Cultural Difference?

Lately my sisters and cousins have been really into dramas, Thai dramas to be exact. Now I am not a drama kind of person, dramas are to time consuming for me. But, I think they mainly watch dramas for the guys in them. They tend to watch more romantic types of dramas, something about them just get to them. I personally don’t see what they see in dramas but oh well.

Another great influence in my younger sisters, cousins, and friend life at the moment are Korean singer sand actors. You have no idea how “gaga” the get over these people, I would go as far as to even call them “fan girl” or “groupie.” But I have notice some interesting facts about Korean fans compare to American fans.

One, Korean fan girls can get pretty scary! I have heard stories of girls getting mad at other people who had said of done something against their favorite band. When I say mad I men they go to the extreme to get an apology out of that said person. They will blow up server with emails or hateful comments, go to the company or work place and demand an apology; they will go on strike if something is not to their liking, and etc. etc. One interesting example is when Apollo Ohno won gold against a Korean speed skater, causing the uproar in Korea saying that the American didn’t win and stuff like that. Don’t get me wrong I have nothing against Korea, interesting enough have an interest in their culture and stuff too. I’m just saying Korean fans are scary!!

Two, Korean fans can get downright frightening sometimes just to show their love for their celebrities. For example, Korean fan girls have been known to send weird (I mean REALLY weird) letters to their celebrities. Not too long ago there was a chain of letters to different celebrities but all written in blood! They even documented themselves doing these things to prove to everyone that it was real. One letter I read about was just too disgusting to tell about! They even have “super fans” in Korea, not sure what they’re call officially but, they do everything possible to meet their celebrities. From, paying someone to follow their celebrities, to stalking, to “accidentally” showing up at the same place at the same time, bringing a marriage license so celebrities signs it by accident (you know when famous people walk by and autographs stuff), and etc, etc.

Now I don’t ever hear of American fans going crazy when one of our celebrities is publicly put down. I have never seen an American fan go to the extreme like write crazy letters in blood to their favorite celebrities, or in any other way. Maybe those things do happen but I have never seen such. I have nothing against Korean fans; I just don’t understand why they go to such extremes. Because at the end of the day, those celebrities as just human too. These are just a few of the things I have notice about how celebrities are treated here and there.