With the recent incident of Baekhyun’s brother’s wedding (a quick Google search will spawn many results, though I’m sure most of you have heard by now), I’m sure you all know what sasaeng fans are. (For those who do not know the name, they are basically obsessive fans who stalk their idols in the most horrible ways. Sound familiar?) Some fans have gone as far as to sleep outside the dorms of their idols, hit their idols so that they could be remembered, attempt kidnappings, and more. And I’m sure all of you have felt immense anger and hatred towards these people for ruining your idols’ lives.
But how is a sasaeng fan, say, created? It’s safe to say that most of them, if not all, were relatively normal before the love of their idols drove them to commit such insane acts. Admit it: all of us (me included) has had at least some fantasies about marrying your idol, or meeting them. But many of us have accepted that it is a fantasy. They are idols. We will most likely never be able to meet them or form a relationship with them due to their celebrity status.
But for sasaeng fans, it is a fantasy is being pushed too far.
Kim (18) revealed that up until elementary school, she just watched the TV performances of her favorite stars. She bought their albums and joined their fanclubs, but was unfortunately an outcast in her own school, which led her to delve further and further into the fanclubs.
She later got into writing fanfiction about sasaengs falling in love with idols, sometimes even believing the stories to be real in delusion. In junior high school, she chased her idol down in a taxi for the first time, which was the start of her sasaeng activities.
She stated, “We have fun just with ourselves. As long as there is oppa, we believe that we are one.”
Chasing your idols around is pretty crazy, isn’t it? But that is what the sasaeng lifestyle revolves around: getting as close to your idol as possible, and taking any sort of means to do it. Here is AngryKpopFan’s article on sasaeng fans, and a particular section about the possible psychology behind sasaeng fans:
Her article is rather long, so here is what I got out of it:
- Parasocial Relationships—One-way relationships between you and a celebrity, created through the feeling of imaginary closeness due to having seen them so much (for example, watching all their shows and all their interviews).
- Attachment Theory—Sasaeng fans seem to fall under the Anxious-Preoccupied segment, characterized by being emotional and clingy in relationships (explaining their stalking tendencies).
- Celebrity Worship Syndrome—There are numerous different CW theories; but some sasaeng fans fall under include “psychoticism” (compromising solitary, troublesome, cruel, and inhumane traits) and “absorption-addiction” (seeking to associate with a celebrity again because of their status, as well as to fulfill their parasocial relationship with the celebrity).
- They’ve got some issues! What’s going on here is psychological, and it’s no question that they’ve got problems that, unfortunately, have not been directly addressed.
The depressing thing about sasaeng fans is how it doesn’t even seem to be about fulfilling their fantasies anymore. Although sasaeng fans work together, they are still competitive with one another. They compete to see who has gotten closest to their celebrity. It’s a contest to see how far the other can go. It has become an addiction that they can’t get themselves out of. Many are fully aware of what they are doing, yet they cannot pull themselves away.
However.
Just because we know their situation doesn’t mean that their actions can be excused. I am simply giving a little bit of insight to the life of a sasaeng, so that some of you will be able to understand what they are going through.
Sasaeng fans disrupt the lives of idols, as we have seen happen to Baekhyun’s brother. They are a threat to not only idols themselves but their own families, to the point that some are afraid to go back home.
So how can we stop them?
Unfortunately, the cause behind all of this is how idols are marketed as celebrities. They are given this exclusiveness to them. They gain fans by saying that their fans are their lovers (just to fulfill their fantasies), yet they are given only limited connections to fans. Sadly, it works.
The even more unfortunate part is how sasaeng fans contribute, in their own way, to idols. Due to their obsessiveness, they will buy everything related to their idol, providing them with money. This is one possibility as to why they have not been dealt with. (Please correct me if I am wrong.)
Although it is pretty much impossible to deal with the root of the problems, maybe we can cut away at the stem. Do not become a sasaeng fan. Control these fantasies of yours so that you do not go out of control and disrupt someone else’s life. Control them so that you know the difference between fantasy and reality. Understand the harm that could come to both you and your idol.
Hating sasaeng fans and violence is not going to help. We already know that sasaeng fans’ lives are dangerous enough (riding in special taxis that drive at ridiculous speeds, for example). We need to somehow find away to deal with the problem in another way.
What do you think?
JK-Poptarts 