beyondasiaphilia

End of a day: Jonghyun’s suicide and Orientalist concern trolling

December 20, 2017 at 7:44 pm 1 comment

My people my people let’s please not fall for this.

Kpop superstar Kim Jonghyun killed himself earlier this week after a lifelong battle with depression. But the way it’s being spun in some western media outlets has become ridiculous, as if his suicide is a result of the unique pressures of being a Kpop star. It’s not about Kpop or South Korean culture only–this is a bunch of Orientalist bullshit and I’m sorry that people are believing it, though sad to say I’m not surprised that some western press outlets are carrying on as if it’s the gospel truth. But this post on Asian American blog You Offend Me You Offend My Family (YOMYOMF) continues some of the same troubling assumptions, which I had hoped people were not buying.

YOMYOMF’s post states, “His death is being investigated as suicide, and it is pointing in the direction of the mounting pressures he faced as a K-Pop superstar who was in the spotlight. . . It is a major issue which we all need to reflect and act on, and I hope to see Asia really take a serious look at this issue. “ I appreciate that someone is pointing out the need for mental health awareness in Asian/American communities but let’s not pretend that this in only an AZN issue.

YOMYOMF’s post, however, only echoes a lot of the coverage Jonghyun’s suicide has been getting in the Western press. To be fair, media outlets such as the New York Times, the BBC, and People Magazine have been evenhanded in their discussion and avoided racist assumptions. But the appallingly paternalistic coverage in other Western press outlets has barely hidden a slew of racist and culturalist concerns and misconceptions about the Kpop industry and South Korean culture in the most offensive way possible. What really bothers me, though, is the myopia the west has about its own complicity in these kind of tragedies.

The UK media outlet The Guardian has been particularly egregious in beating the Orientalist drum about Jonghyun’s suicide. The Guardian posted this little bit of culturalist concern trolling earlier this week, citing KPop’s “Hunger Games-like musical culture” as a reason for Jonghyun’s death.

“The lockstep perfection of SHINee’s dance routines is undeniably thrilling – but there is something troubling about them too, knowing that only the absolute best will be tolerated.”

Another article from The Guardian also shamelessly pathologized South Korean culture:

“The relentless pressure to achieve can be found in every sector of South Korean society, from its highly competitive education system to a corporate culture that has little tolerance for failure – factors that experts say contribute to the highest suicide rate in the industrialised world.”

Because we don’t know any tech bros in Silicon Valley who are sleeping under their desks and pulling 80-hour work weeks, oh no.

CNN.com also claims, “K-pop’s success has also been dependent on a highly-polished image. Stars typically can’t be seen dating, getting plastic surgery, or become embroiled in any kind of scandal.”

This is stated as if Honey BooBoo never existed or that Lindsey Lohan’s lifelong misery isn’t a thing.

To put this into a broader context, one of the reasons why South Korea uses Kpop and hallyu for cultural and economic leverage is because of the direct results of Western imperialism. Korea was seriously fucked up by the Korean War and one of the ways South Korea managed to dig itself out of its misery is by using soft power in the form of cultural exports to stabilize its economy. So if bombing the fuck out of a country and then dissing it for doing whatever it can to improve life for its citizens isn’t victim blaming I don’t know what is.

To add insult to injury, NBC Chicago news confused SHINee with fellow KPop group BTS and showed a clip of BTS when discussing Jonghyun’s death. I’m not even gonna go there because this is so appalling.

I’m not defending Kpop because it certainly needs all the scrutiny it gets for its treatment of its young stars but the Western press needs to back the fuck up from its sanctimonious attitude about Jonghyun’s death. The prevailing trope has been “Kpop eats its young,” as if this is unique to South Korea’s entertainment industry (The Guardian’s article also criticized Japan for this, which is telling). Hello, do I need to make a list of Western pop stars who have drank and drugged themselves to death? Can anyone say Amy Winehouse? Or those who have outright killed themselves? Cobain, Bennington, and Cornell are names you need to remember. Or of the walking dead of child stars who most likely were sexually abused and now live with that every day of their lives, like Corey Haim, who his friend Corey Feldman says never recovered from being raped as a child by Hollywood executives? The western press needs to step off.

The underlying message here is, “You are barbaric and backward. We are better than you and we are entitled to tell you about it.” And if that’s not Orientalism in a nutshell then I don’t know what is. So please, my people, don’t fall for this.

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