the disturbing reality of the 'innocent image' in kpop

Hey guys! Following on from my video looking into the 'cool mysterious guy' persona in kpop, I asked which 'persona' you'd like us to discuss next and a few people mentioned this one...so here goes!

I really hope you enjoy this video! If so, please give it a thumbs up and let me know your thoughts in the comments (and perhaps any other personas you would like us to look at in the future).

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Thank you so much for watching, and I'll see you in the next one!
- dearyoongi 💖

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TIME STAMPS
0:00 Intro
0:38 What is the 'innocent image' in kpop?
1:53 Example 1
3:09 Example 2
4:56 Example 3
6:15 Example 4
7:46 Why would companies assign this image? Reason 1
9:10 Why would companies assign this image? Reason 2
10:11 Negative effects of the image? Reason 1
12:42 Negative effects of the image? Reason 2
13:37 Conclusion & final thoughts
15:15 Outro

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nct,nct dream,renjun,taemin,shinee,girls generation,snsd,sm entertainment,bts,jungkook,blackpink,lisa

[アウエン]

For Taemin, he actually had a very very very hard time changing his image. When he debuted solo, he really went from the "innocent cute boy" in SHINee to somewhat an opposite image, and he suffered from an heavy backlash. His own fandom turned on him, and many acted as if he betrayed them.
Taemin was deemed the "innocent one" from debut, he was heavily sexually harassed, pushed into images and concepts he didn't know how to feel about (or even disliked), and for newer fans who may have seen it for BTS' Jungkook or Enhypen's Niki... Taemin was actually a pioneer to the whole "having a countdown to his 18' birthday" thing. His older women fans even called themselves "pedo noonas"... They sexualized him as a child, and a young adult, so him reclaiming an adult image truly infuriated people in some ways. Like... He should be sexualized, but he shouldn't reclaim his own image and sexuality (and I do feel his last comeback, Guilty, could be read partly as his experience with that : being a sexual object as a child and a young adult, being berated for wanting to break free, and finally reclaiming things for himself)
So he's actually not at all an artist that had a "smooth change". Even Move, his "break-through" solo that made him one of the most iconic soloist of the industry received a lot of backlash for how he chose to present himself (because this time he really did chose to define himself in a very different way than usual : reclaiming a somewhat androgynous image, and pushing the boundaries of how people danced depending of their gender in K-pop. After Move, guys in K-Pop truly started to dance differently).
Taemin now has a certain image that isn't "the innocent one" anymore. But people do have to understand it's actually REALLY RECENT, and it was not smooth at all, he really did suffer from a lot of backlash, it was very very very nasty. And the innocent image is not totally gone at all too, considering how people acted when Guilty was

[lindseywong]

The weird part I find is fans who are younger then the idol still infantilize them.

[genovevesimmons]

As gifted as Taemin is, him debuting as a minor still makes me super uncomfortable because the K-Pop industry’s history with minors is beyond sick.

[miwami.]

Isn't it crazy that they stopped assigning members with innocent images and just started debuting children instead 😍

[n-gnlc]

Taemin was treated so disgustingly. It's honestly horrific how he's been treated on camera alone. I remember watching some of those old videos and feeling this pit in my stomach. The man's been through a lot more than I think people really acknowledge. Some of those really made me want to cry

[soomi]

As someone who has the stereotypical 'neoteny' face (official word for baby-face) I always felt bothered how other adults treated me as soon as I turned an adult myself. I'm roughly 10 years into adulthood and quite a lot of people still treat me weirdly. Either looking down on me or sensualizing me, if you will. Both really harm me and frustrate me. When people overly infantilize idols I just get extremely uncomfortable.

[Peceful_Tomorrow]

I’m autistic. I know a thing or two about being infantilised. It’s not fun. I’m emotionally intelligent and have decent critical thinking. Yet people will talk to me like a child and give me unwarranted help for simple things.

I hope fans, variety shows and companies stop doing this to idols.

[Lucid.]

Is so funny to see the contrast between Renjun's innocent sweet image and his "woke up and choose violence" personality 😂. He takes no sh*t from anybody and it's always ready to fight. I think his charisma + a innocent visual made him a lot more popular in NCT's fandom.
A member that is definetly being to infantilized by the fans is Jisung, while Chenle is being treated like an adult Jisung is still treated like a baby, and SM seems to be the one pushing this persona on him after his controversy in the past to clean his image. It's sad cuz he has so much potential and charisma on stage to be the mysterious cool guy (like in BOOM era) but he seems to be holding himself.

[butterflyrush]

please do a taemin video, not a lot of people know what he went through being a part of the industry at such a young age and seeing how currently we still have minors debuting, its really important to touch on this type of topic.

[overthinkingkpop]

It's really going to be interesting seeing how NewJeans's image evolves over the next few years. Their concept is inherently so ethereal and innocent. It's difficult to imagine that they won't have outgrown it by the time they hit their 20s.

[kid-ava]

it's sad that all these young idols are over-infantilized, yet get over-sexualized too, like taemin.just seems like varying ways for toxic fans and the labels to have control over the artist

[maggot]

This is such a big issue that is everywhere but especially in Kpop for some reason. Taemin by far is one of the nastiest thing ive ever seen happen in real time, the thing people are comfortable saying and doing things on camera or online is crazy(both infantalized, sexualized, and femenized). I also think we need to talk more about the underage girls in kpop being sexalized so much by their OWN company, its gotten better but its so infuriating and how the girls get so much hate for it too.

[txt.moa_luvs]

Great video. Another idol who I have to really bring up on the topic of infantalization due to a pure innocent image is Hueningkai of TXT. Like it’s actually insane how much MOAs are babying him for every single little thing that he does. For example, he accidentally leaked Beomgyu’s number on a We-Live, and the reaction was this: “omg poor baby” “it’s okay Kai you’re a baby anyway”. Like, okay great that you weren’t destroying him for making a mistake but you could’ve done that without mentioning the fact he’s apparently a “baby”. The man is 21 years old turning 22 later this year in August. That’s not a baby; he’s older than half of the fandom at this point. Another issue is the fact that MOAs refuse to acknowledge the fact Kai is no longer the 16-year-old poodle-haired boy that he was during Crown era and claim that him acting like a grown man is the influence of the other members. You see him acting hot on stage? “It’s Yeonjun’s influence”. You see him tugging at his clothes during his performance? “Taehyun taught him well”. Speaking of Taehyun, it’s honestly kinda crazy how differently MOAs treat the two same-aged members of TXT. Taehyun is only a couple months older than Kai yet he’s treated like an adult, because people are LOVING the way he performs Tinnitus and have zero issue with him acting more mature or showing his muscles. Like he gets none of the comments Kai does when he acts like the grown man he is (Taehyun does suffer more extreme sexualization than Kai but that’s a conversation for another time). I really wonder if those fans who believe Kai has always been “acting like a cutie” no matter where he goes have even been around for a long time. Because when Run Away was released where Kai was 17, his performance style changed, leaning more towards a stronger, expressive and, I will say it, not so innocent and youthful smiley style. And this has been the case ever since then (aside from Blue Hour era since that was a bit more of a bright concept that all members expressed in a happy way). I feel like Good Boy Gone Bad era especially gave Kai the chance to show that he isn’t a kid anymore as he turned 20 a few months after its release, and he was really shining in the edgy dark concept this song had, but some MOAs still cannot let him breathe and act like his age. Kai even spoke up once how one of the trainees forced this image on him, and we still brushed that over and associate aegyo and the cutie persona to him. Truly hoping that in 2024 Kai can express himself as an adult WITHOUT people making doubtful comments about the way he presents himself.

[missjoshemmett]

On a vlive, Choi Beomgyu was asked if he was going to stop being silly and funny now that he had reached a certain age. He, very seriously, looked into the camera and said, "No. It's what I'm paid to do." However, I have noticed that recently, he has used this image only during filming their shows but acting his age in real life.

[HailToTheMeep]

Congrats to those who managed to free themselves from being infantilized performing dolls who are objectified and enslaved by their “fans”, to independent self determining artists and creators working in their own terms.

[Hhhyyookii]

10:13 after hearing your points I instantly thought of Eunchae from Le sserafim, she is often viewed as the perfect maknae to exist, because she has a cute and youthful image . She is currently 17 years old and I think by the time she will be an adult it will be really difficult for her to adapt are more mature image, because of all the people who baby her and see her as the cute one in the group. I think the fault for her image is definitely source music, because she said it in an interview herself what hybe let her wear braids and bows ..( interview with Eunchae & Nayeon together )
Honestly I feel so sad for her and all the other maknaes who have to go through a rough image change as they grow older . 😢😢
(I’m sorry if my English is bad)

[Correctgistlover]

Can we talk about how women tend to get away with sexually harassing men? Because with ni-ki and taemin the way girls kept sexualizing them was disgusting and would not have gone unpunished if the reverse was the case.

[liaidk]

I remeber reading somewhere the members saying that Jungkook wasn’t allowed in the gym anymore because they wanted him to keep he’s young body.. that same era he always had a bowl cut and seem to do childish things for fanmeets and was called Nona killer.. Idk it never sat right with me

[Jeniveve]

This issue isn’t just a k-pop issue but industry wide.

You have Disney kids struggling to grow up. You have Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera and Jessica Simpson performing and growing up during peak misogyny. You had the spice girls, who picked their personas.

Billie Eilish refused to dress provocatively because she didn’t want to be sexualized as a minor.

The thing about the music industry is this play on duality in an industry that debuts artists at a very young age, where culturally speaking, the innocent persona is more widespread than in other countries.

[rin]

If you are a maknae you get that image assigned to you by default, especially if your you give that impression with your facial features. People buy into stereotypes. SM was especially controlling how their idols expressed themselves and what kind of image of them is out there.