Oh Psy. You did it again. Created a super catchy song that the world loves that is borderline inappropriate and should make Koreans cringe yet has become popular in Korea despite (or maybe because of) the disrespect.
What am I talking about? Psy's newest single "Gentleman"
omg (-_(\
It's catchy, don't get me wrong. And I think I like it, I'm definitely in love with the dance (in a very biased sort of way which I will talk about later). But, before "Gangnam Style" (his first hit) Koreans for the most part hated Psy. In a culture that is all about respect, conservatism and physical beauty, Psy just breaks the mold.
In some ways I like this. I feel like Koreans as a whole need to break out of their shell a bit and not let themselves be so confined by their society. Psy is the embodiment of this yet in many ways I think he takes it too far.
First of all, elders here are highly respected. Why are a bunch of Ajoshis carrying his bags? And, UGH Psy, why you be disgusting?
Also this whole theme of disrespect to women in this video strikes a bad cord with me. I have seen too many cases of men not treating women right, being disrespectful and sometimes even violent with them in public. Now I'm not saying all men do it, but it's prominent enough for many foreigners to notice and comment on it. I have a friend who was sexually harassed at the gym for sweating too much. When she complained all the Koreans took the side of the man and said that he couldn't help it, girl sweat drives men crazy. The feminist in me wanted to scream when I heard about this.
Is Psy also making a comment on this and this video is one big AWESOME satire? Or is he falling into this bad stereotype without even realizing it? What do you think?
On to happier things, what I absolutely LOVE about this music video is the dance. It is inspired by the Brown Eyed Girls dance from "Abracadabra" released in 2009 and a huge hit in Korea. I was caught up in the craze when I came to Korea in 2011, learning "The Arrogant Dance" with my friends and doing it at every bar or club we went to. Check it out.
What am I talking about? Psy's newest single "Gentleman"
It's catchy, don't get me wrong. And I think I like it, I'm definitely in love with the dance (in a very biased sort of way which I will talk about later). But, before "Gangnam Style" (his first hit) Koreans for the most part hated Psy. In a culture that is all about respect, conservatism and physical beauty, Psy just breaks the mold.
In some ways I like this. I feel like Koreans as a whole need to break out of their shell a bit and not let themselves be so confined by their society. Psy is the embodiment of this yet in many ways I think he takes it too far.
First of all, elders here are highly respected. Why are a bunch of Ajoshis carrying his bags? And, UGH Psy, why you be disgusting?
Also this whole theme of disrespect to women in this video strikes a bad cord with me. I have seen too many cases of men not treating women right, being disrespectful and sometimes even violent with them in public. Now I'm not saying all men do it, but it's prominent enough for many foreigners to notice and comment on it. I have a friend who was sexually harassed at the gym for sweating too much. When she complained all the Koreans took the side of the man and said that he couldn't help it, girl sweat drives men crazy. The feminist in me wanted to scream when I heard about this.
Is Psy also making a comment on this and this video is one big AWESOME satire? Or is he falling into this bad stereotype without even realizing it? What do you think?
On to happier things, what I absolutely LOVE about this music video is the dance. It is inspired by the Brown Eyed Girls dance from "Abracadabra" released in 2009 and a huge hit in Korea. I was caught up in the craze when I came to Korea in 2011, learning "The Arrogant Dance" with my friends and doing it at every bar or club we went to. Check it out.
I could probably do an entire blog post on this music video too, maybe I should make this a thing?
Also, the girl in "Gentleman" is Ga-in from Brown Eyed Girls. Way to bring it back Psy.
I was going to end the post there but then I just found out that on April 18 the video was banned by South Korea's state broadcaster Korean Broadcasting System (KBS) because it contains a scene of Psy "abusing public property" by kicking a no parking cone. (-_(\
Oh Korea, you amuse me endlessly.
Oh Korea, you amuse me endlessly.
1 Comments
Abracadabra and the moves behind the music? Definitely make this a thing. (Y)
ReplyDelete