NO MORE SASAENGS PLZZZZ

PLEASE STOP STALKING BTS!!!!!

To start with, I’m not trying to be rude or ignoring other ARMYs. Sooooo, you guys know how BTS just had their long break for the first time after they have debuted (6 years). I’m pretty sure every ARMYs wanted them to have fun and relax during their break.

BUT I have seen a controversial rumor about Jungkook’s relationship with a woman during their break. My bias is JK and I thought it was very rude to interrupt their break with these articles saying whether he is engaged in a relationship. YOU GUYS KNOW WHAT IT MEANS TO HAVE A ROMANCE RUMOR TO A KOREAN ARTIST. IT CAN HAVE CRITICAL DAMAGE TO THEIR IMAGE and make a considerable number of fans to quit rooting for the celebrity. The point is that people who give too much attention and love can hurt the celebrity. And this has let me think about sasaeng ARMYs.

Just to clear up what sasaeng fans mean for other fans, sasaeng fans are obsessed fans who are overly interested in the private lives of K-pop idols. They frequently and intentionally intrude into BTS’s life (tracking them down, secretly taking photos of them, stalking them…). I strongly think that they should STOP what they are doing and realize that their actions to satisfy their needs hurt BTS in response. Let me first rant about sasaeng fan cases.

First, remember when JK had a talk over Vlive with the fans, and it was more on a genuine, calm talk, and this one sasaeng had called JK? JK literally said, “I don’t respond to unknown numbers. If this is a fan, and this person called me to check [if the phone number is right or wrong] while I am on live, I will block the person right away. There are actually a lot of phone calls from sasaengs, so there are no other ways other than to just block them.” Check it out on JK Talk on VLive (Has English Subs!). With 4.4 million fans watching this, I am guessing that all the ARMYs were all heartbroken as much as how I was literally crying. I gotta say that all these things that JK, and all the other BTS members are going through, are too harsh and any human being should not be deserved like this. Imagine an unknown phone numbers calling you every day. Just a few spams call I get is already annoying, but tens and hundreds call? THAT SHOULD JUST BE STOPPED. Going off on this, another member also had mentioned, “Hyung (meansbrother in English), isn’t it a time to change my phone number? Weird people are calling me.”

PLZZZZ sasaengs stop selling private information!

Second, during one interview with ex-sasaeng fan on YouTube, she/he was talking about how they were willingly doing things like running errands for other sasaengs who are “older” to get information of BTS. ARE YOU GUYS REALLY IN NEED OF THEIR PRIVATE INFO THIS MUCH??? So the ex-sasaeng said, “the reason why illegal flight information in is so popular amongst sasaengs is because in [the airplane] situation, the members are so vulnerable [that] they can’t escape. [They] are all trapped in the same small enclosed space for hours.” This is so fxxking weird, dangerous, threatening, and uncomfortable. First of all, just because sasaengs have more information about BTS doesn’t mean that they know everything about BTS. Second of all, knowing more about BTS doesn’t mean that sasaengs gain the right to invade privacy of BTS to know more about them. It also doesn’t mean that BTS has to get to know about you in response. Third of all, all of these things that sasaeng fans are doing in the words of “love”, BTS doesn’t have to focus all of their attention on sasaengs. Stop selling private information on Instagram or on any social medias! Just imagine someone stalking you everytime everywhere and follow you to work, school, hangouts with friends, or even home. For us, it’s easier to deal with them because we can just call the police. BUT for BTS, or any other celebrities, it’s harder for them to sue them or do anything because sasaengs are hiding behind the concept of being “fans”. But let me emphasize this again, too much love or focus, and obsessive thoughts can hurt BTS.

Third, I have to say that sasaengs are everywhere these days. Because BTS got so globally known (shoutout to their hard works), sasaeng ARMYs are showing up everywhere. Just an example of this is when BTS went on a tour/concert to Sweden. They were running the whole time in the streets. Why? Because sasaeng fans were following them. Hmmm, I guess it’s more like stalking them: knowing their schedules and following them according to their schedules. Let me summarize what happened in Sweden, just for other people who are not familiar with BTS. So what happened was that 1) JK and Jin were running away from sasaeng fan, 2) V also ran away from other sasaeng and had to hide inside a building, 3) Jimin and Yoongi were mad about the stalkings, 4) Jimin had to give a sign (signature) to them (facial expression = fear), and 5) RM made mistake in the dressing room, and some fans watched him. So, if you are a sasaeng, please don’t do these stuffs. (Click on the picture to see more pictures)

Lastly, you guys remember when Jimin got death threats during the concert in the US? So the post read, “I’m going to shoot Park Jimin with a Glock 19 in Fort Worth on September 16 while he signs Serendipity. It’s going to be fun seeing his lifeless body hit the floor. He’s been alive way too long and always getting in the way. Why I’m telling you this? Because nothing can happen to me on cc.” (Jimin Death Threat) Just the fact that they are getting these threats in the name of “love” should be stopped.

What is the point am I trying to make? That sasaengs should stop what they are doing because it’s putting negative impacts to both the fan community and to BTS. I say that the reason of their action represents the intensified parasocial relationship. The parasocial relationship are one-sided interactions between a viewer and the media figure. According to a research done, it’s pretty common for adolescents (girls) to engage in parasocial relationship because it allows them to become more toward their ideal self by learning from the media figure and raise their self-esteem (Good example is BLACKPINK, who’s girl group that people around the world tries to follow their style). Because people have no risk of being rejected by the celebrity, I think this is what makes people to be attracted by the relationship of fan-celebrity.

It turns out that there are many significant benefits associated with being engaged in a parasocial relationship, including some of the things that I have mentioned earlier in the paragraph. So, it helps with identity formation and increasing autonomy from parents because the media figures become role models for them and who the adolescents can imagine total acceptance. (If interested, see the whole research done on this! Theran, 2010) Also, being more general, K-Pop has the power to change one’s identity. I guess this is one reason why one first says that they hate K-Pop, but then becomes obsessed in K-Pop because it has literally changed how they look at the society and think about themselves. Going off this, there are also researches done to show that K-Pop increases ones’ self-esteem. TMI, this might be the reason why I feel like I’m being like the main character in the song when idol groups are singing about a girl they admire.

But what happens when the relationship turns into an intensified version? The outcome is likely to become sasaeng fans. What sets the fans who just engage in parasocial relationship with the obsessed ones is the discomfort or anxiety that they feel when they don’t seek in activities that are related to BTS. Because sasaeng fans relieve this discomfort and stress by devoting their life in learning every aspect of BTS’s life, the actions they take to relieve this irritation repeatedly result in privacy intrusion.

BTS is especially known for having social commentary and raising self-awareness for fans around the world. Because of this reason, there might be many fans who have overcome a big obstacle in their life by listening to BTS’s songs and understanding their message that you should love yourself. And in the process, sasaeng fans might form because they might attach their love too much to BTS and eventually become obsessed.

So, even if you are putting an important meaning of your life as an ARMY, you shouldn’t engage in any activities that represent intensified parasocial relationship that might be harmful to BTS and to the whole community!

Thx for reading this 😊😊

Bio: jkjay

I’m an ARMY and my bias is JK. I listen to their songs and mainly translate the meanings to English to my American friends. I enjoy dancing to their songs and provide comments about their albums (try to be unbiased when giving criticisms). I examined sasaeng fans’ behaviors as a type of parasocial relationship. I hope to examine more cases of sasaeng fans and also root BTS!

Sources

https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/news-trends/article/3040926/bts-jin-blasts-other-k-pop-artists-amid-charthttps://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/news-trends/article/3040926/bts-jin-blasts-other-k-pop-artists-amid-chart

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love_Yourself:_Answer

10.1111/j.1475-6811.2008.00197.x

https://blog.naver.com/vring1230/221566996700

DOI:10.1080/01639625.2014.983011

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKBq4N_xt0g&t=6s

https://doi.org/10.29313/mimbar.v34i2.3729

http://blog.naver.com/cateklove/221563602777

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOWGvMjXS1U