K-Pop Fandom Culture Turns Out To Have A Positive Influence On Youth Socio-Political Activism

BTS group in the exhibition entitled "Remedy" at Plaza Indonesia, Jakarta. (Antara/Lifia Mawaddah Putri)

JAKARTA - Digital anthropologist Karlina Octaviany said that Kpop fandom culture not only loves its idols but also has a positive influence on social and even political activism.

One example is the culture of the ARMY fandom which is what fans of the K-pop group Bangtan Sonyeondan aka BTS are called. Since 2017, BTS and UNICEF have been spreading the idea of LOVE YOURSELF and ARMY has made it clear by conducting digital education, mental health, and #MatchAMillion Black Live Matter.

In Indonesia alone, ARMY has contributed to various acts of kindness such as donations for education to advocacy support for women victims of violence. With all these positive activities from ARMY, according to Karlina, fandom culture also has a positive influence.

"The Omnibuslaw demo was crowded, right. And it turns out that there are also ARMYs who voice a lot. It can be seen that there are also those who have analyzed that the K-pop movement is one of the biggest in the digital world," Karlina said when met by Antara in South Jakarta, Saturday.

"So we can't see when young people are involved, especially women, if they participate in the movement, it seems they don't really understand. Just join in. Especially the anonymous K-pop fandom. But apparently, this ARMY runs organically, there is no command," she continued.

Not only that. According to Karlina, now people can no longer distinguish which movements are the most meritorious or which are not. Because, all of them must have a social modality to make a change.

"When it comes to social movements, we can't see which one is the most meritorious or the one who is less meritorious. All of them must have social modalities to make changes," she said.

"One of ARMY's strengths is in the social modality, that fellow ARMYs have high deep thrust. We believe that if we donate to ARMYs, ARMYs have a responsibility to maintain the good name of BTS in managing donations," added Karlina.

When BTS no longer received gifts from fans directly, fans began to take the initiative to deliver gifts through various events. For example, such as fundraising, and so forth.

Karlina explained, ARMY itself has also held various social actions with various issues. For example, such as issues about psychology and health.

"What's interesting is that it's consistent. From 2018, the youth movement was really difficult. I talked a lot with Indonesian ARMYs, the social movements from 2018 were about psychology, about health, they have remained consistent until now," she said.

Towards the 9th anniversary of BTS on June 13 and ARMY's anniversary on July 9, the Smile ARMY community held exhibitions in Jakarta, Bandung and Yogyakarta. In Jakarta itself, the art exhibition will be held at Plaza Indonesia from June 6 to August 4, 2022. The exhibition also collaborates with UNICEF in raising funds to help out-of-school children in Indonesia.