Deviance and devotion : on the social subversions of young Korean women as Sasaeng fans

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Deviance and Devotion:

On the Social Subversions of Young Korean Women as Sasaeng Fans

Ida Bulölö

10216898

Supervised by Dr. O.K. Sooudi

Contemporary Asian Studies Thesis

Graduate School of Social Science

University of Amsterdam

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Acknowledgements

I would like to thank everyone who has guided and aided me in the writing of this thesis. My research would not have been possible without help from many people in Korea and I would like to specifically thank Jiye Oh for helping me with translations and dissecting the research process with me, Chana Lee for all her fan wisdom and general help, Professor Hyun Mee Kim for giving me the opportunity to speak to her and present my research to her class, Jungwon Kim for bringing me to the hidden-away places and her knowledge, Jihyun Jang, Soohee Lee and Jini for their time, research skills and help.

I would like to thank Olga Sooudi for her supervision during this process and Tina Harris for her additional comments on my work.

I would like to give a shoutout to Veerle Boekestijn for designing the beautiful cover page. I am much indebted to Shai Simpson-Baikie for her great advice. I am grateful for my parents for giving me the opportunity to pursue the things I value.

Lastly, I want to thank my partner for his patience and support.

I dedicate this thesis to Tante Hemi

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Index Favorite Idols of Interviewees

 

Moon Hee Jun

Member of H.O.T, the first idol group in South Korea. Debuted in 1997 under S.M.

Entertainment. His 광 (enormous) fan fell for his humorous and smooth talking nature.

Heechul

Also member of Super Junior, where is became famous for his beautiful, feminine appearance. He talks about sasaeng fans on a JTBC episode.

Shin Hye Seung

Member of Shinhwa, one of the rivals of H.O.T. Debuted in 1998 but got big after their release ’T.O.P.’, with a sample of the Swan Lake

Sungjong

Made his debut with Infinite in 2010, a group known for their ‘knife sharp’ dances. His fan was the only person I interviewed who is currently sasaeng fan. Xiah Junsu Debuted with DBSK under S.M. Entertainment, but they broke up after a lawsuit, and he continued with JYJ. DBSK was known for their huge sasaeng fan following

D.O.

Part of the biggest idol band at the moment, EXO. He himself claimed that his personality changed after incidents with sasaeng fans, most notably having his underwear stolen from his home and sold on the Internet.

Kim Hyung Joon

Member of SS501, who became really big in Japan. His former sasaeng fan became his fan after noticing his caring personality.

V

One of the most popular recently debuted groups, BTS. His fan liked him because he does not seem to adhere to certain male Korean stereotypes.

Donghae

Part of Super Junior, one of the biggest groups around the 2010’s. Nicknamed ‘Fishy’ and very energetic.

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Table. 1.1.

Year of

debut

Name of idol

group Fandom name Entertainment company

Representation in research

1997

H.O.T. H.O.T. Club S.M.

Entertainme nt

• Interview with former H.O.T. fan (Moon Hee Jun)

1998 Shinhwa Changjo S.M., Good

Ent., Shinhwa Company

• Interview with former sasaeng fan (Shin Hye Seung)

2005 SS 501 Triple S DSP Media • Interview with former

sasaeng fan (Kim Hyung Joon)

2010 JYJ [no name] C-Jes

Entertainme nt

• Interview with Kim Jung Won (Junsu fan)

• Interview with former JYJ fan (Junsu fan)

2005 Super Junior E.L.F  

(Everlasting Friends)

S.M. Entertainme nt

• Interview with fan (Heechul)

• Interview with former sasaeng fan (Donghae) • Observation Sungmin’s

café.

2010 Infinite Inspirit Woollim

Entertainme nt

• Interview with Infinite sasaeng fan (Sungjong)

2011 EXO EXO-L S.M.

Entertainme nt

• Interview with D.O.’s fan • Interview with D.O.’s

homma

• Observation at Kiss The Radio

• Observation EXO’luxion concert

2013 BTS (Bangtan

Boys) Army BigHit Entertainme

nt

• Interview with V’s fan • Observation Fanclub Meeting 2015 iKon iKonics YG Entertainme nt • Observation hostel, practice room • Observation iKoncert

2015 Monsta X Monbebe Starship

Entertainme nt

• Observation ‘Mon café’ event

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Introduction

A number of authors argue that South Korea (from hereon referred to as ‘Korea’) has been either underrepresented or misinterpreted in sociological and anthropological theory (Kang 2004; Gitzen 2013). Kang (2004) has been concerned with the way researchers have used theories, notions, and definitions that have been articulated in the Western context and readily applied it to South Korean phenomena, creating a ‘colonial’ way of knowledge production. Additionally, Gitzen notes that, although there has been much written on the Korean cultural industries, especially K-pop, this has almost always been done in relation to the phenomenon of the ‘Hallyu Wave’, the spread of Korean popular culture in Asia and beyond. “Yet little research exists that attempts to situate Korean popular culture (especially popular music) within its own capitalist and contextual paradigms and

frameworks” (Gitzen, 2013, 7). Considering the subject of this thesis also falls in the realm of Korean popular culture, this comment struck a note with me and has motivated me to contribute something to the wider topic of Korean Studies. This thesis will be an attempt to analyze specific Korean conditions and how these conditions have been an environment in which the sasaeng fan has been able to emerge out of, and subsequently what reflections by Korean society on the sasaeng fandom tell us about Korean society itself. Although I have no pretensions this will be a completely successful endeavor, I very much hope it can be taken as a serious pursuit of the formerly mentioned.

In this thesis, I will look a question of how girls and young women position themselves in a capitalist, patriarchal state, through the expressions of fandom. Though it may seem that fandom the central topic, in actuality it functions merely as a looking glass, through which we can understand negotiations of gender dispositions and expressions of youth culture.

The research focuses specifically on one of the most deviant forms of fandom in particular and youth culture in general, that is present in the current Korean society: sasaeng fandom. Sasaeng fandom is a specific expression of fan activity that finds its origin in South Korea, specifically in de Korean pop music scene. Sasaeng fans are notorious for their relentless pursuit of the pop stars, or, as they are usually referred to in Korea, ‘idols’. This pursuit does not exist of a merely a literal chase to see the stars, but the main objective of sasaeng fans is to make their presence known to the idol. They employ different invasive techniques such as; physical violence, breaking and entering, stalking, hacking of social media accounts and phone numbers and leaving traces of their presence, in the form of used menstrual pads and the like, at locations private to the idol. There has been a lot of social anxiety around the phenomenon of the sasaeng fan: the general public sees them as an example of the corruption of Korean youth, and fellow K-pop fans do not consider them fans. The sasaeng is

essentially deemed to be a ‘Bad Girl’, understood by Miller & Bardsley (2005) as someone: “(…)who is named and then analyzed for the social disruption which, it is hoped, she will contain within her “deviancy”. Her libertine sexuality, her assertiveness, and her perceived disrespect are labeled “behavioral problems” thus sidetracking scrutiny away from such social issues as class inequities,

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tension in the family system, and the arbitrariness of patriarchal constraints on women” (Miller & Bardsley 2005, 1-2). Though the authors formulated this in relation to deviant girls in a Japanese context, I find that this quote is relevant for all girls and women who grow up in patriarchal societies. In the Korean context, the patriarchy is intertwined with hegemonic notions and ideas that are specific to the Korean locale. It is, for example, informed by Neo-Confucianism and consumer nationalism and in chapter three I will explain this further. But if we consider the ‘Bad Girl’ as a way to describe the subversiveness of young women, can we classify the sasaeng fan as the stereotypical Bad Girl? I attempt to answer this question in the thesis.

Research Question

As mentioned, I will try to see how the sasaeng fan fits within the Bad Girl trope. Because the Bad Girl trope implies the position of young women in relation to societal forces such as patriarchy, consumer mentalities and the web of social relations, answering this question supports my main question that I have phrased as follows:

“How can we understand sasaeng fandom, as a practice, in relation to South Korea’s socio-historic and cultural circumstances?”

Consequently, this question will be supported by the following sub-questions: (1) What kind of meaning does fandom in general hold for young Korean girls?

(2) What are socio-historical factors that could have contributed to the rise of the sasaeng fandom phenomenon?

(3) What are some of the (underlying) motivations that can be formulated around the behavior of sasaeng fandom?

Methodology

My fieldwork took place over the course of three months in South Korea’s and K-pop’s main arena, Seoul, where I stayed between the 6th_{of January 2016 and the 29}th_{of March 2016. In many ways,}

Seoul was the only obvious choice for the research. Aside from Seoul being the capital of the country, it is also home to Korea’s entertainment industry, with all large network stations having their flagship buildings spread across the city. In addition to this, all entertainment companies are located in Seoul, especially in the Apgujeong/Gangnam and Hongdae areas. Naturally, all the residencies and practice rooms of idol groups are also located in Seoul city. Though there are many events that are held throughout Korea and even abroad, the vast majority of concerts and fan meetings are all held in Seoul.

To be able to understand as many aspects as possible of the sasaeng fandom phenomenon I combined a number of qualitative data approaches to the research: semi-structured interviews, observations, and secondary online data. For my interviews, I used snowball sampling, with a few key informants helping me tremendously in the process. The informants were a mix of individuals from my network that I had

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established during my first two trips to Korea and contacts that I had gained through pre-research relations. All interviews followed the same format, of an in-depth unstructured set-up (Bryman 2008, 437), in which I used a couple of pre-established questions, but generally, let the flow of the

conversation be decided by the direction my informants took. I have done a total of 14 interviews, with a total of 16 people; there was one three-person interview. Because of the sensitivity of my topic and difficulties with access, only one informant would currently describe herself as a sasaeng fan and five individuals are ex-sasaeng fans. The other informants were people that were either had academic insight into the topic, people who work in the service industry related to idols or ‘regular’ fans. Mirroring my topic, my interviews have been heavily gendered, with only one male interviewee, someone formerly involved in the Korean entertainment industry.

In addition to interviews, I have also gathered data through observations and secondary data. The occasions and locations for the observations were found through Internet research. I followed a couple of (English-translated) websites closely as well as (Korean) Twitter and Instagram accounts. Slowly I learned how to find out about an idol’s schedule, so I would visit scheduled events that were

announced on official websites, as well as a couple of visits to other places, such as cafes and

restaurants owned as side-businesses by idols and observing entertainment companies. As expected, it was difficult to find out how to find sasaeng fans, since the places they gather at (dorms and practice rooms) are not widely known addresses and the locations are also held secret between (sasaeng) fans. I did have the opportunity to find iKOn’s practice room, which I did an evening observation as well as an overnight stay in a hostel that was well known for having iKon sasaeng fans. I have a total of 12 separate events and locations that were suitable for analyzing.

As I already mentioned, I closely followed social media accounts of idols as well as fans who would have accounts dedicated to their idol, to try to locate their whereabouts. In addition, I have also analyzed multiple websites, YouTube videos and a phone application, to add to the existing data.

Representation of Informants

In this thesis I employ a specific way of referring to my informants, namely to refer to them as

someone’s fan, such as, for example, Heechul’s fan. The reason why I use the idol as a reference to talk about the fan is first and foremost a way to guarantee anonymity, a given for every kind of

ethnographic research, especially on sensitive topics (Bryman 2008, 124). But the main reason to not resort to synonyms or abbreviations is because I want to represent the fans how they represent themselves, and I have noticed fans viewed themselves in relation to their favorite idol. On the Internet, they would use pictures of the idol as their profile pictures, especially on forums or channels like YouTube, which offer very specific spaces for fans to discuss fandom. In real life I saw many examples, from fans cosplaying as their favorite idols by wearing masks of their faces, fans wearing t-shirts with their favorite’s name and as I have been told through interviews, in high school Korean girls

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would make name tags of their favorite idol and wear it around. Fans also address each other in reference to the other’s favorite idol, like Tony Ahn’s wife , or Baekhyun’s mother . Because the idols 1 2

function as the main identifier of the informants, there is a reference list of occurring idols at the beginning of this thesis.

Reflection

There have been a few difficulties with the fieldwork, which all ultimately tie into the problem I had with access. My initial idea was to take a much more ethnographic approach to understanding sasaeng fans, but unfortunately, access turned out to be exceptionally hard within the short period given to perform the research. Additionally, the language barrier made it hard for people to open up to me. Even though I do speak Korean, it was not fluent enough to make clear my intentions with the research, which made the people I approached a little bit doubtful of me.

My lack of direct access heavily colored the demographic for interviewing, and as a result I ended up having more interviews with people who either had been sasaeng fans before, who were involved in K-pop fandom but cannot be categorized as sasaeng fans, or are involved in academia. As data should be the base of similar research, my lack of access led me to slightly change the focus of this thesis, and instead I started looking at the meanings of sasaeng fandom within fandom and society at larger. I have adjusted my research questions accordingly and thus led to the current development of my thesis. Other than the problem of access, I noticed that when I would talk about my topic with Koreans, I sometimes saw a flickering of doubt when I would explain how I want to approach the sasaeng as not inherently deviant. I do want to stretch that in no way do I condone their behavior and I acknowledge that they often endanger themselves and others, the only thing I want to try is to take a more

constructive approach to understanding them.

Thesis Outline

This thesis will be divided into two parts, c

hapters 2 and 3 will be more ethnographical and chapters 1 and 4 will provide the theoretical framework and analysis. Chapter 1 will function as an introduction, both to fandom theory and the workings of the Korean fandom specifically. In it, the sasaeng fan will be introduced and it will serve as a reference point of particular concepts and phrases that are colloquially used in K-pop fandom. Then chapter 2 will focus on fandom as a space of forging relations for young Korean girls and what kind of meaning fandom holds for them. Subsequently,

This is how the main character of Reply 1997 is referred to by her best friend, both huge H.O.T. fans.

1

Reply 1997 was a popular drama on the life of a teenage sasaeng fan of the group H.O.T. and has functioned as an support for my data.

Fans typically refer to themselves as a certain idol’s mother, when they feel not only attracted to him, but

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also a certain need to care for him and protect him. Especially used when female fans are older than their idol. Illustrated by the stories of D.O.’s fan and seen in the notebook in the ‘Starbox’, which will be dealt with later on.

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chapters 3 and 4 will function as the main argument, where I first deconstruct the sasaeng fan by seeking to understand through the Korean context and finally revealing her behavior as an act of subversion in the last chapter.

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Chapter 1. Framing Fans and the K-pop Fandom

This thesis aims to understand the construction of subversive practices of young women in a

patriarchal, capitalist society and the lens through which this topic will be dissected, is fandom. I argue that fandom is actually a very helpful lens because in practice there has been a strong tendency to think of fandom as a pathological and as a feminized activity (Lewis 1992; Robertson 1998; Anderson 2012; Stanfill 2013 etc). Fans are not only actively ‘Othered’ by society at large (Jung 2012), but there is also a lot of intra-fandom ‘Othering’ that goes on (Stanfill 2013) and it seems that being a fan equals to a constant subjection of labels that others put on you. I will discuss more of the theory on fandom in relation on how outsiders categorize them in the next subchapter.

For context, I want to add that even though I essentially use fandom as a tool in order to understand the social context of young Korean women, I do want to assert that I believe there is a value in studying fandom in itself. In the introduction of the volume Fandom: Identities and Communities in a Mediated World, the writers argue that: "[…] the studies of fan audiences help us to understand and meet challenges for beyond the realm of popular culture, because they tell us something about the way in which we relate to those around us, as well as the way we read the mediated texts that constitute an ever larger part of our horizon of experience” (Gray et al., 2007, 10). Added to this, I would say that studying fandom also opens up an understanding of social structures and expressions of identity within a specific youth culture, but that can still be related to how young people use cultural outlets to create spaces where they can express themselves. In this sense, I agree with Fiske (2010) who understands popular culture as “the active process of generating and circulating meanings and pleasures within a social system” (Fiske 2010, 19). This definition is very relevant for K-pop fandom, as the construction of meanings seems to be the main activity in fandom and in chapter 2 I will elaborate on Korean fandom as an ecosystem.

This chapter will introduce some theories on fandom and how these preconceived notions of deviance and the feminization of fandom are represented in literature. After we understand theoretical notions on fandom, we will then move on to the workings of fandom specifically within the Korean pop context. Lastly, we will take a look at the way the idols are produced by their management companies, for the fans, and what kind of effect this has on fan-idol interactions.

1.1 On Fandom Theory

With the first appearance of male popular singers, such as Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley, society was introduced to the fan girl. She stands in the crowd, lit up by the stage lights in front of her, screaming at the top of her lungs. Sometimes tears stream down her face. Sometimes she faints. Over the years we have become familiar with the image of the abundant display of emotion of the young girl towards her favorite pop star.

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Scholarly literature on fandom as emphasized how fans are seen as ‘out of line’ and deviant by non-fans as discussed through media and popular culture while scholars have tried to theorize fandom from an empowering perspective, focusing instead on how fans try to negotiate (with) the media surrounding their object of fandom (Stanfill 2013, 188).

To understand this, first let us see why fandom is pathologized in general discourse in countries outside Korea. Stanfill (2013) finds that there are different ways in which fan behavior is categorized and consequently pathologized: the real problem with fan behavior comes from the discourse that the way fans express their love is excessive, so they push (and break through) society-sanctioned boundaries of appropriateness. This behavior can include notions of overconsumption; placing too much

importance on their object of fandom; losing touch with reality; being lonely losers who, for lack of a social circle, seek affection in the object of their fandom (Stanfill 2013, 124). Though not all fans are seen this way, they all have the potential to be a fanatic, as the term itself etymologically refers to this possibility (Jensen in Lewis 1992, 9). As fans have become established as a (potentially) fanatic, there have been two main categories, in which popular discourse producers, such as media, have places fans. They fall into one of two categories; the obsessed loner figure or the rambunctious crowd. Jensen adds to this observation the following: “In either case, the fan is seen as being irrational, out of control and pretty to a number of external forces. The influence of the media, a narcissistic society, (hypnotic rock music), and crowd contagion are invoked to explain how fans become victims of their fandom, and so act in deviant and destructive ways” (ibid, 13).

Becker is known for formulating a specific outlook on deviance, where he states that: “social groups create deviance by making the rules whose infraction constitute deviance and by applying those rules to particular individuals and labeling them as outsiders. From this point of view, deviance is not a quality of the act the person commits, but rather a consequence of the application by others of rules and sanctions to an ‘offender’. The deviant is one to whom the label has successfully been applied; deviant behaviour is behaviour that people so label” (Becker 1963, 8-9). Thus we must remember is not

inherent to something or someone, but rather a confirmation of the dominant social group establishing its values and boundaries and the consequences of people overstepping those constructed boundaries. Becker’s definition is valuable, because even though it was formulated in a Western context, the quote gives room to the fact that each culture has its own definition of deviancy. Becker understands

deviancy not as an inherent aspect of the individual, or the act, but as a breach of the localized context of decency, a definition that is also useful to apply to Korean sasaeng fan. The regular fan is actually not seen as deviant in Korean society, considering fandom fits into a paradigm of consumption by youth that is accepted in Korean society, as will be explained in chapter three. The sasaeng fan,

however, is seen as extremely deviant, since only the sasaeng fan seems to cross boundaries that Korean society has formulated on appropriate behavior of young women.

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It is by now clear that the fan is seen as deviant, but added to this idea is the implication that fandom is in some way a feminized activity. This connotation becomes clear when we read Huyssen’s Mass Culture as a Woman: Modernism’s Other, where Huyssen (1986) talks about sexual hierarchy and how it relates to our perception of authenticity: “[…]mass culture is somehow associated with woman while real, authentic culture remains the prerogative of men” (Huyssen 1986, 3). Huyssen talks about the assessments both in popular discourse as well as in academic theory, that ascribes certain qualities to men, which asserts their position in society. By defining mass culture, or popular culture, as a lowbrow expression of human capabilities, and definitely not art as art, the 19th_{-century bourgeois order were}

able to confirm their loftiness over the masses. When mass culture emerged, it was immediately

conceived as simple, one-dimensional, straightforward. Mass culture plays into emotions and leaves the need for intellect at the door. Though Huyssen talks about the way this idea formed in correlation with 19th_{-century Modernism, these ideas are still present in modern-day society. A good example of it is}

how femininity has been ascribed to fandom (as the ultimate expression of mass culture): fandom becomes a gendered behavior. Some of the ways this has been done is by categorizing fandom as overtly emotional. “Defining disorderly and emotional fan display as excessive allows the celebration of all that is orderly and unemotional. Self-control is a key aspect of appropriate display. Those who exhibit charged and passionate response are believed to be out of control; those who exhibit subdued and unimpassioned reaction are deemed the superior types" (Jensen in Lewis 1992, 24). By juxtaposing emotional expressiveness and orderly rationality, and placing more importance on the latter as a prerequisite for a developed society, is simultaneously implies the unequal social position of the people that fall into either category. Feminist scholars like Garrat (1990) have critically examined these social hierarchies. According to her, just the application of the word ‘fan’, on women, implied a lack of (cultural) knowledge on the part of women. Women are expected to be attracted to music, and the musicians who make it, for the wrong reasons, such as physical appearance and not authentically appreciative of the music as an art form (Garrat 1990, 409). In all this, it is interesting to look at how the Korea deals with this the same process but formulates different thoughts. As mentioned, the pathologization of ‘regular’ fans is much less

prevalent in Korea, but also the feminization of the act of fandom is not entirely similar to the notions found in literature on Western forms of fandom. In some ways, being a fan is a feminized activity, because emotion is central to the act. Though ‘hard-core’ fan activities are mostly seen as activities reserved for the youth and actually as a fairly normal phase in the lives of young Koreans, adults are not shy either to express their fandom. It is considered socially acceptable for an older woman (or man) to get giddy when they finally meet someone they admire and the expression ‘I am your fan’ is often exclaimed, even when celebrities meet each other. On top of this, there is also a representation of people in their 30’s and up, in idol fandoms, where terms like ‘ older sister’ (noona) and

‘auntie’ (ahjumma) fan are used to describe women who are older than the idol and usually have a tendency to try and provide for the idol. Furthermore, there is also a visible presence of male fans in

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the K-pop circles. In general the balance seems to be that girl groups have more male fans and the other way around boy groups have more female fans , but this does not mean there is no crossover. 3

There are also known stereotypes of male fans, such as the ‘uncle fan’ (ahjusshi), who tend to have a preference for young female singers. There seems to be more of a general acceptance of fandom in Korea, but there are still implications of the feminine and the deviant contained in the definition, but these are connotations that more ‘extreme’ forms of fandom, such as sasaeng fandom, carry with them.

1.2 Introducing the Sasaeng Fan

The sasaeng fan, however, does absolutely not fit into accepted norms of fandom expressions in Korean society. The word ‘sasaeng’ comes from a portmanteau from the Korean word ‘sasaroeun’ (사 사로은), meaning ‘private’ and ‘saenghwal’ (생활) meaning ‘life’. Sasaeng fans are referred to by this moniker because they are notorious for invading the personal spaces and lives of their favorite idols. Their devotion to see their idol stretches beyond attending official events, such as concerts and fan meetings, like most fans do. Sasaeng fans specifically want to share the same space with idols during their off-time, resulting in attempts to meet them at their practice room, dorms, hotels during out-of-Seoul schedules, families’ homes, personal outings to cafes and restaurants and the list goes on. First and foremost it has to be established that, although there have been obsessive fans for all different kinds of music stars, sasaeng fans function specifically within the K-pop sphere and the term implies not a singular obsessive fan, but a network of like-minded girls, who band together in their pursuit of information. There are two different entities at play when we talk about K-pop. First of all, there is the music itself, which, more than just being a pop music imagined through Korean eyes and ears, has been described as “a fusion of synthesized music, sharp dance routines and fashionable and colorful outfits” . The musical inspirations come from every source imaginable, from disco to hip-hop and 4

electronic blended into an often high-paced, catchy tune, that sees its Korean lyrics interlaced with (questionable) English phrases. The second entity involved is the industry behind this music; one that is largely geared towards the constant production of (new) idol groups and the stimulation of constant consumption on the part of the fans. The stimulation of this consumption is smartly done through media convergence, which is defined by Jenkins as “the flow of content across multiple media platforms, the cooperation between multiple media industries, and the migratory behavior of media audiences who will go almost anywhere in search of the kinds of experiences they want.” (Jenkins 2006, 2).

http://www.koreaboo.com/trending/110845/ 3

http://www.inaglobal.fr/en/music/article/k-pop-story-well-oiled-industry-standardized-catchy-tunes

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Another crucial element to sasaeng fans is that they are almost all exclusively girls, whose age range from about 13 to 22, but of course, there are exceptions. For the sasaeng fans to be able to constantly follow their favorite celebrities, they organize into groups, in which there is a strict division of labor; the older members financially support the younger members in their endeavors. Older sasaeng

members, usually women in their 20’s, would take up jobs with different companies, such as credit card companies, telephone companies, and airline companies to be able to trace the idol at all times. This information would be passed onto the younger members of the group, who would then spur into action and travel to the location of the idol.

An example of this was given to me by V’s fan, who offered to help me after I gave a

presentation of my research during one of her classes. She is a very soft-spoken and friendly person and since she was both a fan herself as well as conducting research on Korean fan culture, she is very knowledgable about the topic. I met her and two other fans, D.O.’s fan and Heechul’s fan, who all came from social science backgrounds, during a dinner in an Indian restaurant in Sinchon, near their alma mater Yonsei University. During the conversation that lasted many hours, V’s fan mentioned that in the circle of BTS fans, it had become known that one of the members is a regular smoker,

something taboo for K-pop idols who are supposed to be role models for Korean youths. Because it is socially unaccepted to openly smoke as a K-pop idol, it had never been the case that there was

photographic evidence of the fact. It had become known because there had been sasaeng fans that had access to their bank statements and had seen regular payments of 4,500 won at convenience stores, the exact price for a packet of cigarettes.

Sasaeng fans have ignited a heated discussion in Korea because their behavior even goes beyond only stalking activities. Sasaeng fans have been known to physically hurt their idols, such as slapping JYJ’s Park Yoochun in the face ; breaking and entering EXO’s dorm and stealing and selling the 5

underwear of member D.O. ; sending idols declarations of their love (or devotion) through letters 6

written in blood, the most notable being the ‘period blood’ letter to 2PM’s Taecyeon ; ruining the 7

wedding of EXO member Baekhyun’s older brother by showing up uninvited to take pictures of Baekhyun ; prostituting themselves to be able to afford their endless chase and the list goes on. 8

In one of the few subtitled documentaries on sasaeng fans that are available on Youtube , the behavior 9

of sasaeng fans and explanations provided by self-proclaimed sasaeng fans, is discussed. An anonymous sasaeng fan explains that their efforts are all an attempt to be remembered by their favorite idol, their

http://www.soompi.com/2012/03/08/jyjs-yoochun-gets-slapped-in-the-face-by-sasaeng-fan-1/ 5

http://www.soompi.com/2014/01/20/sasaeng-fan-sells-exo-members-underwear/ 6 http://www.allkpop.com/article/2009/11/2pm-taecyeon-scarlet-letter 7

http://www.soompi.com/2013/09/29/exo-fans-crash-baekhyuns-older-brothers-wedding/ 8

(ENG SUBS) 120320 Reality of Sasaengs: includes JYJ, MBLAQ's Joon, fans, sasaengs/taxis, security

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focus lies in distinguishing themselves from the nameless faces in the sea of fan-girls. I, however, will refrain from capturing sasaeng fans into one single definition, because during my research it became clear that the sasaeng fan as a category is extremely fluid. Generally,the sasaeng fan is understood as a fan of a particular idol, so obsessed that she infringes his (or her) privacy. This is generally how most articles, as well as blog post analyses, discuss the sasaeng fan.

The problem with this is the definition of privacy and when does certain behavior constitute the infringement of it? During a round table discussion I was able to have after presenting my research at Yonsei University, the students, though very familiar with the sasaeng fan as a stereotype, had

difficulties in giving a clear definition. The example that came up was that of the homma, the home master of self-made websites dedicated to a particular idol. What they provide to fans are exclusively taken pictures of the idols, both during their activities as well as during their personal time. Unlike the sasaeng fans, homma tend not to come to close to the idol physically, but their professional photography equipment allows them to find out other personal things, such as their social security number when idols are checking in at the airport. Some homma are also known to maintain tight relations with sasaeng fans, to be able to be up-to-date on the idol’s schedule. I had the opportunity to talk with someone who is a homma for the EXO member D.O., who said on the topic: “I can’t deny that it’s problematic. Some Homma’s cross the line and break the privacy of the idol they like. A [female] homma I know used to do this. The idol even dislikes her [because she constantly breaks the privacy of the idol]. After her affair was widely spread out on SNS, her personal information and photos were uncovered and highly blamed for her behavior [by other fans who dislike her due to what she did to the idol].”

V’s fan told about the discussion that had taken place in the BTS’ fan club about the position of homma and if they should actually be considered sasaeng. A recent phenomenon is the ‘sticky’ fans, the fans who walk up to the idol and take their arm and walk with them as if they are friends. These fans invade the personal space of the idol, but maybe they are less concerned with the need to be

remembered and just want to be able to touch the idol. These examples show that there actually is no consensus on the sasaeng fan as a clearly defined category and that it might not be constructive to attempt this. The informants that I considered as sasaeng in this research is based on the fact that they considered themselves to be (former) sasaengs.

One thing that is clear, however, is that sasaeng fans have a bad reputation within the larger fandom, as fans actively dissociate themselves from sasaeng fans, by saying they are not ‘true’ fans. This

authenticity claim of ‘regular’ fans is a way to emphasize the deviancy of sasaeng fans, as ‘regular’ fans categorize them as such.

1.3 Producing the Idol

Now for both sasaeng fans as well as normal fans, their behavior is defined through interaction with their idols. In Korean pop music, this relationship seems even more particular, because the way K-pop

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idols are presented to the public usually heavily lean on promoting the idol as a product instead of emphasizing their humanity.

I will use the example of EXO to illustrate the workings of the idol group and the road potential members have to take to become an idol. The K-pop industry bases itself mostly on the production of idol groups, following a ‘girl bands’ and ‘boy bands’ concept. This research focuses on the ‘boy bands’ or ‘boy groups’ as they are called within K-pop and the interdependent relationship to their young female fans. Usually, a group is made up of about 4-13 members, who are all selected for the group, after a gruesome training process that usually takes many years. The usual route for an idol-to-be is that he or she enters an entertainment company, either through audition or street scouting, generally at a very young age, often between 11 and 15. When they enter the company, they become ‘trainees’. As trainees they go through a multiple year process that involves getting trained in singing, dancing, acting, but also other aspects of the entertainment business, such as being able to speak multiple languages and how to present themselves during an interview. When they are finally selected for a new idol group, the new members of this group train together for some time and start preparing their first album. When the idol group makes their big debut, they usually start off with promoting one or two songs from their album, going on music shows, radio broadcasts, TV-programs and the like to gain exposure and recognition.

!

EXO made their debut in late 2012 with the song “MAMA”, after months of teasing the debut of the group through released a slew of mysterious videos of the members. The group began with a total of 12 members, divided into two sub-units: EXO-K and EXO-M, which stands for EXO-Korean and EXO-Mandarin, as they promote the same song in both languages. The decision for these sub-units was probably made when S.M. noticed the increase in economic spending power of mainland China

Top: EXO-K, from l-r: Sehun, Baekhyun, Chanyeol, Suho, D.O., Kai Bottom: EXO-M, from l-r: Kris, Tao, Chen, Lay, Xiumin, Luhan.

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and decided to play into this . The members of EXO-K are: Chanyeol, Baekhyun, D.O., Kai, Sehun, 10

Suho and the EXO-M members are Lay, Chen, Xiumin, Tao, Kris, and Luhan. The K-pop industry likes to work with ‘concepts’, which usually apply for the release of a new song. So for one song the group will embody the ‘bad boys that will still save the princess’-types and in the next one, they will be the ‘romantic boy-next-door’. S.M. developed this concept further for EXO and thus they debuted with a concept for the group itself. Starting from their name to their ‘background’ story, it all had to do with EXO being, quite literally, ‘out of this world’. The name EXO comes from the term ‘exoplanet’, to refer to planets that exist outside of the solar system and their concept was based on how each member has a different superpower ; such as the power of summoning lightning and water, or the 11

power of a magical healing unicorn. These outlandish superpowers were used as a concept for EXO’s first release ‘MAMA’, which has every member express his specific power .12

EXO released multiple songs before their breakthrough hit “Growl” in 2013, which earned them both critical as well as immense commercial success. After this period, EXO arguably became the biggest boy group in Korea. During this period, with the release of their album XOXO they managed to sell over one million copies. They hosted a couple of their own TV programs, came out with more monster hits and had several concert tours, not only in Korea but also the rest of Asia and the U.S. In the period from May 2014 until April 2015 EXO lost three of its Chinese members; Kris, Luhan and Tao, after these members filed lawsuits against S.M. for the bad treatment they had received from the company, something that these members claim has to do with their Chinese background. To this day there are different camps in the EXO fandom, of fans that still support these three members and recognize them as unmistakably a part of the group and the fans who don’t want to recognize their contribution at all and consider them traitors of the imagined EXO brotherhood and of rejecting their responsibility towards their fans. The industry heightens the emotional value of the idol, by not letting the music as a product speak for itself, but through the entanglement of music with “the consumption of persona, image and spectacle”(Leung 2012, 31). The result of these tactics lies with the perceived image of the idol, who becomes ‘a hyper real creation” (ibid.) as fans get sucked into the constructed fantasy that is the idol.

idols must be circulated in a very particular way to attract fans. (…)This system, above all, indicated that the most important thing an idol/idol group must do is create a relationship with fans through interviews, concerts, appearances on variety programs and social media.

http://moonrok.com/editorial/why-lee-soo-man%E2%80%99s-new-culture-technology-smartest-and-10 scariest-thing-ever-happen-k-pop

https://onexoplanet.wordpress.com/2012/04/02/753/

11 http://www.allkpop.com/article/2012/05/exo-k-members-discuss-their-debut-title-track-concept-and-12 support-from-their-seniors

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Idols are circulated like objects to garner affective value-there is no inherent emotionality or value in the idols (…) (Gitzen 2013, 12)

According to Gitzen, the circulation of idols as products is necessary, because they have to build a bond with their fans based on other virtues than simply their musical talent. Because idols have little autonomy over the work that they make, most of the time they are merely vessels that showcase the entertainment companies’ ability to compose songs, choreograph dances and so on, they have to gain their fans’ interest with other methods, a process in which the idol ultimately becomes a product of consumption more so than a musician with inherent artistic value.

One of the ways entertainment companies consciously try to present their idols almost as deities, they categorically present them as super-human. First of all their natural sexuality is ‘taken away’, through contractual ‘dating bans’, in which the idol is required to not engage in relationships for an amount of years. It still happens that idols secretly date, but when this news comes out it is always referred to as a ‘dating scandal’ in opposite to ‘dating news’, implying the severity of the act . Another way to 13

produce the idol is constructing certain personalities for them and in some cases totally changing their ‘front stage’ (Goffman 1982 [1959]) personalities. There are some defined roles, such as the manly leader or cute youngest member, that are ascribed to the idols based on “both physical features-slim physique, long hair, muscular arms, deep voice- and constructed kata- gait, hand motions, posture and speech style (Gitzen 2007; Robertson 1998). Infinite’s member L is an example of an idol who was instructed to present his constructed image, that of a mysterious, brooding handsome man, at all times to the public . Famously he was not allowed to smile at least during all his official events because it 14

would break his image. The presentation of the idols is of utmost importance and they have a very profound influence on the relationship and interactions between idol and fans. Another example is EXO, who as I have mentioned, group concept is to be out-of-this-world and with superpowers. As a commenter on the website seoulbeats.com commented on an article about sasaeng fans said: “Idols are something of a paradox: they are, at once, unobtainable and attainable; unavailable and available; for the idolatry to work, you have to make people believe these idols are perfect and imperfect in unison -- that they exist only to please you”. 15

Generally, the idols are the first medium through which young girls are introduced to sexuality. Anderson (2012) agrees with McRobbie’s (1991) theory of ‘bedroom culture’ that poses that the consumption of male pop stars is directly related to the emerging sexuality of young girls. Through consuming the images of these men, who are often presented in a sexual (or romantic) manner, young

http://www.koreaboo.com/netizens/12-unexpected-dating-scandals-between-idols-that-left-fans-in-13 shock/

http://www.soompi.com/2014/12/24/infinites-l-reveals-silent-guy-concept-was-imposed-by-company/ 14

http://seoulbeats.com/2016/05/when-oppa-doesnt-want-to-notice-you-idols-vs-sasaengs-and-anti-fans/ 15

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girls become aware of their emotions and sexual desire. For most of my informants, the first moment they saw their respective idols, was the moment they fell in love.

Moon Hee Jun’s fan: “I saw them on television, H.O.T…and for me at that moment…(voice softens) he [Moon Hee Jun] was so cute. And he knew how to talk in a funny way. He was so attractive and I knew my emotions were going to be deep [she would have feelings for him].

Shin Hye Seung’s fan: I saw them [Shinhwa] on TV and the best singer out of the group caught my eye. He had a kind of face that I like very much, I like pretty boys. Yes, a little bit slender and white face, a small face and very girlish. I

like those kind of guys, because I was crazy about that…how is that called, Mellow comic book

?

V’s fan: Because he is so handsome.

D.O.’s fan: I like almost everything about him. His face is perfect and he is so handsome. D.O. is known to be one of the more quiet members of [EXO], and that is the type of personality I prefer.

As we can see with Shin Hye Seung’s fan, she already had an ideal type based on manga character(s), which also constitutes a condoned form of sexual fantasy within Korean society. With the other fans the initial attraction was almost always based on a physical attraction, but with time they appreciated other characteristics and personality traits. Especially the fans with a social science background had very illuminating insights to offer me regarding deeper motivations for liking their respective idols. For example, V’s fan appreciated the way he stepped outside the construction of Korean male masculinity. His personality, or as she said “the image he projects” was that of somebody who doesn’t mind certain stereotypes that most Korean men would mind. He did not seem to be bothered with his fellow member [in BTS] liking feminine things, like the color pink. While the rest of the group voiced their rejection of his perceived feminine choice, V had no problem with it. To V’s fan, it seemed like he did not seem to place important on adhering to male stereo- or archetypes. She recognized that this makes him a figure of fantasy and that chances are big that in real life he is not completely the same as his projected image. But having the ability to fantasize about this man who does not fit the stereotypes of Korean men (she gave the example of the right wing ‘Ilbe’ stereotype) that a lot of women are 16

disappointed with, is still very important. The image that is projected of the idol becomes the antithesis of all ‘disappointing’ Korean men, largely through the image they project, or what the entertainment companies project. The companies effectively become agents who produce the fantasy of the idols. They collect the fantasies and disappointments of fans, create the best possible vision and sell it back to them. Though V’s fan, as well as the Heechul’s and D.O.’s fans, were able to understand the impact of fantasy on their fandom, but still talked about the necessity of the fantasy as a projection of hope; the hope to find a good man between the ‘disappointing’ Korean men.

The discrepancy between reality and fantasy was also clear for the only current sasaeng fan I

interviewed. This fan was Japanese and had been an Infinite fan for about 4-5 years. She had followed

Ilbe is a right-wing online community, known for its hateful commentary towards social minorities. It has

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Infinite all over the world on their tours and had just come back from America to spend a night in Seoul and fly with them to Japan the very next day. She often managed to get flight tickets on the same flights as them, had chased them in taxis and the Infinite members recognized her when they saw her.

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Infinite’s Sungjong. Source: Infinite7Soul

I asked Sungjong’s fan why exactly she liked Sungjong so much. “Um…he is very cute”, she giggled “like a girl.” “So he is very pretty?”, I asked. “Yeah, yeah! So pretty. And his actions are very cute! Cuter than girls.” O. chimed in: “His speaking is like a baby”. “A baby, yes. I like very cute guys.” “So would it also be your ideal to marry someone like Sungjong?”, I asked her. “Ah not really, it’s different. K-pop is only my hobby, yeah. My ideal. But ideal and reality is different.” (SungJong’s fan, currently sasaeng fan)

Because of their awareness of the idol as fantasy, we can conclude that fan’s love is not necessarily a delusional one, they are aware of the limitations of the idol as fantasy. None of my respondents had expected to actually date their idol. Instead, they see the idol as an unrealistic but he provides

necessary space where women can share and negotiate expectations and fantasies of male partners. In this way, fandom becomes a mode that allows women to understand their own wants and needs and use these as negotiations when meeting a partner. As I will further explore in the next chapter, the main purpose of K-pop fandom is actually to allow women to have their own safe space, where they can freely interact with each other.

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Chapter 2 . Encapsulating the Functions of K-pop Fandom

One of the most distinguishing factors of K-pop music and its listeners is its organized fan culture or fandom. Fandom structures within K-pop tend to be not only highly organized but also hierarchical and detailed. The fandom is an arena where the company and the fans interact, and the idol is the condition for the existence of this arena. In a sense, Anna Tsing’s term ‘friction’, or, “the awkward, unequal, unstable, and creative qualities of interconnection across difference” (Tsing 2005, 6), is applicable, because the relation between the fans and the idols (as extensions of their companies) is one of mutual dependence and the parties are constantly seeking agreements while having different

interests. This relationship between the company and the fans does not come without problems, as Gitzen (2013) explicates how fans use resistance to put pressure on decisions of companies that they do not agree with, the dynamic is a complicated one. These three main actor categories made up out of many individuals, engage with each other in a social field, a term coined by Bourdieu (2010 [1984]). The field I am talking about is the notion of (interlinked) spheres of action, that provide spaces for individuals to interact, according to their habitus. The reason the discussion turns to the social field before going into the Korean context is because, in order to understand the phenomenon of the sasaeng fan, it is essential to know the space in which they move and to which actors they relate. Bourdieu’s understanding of the field seems apt, because he is essentially talking about fields as lifestyles that are “systematic products of habitus, which, perceived in their mutual relations through the schemes of the habitus, become sign systems that are socially qualified (as ‘distinguished’, ‘vulgar’ etc)” (Bourdieu 2010 [1984], 168). So the makeup of the habitus, the different kinds of ‘capital’ -social, cultural, economic and symbolic capital- determines the disposition of an individual within a social context. In the context of K-pop fans, their most defining quality is their subcultural capital. This term comes from Sarah Thornton’s (1995) text on club cultures, and similar to U.K.’s rave culture, Korea’s fandom culture (as well as youth cultures all over the world) is a culture of taste and implicated hierarchy. In relation to this, she coined the term subcultural capital, to imply an embodied knowledge of ‘cool’ and ‘hip’, flaunted through fashion, musical preference, and attitudes, or, in short, taste. Unlike U.K.’s rave culture, the subcultural capital of K-pop fans, particularly sasaeng fans, extends the conceptual and on top of being aware of specific slang, locations, and other social knowledge, by extension their actual knowledge, on seemingly trivial facts relating to the idol. For ‘regular’ fans this could be the birth date, favorite color or exact height, while sasaeng fans want to know whereabouts, telephone numbers and other personal information.

For this chapter, I will try to make the vast collection of communities and categories that belong to fandom clear and furthermore I will attempt to map the different relations that the categories of fans have to the idol as well as each other. I will start off by discussing the K-pop fandom as an ecosystem and the different actors and relationships involved. Then I will look at meaning giving practices and

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spaces that are utilized by fans to practice their fandom. Lastly, I want to see where the sasaeng fan fits in this social field and how she relates to the rest of the fandom.

2.1 K-pop Fandom as an Eco-system

K-pop fans organize themselves in fan clubs; networks of exchange and interaction based on a shared liking for a group or a certain group member. The principle of the fan club is that it is self-organizing and mostly functions as a representative of the fandom as a whole. Gitzen (2013) very aptly describes the fan club as follows:

Fan clubs are akin to Frankenstein’s monster primarily because though Frankenstein creates the monster, much in the same music production companies create fan clubs- the vast majority of official fan clubs are set up by the idol’s/idols groups’ companies and are given names (…)-fan consciousness, together-ness or belonging is not innate or even created by the companies. Rather, the monster gains consciousness through observation; fans gain consciousness by observing, even partaking in other fan clubs. (Gitzen 2013, 19)

To this observation I want to add that fans gain consciousness by observation, I feel like the fan habitus is created through fan interaction. Many times interviewees stressed the importance of fan interaction in their becoming a fan, something I will explain further in chapter 2.3

It seems that even though fans take a lot of initiative, their organization has to be validated through by the entertainment company. For example, it can take a while before the entertainment company appoints an official fan club name and color to the existing club, institutionalizing it and thus by making it official they reassert their wielding power. In the case of EXO, it took a while before S.M. entertainment made their fan club official, even though the fan club had already been active for some time. Because EXO fans did not have an official fan club name, the fans called themselves ‘EXOtics’ for quite a while, before being appointed their official name ‘EXO-L’, which stands for EXO-Love.

There are multiple levels of fandom for Korean fans. First of all, there is the official fan club, set up by the entertainment company. This is usually on a membership-basis and fans have to pay a yearly contribution. One can then officially claim the to be a member of the fandom, so in EXO’s case, it would be an EXO-L. There are usually other perks included in the membership, like having early access to certain events, such as concerts and CD-signings.

Then, besides being an official fan, one can also join the fan clubs on one of the four major portal sites of Korea: Naver, Daum, Pann or Nate. Each of these portal sites is a host of micro sites. These micro sites can function as forums/home pages for idol groups and their fan clubs and these groups are usually referred to as ‘fan cafes’ instead of ’ fan club’, the difference lying in the self-organization of the fans. In contrast to the official fandom membership, these fan forums are free. The only thing one has

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to do is make an account and use that account to follow the forum. Not as many people can join the official fan clubs as the amount of people who are joining fan café’s, such as the informant who is Junsu’s fan, who said it was too expensive for her at the time, when she was in middle school, to join. On the forums of the online fan clubs, there is usually a lively exchange of photos, ‘fan accounts’, videos, social media posts etc. of the idol group that takes place between the fans. Because joining 17

these kinds of fandom is free, it is more accessible also for younger people that do not have a lot of money to spend

.

Within a single fandom, there are still many categories one can belong to. In principle, the fandom is quite hierarchic, especially if we look at the official fan club. “Cultural critic Kim Jak-ga contends that the power structure of idol fandom can be as authoritarian as that of political groups, and that fan community leaders are privileged, wielding certain special powers, such as the ability to communicate with their chosen idol directly” (Jung 2011, [1.3]). For an official fan club, there is a fan club president, the vice-president, and so-called officers, who function as representatives of the fandom and would confer with the entertainment company about request for events among other things. There are also other perks for these representatives, especially for the fan club presidents, who are usually recognized by the idol group members and their staff and become representatives of the whole fan club. An example of how this works is the 2016 broadcast of popular sports show ‘Idol Athletic Championship’ , where a few of the fan club presidents came out together with their idol groups to 18

represent the connection between the group and their fans. To demonstrate some of the social hierarchies and relations between different groups of fans, I have followed Bourdieu’s notion of looking at a social space through the representation of a diagram (Bourdieu 2010 [1984], 165), illustrated in graph 1.1 and 1.2

Another special position within the fandom as a group is for the home master, often referred to as homma, a category I introduced earlier. The homepage administrators of the fan club and often responsible for the photo updates of that home page. The informant who is D.O.’s homma told me she first became interested in idols and “Later on, I got to know and became friends with several other (who also like them) members. I was also good at taking and editing photos so I started learning photoshop skills to take photos better. Then, I started organizing a fan page” (D.O.’s homma). From her quote, it is evident that becoming something like a homma is largely based on interactions with other fans and subsequently finding a skill that can be applied in service of their fandom. Interestingly enough, the homma treads a fine line between being accepted by the majority of the fandom for their services and being placed within the same category as the sasaeng fans, as they often invade the privacy of the idols. The job of the homma is capturing the idol’s life, both on and off-stage, through beautiful photographs, and a talent for photography is a basic

http://www.codeexo.com/forum/

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http://kshowonline.com/kshow/4563-‐[engsub]-‐idol-‐star-‐athletics-‐championships-‐2016-‐

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requirement for them to be able to make a living out of it. Because the service that the homma offers the rest of the fandom is the exclusive pictures that they take, there is a constant battle between the homma to get a more exclusive picture. This means that the homma will photograph ‘off-stage’, so during times that the idols are not engaging in their professional schedule. These off-stage events include; the airport; the arrival and/or departure to and from official schedules and other private moments. A result of this is that the homma, not unlike the sasaeng fan, needs to be informed of the idols

professional and private schedule. It is generally known within the fandom(s) that the homma are in close contacts with sasaeng fans and they update each other on the whereabouts of the idol. Usually, the sasaeng fans tend to be very protective of the information that they have, but because of the prominent position that the homma have within the fandom, and because the homma will take beautiful photos of their idol, they are more willing to share their information.

Fans such as the fan club president and the homma have a special status within the fandom, because they are hierarchically superior, because of the services they offer to the rest of the fandom and through the fact that the idol and his staff members recognize them. In addition, there are fan categories such as the ‘tong paen [creator fan]’, the ‘jogong paen [donation fan]’, the ‘nanum’ [share] fans and the cosplay [dress up] fan. They represent pretty specific categories in the fandom and the

categories also relate to the services they offer the fans, but they are usually not personally recognized by the idol. Therefore hierarchically they are higher than the ‘casual’ fan and are often admired by other fans, but they do no surpass the status of, for example, the fan club president because the ultimate recognition comes from a personal relationship with the idol. I will now take a closer look at two of the mentioned categories, namely the tong paen and the nanum paen and sketch a picture of how their fan activities stimulate the formation of a fan community. I have decided to focus on these two categories, because they best represent the way fans use creativity and reciprocity to forge bonds.

2.1a The Creator-fans

Let’s take a look at first of all the creator-fans, a category that includes the fanfic-writers, fan-artists, fan-photographers and many more. Fanfiction and other forms of (cultural) production by fans are called 통신팬매 (tongshinpaenmae), in short 통팬 (tong paen), and their activities include the making of stickers, cards, dolls and doll clothes, fan art etc

.

“Fans create a fan culture with its own systems of production and distribution that forms” what Fiske calls a “shadow cultural economy” that involves intricate webs of circulation of self-made products (Fiske in Lewis 1992, 30). These fans capitalize on their talent, love for the idol and spending power of the fandom collective and create a variety of ‘goods’, which are usually appropriations of official fandom merchandise. These goods can be given to the idol in the form of a present, which happens, but they are mostly meant for exchange between fans.

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The Fan Fiction Writers

Within the category of tong paen, the fan fiction writers -unsurprisingly- specialize in fan fiction using the members of the specific group they are fans of. Fan fiction is a genre of fictional stories that use existing characters, for example from TV-series or in this case, of real-life idols, and use these characters in their own spin-off stories that move away from either the canonical universe of the original work or, in the case of K-pop, from reality. “Like the audience’s power to recode and

reinterpret meaning, fan fiction enables individuals to engage in widespread and active appropriation of given texts, plots, characters and to build alternative communities and marketplaces of

expression.”(Katyal 2006, 483) Fan fiction has gained notoriety for its tendency to tell stories of a sexual nature. For K-pop, the stories mostly take the form of a (budding) romance between two members of the same idol group, known in fan fiction terms as ‘slash’ fiction. The fanfic writers express sexuality and sexual desires by describing homoerotic encounters of the idols. In her work “Performance, Property and The Slashing of Fan Fiction, Katyal recalls the words of media theorist Constance Penley who called the fan fiction “[S]lash phenomenon as one of the most radical and intriguing female appropriations of a popular culture product that [she] had even seen,” and notes that it demonstrates “how women, and people, resist, negotiate and adapt to their own desires this

overwhelming media environment we all inhabit” (Katyal 2006, 485).

When talking about pairings in fanfiction, usually the name of the pair is an abstraction of the names of the two members involved. For example, if is a fanfic about two BTS members, say,

Jungkook and Jimin, the way their names would be put together suggest the ‘top’ and ‘bottom’ in that relationship. Left side of the pairing wenjeon (읜전) would indicate the ‘top’ in the pairing and the reunjeon (른전) would indicate the bottom. So if Jungkook and Jimin would be paired as Kook x Min or KookMin, it would indicate that in this particular story, the member Jungkook would play the

traditional role of ‘top’, or while the member Jimin would fulfill the role as ‘bottom’. In the interview with V’s, a fan fiction writer herself and researcher of a fan fiction community at the same time explained the use of two boys to describe sexual and romantic relationships by saying it was the safest choice for the fan fic writer. By using other boys instead of female antagonists they prevented the possibility that fans might be put off by reading about the escapades of her favorite idol with another woman and experience a real feeling of competition. Martin (2012) also had similar findings, with one of her informants explaining that the use of two male characters perpetuated the fantasy of the Boy’s Love world, whereas the use of a female character would make it too close to the reality of the informant. Martin (2012) consequently asserts that: “BL manga’s thematic distance from the ‘real life’ world of young women, that it enables it to become such an effective screen for the projection of readerly affect and fantasy” (Martin 2012, 377). The manga is of value because it represents a fantastical world and the homosexual aspect only contributes to this fantasy. People are fans of these kinds of writings because it functions for them as a sort of escapism and is not a reflection of real-life preferences. Not unsurprisingly, according to V’s fan, the fan-fiction writers she knows often do not

Deviance and devotion : on the social subversions of young Korean women as Sasaeng fans