In Erica Vogel’s article titled “K-pop in Mexico”, the concept of large scale fan-organized events, such as flash mobs, in different countries, specifically Mexico, is examined. Vogel explores the potential motivations behind these massive events, including being noticed by their favorite stars, or to put their country on Korea’s radar so that they may host a concert there. This form of communication between the artist and the fan is something rather unique to K-pop, perhaps because of its sheer distance and language/culture barrier. Although interaction on social media does happen, fan-organized events tend to make even more of a statement, especially if it gets covered by local news stations. The ultimate goal seems to be to close the distance between fan and idol, whether that be emotionally or literally. One aspect of fan culture that is very particular to K-pop are fan projects that fans organize at concerts.
Fanclubs will coordinate with their favourite celebrities’ company, the concert venue, and other fans in order to put on a special display of devotion and affection for their idols, usually in the middle of a concert. These projects can come in the form of a fan-made video, coordination of lightsticks to spell out a message, organized chanting, and more. All this is usually done without expectation of any sort of tangible return or compensation, just for an emotional connection to or the recognition of their idol. This sort of fan-idol communication often transcends language, especially as Hallyu becomes more and more of a global trend. One important point that Vogel brings up is how these fan-projects, especially the ones organized by international fans, creates communities and niches within larger cultural groups It takes an exraordinary amount of time and effort for fan projects to take place, and the connection between K-pop fans across gender, race, age, etc.
However, this dedication can also be seen in antifans’ wrath. For their idols, an arena of fans might coordinate their lightsticks to spell out a huge message of love and support, but antifans of that group can coordinate large scale events such as a “black ocean”, where all lightsticks are turned off, to show the performing artiat a malicious lack of support. Overall, fan-idol communication in K-pop seems to be on a much larger scale than in the western entertainment industry. Rather than striving to communicate with a celebrity one on one, K-pop fans seems to believe that coordinating a larger scale of communication with other fans is a more ideal mode. Whether this is due to language and cultural barriers or other reasons, I think it is interesting to consider the dynamic between fan and idol in Korean pop culture. The highly organized nature of fan culture in Hallyu suggests that fans feel not only an obligation to their favorite idols, but also an obligation to other fans. All in all, it reflects a level of dedication and cooperation that is frankly uncommon in western pop culture.
The Politics of K-Pop 
One interesting point in this blog post is the insight that K-pop fans seem to prefer coordinating large-scale communication versus individual interactions with celebrities. I wonder if this is due to the unique cultural differences between Eastern and Western cultures. Western cultures like the United States engage in more individualistic activities and we see this rhetoric throughout media and through accepted social norms. Conversely, East Asian cultures emphasize collectivist behavior with an emphasis on family and following the group as a form of respect and obedience. When looking at fan culture in the K-pop world, I wonder if this collectivist fan activity began in Korea, an East Asian culture, and subsequently spread within the music world to fans in Mexico, the United States, etc that are normally more individualistic. For one, K-pop concerts typically host thousands of fan in a large venue, versus more intimate venues with a better opportunity to directly interact with an artist. As a result, the sheer size of a given idol’s fan base may make large-scale fan work and projects more impactful, as well as more practical given the slim chances of individual recognition. That being said, I do think that the language barriers you discuss in your post, as well as this sense of community-building through planning fan projects and meeting other devoted followers, have an immense impact on fan culture in the K-pop world.
– Stephanie Yang
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The obligation that K-Pop fans feel towards their idols is fascinating. However, this obligation extends far beyond just things that fans do for (literally) their idols such as preparing gifts, banners, and organizing large scale light-stick messages at concerts. In recent years, K-pop fans have moved towards more philanthropic activities in order to support their favorite idols. While K-Pop fans spend lots of money on their favorite groups, they aren’t afraid to donate money to various causes in the name of their favorite groups. There are many examples of this, including building schools in underdeveloped countries (ex. BAP fans raised $26,000 to build the ‘B.A.P. Town School’ in Ghana), planting trees and forests (ex. fans of Girls’ Generation’s Sunny planted a ‘Sunny Forest’ in Seoul), and even donating large amounts of rice (known as ‘Fan Rice’). Fan Rice is stacks of 20kg rice bags that K-pop fans send to the venues of their favorite group’s concerts, weighing as much as several tonnes. The rice is then donated by the idol to any charity they choose. There are now full businesses dedicated to rice donation in Korea.
These philanthropic fan-activities under the names of their favorite idols create a good public image for the group and fandom, indirectly helping tp promote the artist. Rice donation and other philanthropic activities are becoming so widespread that it is becoming a competition amongst fandoms to donate the most amount of money under their favorite groups’ names. While this competition may be stressful for fandoms, I think that it is a great way for K-Pop fans to show support for their favorite groups while also positively impacting the world.
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In my opinion, K-POP industry is the most unique music industry in the world; from the distinctive beauty and fashion trends, fan culture, the relationship between the artists and fans. In KPOP, nothing is ever just “put out” but everything is well calculated and coordinated. Over the years, the industry value of KPOP rose almost to $5 billion dollars, which is only expected to grow more. In my opinion, the reason why KPOP industry has grown so much is the fan-base. Different from the American industry, where I think it’s more audience dominated, KPOP is very fan driven. In the KPOP industry, even if you don’t have national recognition but you still have a lot of fans and sell high selling album numbers, you are still considered popular. While in America, if you have national recognition, then you will have a strong fan base. K-POP fans are the most dedicated fans and supporters I have ever seen. Domestically and internationally, fans of boy-groups and girl groups passionately follow every move of their favorite artists. One thing i find kind of strange about KPOP is the relationship between the fan and the artists. In KPOP, dating is huge and a dating scandal can make or break your career. The artists appeal to their fans more as their boyfriends than a singer, which I think might give very dedicated fans disillusionment.
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As discussed in the blog post, fan-organized events are utilized as a way for fans to communicate their dedication and love towards an idol group. Along the same lines, I think fan chants perform a similar function as a form of fan-idol communication. During K-Pop performances, many fandoms or fan clubs are given a prepared fan chant that they will chant alongside the performance. These are meant to provide an interactive element to the performance and also a way for fans to show their support during the performance. The louder the fan chant, the stronger the support. It’s interesting that the lack of a fan chant is also seen as the lack of emotional support and the malicious disapproval of a group – such as the Black Ocean for SNSD as mentioned in the blog post.
Furthermore, another interesting phenomenon is the prevalence of “fan wars” that typically occur between fan clubs of two or multiple idol groups. These fan wars usually occur because fans of one group deem the fans of another group as rude or disrespectful towards their own group. For example, BTS fans, or ARMY, recently accused BLACKPINK of inserting un-skippable ads of their new song when a BTS song is played on Spotify. This led to a fan war between Army and BLINKS (BLACKPINK’S fans) in which fans of both groups condemned each other for an action that they deemed as unjust for their idol group. However, it was later revealed that the Spotify advertisement was actually fake and the screenshot that was shared was indeed Photoshopped. As a result, the BTS fan that started spreading the rumor apologized, but this incident nevertheless increased the tensions between BLINK and ARMY (https://www.koreaboo.com/news/blackpink-spotify-ad-bts-fan-apology/).
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I find that K-pop fans are very dedicated to their idols, and it leads to massive organizational systems and coordination in concerts and online. Something I found very interesting was the ease of access to being part of the crowd. When I went to K-con in 2014, there were multiple fan booths for each group performing. Upon going up to them, the girls running the booths gave pins, posters, and photo cards of the idols. I remember that it was SNSD Tiffany’s birthday, so the Girls Generation booth was giving out pink papers with a Happy Birthday sign on it. I don’t think it was easy to print out all those banners or design, order and package little pins. It also made people like me who were too cheap to buy a lightstick to feel special holding up something and cheering for K-pop idols. And at most events, fans provide something for people to feel engaged and pumped during the concert. At Lay’s fan meeting, staff passed out glow sticks with Lay’s Namanana printed on them, and at K-expo, fan booths were also giving out pins and photo cards. The prospect of receiving free stuff is not only satisfaction but also a push for fans to feel even closer to the fandom and the idols.
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I found your overall argument to be true to a certain extent, but I do think certain aspects of fan culture that you pointed out are not completely unique to K-Pop. For example, One Direction fans are often mentioned when discussing fan projects. During a show in San Siro in 2014, One Direction fans held up colored pieces of paper to create the Italian flag with “1D” in the design. (https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Dg8cX9SUEAIEfBY.jpg) At a 2015 show in Helsinki, Finland, One Direction fans created a “flower sea” buy holding up artificial flowers. (https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CO2HotsUEAArNMM.jpg) Even as solo artists, they attract this kind of attention and dedication. Harry Styles’ fans created a “rainbow sea” at his solo concert in London in 2018 holding their camera flashlights up against a colored piece of paper. (https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Dar7e8YW0AAfHgL.jpg) I think your idea about fan projects allowing for a connection between fans regardless of gender, race, or age transcends just the genre of K-Pop. However, some could argue that the dedication and intensity of One Direction fans are unparalleled within the western music industry but relatively common within K-Pop fandoms. While fan wars are prevalent within K-Pop as well as American pop, the maliciousness seen in SNSD’s “black sea” is something that I have not seen or experienced within American pop fandoms.
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The relationship between K-pop celebrities and their fans is an entangled and fascinating one. The blog talks about the various forms of fan to K-pop celebrity interactions and displays of ‘love’ and it is interesting how these displays generally tend to be big, extravagant, and are usually highly complicated where they require collaborations of tens or even hundreds of fans.
I also really liked how the author of the blog post discussed the exceptional and commendable efforts that fans from outside of Korea makes in order to act upon and demonstrate their likings for their K-pop idols in Korea, perhaps even get those starts to travel to those fans’ countries to interact with them and perform in front of them. I have never really heard of much fan stories where a fan club would organize large scale flash mobs to get, maybe, Cardi B – a very popular star, to perform at their city. Certain K-pop fans even go as much as going on ‘pilgrimages’ in order to visit Korea and their beloved K-pop stars. It is truly interesting how one’s love for an idol or music group can motivate them to go to a foreign country, perhaps even learning and adapting their language and culture, breaking the barriers standing in between those of different ace and people who speak different languages. This motivation can even help people find others alike and gain a sense of belonging from that.
One thing that does seem potentially worrying is that although the strong relationship between K-pop idols and fans is good, it could also mean that there are strings attached since the fans are giving so much and, thus, might be expecting lots in return. So, in the case that a K-pop idol does something that conflicts with the interest of his or her fans, it is possible that their fans could turn their love into hate and this may lead to the deterioration of the relationship, hurting both the fans and their idols.
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