Author: kellyw3

Is K-pop gay? This is a question that has eluded a definitive answer in my personal interaction with the genre for a long time, and those with opinions online oscillate wildly, a hallmark of the fandom that has earned K-pop its reputation in online spaces. Circumstantially, a lot of people I have met within the space have been gay. Lining up in front of a venue hours before a K-pop concert you will be confronted with various implied and explicit markings of queerness from an abundance of pride flags, to the shipping culture generally focusing on those of the same gender (I’m not saying the shipping is inherently queer or productive to queer causes, but in many of these cases it is done in the spirit of deviance in sexuality, I could write pages on the impacts of shipping, but that’s not what I’m focusing on here, bear with me). Within K-pop, one’s affinity with certain groups or idols can exist as a kind of flagging within the larger fandom. Comments such as, “Oh, your bias (a term used to express one’s favorite member within a given group) is Moonbyul (an idol widely speculated to be queer in her identity)” is accompanied by a raised eyebrow and knowing look. Yet, despite how many in the fandom identify with queerness, the number of these idols who is explicitly out is vanishingly small.

Yet these claims of an idol’s sexual inclinations are based in some form of reality. Video compilation abounds on sites like YouTube titled things such as “Fruitiest K-Pop moments” or “Idol’s closet is made of glass”. Most of these compilations depict these idols engaged in various things that could be construed in some fashion as queer. Female idols reacting with annoyance or disgust to men they are interacting with. Two idols of the same gender hold hands for a long period of time, choosing word choice that insinuates ambiguity when describing their ideal type. Again, many things that could be construed as queer in nature that ultimately fall short of declaring oneself to be queer. In general, such outright declarations are understood to be impossible due to the control exerted by the companies these idols work for as well as the conservative culture prevalent within South Korea. Additionally, many of the actions that American fans get lost in cultural translation as was referenced in the most recent class presentation on representation of queerness in non-western contexts. Not seeking to retread the points made in the presentation, I instead wish to focus on the music that is created by and for these idols and how it can be dissected to reveal potential queerness. 

            When thinking about the actual content of some of these songs, one of the main things that my mind jumped to was that of affect theory. The fact that intention can carry less weight compared to impact serves as an excellent parallel for some of the themes depicted within K-pop. Since 2015, with the rise of K-pop group Blackpink rocketed to success on the back of its concept of girl crush, a theme supposedly centered around alt aesthetics and empowerment of women. Concepts, given the commercial nature of the industry, serve as general framing, aesthetics, and guidelines for how the group operates. While other groups had done a girl crush concept in the past, Blackpink made the concept far more mainstream due to their massive popularity. While the actual claims that such concepts can be seen as empowering due to the high level of body control, promotion of very specific images of femininity, and tying this femininity to commercialism, if we got back to the tenants of affect theory, there is some kernel of truth of believed truth within the perfected corporate image these idols present.

            This image becomes even more complicated when discussing the actual music produced by these groups. Authorship of songs by idols themselves varies from group to group, but a commonality typically occurs that there is some level of creative freedom allowed within these spaces of music production. This becomes interesting when performing media analysis of these pieces as there most accessible interpretation seems to be heavily queer coded. The inspiration for the title of this post comes from the music video of group i-dle, whose music video Oh my God can be very easily read through the lens of a sapphic relationship. Yet the purpose of my analysis is not to bring to light the themes of queerness within the song, but rather to consider the implication of what it means in the context of the K-pop industry and affect theory. None of the artists behind the song identify as queer openly in any way, which is commonplace given Korea’s conservative culture as well as the binding contracts holding many of these idols to strict standards of media presentation. As the title of this piece implies, it seems that in these cases, a death of the author occurs while the artist is still living, creating an interesting dichotomy when a corporate created product is turned into a vessel of queer expression implicitly through its fandom. Now the complicating factor is that this is done intentionally, or at least tacitly endorsed by these large media companies in order to generate more profits, and what that says for the legitimacy of the representation or art form, but at some point, such arguments become cyclical in conclusions. There isn’t one answer that I believe applies to this specific genre, but it is an interesting piece to consider the various factors that dictate how art is created and how we are supposed to consume it.

Nostalgia is a powerful force when it comes to how we recount our past, constructing beautiful non realities as we yearn for times not like our current. This force is amplified even further when it comes to how we view our childhoods, a simpler time when the world didn’t seem as scary and the systems the world relied upon seemed to work. While some of these assertions may contain a bit of truth, it often covers up the unwieldy fact that such a time period never existed in the first place. Hayden Anhedonia, known by her stage name Ethel Cain, plays with this nostalgia through her work and music videos that contest nostalgic senses of national pride found within America during the early 2000’s and questions what really made rural America special.Unlike many more left leaning depictions of rural America which often take the route of lampooning such communities as uninformed country bumpkins, Anhedonia offers a more sympathetic view, showing both the beauty and shortcomings of rural conservative America.

 Ethel Cain’s music video for the aptly titled song American Teenager was the third single teased off of her album Preachers Daughter, and reflects on growing up in Bush’s rural america. The entire video is shot on an old camcorder without much thought given to professionalism, giving the entire video a grainy, spontaneous quality reminiscent of a home video. The homevideo feeling is amplified by the fact the video is shot entirely in Anhedonia’s small hometown of 7,000. This youthful atmosphere is captured in the various other nothings of youth, lazily riding a bike down a deserted street, hunching over the display of a convenience store, and hopping over fences circling the highschool football stadium. Yet, there is no sense of homecoming within any of these scenes. The novice recording, rather than evoking a sense of peaceful simplicity instead reinforces a sense of deterioration and passage of time as Ethel is only ever shown alone, making the stadium and streets look bare and forgotten. These various scenes create the idea that she can no longer return to these scenes of her childhood as a child. The cheerleader outfit she has on for much of it looks small and juvenile on her body, also heightened by the manifestation of her trans identity. The ideal image of a young, happy, popular, cisgender cheerleader is broken down in this way. The childhood we once yearned for can never come back, but Ethel also insinuates that it never existed in the way we might like to remember it either.

While not an explicit example of homonationalism, I think that the concept was certainly considered when the video and song were being produced. Homonationalism generates a shared culture in which one’s national identity, in this case that of the American, is made appealing through its comparison to other countries, many examples of which occurred during the myriad of justifications for the Iraq war between 2003-2011. This nationalism as the center of identity is harmful for many reasons, but Anhedonia through her artistic work and statements argues that it has resulted in a destruction of a small interpersonal community. The figure of the neighbor’s brother who died in overseas war is not scorned, but rather empathized with through the universality of the American dream we all hope for.

When the concept of alt history is brought up in the context of intellectual property, it tends to call to mind poorly researched and overly indulgent fantasy that is not worthy of genuine consideration. This is especially true when these alternative histories address the Second World War with the concept of a hypothetical Axis victory being peddled in various forms from obscure internet forums to large franchises such as video game series Wolfenstein. In its forty-year lifespan over a dozen entries, Wolfenstein gives its player the power fantasy of killing Nazis as American darling William Joseph “B.J.” Blazkowicz. While many of the earlier titles centered around an indulgent romp of computerized gore, explosions and swastikas, modern iterations find time to take B.J. away from his arcade shooter roots to provide legitimate analysis of fascism and identity, even if they throw him back into the fray immediately after.

One such scene is found in the 2014 release of Wolfenstein: The New Order.  In a relatively mundane cut-scene, B.J. is on a train bound for Berlin, filling a dinky paper cup with coffee from the dining car on the train. Suddenly, the train begins to shake as BJ is interrupted by Frau Engel, a major antagonist of the game along with a ten-foot-tall Nazi combat robot. Yet, combat does not break out; they walk past you and take a seat at one of the tables. Control is given over to the player and you attempt to casually leave but are accosted by Engel. If you ignore her you are blocked by the robot; your only answer is to sit down. As you take your seat, Engel grabs you by the wrist and pulls you in, noting your distinctive Aryan features and the fact that you came from good genetic stock. She then casually asks you to play a “little game” with her to test if you are truly Aryan as she fiddles with a Luger pistol that she places between you on the table. You as the player are then tasked with selecting a series of three photos, you heart racing as you try and parse what seem to be random images with your life on the line. If you hover your mouse over the gun, a prompt pops up to interact with it, but choosing to do so results in Engel snatching the gun away and promptly putting a bullet into your head. You have no power here. Upon restarting, you point between the cards again, and upon picking the final one, you once again find the gun pointed at your head. Just as it seems Engel is about to pull the trigger, she begins laughing. She claims that she has an innate ability to tell if someone is not Aryan, and the cards you picked didn’t matter. A non-Aryan, she says, would have gone for the gun. With this, you are free to leave the dining car and move on with the game. The irony of this scene is that despite his strong jawline, blue eyes, and blond hair, B.J. is Jewish. While it is not perhaps fully explored within the game, it is an established, and important part of his identity within the later entries in the series. A series that also prominently features queer, disabled, black, and Jewish characters who all fight alongside B.J. in his quest to defeat Nazis.

This specific scene depicts a core flaw of fascist ideology that is further heightened through the medium it is portrayed in. A main issue with fascism is that it is not a stable ideology, its stability is founded on the formation of outgroups that are demonized and destroyed. It always needs that outgroup. Fascism is an ouroboros that will eventually turn on its own as it seeks to continue the cycle of punching down. Normally, the player attempts to defeat fascism with fantastic weapons, but here, if you attempt to fight, you are immediately and casually executed. In your first-person perspective, the assault rifle normally in your hands is replaced by a tray with a cup of coffee and a carton of milk. The larger-than-life power fantasy of Wolfenstein, and of video games in general is turned off. You are no longer a one-man army. You are just a man. And with your strength stripped away by the mechanics of the scene, it shows the player that your enemy will not necessarily be defeated through brute strength, but rather, that the ideology itself is built on a rotten foundation.