From Brian in Jeollanam-do: “What I find a little bizarre, and kind of sad, is the reaction the Wonder Girls have gotten among foreigners in Korea. The moral indignation with which a lot of bloggers and posters have reacted to this apparent offense to their refined sensibilities is laughable, and is about as awkward as . . . well, about as awkward as old people talking about young people usually is.”
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21 Comments
Well in the country where there’s vocabulary for old people paying young people of the Wonder Girls’ age for sexual favors, is it really a misplaced and misguided moral outrage?
Maybe, just maybe, the ex-pat disdain for the wonder girls is the same as that for Menudo? So what?
Ahhh yes…the good old placing yourself on a pedestal routine. Pat yourself on the back a little more for being so above the masses. good job.
Absolutely nothing of value in that quoted segment.
Come on, Goat, surely you agree that watching people argue earnestly about the Wonder Girls — the Wonder Girls! — can be pretty amusing. And there is certainly something to be said that whatever socially corrosive effects the Wonder Girls may or may not have on Korean society, they pale in comparison to those of US pop culture.
I kind of see the point.
We Westerners take our pop icons way too seriously. I for one don’t want to read about Bono in any part of my newspaper except the entertainment section.
I don’t think there is too much danger of that coming from the Wonder Girls.
One way to look at it is that Wonder Girls is just a vehicle for the two girls who seem to have some competence as singers.
Don’t get me wrong, though — I post a lot of tabloid crap because it’s fun and it’s fun to watch other people have fun with it, even if I’ve got to hear other people kvetch about me not blogging more serious material.
(Sorry about the double post.)
On the other hand, bad is just bad and it is hard to see the Wonder Girls as anything other than the Spice Girls gone wrong.
Oh sorry guys I missed the 110 post long weekend debate about the Wonder Girls and how they shouldn’t relate to underage prostitution. Oops.
Bono is the least of it.
The people from a country whose media is filled with stories about Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan, and Paris Hilton–not to mention Madonna, in any generation–have got squat to say about whatever the Wonder Girls are up to.
And the other Anglosphere countries have their own versions, too.
I curse all that made me finally give in and type “Wonder Girls” on youtube. This isn’t even half as ’scandalous’ as some Spice Girls videos, or was Metro citing from some live performance?
Guys like clooney or sean penn or the other members of the Film Actors Guild (F.A.G.), are certainly annoying and best ignored when are doing anything but acting and appearing on the entertainment page.
But I think Bono is a bad example. He relentlessly and nobly campaigns for humanitarian causes in Africa on the scale that he has been given consideration for the Noble Peace Prize (all jabs about the value of said prize, al gore, arafat comments preeminently acknowledged). He is one of the few entertainers who I’m happy to see on a page other than just the entertainment section. He deserves to be taken seriously based on his efforts and accomplishments. The fact that he also happens to be a rock star of sorts just makes him cool and affords him an Edge (bad pun preeminently acknowledged).
Sweet!
to go along with the pedestal we now have the “it is worse over there so nyah nyah shutup!” argument.
Wonder Girls are whores (of a different nature). They are being prostituted out by their creators mercilessly for cash and when the fad fades, they will be left to a similar fate as an old hooker - cast aside without a second thought.
One - perhaps two - might be able to parlay this exposure (pun?) into a reasonably successful career but I would not bet too much money on it. Only time will tell if these girls will develop their…erm…talent. If not, I am sure there are plenty of places in Kangnam that will develop it for them.
ps. I think you can pretty much substitute any created, no-talent pop group (redundant?) for the Wonder Girls in this regard.
They (pop singy dancey created crap groups) are all whores. Just so that the Wonder Girls are teenage whores like (like so many before them).
Yes, they are all just products!
They are not singers, they are “entertainers”.
They are produced, down to the smallest detail, to appeal to the lowest common denominator and generate the most amount of cash as long as the “fad” can last.
They are the same the world over; the Britneys, Lindsay Lohans, Spice Girls, Wondergirls, SES, PINKL, on & on ad nauseum.
They f*** for money. They f*** the eyes and minds of everyone who calls themself a “fan”- the “fans” that don’t give 2 sh*ts that they can’t sing and have had their “talent” beaten into them from years & years of “training”. These “fans” only want one of 2 things- to f*** them or to be like them. It has nothing to do with any talent whatsoever!
And, as pointed out, when they suddenly stop becoming the big cash cow, they are tossed aside like old hookers.
Maybe one or two can slog it our for a solo career, maybe even be more popular ala Lee Hyo-Ree. Maybe they’ll try to get married off to a rich chaebol heir and divorce with a huge paycheck a few years later. Maybe they’ll end their days slogging it off in a Kangnam room salon.
The future doesn’t look bright!
Wow, great post.. I never got why this innocent craze incited such a ruckus in the foreign community.
http://summerz.pe.kr/blog/index.php?pl=1089
Oh boy, I can see it now. If ‘em die-hard netizens ever get to reach this thread and start postin’ em stingin’ remarks as to how insensitive y’all waeguks are’n how much they love ‘em Wonderbra-huggin Girls until the day they die, that’ll be the day.
I’m buyin’em beer and pizza!
Heck, that’s an upgrade. Used to be the cheabol geezers would have their way with them and later give them a sock factory and a one-way ticket to Hong Kong, Japan or the States. Baby momma needs to be taken care of, you know.
Anyway, whether here or in the States it’s saccharine tripe pop music. I don’t get the ruckus.
And Bono knows bugger all about economics; his campaigning for “debt forgiveness”, especially for Nigeria, is a disservice to good governance.
#18,
Maybe said netizens should click on the link I posted.
Why do people give a crap about the Wonder Girls? What a waste of breath!
On the flip side, if Koreans can criticize other countries pop icons, and they do, than other people can do the same to their pop icons.
“When in Rome, do as the Romans do.”