We used to watch the K-Pop girl groups when my son was that age. My husband admired them. He thought they were more accomplished than their American equivalents.
I was cruising Netflix and came across a documentary, 9 Muses of Star Empire. I love dance, though I have no skills myself. I read and watch everything I can on the topic.
I particularly like documentaries about the struggles and various machinations that occur behind-the-scenes in order to make what happens on stage. I’m partial to ballet but enjoy all forms of creative dance.
I thought I’d really enjoy this program. Turned out, I could barely get through it.
I’ve written before, I dislike the machined art we see today. It’s not person’s voice, it’s their voice manipulated by computer. That was the problem with this group. These girls are essentially trained to be walking, talking, dancing, speaking, sex dolls. You watch them be stripped of their humanness, as the program progresses.
I eventually turned it off. I’d seen enough, but then my husband came in and he was curious so I turned it back on. I was 2/3 through the program. At this point the girls were depressed. They were morose.
The men training them had similar depressed expressions on their faces. “Everyone involved with this looks like that,” I explained to my husband.
He thought it might be usual, but I don’t think it is. “This is not as hard as ballet,” I said. “I’ve seen German ballerinas train, Japanese ballet…really, ballet all around the world. Their bodies are beat up way beyond what these girls are going through and you never see this kind of moroseness. They’re there because they want to be there. These girls look like they’d rather die…”
Ultimately (and not necessarily correctly), I blamed this on the men training the girls. I can’t say for sure it’s the culture. I think it may be that the intended goal of the training is what sucks the life out of the girls. The goal of ballet is not to manipulate and titillate men.
It may be that when you take a woman, anywhere and mark her value in line to how a generic male responds to her, she’s going to fold in on herself.
Women are not meant to be sex dolls, but it seems many of them are trying to become this. It’s so against nature.
I think these things I write about now, will come to light with Pluto in Aquarius. The shadow side of technology. Sex (Pluto) robots (Aquarius).
It’s shocking to me, some girls are convinced they’re best off if they can look like a plastic doll. What good is that, really?
Your thoughts on this topic?
It was about time for someone to finally say that. I don’t buy into this modern-day concept of the blatant objectification and sexualization of the female figure as “empowering”.
Not even just the female figure – young girls. Way underage girls. It is most definitely NOT empowering, especially to them. They don’t even fully realize what they are doing. My cousin’s wife always tells her daughter to pose when she takes pictures. The girl has been doing it since before she was in kindergarten. Hand on hip, hip out, one knee bent, head tilted. Please make it stop.
It is sad, and I don’t even see that kind of thing as sexy…just creepy. I guess some people don’t mind having sexuality spoon-fed to them by corporate entities, but I don’t like being told who to be attracted to. And the unnatural/plastic aspect of it is unsettling, as well.
I definitely look forward to Pluto in Aquarius bringing these issues to light. I also believe Uranus in Taurus will challenge people’s conceptions of “beauty”.
This might be a different pov. I do completely agree what you’re saying but I think large part of why Korean girl groups or ANY, entertainment industry, artists are “that way” is commercialism. In the past, artists were anti-commercial but not anymore, and audience seems to like prolific artists. So Studios adapt and prefer to create manufactured artists in an idealized “persona” or “era” (album) because it’s great way to get endorsements for money and visibility for worldwide audience.
I know you’re right. But these girls lack talent, frankly. They are chosen because they are tall and thin…period. They can’t sing…and may not be interested in singing. The one girl who can sing is ordered to speak the words (like a machine).
“Tall and thin” is hard to find (per the program) so they just get that physical type and try to train them to do as they’re told. They’re not naturals, is what I am saying. What they are is malleable. Which is what I think is required to be a star these days. Are you willing to be and do and say as you are told?
But this goes beyond entertainment. If you all you develop is your ‘sex dollness” you have a shelf life of 3-5 years, if that. They turn over the average young porn star in about 3 months!
There really is more to life than making money. And if making money costs you something you can’t buy, you’re going to wind up on the bottom, even if you’re on top.
Back to this particular show, it just became painful watching them try to pound a square peg into a round hole. And the girls were failing and I don’t think it was their fault…at all.
Looks often matter more than talent especially in the music industry. What else is new? I don’t see a problem with using your appearance to make money when it’s hard to get a job. Self-respect is pretty disposable compared to survival
Some might argue that self-respect is the foundation of survival but that’s easier to say than actually live.
It doesn’t make sense to me, to pin your survival on succeeding at something you have no talent for. Can’t sing, but I will be in this singing group here, in front of millions of people.
Whaaat?
It makes no sense.
Using the word “muse” is so ironic….I hope Pluto blows this shit apart.
Pluto in Aquarius, I mean. Although Pluto in Capricorn could decimate an industry that thinks this is a good idea. I’m all for artists making a living but it’s really just a bunch of producers injection-molding artists on a conveyor belt for mass consumption. Check the expiration date.
Yes. Pluto in Cap – sex business.
Brilliant. I also loved the realization: “Sex (Pluto) robots (Aquarius)” – a taste of things to come, to be sure.
They also call them “goddesses”. Which hurts the brain. Not at first. But the deeper the program gets, the more miserable everyone involved looks.
I’ve just never seen anything like it.
Yes. Goddess is unreal. I don’t want to be anyone’s goddess. Ethereal being. Perfect image created by another. Pressure much?
hahaha 😀
Where “goddess” means. “miserable tall Korean girl sulking, with bandaid on knee”.
LOLOLOLOL
I need to stop watching TV and watching commercial movies seriously… Work has been soul-sucking and demeaning for a while now, and I understand that for these girl/boy groups. And everyone is demanding for robots and perfection. Yeah I agree something is wrong, egregiously wrong.
Also fuck this concept of being “talented”. We’ve been told so many times as kids that you’re either talented or not. And I’ve been mowed down so many times despite trying different things. So yeah… I’d rather be skilled than talented. But skill takes time that no one seems to want to invest in anyone else anymore. But I will. Lots of times you kind of have to do it yourself and fail magnificently and publicly. Talent is a lottery, plus the external veneer of hours of work to increase a skill. No one cares about heart anymore… They’d rather folks do as they’re told, be soulless and emotionally dead so they can’t get hurt by criticism.
Maybe that brainless thing is what korean men are into out there in asian land? Who knows? Could be a cultural clash. The women out there seem subservient to their husbands. There’s a weird fascination with young school girls. Maybe korean men are just unimaginative because their women are taught to be obedient doormats. If they were raised in the United States I would guess those same Korean men would be into something more voluptuous and interesting…you know, interactive 🙂 lol
I see what you mean but this was not what was portrayed in the film. The girls failed. Which is another oddity for a program like this. You generally get to see at least *someone* succeed.
I guess that’s my whole point. It’s all machined. How could it not. It’s like falling in a love with a CGI character – who does that?
In real life, I mean. I realize people have Snow White fantasies, lol. But these are real girls, trying to follow instructions…obediently?
It’s not like Janis Joplin getting up there and singing as she was born to do, that’s for sure.
“It may be that when you take a woman, anywhere and mark her value in line to how a generic male responds to her, she’s going to fold in on herself.”
Pretty much sums it up. Very well put.
I remember reading that South Korea had a very high rate of plastic surgeries. http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/03/23/about-face
I also heard that men in Korea are more sexist… I was told that the arm grabbing (when the woman walks away) in K-dramas is normal behavior over there.
They have a lot of huge entertainment companies there and the contracts with them can be very strict/grueling/unfair.
While I dislike that K-Pop and American Pop essentially sound the same (autotune) and the K-dramas are mostly formulaic, I enjoy the exposure to the Korean culture.
From what I’ve briefly read the Korean education system creates students whose results are rated as among the best in the world. However it’s full of pressure which no doubt leads to conformity and lack of creativity. So perhaps that explains why these K-Pop groups exist as they do.
The bigger worry is that politicians in the United States and Britain are interested in what makes their schools so ‘successful’ because the Korean economy is strong.
Astrologically this seems to have come to the fore with the Cap stellium generation circa 1990. Throw in their pluto in scorpio and they’re just desperately laser-focused on result. They all seem to want to be rich/powerful/successful but there’s a terrible lack of boundaries/victimisation/exploitation thing going on. Transiting pluto is now going over a lot of their neptunes/saturn/uranus.
I’ve watched programs about North Korea’s Mass Games – I think I know what you’re talking about. But those athletes were more under the state control…for example, they would never complain or frown about being part of the Mass Games. So this was just odd in a different way. I guess I have never seen such an unhappy “elite” team. The North Koreans don’t drop their facade?
You should see the face of the guy trying to make these girls famous. Depressed and depressing! 🙂
I don’t think I have very seen anyone droopy, training high level dancers for a serious performance.