Taxonomy in Kpop (Part 2)

On previous post I already discussed about haters and it's classification and in this one I will classify Fandom (Fans) and Multi Fandom.

Fandom and Multi Fandom basically fans. The ones who admiring solo or group of artists. The difference between these two is fandom as a "place" where you "dedicate" yourself into one artist or one band only. On the other hand, multi fandom is the ones who likes more than one artist or group (mostly multi fandom is refer to group instead of solo artist). 

Now lets breakdown the fandom itself.

Shinhwa Changjo, Cassiopeia, ELF, ARMY, EXO-L, Sone, VIP, Blackjack, Shawol and many more. Those are part of kpop culture, fandom and considered as some of the biggest and strongest fandom. These are pretty similar with Beliebers, Directiones and else in western music. But as far as I remember, back then in early 2000s the biggest bands and artists did not have any name for the fans, CMIIW. I can safely say that kpop culture did it first and arond 2010s western adopt the culture to give a name to the fans.

In kpop culture, as a fan of a group, the ones who dedicated themselves to fandom tend to like all of the members. Although they do have bias (the most favorite members), usually the other member(s) become their bias-wrecker(s). They can accept the flaws of each members and love them (pretty) equally. Since fandom member mostly females, sometimes they consider the band members as their babies although some might be older than the fans themselves. The fandom also can be very "cruel", to put their favorite into meme. But after all, never underestimate fandom's love to the members. They can be the ones who protect the group from haters, like momma bear. They will do their best to show their appreciation towards their favorite artists (voting, celebrating birthdays, buying merchandise,  and else).

Unfortunately,  in fandom itself some of the fans decided to be a solo stan ( which only support one member). The fans in this category can be quite annoying since they want the best for their favorite only. Most of the problem with solo stan either line distribution or screen time. It's like a thorn within the fandom.

Now let's move to multi fandom, the ones who like more than one group. This group of fans mostly in dilemma when it time to vote for an award or to decide which one they like most. Another difficult time is when there's fanwar between their favorites. Some decide to stay neutral but some others can be very biased. 

The worst of all is the infamous sasaeng. This is what most artists and team avoid to deal with. This tipe of fans tend to be very extreme. They sometimes do something incomprehensible by most people. Somehow they are able to trespass idols dorm or house, able to get the artists' flight information and even manage to disturb artists' private life.

All in all, this is culture in kpop that might surprise the newbies. There might be some that I did not manage to discuss in this post, but by the time you jump into kpop you can experience it yourself. In the end it's your decision what do you want to be.

C