A sudden stir has recently occured due to an entertainment tabloid’s recent alleged statements of voice recorded evidence of JYJ members Jaejoong and Yoochun using uncalled for/rude language towards sasaeng fans.
JYJ is well known being an idol group that suffers from one of the most relentless sasaeng fans in South Korea. For a while, Kim Jaejoong, especially, has been suffering from a significantly large number of sasaeng fans. It is well known that Kim Jaejoong had been through a lot of distress in the past and had even warned sasaengs many times (via his twitter) that he did not approve of their actions.
In 2008, SBS’s current affairs program, ‘That We Want to Know,’ broadcasted ‘The reportage on Fandom: Children who run as Sasaengs’ which basically explained the emerging Sasaeng culture.
The ‘fandom’ culture started with Jo Yongpil’s huge fan base of teenage girls in 80’s. This culture positively spread through music consumer movements and eventually led to the end of the the policy of censorship for music records. (Seo Taeji’s song ‘Sidaeyugam’ has been deleted due to the previous censorship policy.)
That form of “sasaeng” culture, however, is completely different from JYJ’s sasaeng fans. Either there has been a shift of perception for what is considered “sasaeng,” or “sasaeng” has reached a point where it has gotten entirely out of control–for which it has.
According to the report by ‘That We Want to Know,’ this seemingly new generation of Sasaeng fans start following an idol groups’ van as soon as the group finishes recording for a music program. They do so by hailing taxis or by rent-a-cars– all the while honking loudly at the idol group’s van.
At midnight, they reappear at public broadcasting sites. According to the report, a taxi driver testified that his taxi is a ‘sasaeng taxi’ and was reserved by students who were curious about celebrities’ private lives.
The behavior of sasaengs on the documentary report was shocking. There were an abundance of scenes for which allow us, as viewers, to understand the tortures for which JYJ feel from sasaeng fans.
Saseng fans of idol groups including JYJ pressure their celebrities by following them to their houses, restaurants, etc. The production crew discovered that taxi drivers charged sasaeng fans up to 20million won for 4 people–simply to follow their idol’s around.
The program showed ‘TVXQ’ as the example at that time. More than 10 taxis and cars started to follow the van of ‘TVXQ’ as soon as they finished their stage, and drove at 140-170km/h to catch the van.
The program also introduced ‘the forward-looking fan culture’ as trying to explain the abnormal fandom culture which has now caused various incidents between JYJ and sasaeng fans.
There are many fans, different from JYJ’s sasengs, who give donations and do voluntary work under celebrities’ names to improve the image of celebrities.
Fans perform good deeds in large, organized groups, creating a word ‘fancom (Fan+company)’ and affect the public culture business in a positive light. This is totally opposite from sasaeng fans of JYJ.
The production company stated ‘fans of celebrities are developing as main agents of public culture business from consumers’ and advised ‘the public should understand the difference between the fandom culture and sasaeng fans, and look towards the right fandom culture.’
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Translated by @dlwpdldhkdlwp Note:
– Fancom= Fan+ company= Fans supervising celebrity as ‘a company.’ For example, some fanclubs open charity events and donate the money collected under the celebrity’s name. Also, they send rice cakes or others to presses on the birthday of the celebrity to publicise the celebrity. They support celebrity like a company, but they don’t seek for profits.
– Because this is a rough translation, there might be many grammatical and spelling mistakes.
– No infringement of copyright intended.
– Please DO NOT post and/or modify my translation on any TVXQ5, TVXQ2, COUPLE SHIPPER, ACGAE, and/or ONLY-ONE-MEMBER SUPPORTING sites.
– Have a nice day!
– Fancom= Fan+ company= Fans supervising celebrity as ‘a company.’ For example, some fanclubs open charity events and donate the money collected under the celebrity’s name. Also, they send rice cakes or others to presses on the birthday of the celebrity to publicise the celebrity. They support celebrity like a company, but they don’t seek for profits.
– Because this is a rough translation, there might be many grammatical and spelling mistakes.
– No infringement of copyright intended.
– Please DO NOT post and/or modify my translation on any TVXQ5, TVXQ2, COUPLE SHIPPER, ACGAE, and/or ONLY-ONE-MEMBER SUPPORTING sites.
– Have a nice day!
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