Everything you can do, I can do . . . the same? funnier?

[greywing]

I've been thinking about this since SBS Gayo Daejun. It was the first time the approach in gendering stages and performances really hit me because there were comments at the time about which of the "change" stages people enjoyed more: the girls covering guys' songs or the guys covering girls' songs.

Comments

Re: I told you I'm only good at responding!

[greywing]

So what would it mean if girls went out there and instead of trying to prove talent, simply parodied the guys' dances? Not to be unintentionally funny--HyoTae caught dancing to "Again & Again" was unintentionally funny--but to actively parody it? Kind of like the music festival where the girls cross-dressed and had fun with an old song, but to do it with a song now? I.e. to not be so srs bsns. Or even to "copy" the fanservice things that guys do? Lifting up shirts to show off chocolate abs? Muscle posturing, like "welcome to the gun show"? Ripping off shirts? The guys in turn love to exaggerate the fanservice moves that the girls do: waving, leaning over and coming up while feeling up their legs, the exaggeration of hips. It's funny because it points exactly to the workings of the business. This is the sort of gender divide that's curious to me.

I wonder if this doesn't point to deeper gender divisions in the marketing of music. All the guys' songs chosen to be covered were serious and hardcore themselves. Some of the girls' songs simply invited parody: "Bo Peep"? I mean, I can totally picture some of the SNSD girls cheesing up "Juliette" with a lot of playfulness. YoonYul already love the choreo, it would just take not dancing it straight up but playfully. (I also want to point out that it's interesting that it was SHINee, again, that did a serious cover of another female artist's song: Lady Gaga. Complete with redonkulous costumes!)

Your mixed reaction to ZE:A's covers might come from a feeling that they aren't living up to their potential just swinging their hips or flicking their legs when they could be breaking it down.

Not at all. My mixed feelings were from watching a guy group seriously do the choreography. It was definitely a gender-based disconnect for me because it's not something you see commonly and I couldn't decide if I was D: or "Huh," which was pretty telling to myself that my own feelings and thoughts on the subject were pretty tangled up and normalized.

Speaking of "ITNW," was there ever a cover of this stage by a boy group? Despite how "hard"/"intense" the dancing is, it's nothing like what a guy group would receive. All the hopping around, twirling, high-kicking--it's still a feminized form of choreography for the most part, which makes sense since it was the debut song of a girl group. The cheerleading outfits really brought that out, too, with all the fanservice that the high kick brought with it in combination.

There actually was a girl group that was bigger than SNSD that did have a debut video that featured some pretty slick dancing. They didn't work out, though, but I saw their song used with a SNSD dance mix. Mind you, they also had really young members, more J-pop-esque. ARGH, can't find the video so I can't remember the band. D:

The idolling business itself has a feminine quality with its emphasis on looks

Agreed.

The metrosexual male is also the homosexual cliche.

I like this wording. I think this is where JoKwon is always hovering, one foot in this stereotype, one foot out.

I think it might be that she's pretty enough that her femininity is seen enough to soothe scared alphas. It's the same reason Gahee can be more popular than Hyoyeon.

Now this is an interesting point. Let's say Amber danced at the level that HyoYeon is, where would that put her? Her appeal is generally marketed toward girls, so would that mean she be even awesomer? She's not conventionally, femininely pretty, but I would guess that it would make fangirls' heart flutter. BoA's beauty lets her appeal to both markets; Gahee's got a face that could rock androgynous if she wanted to. Where did Hyo get lost in all this? Pushed neither one way or the other enough? (There are several topics in here, lol. I should also add that Beat Freaks' Maryss from Paris is an amazing dancer who hits as hard as the guys . . . and is also strikingly beautiful. So is Rino. Hrm.)

The voting didn't concern me as much, just letting off a little bitterness. LOL @ the example.