A couple of weeks ago, I heard about a Korean reality TV show about 101 "trainees" who are fighting for 11 spots to debut in a girl group. The girls' ages ranged from about 15-28 years old, and they had been training at their entertainment companies anywhere from less than one to 10 years. Hearing about this TV show, I was reminded of the crazy process in which aspiring Korean "idols" go through in order to debut. Idols are young singers generally in groups who have been trained by entertainment companies often for many years before their debut.
The process of becoming an "idol" is vastly different from the process in the US. They often audition or are scouted at a very young age - often in elementary or middle school. They are then expected to train almost daily in areas such as singing, acting, speaking, having charm, etc. However, while many of these trainees spend a majority of their childhood practicing taking away from their school, friends and family, they have absolutely no guarantee as to whether they will one day be able to debut. Due to this, these young trainees are under tremendous pressure in that they are essentially sacrificing their whole lives for something which may never come true. The entertainment companies who take in these trainees are generally large companies who train trainees, debut them, and basically control them even after they debut. While they are technically singers, idols are not only expected to sing. To be successful, idols must have singing, dancing, acting abilities, be funny, be kind, never date, but preferably not have plastic surgery (which is difficult since the audience expects idols to be flawless).
Even if the trainees are able to debut through grueling competition and uncertainty, the stress continues. First includes financial issues. When the entertainment companies are training the idols (as well as when they debut), they spend money on their training, plastic surgery, housing, or even their hairstyles whether the idol wants it or not. The entertainment company essentially sets up an account for each individual, and after they debut takes the money back of what they spent. While this may seem fair to some, a lot of the money that goes into the idol is mandatory. For example, idols often do not have a choice in their haircut, where to live, what training they must receive, etc. Therefore, while the idol may be bringing in hundreds of thousands of dollars upon their debut, the idols themselves will be making a very small percentage of that revenue. Because what is included in this "account" is often not transparent, lawsuits against the companies by the idol are not uncommon.
In addition, the idols are expected to practice day and night, go on variety shows, music shows, tv shoots, etc forcing them to stay up to sometimes four days in a row. It is not uncommon to hear about a celebrity who faints due to exhaustion. Not only is there physical exhaustion, it is also mentally difficult. The Korean fans have extremely high expectations for these idols - and essentially expect perfection both physically and mentally. If they gain minimal amounts of weight they are called fat, if they are not smiling on a show, they are accused of being rude but if they're too smily, they are then accused of stealing the spotlight. This causes tremendous stress on most idols - shown in the fact that many idols quit and return to normal life after a few years.
I think this is an interesting reflection on Korean culture in that it relates back to the extremely hard-working, fast-paced environment most Koreans live in. Because it is so different from the culture in the US, it is interesting to see the different cultural environments.
