Yellow Fever/Yellow Immunity
You probably don't know who Yani Tseng is. But that's ok, because I don't even remember why I know who Yani Tseng is. She does, however, have a few things in common with SNSD: she's an '89er who's claimed a heaping chunk of #1s and just happens to be Asian. She's also the non-face face of the LGPA . . . at least in America.
In her native Taiwan, Tseng is a huge super star. Yet her participation in golf (she moved to the United States to work on her game and currently resides in her golf idol's former Florida home) and her world no. 1 ranking has pushed her to, well, push for the American market, so to speak. She worked hard on her English speaking skills in order to give interviews and approaches the golf course not only with dedication to the game and a killer drive but also with open amiableness with which she invites fans to approach her.
Perhaps not to much avail. That is to say, Tseng can strut up and down the greens all day but the American market hasn't been very receptive. I discovered Tseng some months ago--I really don't remember how or why--and have every once in a while googled her to see what she's been up to. Usually she was winning a tournament. But the slant of, say, a Taiwanese newspaper versus an American or British venue shows remarkable differences. In fact, the American slant is often about how dominating Tseng has been throughout the 2011 tour without generating the proportional amount of recognition in the United States (or the Western hemisphere, really). She can be the nicest--and fiercest--kid on the block but no one cares. Because she doesn't look right, i.e. Western.
The New York Times puts it nicely:
Tseng’s fame in Asia dwarfs her profile in the United States, which raises the question: in an increasingly globalized world, does it matter if the brightest stars shine in the East or West? Robert Thompson, a professor of mass media and popular culture at Syracuse, said, “We have this prejudice that it does not matter if you’re huge anywhere else, that the only real sign of success is if you’re famous in the United States.”
I think about this and SNSD (and by association of fellow K-pop stars, Wonder Girls or BoA or who-have-you), about pushing for the American market. There are, of course, commercial and monetary reasons for pushing for the American market: bigger market, more consumers, more money. But if you are pushing for a market that you cannot break into beyond the niche you have already reached (thanks to the powers of the Internet), is it worth dumping the time and investment into the PR work needed to be seen? just_keep_on mentioned some upcoming appearances during SNSD's NYC visit, but that just brought to mind something else in that NYT article: "For a female golfer to make the rounds of the morning talk shows, all the planets have to align. It happened in September, but the player was not Tseng, who had won eight tournaments by then. It was Lexi Thompson, a tall, blond American teenager fresh off her first professional victory."
That is, Tseng had been dominating the tour up to that point already and yet who did American media care about? The American darling, of course. Indeed, the names that recognizable to me in golf are, let's see, Kerr, Creamer, Wie, and one of the Koreans (whose name is obviously escaping me now! SEE!). These are Western faces, Michelle Wie included although she is Asian by ethnicity.
Do you know what I heard on the radio the other day that was like a blow of nostalgia? "Du Hast" by Rammstein. Some of you may not know what this song is, but I will tell you that it hit big on the American radio waves in the 90s. A German song. There was no "English version." This is what played. And it was popular! And then I started thinking about other foreign songs that have sneaked into American radio waves and--maybe it's just me--but I couldn't think of an Asian-language song that had had the same random, explosive success in the USA.
I'm not talking about music that "sounds" right because I think many of us would agree that K-pop riffs off what's popular in Western trends to the extent that they are using Western composers (moreso than J-pop). There is something about certain images and languages that do and don't jibe with an American audience. And a lot of this has to do with how media has interpreted the Asian presence in America--and I'm not sure these are mores that can be easily overcome. Or that a group like SNSD would not be easily dismissed, perhaps even just on aesthetic grounds.
Let's think about this. Someone list the big female presences that would come into the minds of Americans. Let's see. Lucy Liu? Tila Tequila? Um. Female Asians . . . there's the actress who plays Boomer in Battlestar Galactica whose name I obviously don't know. You've got that Asian friend in Gilmore Girls. Um. The Asian in Glee! Asian on Lost (famous Korean actress!). Um. I think that's about the extent of the Asianness that pops into my head.
Now. Picture yourself as some average American tuning into David Letterman. Suddenly: 9 skinny Asian girls dolled up to the nines on your screen. Just about all of them have dyed their hair, some going with the blasian look. They may be singing a song in English that may or may not sound like English (granted, this happens all the time with regular songs and results in hilariously misheard lyrics--basically, adulthood is discovering all the lyrics you thought you heard during childhood were wrong). You have no idea what's going on. If you're Asian, you might have a moment of identification. Or, the opposite route, you reject identification (Tila Tequila, whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy). If you're not Asian, you . . . what? I don't know. Be confused? Wonder why Asian girls try to look Caucasian? Wondering where Korea is on the world map? Fetishize what you see--and along what lines? I don't know!
But I can see the American mind turning off and being all, "Meh." Because the NYT article's insight points to an isolation policy that has somehow also contributed to the appeal of the American market. Is it possible to follow it like this?:
1) Cool stuff is what's cool in America.
2) American stuff is cool in America.
3) If you're cool in America, you're practically American.
4) Being cool is to be cool in America is to be assimilated into the American culture.
5) It's hard to assimilate into a culture that still wants to brand itself as aesthetically Caucasian.
6) Does Asian pop culture have to, to an extent, assimilate into American culture in order to be cool in America (like how "Chinese food" is totally a staple of American diets now).
7) Does that mean that Asian pop culture would thus stop being "Asian" pop culture?
8) Does any of the above matter if you have established a niche market that likes Asian pop culture for being Asian pop culture? (Or is it that there's not enough money flowing from some a niche market? Yet a concert in Paris seems to suggest that, hell, Western markets have generated enough income that Asian companies are willing to invest in putting on concerts and tours in those countries.)
I think about JYP's attempt to create a "home grown" K-pop contingent on US soil. Min and her peeps were sent to the USA to train with the future outlook of releasing English-content material. But that didn't pan out, partly because while the American market is open to talent that develops along a grassroots route, it's a route that demands a lot of effort and time. But I wonder if it would have been even possible. I think of how Jaebum basically had to return to Korea first to re-kickstart his career prospects.
There is still something "un-American" about Asian skin. A model minority Asians might be, but there's a mixture of fear and control in that statement as well, not unlike your stereotypical strict Asian parents. Behave and stay in your place. Perform well as a model for other minorities to emulate--but stay a minority. There is tension there. The "look" still isn't right, no matter how great your English is--your chopsticks skills are still intimidating (and revealing)!
So I think about SNSD and the US market(s) and keep an ear turned and an eye open to see if there will be developments. The money is surely tempting to SM, which is a company not above tapping every market it can, but the risk may be too high in terms of return. Thus why we haven't seen any full commitment. And yet what does it mean that any interest has been shown at all for--well, which part of the International fandom exactly? There is excitement among Americans, yes, but how do other parts of the International fandom feel? Would a move into America mean a waning or neglect of other potential, if perhaps smaller venues? SNSD isn't done with Japan yet, and yet if were to become stretched between Korea, Japan, and America, which markets would be forgotten, which emphasized? Is a three-country balancing act too much to ask of nine-girl group being shuffled at a corporate's whim?
I have no idea~ And, to be honest, I'm not much following SNSD these days. But if they were to successfully hold open a door that has shut in the faces of so many others, well, I might just take a renewed interest. (Besides from watching Hyo gifs from time to time anyway. XD)
In her native Taiwan, Tseng is a huge super star. Yet her participation in golf (she moved to the United States to work on her game and currently resides in her golf idol's former Florida home) and her world no. 1 ranking has pushed her to, well, push for the American market, so to speak. She worked hard on her English speaking skills in order to give interviews and approaches the golf course not only with dedication to the game and a killer drive but also with open amiableness with which she invites fans to approach her.
Perhaps not to much avail. That is to say, Tseng can strut up and down the greens all day but the American market hasn't been very receptive. I discovered Tseng some months ago--I really don't remember how or why--and have every once in a while googled her to see what she's been up to. Usually she was winning a tournament. But the slant of, say, a Taiwanese newspaper versus an American or British venue shows remarkable differences. In fact, the American slant is often about how dominating Tseng has been throughout the 2011 tour without generating the proportional amount of recognition in the United States (or the Western hemisphere, really). She can be the nicest--and fiercest--kid on the block but no one cares. Because she doesn't look right, i.e. Western.
The New York Times puts it nicely:
Tseng’s fame in Asia dwarfs her profile in the United States, which raises the question: in an increasingly globalized world, does it matter if the brightest stars shine in the East or West? Robert Thompson, a professor of mass media and popular culture at Syracuse, said, “We have this prejudice that it does not matter if you’re huge anywhere else, that the only real sign of success is if you’re famous in the United States.”
I think about this and SNSD (and by association of fellow K-pop stars, Wonder Girls or BoA or who-have-you), about pushing for the American market. There are, of course, commercial and monetary reasons for pushing for the American market: bigger market, more consumers, more money. But if you are pushing for a market that you cannot break into beyond the niche you have already reached (thanks to the powers of the Internet), is it worth dumping the time and investment into the PR work needed to be seen? just_keep_on mentioned some upcoming appearances during SNSD's NYC visit, but that just brought to mind something else in that NYT article: "For a female golfer to make the rounds of the morning talk shows, all the planets have to align. It happened in September, but the player was not Tseng, who had won eight tournaments by then. It was Lexi Thompson, a tall, blond American teenager fresh off her first professional victory."
That is, Tseng had been dominating the tour up to that point already and yet who did American media care about? The American darling, of course. Indeed, the names that recognizable to me in golf are, let's see, Kerr, Creamer, Wie, and one of the Koreans (whose name is obviously escaping me now! SEE!). These are Western faces, Michelle Wie included although she is Asian by ethnicity.
Do you know what I heard on the radio the other day that was like a blow of nostalgia? "Du Hast" by Rammstein. Some of you may not know what this song is, but I will tell you that it hit big on the American radio waves in the 90s. A German song. There was no "English version." This is what played. And it was popular! And then I started thinking about other foreign songs that have sneaked into American radio waves and--maybe it's just me--but I couldn't think of an Asian-language song that had had the same random, explosive success in the USA.
I'm not talking about music that "sounds" right because I think many of us would agree that K-pop riffs off what's popular in Western trends to the extent that they are using Western composers (moreso than J-pop). There is something about certain images and languages that do and don't jibe with an American audience. And a lot of this has to do with how media has interpreted the Asian presence in America--and I'm not sure these are mores that can be easily overcome. Or that a group like SNSD would not be easily dismissed, perhaps even just on aesthetic grounds.
Let's think about this. Someone list the big female presences that would come into the minds of Americans. Let's see. Lucy Liu? Tila Tequila? Um. Female Asians . . . there's the actress who plays Boomer in Battlestar Galactica whose name I obviously don't know. You've got that Asian friend in Gilmore Girls. Um. The Asian in Glee! Asian on Lost (famous Korean actress!). Um. I think that's about the extent of the Asianness that pops into my head.
Now. Picture yourself as some average American tuning into David Letterman. Suddenly: 9 skinny Asian girls dolled up to the nines on your screen. Just about all of them have dyed their hair, some going with the blasian look. They may be singing a song in English that may or may not sound like English (granted, this happens all the time with regular songs and results in hilariously misheard lyrics--basically, adulthood is discovering all the lyrics you thought you heard during childhood were wrong). You have no idea what's going on. If you're Asian, you might have a moment of identification. Or, the opposite route, you reject identification (Tila Tequila, whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy). If you're not Asian, you . . . what? I don't know. Be confused? Wonder why Asian girls try to look Caucasian? Wondering where Korea is on the world map? Fetishize what you see--and along what lines? I don't know!
But I can see the American mind turning off and being all, "Meh." Because the NYT article's insight points to an isolation policy that has somehow also contributed to the appeal of the American market. Is it possible to follow it like this?:
1) Cool stuff is what's cool in America.
2) American stuff is cool in America.
3) If you're cool in America, you're practically American.
4) Being cool is to be cool in America is to be assimilated into the American culture.
5) It's hard to assimilate into a culture that still wants to brand itself as aesthetically Caucasian.
6) Does Asian pop culture have to, to an extent, assimilate into American culture in order to be cool in America (like how "Chinese food" is totally a staple of American diets now).
7) Does that mean that Asian pop culture would thus stop being "Asian" pop culture?
8) Does any of the above matter if you have established a niche market that likes Asian pop culture for being Asian pop culture? (Or is it that there's not enough money flowing from some a niche market? Yet a concert in Paris seems to suggest that, hell, Western markets have generated enough income that Asian companies are willing to invest in putting on concerts and tours in those countries.)
I think about JYP's attempt to create a "home grown" K-pop contingent on US soil. Min and her peeps were sent to the USA to train with the future outlook of releasing English-content material. But that didn't pan out, partly because while the American market is open to talent that develops along a grassroots route, it's a route that demands a lot of effort and time. But I wonder if it would have been even possible. I think of how Jaebum basically had to return to Korea first to re-kickstart his career prospects.
There is still something "un-American" about Asian skin. A model minority Asians might be, but there's a mixture of fear and control in that statement as well, not unlike your stereotypical strict Asian parents. Behave and stay in your place. Perform well as a model for other minorities to emulate--but stay a minority. There is tension there. The "look" still isn't right, no matter how great your English is--your chopsticks skills are still intimidating (and revealing)!
So I think about SNSD and the US market(s) and keep an ear turned and an eye open to see if there will be developments. The money is surely tempting to SM, which is a company not above tapping every market it can, but the risk may be too high in terms of return. Thus why we haven't seen any full commitment. And yet what does it mean that any interest has been shown at all for--well, which part of the International fandom exactly? There is excitement among Americans, yes, but how do other parts of the International fandom feel? Would a move into America mean a waning or neglect of other potential, if perhaps smaller venues? SNSD isn't done with Japan yet, and yet if were to become stretched between Korea, Japan, and America, which markets would be forgotten, which emphasized? Is a three-country balancing act too much to ask of nine-girl group being shuffled at a corporate's whim?
I have no idea~ And, to be honest, I'm not much following SNSD these days. But if they were to successfully hold open a door that has shut in the faces of so many others, well, I might just take a renewed interest. (Besides from watching Hyo gifs from time to time anyway. XD)