"GANGNAM STYLE" deserves its own thread

Well, on the HAHA SILLY (ETHNICITY/RACIAL/NATIONAL IDENTITY) front, how come she gets waved under the bar while while chubby dancing Korean guy skips morosely at the back of the line?

i don't really care about this very much, except as it made me sad that i couldn't innocently enjoy the funny chunky-man skipping about like a two-dollar dingus on new year's day

I don't think his weight is a huge part of the video or its appeal either, you seem a bit fixated on it.

haven't there been plenty of lol euro trash memes over the years? I agree w/ remy, could see some eastern european or turkish or indian person doing this exact same song w/ the exact same video.

there's nothing particularly asian about it, even the music sounds like it could be from anywhere. trashy music videos are global.

i find all this discussion strange, he's got a roundish head but you guys are talking about him like he's ceelo or something

i'm not fixated on the weight, it's just that it's a funnier (and more noticable) component than the geographical component, for my money.

(i remember listening to the streets in high school and certain friends could not stop giggling at the idea of a british rapper)

smh at this clown

http://www.stompandflow.com/images/slick-rick-bling.jpg

the point has already been made (and far be it from me to add to this shitstorm) but psy is not overweight

there's nothing particularly asian about it, even the music sounds like it could be from anywhere. trashy music videos are global.

― iatee, Wednesday, September 26, 2012 9:53 PM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark

the point is that it slots really, really easily into preexisting ways in which asians are portrayed in american media

hyper sexed dancers?

I think his charisma is way more of a factor in the appeal of the video than anything HAHA ASIAN. He's got a great swagger about him and pulls of some really hilarious dance moves while maintaining an amazing deadpan.

lol the horsey dance = hyper sexed dance?

dude checking out a girl's ass = basically the polar opposite of how Asian males portrayed in American culture

and that's exactly the part of the video that everybody's miming

I can only speak for myself

fetchboy otm. psy, the guest stars and the whole clip ooze charisma so broad that it neatly appeals to western audiences. there are certainly 12 or so people in the world who are LOOOL AZN but in general people are responding because it's amazing.

dude checking out a girl's ass = basically the polar opposite of how Asian males portrayed in American culture

what is the polar opposite of a dude checking out a girl's ass?

a dude checking out a girl's vagina?
a girl checking out a dude's ass?

ass checking out dude, duh

ass bites man, now that's a story

bingo

i know of not one person who thinks this is funny because, y'know, asians

well, they are on the opposite side of the world so maybe there's like a coreolis effect of ass-checking out and it goes backwards

the brown eye blinks

have at least a decent number of people that showed gangnam style to their friends gone "hey dude check out this crazy asian music video" ? probably, yeah. that seems like de facto evidence for the argument that some of the popularity here is ultimately rooted in racist thinking. the video isn't racist, liking it isn't racist, but some of its popularity in the US is definitely due to some fascination with "the_east" and the fact that a chunky-guy might be less threatening when he's korean.

see also: bringing up gangnam style as a cool thing when you see your [asian] friend! how come you never told me about this, dude?? this is hilarious, watch it, you'll love it!!!

The prejudices are so ingrained in US culture, i'm not sure any funny video with an Asian lead wouldn't be seen by at least some of the audience as a 'lol funny Asian' video in a similar way. At the same time, there has always been an element of suspicion surrounding genuine US / European fan engagement with Asian pop culture - J-Pop and K-pop fans have always been accused of fetishising the culture, and the people, in an unhealthy way which make it difficult to see how any crossover song could escape the issues this one brings up.

I only knew a world where racist douchebags could enjoy pop music equally as the unprejudiced, BUT LO! For I have found this thread!

MTV Hits has taken to playing "Gangnam Style" back to back with a Wonder Girls video

I think the point I was trying to make was misunderstood

I completely agree that a good chunk of the fascination with this video is a racist "lol look at the funny Asian" impulse; my point, which I think is being echoed by others, is that it isn't the only impulse and the song's apparent staying power seems to be tied to people enjoying the actual song as well.

The Rebecca Black comparison proves my point from the opposite direction; the reason why that kept going was the staggering ineptitude on every level of the song/video, from the music to the lyrics to the performance to the bizarre, disjointed video (notice that RB hasn't been able to recreate that impact with anything else she's done). It was a perfect storm of terrible and weird that kept people fascinated; there was more going on than just "oh it's a bad song/video", it was an EPICLY, STAGGERINGLY, MIND-MELTINGLY bad song/video. Likewise with Psy, beyond the "oh funny Asian dude in a video" reaction, the song is super catchy with hooks galore and fits very neatly into the current US pop sonic palette; I honestly don't think people would be as into this as a phenomenon had we not just had two years of LMFAO domination.

Heard this on the radio last night, clubby top 40-ish station, and divested of the video it was still plenty of fun. It's sort of funny how Psy's Korean totally fits on the radio as well as the average gibberish-spewing jock jam redux act.

lots of people doing the dance at oktoberfest this year

with a Wonder Girls video

goddammit "like money" is horrible

yes it is

feel fairly certain this will be the UK #1 on sunday

and almost as certainly the US #1 the following wednesday

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbYiRUMp42c

the rest of the album is... not great

the LMFAO parallels continue

It's already #1 in Canada.

the only time i've ever seen it (this is a few weeks ago) was in a special edition tin in an asian music/dvd shop in the city. wondering whether i'll haphazardly walk into my local jb hi-fi and just be accosted by it.

i do find it kind of weird that PSY has like 5-6 albums out and nobody's ever talked about any of his other songs

Speak for yourself. I totally preferred him before he sold out.

quick, name a los del rio song besides "macarena"

are you guys done sucking the fun out of gangnam style yet

just curious

xxp that's different. first of all Los Del Rio wasn't the reason why that song was popular. secondly the Macarena was just a thing onto itself. nobody really knew who Los Del Rio was. you probably wouldn't have recognized them if you saw them on the street. PSY is on his way to becoming a celebrity here (at least on the level of, say, Ceelo Green). I dunno. I'd have thought someone would have combed their way through his other albums. I did have a listen to the first one and it's decent. Has Macho Man samples on it. Come on guys.

They should have PSY as a judge on next season of American Idol.

saw this guy last week, I was totally doing the psy ride-a-horsie move during his set

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDdWGUFSUv4

i do find it kind of weird that PSY has like 5-6 albums out and nobody's ever talked about any of his other songs
I saw this video posted by a friend on Facebook
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmHdefsaL6I

i would recognize Los Del Rio if i saw them on the street! they were sharply dressed ethnic men who appeared in a very popular music video!

was walking past a college dorm this evening and glanced at a window: one college freshlady was gesticulating about and demonstrating the horsey dance to her pals