Dear Korean,
My father is an avid Korean drama/soap watcher. I've noticed that most of the young actors and actresses get nose jobs and double-eyelid surgery. What ever happened to keeping your unique Korean look -- the slanty eyes, flat nose, and rabbit cheeks? Did you guys lose pride in your physical characteristics? I understand the "Western"/Caucasian look has been a beauty standard for as long as they've influenced the world but still...
My father is an avid Korean drama/soap watcher. I've noticed that most of the young actors and actresses get nose jobs and double-eyelid surgery. What ever happened to keeping your unique Korean look -- the slanty eyes, flat nose, and rabbit cheeks? Did you guys lose pride in your physical characteristics? I understand the "Western"/Caucasian look has been a beauty standard for as long as they've influenced the world but still...
-- Viet Living in Korea Town (that's Garden Grove for you)
Dear Viet,
It's not just young actors and actresses -- it's everyone. The statistics about plastic surgery in Korea (particularly with respect to women) cannot be described by any other words than FUCKING ASTOUNDING. Consider the following:
- 76 percent (!) of Korean women in their 20s and 30s have undergone plastic surgery. Most of them were epicanthoplasty (i.e. the "double-eyelid surgery".) (So does this mean that 24 percent of Korean women are naturally hot? Something to think about.)
- 25 percent of Korean mothers who have daughters between the ages of 12 and 16 suggested plastic surgery to their daughters. (In the Korean's "Pantheon of Fucked-Up Statistics", this figure has to be the king -- or is it queen?-- slightly leading the figure that nearly 30 percent of South Africa is HIV-positive.)
- 27.4 percent of Korean college graduate job seekers (19 percent of men, 34.1 percent of women) thought they did not fare well in the interview because of their looks. 28.5 precent of job seekers have already undergone plastic surgery or have planned plastic surgery in order to perform better in the job market.
Personally, the Korean thinks the plastic surgery craze in Korea is a disgusting national disease. Nevertheless, the cause of this madness is fairly straightforward and understandable -- it's a blend of conformity, sexism, and a hyper-competitive society.
First, the ever-present Korean conformity. The Korean covered this topic long, long ago, back when it was only the Korean's friends sending in the questions for the blog. In the older post the Korean gave a quick-and-dirty answer, but this is really the true cause of the Korean conformist culture: that Korea went from pre-modern to post-modern, a process that took other countries about 150 years, in about 40 years.
Truth is, all pre-modern, agriculture-based socities are conformist. Such societies usually consist of tight-knit communities, whose members must all cooperate in order to earn a living. (Think of the Amish community for an American example.) Homogeneity is a natural outgrowth of such societies.
The Korean will say this point again and again until everyone understands this - ONLY 40 YEARS AGO, KOREA WAS POORER THAN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA. So although the miraculous economic growth took Korea to the forefront of modernity, Korea continues to drag its cultural baggage from the pre-modern, agricultural era.
Practically, this baggage-carrying resulting from compressed economic growth means that Korean people constantly care about what other people think about them. It doesn't help that Koreans tend to live very close to one another in massive cities, therefore never having a chance to get the hell away from everyone else.
So if a popular trend develops in Korea, Koreans follow that trend without thinking twice about it, because other people do it too. At times, this is a source of great national strength. When there is something that demands a truly national-scale cooperation, like the Olympics or the World Cup, there are no better people than Koreans to extract that cooperation. However, infuriatingly, a trend often makes many Koreans lemmings.
Unfortunately, the trend of beauty in Korea became this Westernized face, so people follow it without thinking twice about it. Once the beauty trend is established, every Korean starts demanding something that conforms that trend. What is an actor/actress to do? In order to become and stay popular, they all go through plastic surgery to conform the goddamn trend.
But this is not enough to explain the whole plastic surgery madness, especially regarding the general population. The second part of the trend is old school sexism. Simply put, Korean women get plastic surgery because they are being judged only on their looks. This is not all that different worldwide, so no further explanation would be necessary.
But what makes the sexism particularly devastating is that it operates within a hyper-competitive society. Right now, the unemployment rate among young Korean workers is around 12 percent -- and that's not counting those who are staying longer in colleges and graduate schools because the job market is too tough. And Korean resumes always have a place for you to affix your picture (something that is legally prohibited in the U.S.) Given that one's appearance is a large (often the only) factor in one's ability to find a job, what crazy person would not get plastic surgery?
Nonetheless, the Korean will maintain his stance - this plastic surgery craze, and the current standard of female beauty as a whole in Korea, are sickening. Eventually, Korea will get out of its conformist culture, and its standard of beauty will change accordingly. Until that day, enjoy the wonders of modern medical science, on display on AZN Network every night.
-EDIT 10/29/2009 6:43 p.m.- According to a survey by Chosun Ilbo, 90 percent of Korean women in their 20s and 30s said they would get plastic surgery to feel better about themselves.
Got a question or a comment for the Korean? Email away at askakorean@hotmail.com.
Dear Viet,
It's not just young actors and actresses -- it's everyone. The statistics about plastic surgery in Korea (particularly with respect to women) cannot be described by any other words than FUCKING ASTOUNDING. Consider the following:
- 76 percent (!) of Korean women in their 20s and 30s have undergone plastic surgery. Most of them were epicanthoplasty (i.e. the "double-eyelid surgery".) (So does this mean that 24 percent of Korean women are naturally hot? Something to think about.)
- 25 percent of Korean mothers who have daughters between the ages of 12 and 16 suggested plastic surgery to their daughters. (In the Korean's "Pantheon of Fucked-Up Statistics", this figure has to be the king -- or is it queen?-- slightly leading the figure that nearly 30 percent of South Africa is HIV-positive.)
- 27.4 percent of Korean college graduate job seekers (19 percent of men, 34.1 percent of women) thought they did not fare well in the interview because of their looks. 28.5 precent of job seekers have already undergone plastic surgery or have planned plastic surgery in order to perform better in the job market.
Personally, the Korean thinks the plastic surgery craze in Korea is a disgusting national disease. Nevertheless, the cause of this madness is fairly straightforward and understandable -- it's a blend of conformity, sexism, and a hyper-competitive society.
First, the ever-present Korean conformity. The Korean covered this topic long, long ago, back when it was only the Korean's friends sending in the questions for the blog. In the older post the Korean gave a quick-and-dirty answer, but this is really the true cause of the Korean conformist culture: that Korea went from pre-modern to post-modern, a process that took other countries about 150 years, in about 40 years.
Truth is, all pre-modern, agriculture-based socities are conformist. Such societies usually consist of tight-knit communities, whose members must all cooperate in order to earn a living. (Think of the Amish community for an American example.) Homogeneity is a natural outgrowth of such societies.
The Korean will say this point again and again until everyone understands this - ONLY 40 YEARS AGO, KOREA WAS POORER THAN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA. So although the miraculous economic growth took Korea to the forefront of modernity, Korea continues to drag its cultural baggage from the pre-modern, agricultural era.
Practically, this baggage-carrying resulting from compressed economic growth means that Korean people constantly care about what other people think about them. It doesn't help that Koreans tend to live very close to one another in massive cities, therefore never having a chance to get the hell away from everyone else.
So if a popular trend develops in Korea, Koreans follow that trend without thinking twice about it, because other people do it too. At times, this is a source of great national strength. When there is something that demands a truly national-scale cooperation, like the Olympics or the World Cup, there are no better people than Koreans to extract that cooperation. However, infuriatingly, a trend often makes many Koreans lemmings.
Unfortunately, the trend of beauty in Korea became this Westernized face, so people follow it without thinking twice about it. Once the beauty trend is established, every Korean starts demanding something that conforms that trend. What is an actor/actress to do? In order to become and stay popular, they all go through plastic surgery to conform the goddamn trend.
But this is not enough to explain the whole plastic surgery madness, especially regarding the general population. The second part of the trend is old school sexism. Simply put, Korean women get plastic surgery because they are being judged only on their looks. This is not all that different worldwide, so no further explanation would be necessary.
But what makes the sexism particularly devastating is that it operates within a hyper-competitive society. Right now, the unemployment rate among young Korean workers is around 12 percent -- and that's not counting those who are staying longer in colleges and graduate schools because the job market is too tough. And Korean resumes always have a place for you to affix your picture (something that is legally prohibited in the U.S.) Given that one's appearance is a large (often the only) factor in one's ability to find a job, what crazy person would not get plastic surgery?
Nonetheless, the Korean will maintain his stance - this plastic surgery craze, and the current standard of female beauty as a whole in Korea, are sickening. Eventually, Korea will get out of its conformist culture, and its standard of beauty will change accordingly. Until that day, enjoy the wonders of modern medical science, on display on AZN Network every night.
-EDIT 10/29/2009 6:43 p.m.- According to a survey by Chosun Ilbo, 90 percent of Korean women in their 20s and 30s said they would get plastic surgery to feel better about themselves.
Got a question or a comment for the Korean? Email away at askakorean@hotmail.com.
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