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or my fellow fangirls who love K-pop as much as I do. For my amazing friends that put up with my eccentric interest in dark topics such as what’s to be seen in this book.
Elephant Statue Outside CHC Hospital iii
PHOTO OR GRAPHIC ELEMENT Pa
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pecial thanks to Freestyle Academy and my teachers, Mr. Florendo, Mr. Greco, and Ms. Parkinson, for providing all the means necessary to complete this project. Thank you to CHC, for letting me interview staff members, Cassandra Majus and Katie Reeves. Many thanks to my teachers, Mr. White and Mr. Waldorph for proof reading this book.I hope this book is worth it.
CHC Hospital
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COUNTDOWN...
PREFACE
INTRO
CHAPTER 1
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11
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...the PAGES until I see you... CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
about the author
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23 Lee Taeyong, BTS, INFINITE, NCT 127 Merchandise Cards
A
PREFACE
t the start of the project, I was totally stuck. There wasn’t really a place or person in mind that I would be interested in documenting for four months. I looked over all the projects I’ve done in my high school years that were based off of mental issues. It was when I stumbled upon a news article on Korean over-obsessive that I started to take an interest on the topic. Not only was the topic of K-pop really entertaining, but I always had an interest in the psychological aspect of sasaengs and their crazy ways. Extreme personalities were really intriguing to me, and the extreme personalities of sasaeng “fans” might have been the right subject to keep me busy for the next four months. This topic was definitely a difficult topic to tackle
on, aesthetic-wise. InDesign class, we were required to take one hundred pictures that were related to our topic. I had a difficult time looking for items that would relate to my topic, even metaphorically. I was able to get half of the photos done by taking pictures of my interviewees and items at the place I interviewed for the topic. It just so happened that around the time, a relative of my friend just came back from Seoul, South Korea and brought back some souvenirs, which were merchandise cards of K-pop idols. She brought merchandise cards from three groups: BTS, Infinite, NCT, and Taeyong Lee of NCT. I knew then that they were the perfect objects to use for my documentary photos. I wasn’t sure if my audience would understand the reference, but I used them anyway.
NCT 127 (K-pop group) Merchandise Cards
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INTRODUCTION I
t’s all I could focus on during their performance. Thinking about how I could get closer to them. Should I just cause a disruption? Ah… what should I do to get the celebrities’ attention? I don’t care if they hate me afterwards… I want to get their attention… and I want them to be mine— now. 3… 2… 1… The Korean term “sasaeng” means getting your favorite idol to notice you, whether that’s in a good or bad way. Any person who is “in the public eye” can be the object of a person’s obsession, such as authors, politicians, journalists, but research and criminal prosecutions suggest they are more likely to be someone
from the world of television, film and/or pop music. In Japanese cartoons and comics, there is a ridiculously popular trend involving a male or female appearing innocent at first, but turning out to be a bloodthirsty psychopath who will destroy anyone that comes into contact with their love interest. In Japan, they call this horrific concept “yandere”. Sasaengs, overobsessive fans, are basically yanderes in real life. Sasaengs are one of the most peculiar features of K-Pop that leaves many western fans scratching their heads. What causes fans to wait for hours outside an idol’s home, hack into social media accounts, or physically harm them? What is it about Korea that perpetuates sasaeng culture?
Toys in the waiting room at CHC Hospital 11
CHAPTER 1 STARTS
Why attack? I
f there’s something that idols are good at, it’s not performing ; rather, it’s doing just the right amount of fanservice to make fans feel close to them without revealing anything private. At fan meetings, members will talk about funny stories that make fans feel friendly with them. “Idols are active enough that usually fans can see their bias at least once a month, if not more. There are also opportunities to interact with them one-on-one through fan signings, or passing along letters and gifts at live recordings. Most idols also run restaurants or cafes, so even if they might not recognize you, their mom who owns the restaurant will. If you show up enough, they’ll know who you are.” “In 2008, psychologist Shira Gabriel from the University of Buffalo tried to quantify the influence of celebrity worship by measuring it through a three-part experiment. First, Gabriel recruited 348 college students, one-fifth of whom admitted to having a celebrity crush. She handed out questionnaires to establish each student’s normal range of self-esteem, and subsequently had them spend five minutes writing an essay about their favorite celebrity. This was then followed by another self-esteem test.”
CHC Hospital Logo 13
The students who scored the lowest on the self-esteem tests scored much higher after they wrote about their idols. Admiration for a celebrity can be good because it boosts the feeling of community and belongingness— two crucial components of healthy childhood development. But too much can be harmful. Stalking and isolating oneself from friends and family all have negative effects. There are three domains of celebrity worship, which is reflected in three sub scales. These sub scales are the entertainment-social sub scale, the intensepersonal sub scale, and the borderline-pathological sub scale. The entertainment-social sub scale has ten items and indicates that a celebrity is viewed as entertaining and/or captures the respondent’s attention. For example, “Learning the life story of my favorite celebrity is a lot of fun”. The intense-personal sub scale has nine items and indicates that the respondent has intense and obsessive attitudes toward a celebrity with compulsive elements. “My favorite celebrity is my soulmate.” The borderline-pathological sub scale comprises three items and indicates that the respondent has pathological attitudes and behaviors as a result of celebrity worship. “When I meet my favorite celebrity, and he/she asked me to do something illegal as a favor, I would do it”. NCBI (National Center for Biotechnology Information) revealed that individuals with high scores on celebrity-worship scales tend to display a number of psychosocial characteristics. “Celebrity Worship Syndrome,” or CWS isn’t a diagnosable disorder, but the connection is that fans can be so obsessed with their idols to the point they’re willing to harm themselves or those around them. According to Cassandra Majus, a licensed therapist at the CHC Council (an organization specializing in ADHD, learning differences, Anxiety/Depression, and Autism), CWS cases are extremely rare; in fact, she has never encountered a patient suffering from it, or any cases that are similar to the disorder. An example of that would toxic relationships where one side has a compulsive obsession with their significant other, as explained previously. That, or people who suffer from this possible disorder rarely seek counseling. Sasaengs are always completely aware of how they’re acting when they attack idols. However, sasaengs are aware that they’re hurting their idols. I then spoke with Katie Reeves, a nurse practitioner at the same council, who has once encountered a client who had suffered from a similar illness. The said client had Schizoaffective Disorder, which is a mental health condition including schizophrenia and mood disorder symptoms. Symptoms included delusions, hallucinations, depressed episodes, and manic periods of high energy. In the client’s case, he had fixed delusion disorder in which he truly believed that he was in a relationship 14
“Well, there’s all kinds of things that are and aren’t real that are in this book. It’s not something- yes it’s not in here- it’s not something you’d be able to diagnose and build your insurance for the treatment of, if that makes sense. It’s not technically a diagnosable disorder. There’s a lot of things that aren’t in there, like certain phobias or obsessions. We tend to believe that they’re real” - Katie Reeves
with American singer Katy Perry. It was almost as if in his own head, he was creating a fanfiction, fiction written by a fan of the particular artist. Reeves explained that this disorder was listed in DSM 5 (Diagnostic Statistical Manual), a book of psychiatric illnesses and medicine that explains the different types of mental disorders that existed so far. As to whether or not Celebrity Worship Syndrome is really a diagnosable mental syndrome, Reeves also explained that those who don’t think realistically are more likely to do whatever they can to get closer to their favorite celebrity. Especially if they don’t necessarily care how they look to other people, so those with social issues or low social IQs may be okay with looking odd, disrupting a performance at a concert or physically hurting their idol. 15
danger T
ypically, a fan would show their appreciation to their idol by going to their concerts or seeing their movies. Sasaengs, however, will stalk and hurt their idols as their way of showing appreciation. Sasaengs can take their obsessions with their idol to the next level by hurting other celebrities they believe are rivaling their favorite idols. Fandoms now call this “fan war”. In recent news, KPOP idol Yeri of Red Velvet had just graduated from high school, and people were seen flashing lasers at her face because of their strong dislike for her. Red Velvet originally debuted as a four-member girl group in 2014. Yeri was added as a new member in 2015 and she has often been strongly disliked for being a newly added member to the group. There is not much context on this incident because the lasers flashing on the young idol’s face were only seen through pictures at a distance. Some claim that they weren’t lasers, but the majority of the audience have proved that the red marks on the young idol’s face were indeed lasers. Sasaengs take a lot of pride in what they do, therefore, it will be very difficult to change this mindset of theirs.
NCT 127 (K-pop group) Merchandise Cards 17
A “black ocean” is a trend in K-pop where the audience turns off their light sticks and cellphone lights as a show of lack of support to the current group onstage. When done collectively, it appears to the performers as a “black ocean” due to the lack of lights from the audience. This usually happens only in extreme cases. Then again, “extreme” is a subjective word when it is put together with the craziness that is the hardcore fans of K-pop. Black oceans are not necessarily dangerous, but it is one of the more subtle ways sasaengs have indirectly shown their horrific affection to their idols. Generally, sasaeng fans actually act in a group. Members of the group will report back to the leader of the group once they have found information about their idol or finished attacking their idol. The group together are commonly seen camping out in front of the dorms or homes of the idols. By working together, sasaengs become a dangerous group that can easily access anything. If you think “sasaengs” have absolutely nothing to do with you, listen to this: sasaengs will also harm “normal” fans that seem to get even a little attention from their favorite idols. For example, celebrities will occasionally bring a few fans onstage, and those people are very likely to be targeted by sasaengs because they got the attention from a celebrity. Sasaengs will also attack people who don’t like their favorite celebrities. Sasaengs are known to be stalkers or hackers and they always seem to have access to pretty much everything. They show their habits by gaining access to celebrities’ phone numbers, address, pretending to be staff members, families’ phone numbers, or even sometimes, your phone number and address. Although, chances of this happening are very slim. Common stories of these fans show them stalking celebrities to their homes and stealing items from their homes. Sometimes, they will leave crude gifts to show the celebrities that they were there. Sasaengs are also prone to throwing items at their idol during performances, such as cell phones, undergarments, water bottles, and more. There have even been instances where fans will attempt to kidnap the idol from the stage. Not that it ever worked out, but it is still a horrifying experience. On April 17th, 2011, K-POP group Girls Generation was met with an unfortunate incident involving a male audience member who trespassed onto their stage during the “Angel Price Music Festival.” The man intruded onto their stage from the back and attempted to drag away the group’s leader, Taeyeon Kim, off the stage. The show’s host, comedian Jung Tae Oh managed to stop the man, and security staff apprehended the man and prevented any further accidents from occurring. The show’s host, comedian Jung Tae Oh managed to stop the man, and security staff apprehended the man and prevented any further accidents from occurring. In the 2002 film Swimfan, the star swimmer of the high-school team, Ben, encounters girl named Madison. Since then, Madison begins to strategize a relationship with Ben, who already has a girlfriend. Madison then bombards Ben with emails and messages, dates his rival teammate to anger him, arranges for steroids to show up in his urine screen so that he is disqualified from the team, builds a shrine to him, kills the swimming rival she dated, and attempts to kill his girlfriend. Obsessive love? Fanaticism? Celebrity worship? Please remember that your idols are human and they deserve the same respect and privacy you’d like for yourself. 18
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note to self A
s someone who once aspired to be an idol, I had to understand the difficulties and the danger that comes with it. Understanding that coming into contact with sasaeng “fans” is certain and there will be several haters that will attack-- verbally and physically. I totally understand wanting to get closer to a celebrity. It isn’t all that unusual. Again, idols are great at providing fanservice without revealing anything private. “Fans leave feeling closer to the idols because they’ve learned something that other people don’t know, and experienced a perceived private moment from their bias. The dream of having your idol recognize you is corporeal due to these interactions. However, at the same time, fans are left wanting to know more. The reality is that after set schedules are done, a regular fan doesn’t know what happens in an idol’s private life, and although many may be curious, they’ll never act upon their curiosity. In contrast, I think sasaengs are a special breed of fan that are motivated to act on their curiosity, and it’s the desire to know more that moves them towards sasaeng behavior.” Here’s a little note for those who are aspiring celebrities: if you are sensitive or don’t do well with being hurt— physically or emotionally— think twice about your career path.
Whale Statue Outside CHC Hospital
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Conclusion
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he level of affection sasaengs can give to their idols has a wide range. They can range from sending small hate comments that rival their idols to becoming as insane as Joker from the Batman series. There are three domains of celebrity worship, which is reflected in three sub scales. These sub scales are the entertainment-social sub scale, the intensepersonal sub scale, and the borderline-pathological sub scale. Those with social issues or low social IQs may be okay with looking odd, disrupting a performance at a concert or physically hurting their idol. For something like loving a celebrity, a fan’s love for their idol seems to have gone to the next level.
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Works cited
Olson, Samantha. “The Psychological Effects Of Idolatry: How Celebrity Crushes Impact Children’s Health.” Medical Daily, 26 October 2015, www.medicaldaily.com/psychologicaleffects-idolatry-how-celebrity-crushes-impactchildrens-health-358604. Accessed:
Majus, Cassandra. Personal interview. 19 March 2018. Reeves, Katie. Personal interview. 9 April 2018 mkim93. “Netizens Argue over Red Velvet Yeri’s Recent Laser Harassment Issue.” Allkpop, Allkpop, 10 February 2018, www.allkpop.com/ article/2018/02/netizens-argue-overred-velvet-yeris-recent-laser-harassment-issue. Accessed: GhostWriter. “SNSD’s Taeyeon Almost Pulled off Stage during Performance.” Allkpop, Allkpop, 17 April 2011, www.allkpop.com/ article/2011/04/snsds-taeyeon-almost-pulledoff-stage-mid-performance.
“Celebrity Worship Syndrome.” Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers, www.psychologytoday.com/ us/blog/in-excess/201307/celebrity-worshipsyndrome.
Harmonicar. “Opinion: Why Sasaengs Happen in Korea.” Soompi, Soompi, 26 Nov. 2015, www. soompi.com/2015/11/24/are-you-there-oppaits-me-sasaeng/. Sansone, Randy A., and Lori A. Sansone. Advances in Pediatrics., U.S. National Library of Medicine, 2014, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/ articles/PMC3960781/. Brazell, Emma. “Celebrity Worship Syndrome: The Mental Illness Where Fans Go Too Far.” VT, Https://Www.facebook.com/JungleVT, 27 Sept. 2017, vt.co/entertainment/celebrity/ celebrity-worship-syndrome-mental-illness-fansgo-far/.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Nicole Tu Quyen Nguyen is a student at Freestyle Academy and Los Altos High School. She is a Digital Media student at Freestyle, and she enjoys using her eccentric and unique creativity to produce her own music. In her free time, she likes to dance, sing, rap, play piano, and write her own original stories. This is the first hardcover book she’s ever written, and she hopes to make more in the future.
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