discuss the issues presented in the articles, not my personal life. This is a diaspora blog, not formspring.

      Delete
  7. Anonymous6 October 2012 at 20:12

    Well it was only a matter of time. As I went shopping a group of guys saw me and did the Gangnam style thing. I wasn't offended,but wanted to fuck with them a bit so I elbowed the "leader"'s head, it was great watching him recoil in pain.

    The weird thing is, 10 years ago I would have been insulted by a similar act and not done anything about it, resulting in being depressed and hurt for a while. Now the roles are reversed, I wasn't offended (it wasn't even mocking my race), but I chose to stand up for myself, and it felt fucking great. Of course I only did this because they weren't the "knife carrying, violent" type, and also because I was in a good position to take them on... but yeah, even if you are in a no win situation, answering back at least makes you (and our race) less of a walkover

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous6 October 2012 at 20:45

      If they randomly saw an east Asian person and for no apparent reason other than him being East Asian, deliberately resorted to doing a gangnam dance, surely that is mocking your race isn't it? Just because its popular, doesn't mean its not form of derision. Surely, its no different to shouting chopsuey or doing a bruce Lee kung fu noise at a random East Asian person walking past?

      Delete
    2. happybritishchinese6 October 2012 at 21:46

      Good for you Anonymous6 October 2012 20:12. One up for team BBC. Despite whitewashed women selling out,sinophobic media,apathetic bubble tea supping facebookers, clueless FOBS. This is how we create awareness, step by step.

      Delete
  8. happybritishchinese7 October 2012 at 13:50

    Heres a point made by someone in an Asian American forum about one of PSY's appearances on mainstream american TV - all the male backing dancers are non-East Asian, but female backing dancers are East Asian.

    Add the clueless Korean FOB audience and the deliberate lack/twisted representation of cool east asian males from western media and this is why you get racism against East asian males in the west.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dlhhfpFBTk

    Without a doubt AAs are much more clued up about this discrimination than most lame BBCs will ever be.

    And here's further proof - a south Korean American rapper angrily shot back at hecklers who wanted him to do the horse dance from 'gangnam style'. Good for him. Finally.

    http://www.allkpop.com/2012/09/tiger-jk-apologizes-for-racist-rant-at-the-creators-project-event

    ReplyDelete
  9. LaughinGor19 October 2012 at 15:07

    It's annoying when I overhead a group of kinda chavvy South Asian girls [Pakistani?Bengali?Indian?] thinking it's Chinese! The cheek to say it so loudly when I [a BBC] was walking pass! Dunno if they saw me tho.

    ReplyDelete
  10. LaughinGor19 October 2012 at 15:15

    I dnt wanna live in UK anymore when most Brits will ASSUME every East Asian [BBC,Korean,Viet,Japanese...] is a MANDARIN-speaking China born and/or bred Chinese NATIONAL!!! GRRR!!! >.<'

    ReplyDelete
  11. Gangnam Style21 November 2012 at 18:53

    gangnam

    hakka style

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=7ETi12I3Lbk

    thai style

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=eBQz4AZrNuk#!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous25 November 2012 at 13:21

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=fvwp&v=f6ZSZbNfSpk&NR=1

      Without music

      Delete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)