The photoshoot that almost got Min Hee Jin canceled for good in Korea, a case of male gaze applied to boygroup

Since we are discussing over sexualization in kpop and male gaze, Id like to present a case of female gaze done by female director.

Edit: I am corrected by compelling arguments from other users that this is still male gaze.

This photoshoot was extremely controversial at the time and almost got her canceled for good.

While SHINee members were not minors, they were very young. So whats your opinion on this? Controversial or overreaction?

Shawols DO think SM was/is fucking out of their mind for approving this

I saw reddit shawols discussing it, I wanna know what shawols here think?

Quote from Slayurfaves

are we sure is a female gaze?

yes

The director was Min Hee Jin

She also bragged about she surprised Taemin with a shirtless photoshoot for danger despite telling him otherwise

[theqoo] TAEMIN'S CONCEPT PICTURES FROM MIN HEEJIN

T/N: Full title of the post is "Min Heejin who was scared that if she told him in advance that his body would be exposed, he would start bui...

kkuljaem-pan.blogspot.com

Quote from dummi

woah didnt see these before

the female gaze couldnt do better?? look at that hair

Quote from Whi

The fact that onew is the oldest member but got the least scandalised photo in the group..

Onew doesnt even wear short sleeves alot on his own time

Those pics must have made him feel naked

Quote from Slayurfaves

ohhh but the photoshoot was a bit ambiguous to me like it could targeted for both men and women that's what I meant.

well I describe as female gaze bc the person who planned them was a woman and SHINee's target audience is mostly women

Quote from itiswhatitisss

this made me uncomfortable

the hair is tragic that's all i'll say

hey

you have no idea how much we fought over green hair boy with sherlock tv series nerd boys over tumblr

Those are remnant of war

Quote from quarkie

also at this comment:

4. Imagine how shocked Taemin was when they suddenly told him to strip?ㅠㅠㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Look at his betrayed eexpression.. but it suits him like a glove ㅠㅠ

yeah

Idk why did she admit to that with her whole chest

also those comments

imagine if Taemin was a female idol......

Quote from MissBehave

True, it's not necessarily the female gaze just because the photographer was a woman. It depends more on the target audience.

Im pretty sure target audience of SHINee in early days were women.....older women at that......

Quote from MissBehave

is this what she thinks older women like? I'm an older woman. I don't like this. Was this popular?

people considered it the male version of lolita concept

Quote from MissBehave

What do you mean? Kpop does fan service tho. Or is the type of fan service different?

Oh on the Jpop side, underage sakura had to sit on the lap of 50 year old man

some people define that as fun I guess

Quote from catzi

Doesnt look like female gaze, imo it still is male gaze bc men are predatory towards other men too. Reminds me of the movie The Most Beautiful Boy in the World

Director is woman, audience are women so I have hard time seeing how is it not female gaze?

Quote from itiswhatitisss

i mean i think the backlash is kinda deserved, these pics actually make me really uncomfortable i feel like i just saw something illegal

female gaze & the oversexualization/objectification of boys, young men, & men in general definitely needs to be addressed alot more

my teenage mind and heart was so confused when these came out

as an adult I can have much more cool and calm outlook toward them and see that I feel uncomfortable

Quote from xwhisperx

This was my least likeable of all the concept pics they've done tbh, they made me uncomfortable (although I generally don't like a lot of skin anyway) onew, key and jonghyun were bearable, but minho and taemins were not for me, they're ages played a factor in that as well despite me being the same age as onew, I was still seeing taemin as a baby (it took me till criminal to see him as grown man, so you can imagine how weird it was seeing his concept pics lol)

I remember seeing them when they were released and I couldn't figure out who they're target audience was, as it definitely not me lol

I remember shawols photoshoping blankets on them

Quote from MissBehave

But are older women info lolita-ish concepts? I feel like that's more typically a male thing, whether their into guys or girls. Maybe it's just the crowd I hang out with that isn't info that? Most of my friends prefer older, bigger, stronger than them types.

In manga the concept is called shotacon and it can be directed toward women too

Quote from aznboy-x2

wait wasn't Taemin like eighteen when Sherlock released right

//since I think this is sherlock era right correct me if I'm wrong

yes

as I said not minors but still very young