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| The man |
No, this time not about this movie. Since everyone state their opinions on different blogs, calling healthy people "potatoes", I think it's time for me to unfold my own thoughts on the matter. We discussed this fact on D-Addicts, sometimes jokingly, sometimes fervently, but it seems like lately we've been mocking. I'm not going to swallow up my words, I underline each and every syllable I wrote, I will not change my opinion. This post is about the general trends, so please read and try to use at least some percent of your brain capacity to differentiate between hating and simply criticizing.
First thing, what wikipedia says about the word:
The term critique derives from the Greek term kritikē (κριτική), meaning "(the art of) discerning", that is, discerning the value of persons or things. Especially in philosophical contexts it is influenced by Kant's use of the term to mean a reflective examination of the validity and limits of a human capacity or of a set of philosophical claims and has been extended in modern philosophy to mean a systematic inquiry into the conditions and consequences of a concept, theory, discipline, or approach and an attempt to understand its limitations and validity. A critical perspective, in this sense, is the opposite of a dogmatic one.
This way, I think we have the difficult part behind us, I know lot of unknown words even in wikipedia definition, right? Fingers hurt to type in search and look around? Sheesh...
Oh yes, I'm in the b*tch mode.I purposely took those two pics to illustrate what I mean. On your left, you have The Precious Jewel of Korea, the one fangirls just unleash hell of kyaaaa upon you for. On your right, a great actor, but far from being pretty. Those two pictures share one more thing in common. They are from photoshoots. See the difference? No? Get the hell out from my blog!!
Yes, I watched YAB, yes I enjoyed the series much more than I enjoyed the acting, but I'm not talking about it right now. But this drama just made something wrong both with the main (used to) male lead and the fanbase. I will say it straight up front: I don't like the Princess current image. More than this, I find it despicable. And I have many good reasons to do that and just one against. The one is: blind obedience.
I never followed someone because he was pretty, but it was something hidden behind it. Of course, dammit, I'm a woman, if someone is handsome, why not? I can also find someone I admire handsome because simply of my affection. Yes, JJY, you are handsome.
But if I see someone pretty, I just suddenly see the right light and the alarm starts to ring in my head. Is he just pretty? Can he act? (Yeah, just cope with that, I'm talking about actors, singers don't turn me on.) In 90% of cases, my fears are being proven as solid facts - they can't act. Our Princess stayed on the same level in actor department since 2006. Yes, hate me all you can, this is my personal opinion. It's been 25 years since I first saw a movie, it's been over 15 years I watch movies consciously, paying attentions to details, especially with actors. They create the magic for us with their skills. When I see not a magic but charm, it doesn't work for me. I'm a tough one to bond.
When YAB ended, I thought to myself, good, this boy (yes, I never saw him as a man, *hiding from bell peppers and tomatoes*) can finally do something else than stupid, albeit entertaining stuff like YAB. He can grow up as an actor. I was wrong, oh Lords of Waves of Vanity, I was so incredibly wrong. He immersed himself in the world of kyaaaa.
***** I should therefore describe the terryfying World of Kyaaaa. Imagine barren plain, where reason and taste just were chased out from. Imagine chopped glittering rocks like lips without benefit of water of wisdom. Imagine sky over those rocks so blue you want to tear it off and wrap up around your tiny arms. Imagine trees under this sky that wail their lament (of unwanted biology) into the wind. Imagine wind that gently caress acne-free faces of teenagers and flowing hair and silken clothes. Imagine those clothes covering nothing much except for some bones, bond together by some miracle, because all sinews just dried up. Imagine those bodies, sexless, genderless, androgynous. Imagine... well, if you haven't plucked your eyes till now, this is the best moment. And above all in the air, just like tingling sensation, you feel the "kyaaaa". This sound, imperceivable by a layman's ears, is heard everywhere. Rocks are reverberating it, sky is enhancing it, trees are murmuring it, wind is carrying it. This is the World of Kyaaaa. And the inhabitants of this forsaken by reason land are intellectual zombies, emotional sine waves. Otherwise known as fangirls.***** (I based my research on this land on works by many splendid writers: Glitterus Older, Myheartus Belongus Toyous, Oppa Sarang Hae, You-all Haters (also known under the name Youbitch), and of course the famous Ego.
So, this is the world I never knew that existed, nor I wanted to know it, but suddenly this world just became my shadow, trailing my every move and step. I fear to go to bathroom, because, there may be some complex-ridden female Norman Bates hidden somewhere? Brrr...
The Korean National Asset claimed he wanted to be taken as a serious actor. Can anyone see the serious actor here? Don't look at the right photo!! He sobbingly admitted he was feeling bad when he knew he was casted in Hwang Jin Yi just because he's cute. Because of what else he could be possibly casted? Some stunning, ground-breaking performance? In what? Inkigayo as MC? Pweeeze... spare me. He sobbingly admitted older actors were looking down on him and didn't want to acknowledge him as a partner. I will cast the curtain of mercy and will not comment on this one.
He played the murderer in a thriller last year, OK, he did a good job, but not excellent. He wasn't awesome, he was just copying the acting of other actors and added the look called "I'm-sticking-my-chin-to-my-throat, I'm soo evil looking!!" Just good actors can pull off that technique, because used by less experienced thespian wannabe it looks comic-like.
I really wanted for him to do it. Instead he begin (I really almost wrote she, damn my left middle finger) acting like an idiot trying to please the crowd calling him oppa, and crowd of unsatisfied ajummas. He didn't left anything for the demographic in between. He has to decide whether he wants to be an actor, or entertainer and do everything (no, honey, you can't sing Justin Timberlake song, it was awful, you didn't hit the right note). Focus on one thing and strenghten it up. Work on it. Because if you can't be brilliant in one thing, you can't be good at everything. It always work like this, a talent poured into one canal can become a ferocious river that will crush the levee, but if it will be flowing through ten canals, it's most likely you will see the bottom through the tiny waves. You can't be a Renaissance man. You're not that gigantic in mind.
1. He's just a kid! Let him play!
A: No, he's 23, in Korea 24. He's not a kid any more, not when he said he wants to be a serious actor.
2. He's not skinny! He had to lose weight for the movie!
A: Fix your glasses or buy yourself one. He's a mummy. Preparations for the movie? Hey, don't put your religion on me, pal! Since when ballet dancers are all Kate Moss? How would they ever lift their partners?
3. I find him sexy!
A: go find your brain instead.
4. He's just fashion forward! You just don't understand the Asia!
A: Metrosexual fashion taken to extremes is called fashion forward? You know how usually this fashion is called? Fagshion. To the second question:............
5. He does what other artists do!
A: That is why I don't follow them and don't admire them.
6. It's his life and he has right to act like this!!
A: OK. I understand. But it is the life he is throwing at us, he is sharing with us, he exhibits his all to us. That is why I have the right to comment on what he shows us.
7. It's not like you're his girlfriend, you have no right to say he's stupid!
A: If world has come to an end, and the we were the only human couple left, and it would depend on us the future of humanity, I would let it perish in the sands of oblivion. And yes, I have every right to say what I want, because he called for attention. He sells himself to everyone. I judge based on the appearance, the tone of voice, the face, the sentences, the gesture, the behavior. If I haven't seen him in anything and just read, OK, that would be the case, but just half-true. Not so many people realize that we can conclude from the slightest hints, right? One sentence can be crucial. But yes, I do have that right. I base my opinions on what I see. And I find ALL people acting that way stupid.
The latest trend in Asia to like girly guys is getting stronger. Those guys know about it, agencies know about it and viewers know about it. I explained on D-Addicts my thoughts about the last group. Fangirls follow the "flock instinct". If one person writes something in a specific way or present something in that manner, they will follow it turning off every cell in their brains. I know how it works, really. But I know that it is possible to break from the spell, to leave the hopeless maze of blind admiration of the idol and hatred toward everyone else. Agencies know this and they produce thos kind of guys. Don't even get me started on those boy bands in Korea lately (at least I can identify some guys, girls are looking like copies, I'm totally lost with girl groups), and placing guys from boy bands into movies/dramas. The fact that they appear in their own MVs doesn't make them actors, for the celluloid sake!! Nevertheless, they are being promoted, and there is always some target group that will swallow it.
Guys also know about it. They know that they have fans (read: fangirls, or rather their wallets) as long as they stay hunky, make-uped, hot and blemish-free. So they can put up with every idiocy both sides require.
Sadly, The Glittering One is just a striking (dazzling) example of it. They do not aim for a respect, they aim for the fickle "love" they get when they are in their "15 minutes of fame".
Girls want their idol guys beautiful, photoshop clean, genderless and aetheral. They want guys from their dreams or some pansy uke from yaoi (yes, I care about your feelings!). They juxtapose their fantasies onto those guys. For them any trace of human biology is an abomination. Facial hair?? Bleeh, what do you need it, my pure Prince(ss)! Armpit hair? Gross, if you don't remove it, I'll brush it in photoshop!
Where are we heading with all this?
To the Realm of Fagtastic People and Admiring Girls.
No, thank you, Shin Ha Kyun may not be the most beautiful man in the world, but he is a great actor. This is what I need.
What if someone is both great actor and handsome man, Ethlenn?
This is a topic for another discussion, it is awfully late.
