I Got an Apocalyptic View

For my second cultural artifact, I listened to the fourth album of Girls Generation. The alum came out on January 1^st. Girls Generation is a Korean pop idol that has taken the South Korea by storm ever since their debut. The group consists of nine members (all female) who are very beautiful and have slim bodies. Their new album is called ‘I Got a Boy’. Their main song ‘I got a Boy’ has been number one on Korean music charts for all of this month. I have liked this group since their debut and have never thought about what they might have been implying in their songs and the different concept of the albums. When the new album came out, I was able to notice things that I would have never noticed with this class. What this album says about women in society is to find the best looking man. Just like the title says, the song talks about how they have got a man who is handsome and fantasy like. I thought about this line and how it really undermines the role of women. In a society where women and men are equal is all aspects, you have young women who are singing that they are nothing without men. Why is it that men complete woman in society? I know that God made both a man and a woman to be in one union together but the empire has distorted that to something other. The bond and the relationship between a woman and a man has become business like. It is all about saying to one another, “you become what the empire portrays us to be or we cannot be together”. To be truthful, there is not portrayal of the kingdom of God in the album what so ever. I watched the music movie and it just emphasized what the empire thinks about women. First thing that every woman should be is slender. All nine members of Girls Generation are very slim and have “nice” figures. Second thins that all woman should have is nice clothes and clothes that are revealing. The music portrays the members in tight jeans or a shirt that does not cover their bellies (the t-shirts were so short that it made me wonder if they ran out of fabric while they were making the shirts). The third aspect is that they must be pretty. To tell you the truth, the beauty corporations are thriving in South Korea. From make up to plastic surgery, it is essential and almost a norm in South Korea. I see no aspects of the kingdom of God in the music video or the album. I am very patriotic, and even though I only lived in Korea for half of my life, I have always been proud of my country and the hardships that they have overcome after the Korean War. Industrially, Korea has climbed to the top but culturally we are degrading ourselves every time we produce these kinds of music. How do we see the world, with the glasses of apocalyptic or the empire? If we had the choice (which we do) do you think that we would get rid of these useless things the empire creates? Although I am embarrassed of myself for listening to these kinds of music for such a long time, I guess this is all part of growing up and realizing what is important and not.