Episode 1 starts off in a Karaoke Club setting with a husband and Wife singing with their daughter watching. The daughter Sung Shi-won then turns off their song irritating her father, and decides to sing her favorite classic song by H.O.T. “Candy.” Next scene she is shown present day as a TV writer, and is featured in a cab having a phone conversation about a work situation. She then enters a restaurant where a high school reunion takes place and she is reunited with old friends. After this we are sent back in time to her childhood house in Busan 1997, where Sung Shi-won’s favorite band H.O.T. is on screen. It is revealed that the member she has a crush on “Tony” keeps a teddy bear that she sent him as a fan and kisses the bear. She is ecstatic with her best friend Mo Yoon-jung She gets into a shouting match with her dad who calls the band “Monkeys” and says they should be sent to the military infuriating Sung Shi-won. The rest of the episode focuses on the girls obsession with H.O.T., and they go to a concert where they win prizes in a competition for knowing details about the band members. The main men featured in this episode besides Sung Shi-won’s dad, are Sung Jae and Soon Jae whose birthday it is, and is shown going to school and getting into a fight with his friend Sung Jae. The episode ends with Soon Jae confessing to Sung Shi-won that Mo Yoon-jung has asked him on a date. The Final scene features Sung Shi-won waking up infuriated at her mother, for washing her H.O.T. t-shirt that had “tony’s sweat” all over it. Over all the girls obsession for the band makes you wonder how accurate the portrayal really is of modern day Korean girls life and their favorite bands?
Edited By Alex
Watched on: https://www.netflix.com/watch/70296452?trackId=200257859
The first episode of Reply 1997 is an accurate representation of Hallyu or K-pop fans in both the past and the present. Fanatics from all over dedicate much of their time, money, and efforts to show dedication and loyalty to their favourite celebrities, in hopes of receiving recognition from the celebrities themselves; the most trivial gesture from the K-pop stars is enough to make the fans swoon, and refuel their passion. This is clearly demonstrated through Seong Shi-won’s undying love for H.O.T and specifically Tony Ahn. She rejoices when she sees her teddy bear embraced by Tony, and squalls when her mother washes the t-shirt with Tony’s sweat. Her extreme dedication as a member of Club H.O.T is exemplified when she travels to Daegu, all the way from Busan. I have definitely seen similar behaviour from my peers: driving to another country to watch concerts, going to the airport in the evening to send-off/welcome celebrities, buying the latest albums online and streaming, etc. However, K-pop fans today are able to pursue such activities with greater ease compared to Shi-won’s time. During the late 90s and early 2000s there was no Kakao Talk or Twitter to track your favour celebrity’s movement. There was no YouTube to watch any TV appearances on the go. For international fans back in the day, meeting your favourite K-pop act would have been near impossible. K-pop fans today are far more privileged and have greater opportunities to interact with their favourites. On the other hand, this episode offers a glimpse of the emerging idol industry, with H.O.T and Sechskies being the centre of it all. Shi-won’s dad often calls H.O.T as a band of monkeys, much to her disappointment. The concept of idol singers is still fairly new in 1997, and especially for her father who is born in a generation that favoured the liberal/political activism and realist undertones of Korean rock and folk music, the emerging bubblegum pop sound from H.O.T remained to be strange to the older generations. This sentiment is reinforced when idols generally have a androgynous, anti-hypermasculine, feminized appearance that emphasized bright coloured clothes, long hair, and makeup, appealing to mainly a young female market. Since 1997, the idol industry has grown extensively and idol groups are most definitely the centre of the Korean music industry. I wonder how Shi-won’s dad and his generation feels about idol music now? Considering how K-pop has entered foreign markets and gained popularity worldwide, has the older generation come to accept it? Do they see K-pop has a transnationalist movement? Or do they still see it as an inferior subgenre of music?
This episode draws a lot of attention to the fan culture in Korea. As Kelly mentioned, in the past there was limited technology and network for fans to connect with their celebrity crush. For example, Shi-won asks Yoon-jae to record H.O.T.’s concert so that she can rewatch it later because there was no Youtube/Google/Naver/Daum or other search engines. However, over the past century technology has created opportunities for people with similar interest to connect. This draws into question the ways that the fan culture has evolved over the years. Due to the rapidly increasing diffusion of media technology, fans have had the opportunity to network and connect, gaining enough power to actively participate in sociocultural events and influence the K-pop industry. K-pop fans now hold enormous potential to influence decision-making processes within the entertainment industries. Passionate fans take part in different fan-related activities, contributing to help keep programs on air, films at the box office, and their celebrities in the news. Furthermore, avid fans have a impact on the outcome of television series and film because they have power as a consumer choice. Fans also conduct charity activities by using their star’s name to make their star look better. For example, a Japanese fan community for Yunho donated $8,700 USD under his name to an orphanage in Kwagju, Korea. Before, K-pop fan culture was driven by consumer desires, such as Shi-won and Yu-jeong’s extreme obsession with H.O.T. Now, fan groups have become socially aware and many fandoms concentrate on public welfare and social issues in Korea. The fast-growing online fan community and the connectedness allow for such fandom-led initiatives.
Links:
Article about different initiatives taken by K-pop fandoms in their star’s name and explains the “fan rice” trend:
(https://koreaexpose.com/fascinating-world-k-pop-fandom-culture/)
This article has a chart that outlines whether various fan clubs accept non-Koreans, cost for Korean members, cost for non-Korean members, and whether they require a fan cafe membership. (http://seoulbeats.com/2013/05/hypocritical-hallyu-international-fans-and-k-pop-fandom-2/)
This page has a list of K-pop idol fan clubs and the origins behind the fan club names (https://www.soompi.com/2011/02/11/fanclubs-pt-1-names-colors-and-meanings/)
Hi Alex, thank you very much for your synopsis. I definitely think that that the fan culture in Korea depicted within the first episode is accurate and is a very good representation of early fandoms. Moreover, I believe that through these scenes we can compare such phenomena with our present and see how much it has grown and developed from the past. It is amazing to consider (like Ashley and Kelly has mentioned) that despite the “lack” of technology, countless number of fans were able to coordinate their actions as well as to dedicate their precious time and money in order to support their favourite idol stars/groups. I’d like to particularly expand on this topic and try to shed light on their behaviour. There is an interesting video on Youtube (which I have linked below) which talks a lot about how K-pop fans are similar to sports fans in which their emotional connections towards a particular idol have created a shared interest between many individuals. This subsequently creates a community not any different from a passionate sports fan. In fact, I believe that if Shi-won’s father had discovered this parallel and thought about H.O.T and his daughter’s fanatic behaviour in this way, there wouldn’t have been as much of a fuss as is seen in this episode! In short, while her behaviour may look strange to the modern audience that is looking in from the outside at first, we should then consider why then, we’re not quite as flabbergasted when we see a Canucks fan or a Dodgers fan representing their teams in various ways.
Link to said video: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMPC31RZzcA)
예찬, were you in that Gummy Ducks group? I can’t remember. Anyway, kkkkkkkkk seeing that as the link made me laugh.
No Professor Saeji, I was in the one about the censorship! This video was really memorable and stayed in my head for some reason which was why I could find an easy connection with last week’s episode.
Most of the synopsis for Episode 1: 열여덟 (Eighteen) is accurate. However, Seong Shi-won’s dad (Seong Dong-il) is referring to specifically Tony Ahn as a “monkey”. Furthermore, some important characters that you missed are Yun Yun-je’s brother 윤태웅 (Yun Tae-ung) and Seong Shi-won’s mom 이일화 (I Il-hwa).
To answer your question, the episode is an accurate portrayal of fandom culture in the Republic of Korea during the 1990s in which modern fandom culture started. The episode expresses Seong Shi-won and her friend as a 빠순이 (ppasuni). The largest change in fan culture from the past is the growth in international fans in present K-Pop. The growth in international fandom is likely a result of better technology, increasing the accessibility of K-Pop groups through online videos, concert ticketing and etc. However, I think that domestic fandom per K-Pop group has decreased compared to the past. This is likely due to the expansion in the number of K-Pop groups. For example, if in the past there were 20 K-Pop groups, the current number is likely in the 100s, some not even being able to come on the main screen. Hence, despite the growing fandom due to international fans, current K-Pop groups will not likely receive the popularity of HOT domestically.
Another important factor in the episode is Seong Dong-il’s reaction towards Seong Shi-won’s fandom towards HOT (specifically Tony). In the episode, Seong Shi-won is in her last year in high school, a very important year for the majority of high school students in the ROK. Seong Dong-il’s reaction is likely a modest expression for how parents would act towards Seong Shi-won’s choice of actions. I Il-hwa’s reaction towards her daughter’s education could be considered abnormal. This topic can be more thoroughly discussed after learning the education system in the ROK.
Lastly, I think it is better to use this link for watching the episode as some people may not have Netflix.
https://www.dramafever.com/drama/4137/1/Answer_Me_1997/?ap=1
While the times of technology has come a long way since 1997, I want to also bring attention the evolution of the typical ‘Kpop girl fan” that Shi-won portrays in the show.
As Ashley had previously mentioned, technology has played a massive role in connecting idols and idol groups to their fans (in this case, Tony and Shi-won) and there has been visible evidence of that in the current time that we live in. From live shows that are now available in the palm of our hands to signed posters that were ever so prevalent back in 1997, I would say that the image of a Kpop fan has not changed but much rather evolved through time.
This could be seen through the sheer dedication that Shi-won has for her favourite idol group and of course, her favourite group member Tony. A powerful example of such can be seen in the ‘Tony’s sweat’ scene where Shi-won was infuriated at her mother for washing her Tony sweat-stained shirt. Through the emotions and reactions, the scene outlines the concept of merchandise that we can all draw comparisons to the present day.
Although it would be every Kpop fan’s dream to own a piece of personal clothing from their favourite idols, it is seen to be a less common aspect of merchandise in the present day. Today, a variety of merchandise is accessible to the public for consumption. From stickers, soda cans and wallets to wall sized posters and logo-printed clothing, the possibilities to support your favourite group are endless. Bringing it into a business perspective, buying music from of your favourite group just becomes only one of the many ways you can support them in our modern society. As such, the ideal image of a “Kpop girl fan” that Shi-won portrays is seen to have gone through an evolution from the times of 1997 and we as viewers have the pleasure of experiencing that change through the unfolding of this show’s plot.
In my opinion, episode one did a respectable job of portraying the fan culture in the late 1990s. There were limitations of technology which inhibited the accessibility of K-pop groups online and the formation of a platform for fan communities to come together. Regardless, Shi-won recorded shows with her favorite idol group on VCR, memorized all the lyrics and dance moves to H.O.T’s songs, and even took a bus all the way to Daegu to watch her group perform live. The participatory fan culture still exists today and many of what existed then still remains: fan club executive members organize fan meetings, a designated colours exist for each K-pop group, synchronized chants are shouted by fans before a song starts, and etc..
I somewhat agree with Edward on that the number of domestic fandoms has decreased due to the increasing number of idol groups. But, I also think that because the ways to participate in this culture has become easier to access, a broader range of people (domestically and internationally) can participate which may compensate for the number of fans comprising of the fandoms. Becoming a fan of a group is usually very simple and one does not have to be as dedicated as Shi-won to be considered a fan.
Here is one of many apps which one can connect, share their experience, and contribute to the fandom community. http://blog.naver.com/lawkapp/220912756066
You guys did a good job– lots of sharing of links and what not– I’m very happy to see that. I also like how you corrected each other and responded to each other’s posts– a real discussion. However, you don’t need to write such long entries or you may burn out on my class. Just focus, and as long as you aren’t just repeating others, or staying on the surface level you’ll be great. I esp. like the questions Kelly posed– y’all should try to answer those^^
One last question– did you guys decide that the episode summary was the start of discussion– I mean, is Alex writing the summary just one time and otherwise going to contribute to discussion? Because it seems like he hasn’t actually done more than summarize with a couple questions at the end.
Nearly since H.O.T’s debut, Kpop has gradually gained die hard dedicated fans which makes it seem that entire Korea is embraced Kpop and is filled with devoted fans. The dedication can be seen through the lineups and sold-out tickets for the concerts, the sing along and fandom chants, fandom light sticks, etc. But those fans are usually elementary and high school students, and not college students, middle aged or elderly people. Now, they are aware of Kpop’s existence which they experience by walking down a public area where the songs are being played everywhere. Kpop is not that prevalent to the general Korean public except for the teenagers. Most of the public are familiar with few current groups and songs and maybe some members. But they didn’t fully embrace Kpop culture like those high school students. Some Korean parents are gradually sending their kids to auditions and trainee boot camps, so that their kids can have a real shot in this crowded industry. They are progressively understanding the popularity and demand in this idol world. Nowadays these Kpop idols have a lot of pressure on their shoulders. The government and the public expect them to represent their nation. This is where nationalism plays its role. What I can draw from this discussion is that Kpop is not a subgenre anymore. It is widespread and contemporaneous. This is what the public in Korea listens to or are surrounded by in their daily lives. Elder audience are slowly accepting it through the sense of nationalism.
In addition to the fan culture portrayed in this episode, which I also thought was done well, I thought the gender dynamics displayed were pretty interesting. Shi-Won’s dad clearly didn’t respect the members of H.O.T much, saying they needed to go to the military. This, of course, implying that a certain amount of the “traditional masculinity” should be expected from the men of the band. Later in the episode we see the teacher being called girly, intended as an insult to the teacher. These examples show that many Koreans believe that there is a fundamental difference in the kinds of roles men and women should play in society, and that it is best to adhere to these rules.
Lastly, I thought Shi-Won referring to her dad as “ahjussi” when she’s mad at him was quite well done. We discussed in class how suffixes can be a way of offering respect to another person (the way “ahjussi” is intended to) and can also be a way of distancing oneself from another person, the way Shi-Won is doing here.