This is the first video of a five-part video series where the popular Buzzfeed group, the "Try Guys", immersed themselves in Korean culture and performed at K-Con, which is an annual K-pop convention held in LA
I personally wanted to thank them for being open to Korean culture and deciding to do this series. Not only did they have a lot of funny comments and scenes, but included a lot of information concerning Korea, Korean culture and K-pop by having Eugene and a Korean culture expert give more insight throughout the video.
In this first video, Eugene Yang talked about his personal experience when he was younger. He said, "When I was a little kid, I was considered the ugliest person that anyone had ever seen...I absolutely love that Hallyu is bringing Asian faces into popular media worldwide."
I absolutely agree with Eugene. Now that I have gotten older, I realized that the majority of popular media has been and still continues to be white even in the light of a shifting racial demographic. I remember when I was younger, everyone would assume I was Chinese or Japanese. Rarely would anyone ever ask if I was Korean. Now it seems as though people have gotten some exposure to Korea, especially through K-pop stars like Psy with Gangnam Style.
But Korean pop-stars still have a long ways to go in terms of acquiring acceptance from a world-wide audience. A lot of Korean agencies have tried to penetrate the American market with Korean bands such as Big Bang, a very popular K-pop group that debuted in 2006.
Not everyone immediately accepts these K-pop groups, especially the males. They get judged for putting on make-up, acting cutesy in music videos, and also have been called "gay." However, this is very insensitive to how much effort these individuals have put in. K-pop trainees train everyday for years and years before they actually get to sing on stage and promote their band. Judging these individuals for having make-up on is plain ridiculous and superficial.
In addition, there's the issue of becoming more Americanized. For example, some avid K-pop fans have argued that Big Bang's current music has become more Americanized and does not reflect the songs that they have been producing. We must realize that this is just the first step in capturing the attention of people in America. As Americans get more immersed into the music and the individual group members, hopefully they will want to immerse themselves more in Korean culture and become more tolerant and less ignorant in generalizing all Asian cultures.
I urge you to watch these videos not just because they are funny, but also to invite you to immerse yourself in K-pop and Korean culture. I guarantee you will find something that interests you!
