Literature Analysis:
Puzar states that performing “Aegyo” does not detriment both the performer and the receiver in terms of the “vertical mobility” and the power in their professional career and private life (Puzar and Hong 2018, 7). I agree with Puzar about his statement that the capability of performing “Aegyo” is a “soft power” of females in South Korea, and I believe it has been used by the SNSD group to successfully attract their intended audiences.
According to Puzar, performing “Aegyo” refers to a widely accepted practice of East Asian culture, specifically South Korean females, to pretend and imitate the behavior, facial expression, linguistic and the voices of young children or pet animals to give the receiver an impression of cute, vulnerability and lovability (Puzar and Hong 2018, 1). As a Ph.D. in Culture Study, Puzar has done a thorough and professional research to study the “Aegyo” in the Korean social context by distributing questionnaires and interviewing with the interlocutors. The result shows that the “ideal female” in Korea usually can perform “Aegyo” in a situational intelligent way, and it is a “tactical tool” that has been used by the female to serve a various purpose such as negotiating, softening the conversation, entertaining the superior and ultimately achieving their goal (Puzar and Hong 2018, 13). Since the SNSD group’s major targeted audiences are the mid-age males in a patriarchal society, many of the choreographic videos have demonstrated the characteristics of “Aegyo” either performed by the girls or in the setting and the lyrics of the songs, such as gee, oh!, I got a boy and much more.
Moreover, in the traditional East-Asian context, feminity has always been associated with “water”, although the water is soft, it still has the capability of shaping rocks. Although being “soft” or act “Aegyo” may look like it is disempowering women, but it may turn out to be a more adapted and suitable tool to empower female in a patriarchal society where social hierarchy has been strictly enforced.
Bibliography:
- Puzar, Aljosa, and Yuwon Hong. “Korean Cuties: Understanding Performed Winsomeness (Aegyo) in South Korea.” The Asia Pacific Journal of Anthropology (2018): 1-17. doi:10.1080/14442213.2018.1477826.