i don't need a man!

[lirazel]

NEW OBSESSION ALERT:

Seriously, watch this video. It made my whole night. And I think I've finally found ~my girl group. Fei (the one with the curly hair) is my QUEEN, but all the ladies seem super awesome! (I already loved Suzy because she played this absolutely wonderful hbic character in Dream High. That drama was just decent, but her character was GREAT.) I was bouncing along with this song on my way to work, it's so damn delightful.

Lyric translations here. What I love about this song is this is a woman who says, "I don't want to be a burden to my parents [note: ONLY IN A KPOP SONG], so I work really hard for what I have, and it may not be a lot, but I know how to be content. I can live well without you so you better not be all talk, you better take this seriously." I find that really delightful.

Also: I am FOUR ICONS AWAY from reaching my limit. This is distressing to me. That's too close for comfort.

Comments

[madcap-shiny.livejournal.com]

REVISITING A MONTHS-OLD POST BECAUSE I AM HAVING SOME FEELINGS ABOUT KPOP GIRLS AND ONLY LAUREN WILL UNDERSTAND AND I FIGURE THIS IS AS GOOD A PLACE AS ANY TO PUT THEM

But no, seriously omg Lauren this has been eating me up inside -- you may have noticed a recent influx in 2NE1 posts on my tumblr, and basically I totally dig them and their badass image and think they're rad as hell because ASSERTIVE KPOP GIRL BANDS ARE THE WAY TO MY HEART, I SUPPOSE, as they well should be. And the thing is, I recently read an article where someone said they didn't think they were all that because in the end, 2NE1's ~fierce~ image is something still packaged and sold by the (male) suits in charge with an interest in making a buck, not empowering women, and 2NE1 isn't really that rebellious because it's all ultimately a manufactured image being put out there when the girls are tightly restricted like any other kpop group and they can't date or anything (which is especially ridiculous since two of the members of 2NE1 are seriously 28 years old and yet not allowed to have relationships).

And, like. I get where this is coming from! But I also disagree on multiple levels? Because first off, it's not the girls' fault that industry rules are preventing them from having, like, NORMAL LIVES. It sucks, but they're not the ones who should be blamed for that or derided for not being as badass and independent as their music/image would promote. It's out of their control and I don't think it's cool to shame them for having to conform to unfair rules when.........if they don't follow those rules their careers are potentially over! And, more importantly, I think that even if their music/image is something a bunch of men came up with in the hope that it would sell just like the more conventional male gaze-y OPPA I LOVE YOU stuff other girl bands put out does, that doesn't necessarily mean that there is no meaning to be found in the material of 2NE1 or Miss A or any other badass lady band? Like, it's kind of a "death of the author" thing in a way -- even if nobody behind the scenes cared about ladies and their agency, that doesn't mean it's invalid for the audience to take joy in that and find it/those groups wonderful. I'm sure it's possible that whoever wrote/produced/etc. Bad Girl Good Girl and I Don't Need A Man was just looking to sell some image of empowerment and dichotomy-busting, but that doesn't mean the members of Miss A are mindless automatons who don't really care about or believe in what they're supporting.

(which brings me to another thing -- this person's point was essentially "2NE1 aren't really that fierce and independent because they are ultimately managed and sold by men like any other girl group," buuuut I feel like that kind of just.......erases them from their own music, on a level? Like, maybe YG and JYP just want to sell girl power because girl power sells, but that doesn't equate to 2NE1 and Miss A not being made up of ladies who are fierce and rad and wonderful in their own right. Sure, it's possible a bunch of guys in charge are controlling them/their music to a degree, but they're not brainless robots. Obvs I don't know their lives but just as there's the potential that these women don't necessarily care about/believe in not needing dudes or being powerful and independent, there's also the potential that they do care and they are committed and they do want people to be inspired by it, even if they aren't the ones who came up with the lyrics and the image in the first place.)

ANYWAY, THIS IS A LONG COMMENT THAT IS AS MENTIONED HILARIOUSLY TACKED ON TO A SUPER OLD ENTRY BUT I'VE BEEN THINKING ON IT A LOT AND I THOUGHT MAYBE YOU'D BE INTERESTED/HAVE YOUR OWN THOUGHTS. lolololol i feel like this all basically boils down to me being defensive of girl groups that give me ~feelings about how they express agency in their music even if that agency might just be a product to the entertainment companies selling them.

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

I am 100% on your side. Like, all women throughout history in partriarichal societies have had to navigate 'how do I empower myself and other women and tell the truth while basically being confined by the prison of patriarchy?' We all have to figure that stuff out! And most of the time we have been controlled by men, but that doesn't make our struggle to speak truth any less ours or any less powerful. Saying it does just gives men EVEN MORE POWER which is really the last thing they need. And yes, powerful/rich men are going to use our truth-speaking to sell things, that's going to happen. And in this case, it's usually men writing these things (JYP writes almost all of his bands' songs and the man is talented but he is an egomaniac), but that doesn't mean that the women singing these songs aren't striving to put real female empowerment (however they define that, even if they wouldn't define it in those terms) into the music and it definitely doesn't mean that women listening can't find empowerment in things that were prepackaged. THERE IS NO PURE ART THAT IS BOUGHT OR SOLD. SERIOUSLY, come on. If you're intending art for an audience, especially if you're expecting to sell it or make money off of it in some way, there's a degree of...compromise there. BUT IT'S NOT NECESSARILY BAD COMPROMISE. Because self-indulgance in art is most often annoying! You don't create art for yourself, you create it to communicate with other people so there's absolutely nothing wrong with that compromise. We'd have to discredit ALL ALL THAT WAS EVER BOUGHT OR SOLD if we go down that road and that is just ridiculous.

And the degree to which these companies control these women's (and men's, but that's less fraught) lives is just disgusting and wrong and I wouldn't have a problem with people criticizing the audience for being complicit in that wrongness (it's something I fret about myself). But the women themselves? Seriously? This is dismissal of women masquerading as feminism and I have no time for it. Your thoughts are all correct and I love them and you.

BTW, you should chat with kwritten sometime about 2ne1 (which I STILL pronounce as to-anyone in my head), because she has lots of feelings and we have had conversations about "Ugly" which I think you would be interested in.