Blogpost 3: "Fandoms & Sasaengs"

A real man fanboys over K-Pop.

The life of fangirl / fanboy is never easy. You have to watch every video of your favourite artist, be able to go to almost all their fanmeets and concerts, and buy every kind of merch-- Wait. Not all fans are THAT dedicated right?

Before we delve further into that, let me tell you first what a fangirl / fanboy is. According to Dictionary.com, the terms fanboy or fangirl is a slang for a person who is obsessed with an actor or a fictional character.

From these, fandoms then appear. A fandom is a collective term for the community of fans of a/an actor, character, book, movie, or in the sense of K-Pop-- an idol group.

In K-Pop the top three fandoms are the E.L.Fs [Everlasting Friends], V.I.Ps, and Cassiopeians.

Super Junior's E.L.Fs

BIGBANG's V.I.Ps

TVXQ's Cassiopeians

In every fandom there are the regular fans, and then there are the sasaengs. The word sasaeng can be translated to privacy in Korean.These so-called "private" fans are what most would know as stans  or stalker fans.They're willing to go to any extent just so they could see and/or find out what their idols are currently doing. Some break into their idols' dorms or houses to steal personal belongings or to take photos. Some install cameras in the areas near the apartments and the buildings of record companies.  There are also instances where they would physically harass the celebrity like pulling their hair, slapping them, or scratching them.

Another way of stalking sasaeng fans use are sasaeng taxis or sa-taek for short. According to an article written by Yim Seung-hye from Korea JoongAng Daily, "Sasaeng taxis are commonly located outside entertainment agencies, concert halls and beauty salons - basically anywhere that sasaeng fans frequent. Drivers of these cars go at high speeds to help their customers follow celebrities and even give out cards with the names and telephone numbers of stars they have chased in the past." Drivers are willing to break traffic rules and risk their safety because of the amount that the fans are willing to pay for their service. The fan that they interviewed also said that some girls are even opt for prostitution just so that they could fund their obsession.

The things that sasaeng fans are capable of doing are scary. Excerpts from Danielle D's article "Scary Sasaeng Fans!" on ISATV can give us example of just what these people can do.

"The k-pop group Infinite has been dealing with sasaeng fans since 2011, when fans broke into their dorm to steal their clothing and take pictures of them while they were sleeping. Since then, Infinite has moved dorms twice, but fans have still found ways to break in. Foreign sasaengfans have even been able to break into the idols’ hotel rooms to steal clothing items."



"Earlier last year, K-pop group BAP was promoting their comeback song “Power,” and during the promotions a sasaeng fan put laxatives in Himchan’s coffee which caused him to become ill during his performance. Early this year, Himchan was once again injured by a sasaeng fan, causing him to sit out on performances and promotions due to an injured arm. The fan who caused these injuries said she “gets a high seeing Himchan in pain,” and thought it was fun in bringing him harm."

As fans, we're supposed to support and love our idols not hurt them. Like what Siwon of Super Junior said after his twitter account got hacked, “Real love is when you understand the person and are caring. Love is not when you invade someone’s privacy and spy on them..."