Drama Note 17: Girls’ Generation

Girls’ Generation – Into the New World @ Dream Concert 2008

SM Entertainment’s newly released girl korean pop band SNSD aka Girls’ Generation has had some bumpy obstacles since their debut in the summer of 2007. Originally thought of as the girl counterpart of Super Junior, Girls’ Generation has 9 members, raging in age from 17 to 19 years old. The members are: Im Yoo Ah, Sunny, Taeyeon, Yuri, Tiffany, Jessica, Hyoyeon, Sooyung, and Seohyun. As the leader of the, Taeyeon has already shown her singing abilities by singing the popular song “If” in the Hong Gil Dong OST. Im Yoon Ah has been seen acting in dramas such as 9 End 2 Outs, a cameo in The Woman of Matchless Beauty, Park Jung Kum (2008), and is currently the main actress in KBS’s hit drama You Are My Destiny. You may also recognize her from the countless music videos and CF’s that she has starred in, such as Super Junior’s “U”, DBSK’s “Enchanted Castle”, CSJH The Grace’s “My Everything” with Kim Ki Bum. Tiffany and Jessica were both raised in California, the latter in Diamond Bar for those of you that live in Southern California.

Recent controversy was sparked during the Dream Concert in June 2008 when supposedly the fanboy’s of SNSD ripped Super Junior’s banners before the concert. In retaliation, E.L.F. (Super Junior’s fan club, and Casseopia (DBSK’s fanclub) decided to use the silent treatment during SNSD’s performance by not cheering or light up their glowstick during the performances. As to the true condition of the rumors, I have tried to reveal the true side of the story rather than the biased or rumored versions that have been going around. It seems that there was some misunderstanding about the security guards moving the banners before the concert began to provide more seating because of the large audience. As for the ripping and the tearing of the banners by SNSD’s fans, that side of the story still has no complete evidence except for some ambiguous pictures from youtube. It is believed that SNSD has one of the largest anti-fan groups especially emphasized by this incident.

As for my personal opinion of the band, I find that they have been working hard to solidify their status as a korean pop band and their singing abilities and dancing abilities overall seem to improve with every performance. I try to make my posts impartial and unbiased so hopefully my personal opinion has not the effected the quality of my reports. Personally, I admire Yoon A the most because of her young age and her ability to take on the pressures of acting and singing at the same time. As for those who are now anti-fans because of the rumors that are spreading around such as that all the SNSD members but one have had plastic surgery, or the Dream Concert incident, you have the right to dislike a band because you feel that they don’t have the quality talent. As for the plastic surgery issue, I am not one to argue against it, but in today’s society, how many stars haven’t had any kind plastic surgery. No one should dislike a band because of the way that the fans act because that is not taking in any consideration of the hard work that the artists themselves have put in. Another complication that many find about Girls’ Generation is their disregard for fan mail and the event involving the throwing away of tons of fan mail. It has been cleared that the cleaning service maid accidentally threw away the mail. When we all look for our favorite bands, we say that we are always looking for talents under the surface and that beauty isn’t the only factors. But I have come to realize that many people base their judgments on… again… plastic surgery, and personalities. I have to say that I do not know the attitudes that SNSD have with their fans, but you can never really tell the true characteristics of a celebrity under the eye of the camera. Everything is scripted and planned ahead and you can’t just take a split second snapshot of something happening and determine your opinion of a celebrity forever. Sometimes, sitting with headphones in your ears and blocking out everything but the music can help one understand and interpret music the most.

So this has been a pretty opinion-based and emotional (-_-) post, but I felt that there was a need to address the problem and the conflicts… Hope that some of you will check out Girls’ Generation, but if you’re still an anti-fan, you have your rights, just don’t push the limits. To check out Yoon Ah in her KBS drama You Are My Destiny co-starring with Lee Ji Hoon, check out soshified forums, the number leading SNSD fan website @ http://soshified.com/forums/index.php?showforum=4. (Remeber that you must create an account to access the forum topics!) Have a fun summer (or whatever is left of it!)

~ by zaizai00 on August 9, 2008.