Cultural Appropriation, Racism, and Korean Society
The concept of CA was conceived as part of a larger criticism of colonialism and systemic racism. The reason why CA is mixed up with racism in the United States is because of the systemic racism that exists there.
This is not to say that people in other countries can't be racist. But there is a clear line of being racist and being ignorant. Speaking of systemic racism, systemic or institutional racism is not about your racist grandpa who hates people from a certain country. Systemic racism pertains to the racism built into institutions and laws, hence the term legalized racism. That being said, there's just no way of respectful borrowing of cultural elements in the presence of systemic racism and oppression.
In Korea and many other countries, for that matter, there haven't been enough discussions within the country regarding CA. Korea is a largely monoethnic country with no history of being an imperialist power. Most people in Korea only get exposed to foreign cultures from the media they consume. These are strong reasons why cultural appropriation remains a largely unknown concept to them. That's why you'll see stylists/companies dressing up idols in foreign-inspired outfits left and right, taking elements from another culture that they have no sufficient knowledge on. When people say that, it’s seen as an excuse, but it really isn’t BECAUSE IT’S A FACT. In Oh My Girl’s case, it’s the final Queendom performance “Guerrilla.”
This is the reason why discussions have to be made. Korea gets a bad rep for racism, but a bill to legally punish racial discrimination was proposed in Korea as early as 2006. It was proposed way before there was a large number of foreigners living there. Right now, the Anti-discrimination bill is still not passed but we won’t go over it as Korean politics is another topic. However, this just shows that Koreans actually take racism much more seriously than people give them credit for. Plus, the number of foreigners living there are growing.
So, the next time you encounter this issue again, don’t be so quick to hate just because a Kpop idol appropriated a culture. CA in Kpop does not always mean that it’s a sure sign of being a racist. As mentioned in one of the links above, ASIANS SEE IMITATION AS THE HIGHEST/SINCEREST FORM OF FLATTERY. What they believe is appreciation, would be perceived as appropriation in the western countries. REMEMBER THAT THE WEST AND EAST ARE NOT THE SAME. Using the same lens that we use to view Western countries in every country is irresponsible. Keep in mind that the concept of cultural appropriation was intended to criticize imperialist countries, which, because of their history of oppression, causes erasure and injustice when they borrow elements of another culture. Many Asian countries, particularly those that did not participate in the colonization and oppression of other cultures, do not have the historical context (imperialism) that can bring injustice and erasure.
We, Miracles, admit that Oh My Girl has hurt people with their ignorance, but we will never consider them RACISTS because they don’t deserve it. BEING IGNORANT DOESN’T AUTOMATICALLY MEAN BEING A RACIST, especially if the society/culture involved is unlike the West, where there have been many discussions on racial injustice and sensitivity. Racism is out of malice and cultural insensitivity is out of ignorance. What should be done is to EDUCATE, EDUCATE, AND EDUCATE.
More about this here:
Stans especially are not an exception to educating, because many of them blindly spread what they believe/others believe in, causing misinformation among everyone. Singling it out on a group like Oh My Girl is uncalled for and plainly wrong since ALMOST EVERY WELL KNOWN GROUP (https://problematickpop.carrd.co) has been involved in these kinds of issues. And doing so, would be hypocritical and it’s showing double standards. This is an industry problem, not just of a single group. Here’s a hard truth: Cultural Appropriation (CA) is a very serious and nuanced, but nevertheless, valid concept. But, it’s being weaponized to bully groups that stan Twitter doesn't like. The people who really care about this should seek to educate the idols, not bully/cancel them.
Having read all of these, I hope you know now how exaggerated and mistreated Oh My Girl and its fandom are on Twitter/any platform. Before jumping on the hate train, please know every side first. The girls are treated like war criminals from mistakes that can be learned from. Yes they were wrong, and an apology and educating are very needed. But please understand that CONTEXT MATTERS TOO. We sincerely thank you for spending your time on reading all these and we hope that it has helped you change your take on Oh My Girl. Whether you got something out of this or not, please REFRAIN from hating and HELP US by informing the company about these issues.
To help us in informing WM Entertainment about these, please send an email to:
[email protected]
[email protected]
If you’re planning on writing an email to WM, we would also like to ask you to include the plagiarism issue done towards Oh My Girl’s Nonstop by a Vietnamese ad. We Miracles knew that WM took action when B1A4’s Like A Movie (Great f*ckin song btw ^_^) was plagiarised, and hopefully the same can be done for Oh My Girl. Having known this, let’s use this opportunity to also ask WM for an apology for having offended a group of people and for preventing the issue from being addressed as soon as possible. By including the plagiarism issue, the emails sent to WM won’t be seen as unnecessary hate; in other words, it would now be valid and reasonable.