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the fine and multiple approaches to RPF
So I was reading, which happens, and stumbled across some discussion about RPF that made me pause and think.
There have been dozens upon dozens of threads in fandom over the years about how some people can't do RPF at all and some people can do it but only certain ways and other people are like, "Hit me, baby, I can take anything." It's all cool, because it's all a matter of individual taste and so on, but something that's made me curious is the huge difference I've seen in approaches to RPF in Western RPF fandoms vs. Kpop/Jpop RPF fandoms.
For instance, a lot of people in Western RPF fandoms want the family members to be left alone/left out or at least not demonized ("written out of character") in RPF. A lot of people can't read or write about certain people once they've started dating or gotten engaged or married. A lot of people don't mind RPF if it's more gen or friendship or PG romance, but can't do the filthy smut bits, because that feels more violating. Some people can do RPF up until the point they meet the person in question IRL, and then it's no go.
All of these are totally legitimate ways to feel; different strokes for different folks, YMMV, etc. It just made me blanch and realize--
I don't think I've seen anyone in kpop/jpop RPF fandoms even come close to having these issues. Why is it so different? Is it the language barrier? Because we know they can never read this stuff? (Though what about when fics are translated into Chinese and Korean and Japanese, their native tongues (because oh they have been--)?)
What about Henry? He can read English, yet that doesn't stop us from writing fic about him.
Maybe part of it is that the "idols" in the kpop/jpop fandoms aren't really allowed to date (or let on publicly that they're dating), so that rarely becomes an issue. Have people stopped writing Shindong in pairings because he's engaged now? (Did people ever start writing Shindong in pairings? is perhaps a fairer question.) Is this why people don't really write Shinhwa fic? Is it because they're old and no longer doing things together as a group, or is it because they're old and married? A combination of both?
Is it because we can't really find out that much information on their siblings and family-- No, wait, that's a lie. Considering I can tell you which SJ members have siblings and rattle off about half those sibling names (Ahra, Heejin, Inyoung, Donghwa), considering fans have met some of these idols' parents IRL, it can't be said that fans don't have as much access to information about idols' families. But somehow I've never seen fuss about siblings being written into fic a well.
What about all of us who've been to concerts or musicals or fan-signings or what-not? We've seen these people in person, but for the most part it doesn't seem to have stopped us. Is it just that kpop/jpop fandom generally attracts the type of fans who can handwave the whole RPF issues in a way Western fandoms can't as a whole (because Western fandoms, for one, tend to be larger and thus boast a larger range of fans with different RPF tolerances)? I don't know if I believe that.
Is it due to ingrained Western beliefs about individual rights to privacy? Is it due to the way Western celebrities fight to stay under the radar and out of the camera, away from paparazzi, while in kpop/jpop they pretty much have their entire lives exposed to the camera (and that's just accepted)? Is it that jpop/kpop stars have sort of become "public property" due to idol culture, rather than individuals who just happen to be famous as in the West?
Or is it really just the language barrier?
Then again, maybe there has been similar protest in kpop/jpop fandom and I just never knew about it because I am basically cool with all RPF ever (they become characters in my head, if you want to see (uh, again) my convoluted and disgustingly lengthy attempt to explain it via KiHae) and sort of oblivious to it all.
I just have so many questions, you guys. /earnest
There have been dozens upon dozens of threads in fandom over the years about how some people can't do RPF at all and some people can do it but only certain ways and other people are like, "Hit me, baby, I can take anything." It's all cool, because it's all a matter of individual taste and so on, but something that's made me curious is the huge difference I've seen in approaches to RPF in Western RPF fandoms vs. Kpop/Jpop RPF fandoms.
For instance, a lot of people in Western RPF fandoms want the family members to be left alone/left out or at least not demonized ("written out of character") in RPF. A lot of people can't read or write about certain people once they've started dating or gotten engaged or married. A lot of people don't mind RPF if it's more gen or friendship or PG romance, but can't do the filthy smut bits, because that feels more violating. Some people can do RPF up until the point they meet the person in question IRL, and then it's no go.
All of these are totally legitimate ways to feel; different strokes for different folks, YMMV, etc. It just made me blanch and realize--
I don't think I've seen anyone in kpop/jpop RPF fandoms even come close to having these issues. Why is it so different? Is it the language barrier? Because we know they can never read this stuff? (Though what about when fics are translated into Chinese and Korean and Japanese, their native tongues (because oh they have been--)?)
What about Henry? He can read English, yet that doesn't stop us from writing fic about him.
Maybe part of it is that the "idols" in the kpop/jpop fandoms aren't really allowed to date (or let on publicly that they're dating), so that rarely becomes an issue. Have people stopped writing Shindong in pairings because he's engaged now? (Did people ever start writing Shindong in pairings? is perhaps a fairer question.) Is this why people don't really write Shinhwa fic? Is it because they're old and no longer doing things together as a group, or is it because they're old and married? A combination of both?
Is it because we can't really find out that much information on their siblings and family-- No, wait, that's a lie. Considering I can tell you which SJ members have siblings and rattle off about half those sibling names (Ahra, Heejin, Inyoung, Donghwa), considering fans have met some of these idols' parents IRL, it can't be said that fans don't have as much access to information about idols' families. But somehow I've never seen fuss about siblings being written into fic a well.
What about all of us who've been to concerts or musicals or fan-signings or what-not? We've seen these people in person, but for the most part it doesn't seem to have stopped us. Is it just that kpop/jpop fandom generally attracts the type of fans who can handwave the whole RPF issues in a way Western fandoms can't as a whole (because Western fandoms, for one, tend to be larger and thus boast a larger range of fans with different RPF tolerances)? I don't know if I believe that.
Is it due to ingrained Western beliefs about individual rights to privacy? Is it due to the way Western celebrities fight to stay under the radar and out of the camera, away from paparazzi, while in kpop/jpop they pretty much have their entire lives exposed to the camera (and that's just accepted)? Is it that jpop/kpop stars have sort of become "public property" due to idol culture, rather than individuals who just happen to be famous as in the West?
Or is it really just the language barrier?
Then again, maybe there has been similar protest in kpop/jpop fandom and I just never knew about it because I am basically cool with all RPF ever (they become characters in my head, if you want to see (uh, again) my convoluted and disgustingly lengthy attempt to explain it via KiHae) and sort of oblivious to it all.
I just have so many questions, you guys. /earnest