I realise that i've never gone into more detail into Ulzzang culture, not that i'm an expert, but i find it rather interesting.
It's easy to break down the word Ulzzang; that is, by the way a common english romanization of 얼짱.
얼굴 (ol gul) , means face, and 짱 (jjang) , is Korean slang for "best", thus, 얼짱 (directly translates to : best face) Uljjang/Ulzzang/Uhljjang. For the purpose of this post i will be utilising Ulzzang.
Having a pretty face, however, doesn't make you an Ulzzang. Becoming an Ulzzang entails either of the bottom circumstances:
1. being incredibly attractive and popular in school (and having a blog/cyworld people can follow)
2. winning contests (based on appearance) online (through voting) or in real life (in South Korea).
3. more commonly, having popular Cyworld blogs (and an attractive face which you spam relentlessly on your blog)
Of course there probably are more ways of becoming an Ulzzang, but the basic idea is popularity through appearance.
I'm not sure if there've been any changes, but there exists a program that was (is?) rather popular amongst Ulzzangs; the Haduri webcam and image editing interface. But there's been a trend of polaroid and DSLR picture taking, or so i've observed. Photoshop/any other photo editing software is commonly used to edit the hell out of every photo, ensuring porcelain doll-esque skin, perfectly sculpted noses, flawless v-lines and enlarged circle-lens wearing eyes.
Obviously if you end up looking like this:
you're doing something wrong. Because that isn't attractive in the least. (picture sourced from googling "over photoshopped ulzzang" look at the stupendous amount of effort i put into my posts. 8D)
There seems to be an emphasis on a certain standard of authenticity in the photos posted by Ulzzangs or aspiring Ulzzangs. Those who over-photoshop don't get very far.
Some Ulzzangs do transcend their popularity on the internet and appear on magazine, or TV programmes like Ulzzang Shidae, and few are able to become celebrities.
A good Ulzzang resource would be this tumblog where i got information for this post, as well as follow for Ulzzang photo updates. (because i have no clue how to use Cyworld)
Most information here barely scrapes the surface of the entire culture of appearance based popularity which is portrayed very prominently by this trend.
I do, however have several Ulzzang who i find pretty/good looking (based on personal standards), and whose pictures i follow in the above linked tumblog.
Of course we could write the whole trend off as shallow and not worth looking into, but there's something interesting in people becoming popular based on appearance, and others' interest in the lives of those people.
It's probably an alternative sort of celebrity culture where common people are looked up to and considered as achievable targets. Of course my single sentence assessment is not enough to encompass peoples' reasoning behind idolizing the attractive, but it sums up my take on the matter at surface level.
WELL, NO PROBLEMS WITH MORE EYE CANDY ON THE INTERNET.
/obligatory flawless gif of Taecyeon/
It's easy to break down the word Ulzzang; that is, by the way a common english romanization of 얼짱.
얼굴 (ol gul) , means face, and 짱 (jjang) , is Korean slang for "best", thus, 얼짱 (directly translates to : best face) Uljjang/Ulzzang/Uhljjang. For the purpose of this post i will be utilising Ulzzang.
Having a pretty face, however, doesn't make you an Ulzzang. Becoming an Ulzzang entails either of the bottom circumstances:
1. being incredibly attractive and popular in school (and having a blog/cyworld people can follow)
2. winning contests (based on appearance) online (through voting) or in real life (in South Korea).
3. more commonly, having popular Cyworld blogs (and an attractive face which you spam relentlessly on your blog)
Of course there probably are more ways of becoming an Ulzzang, but the basic idea is popularity through appearance.
I'm not sure if there've been any changes, but there exists a program that was (is?) rather popular amongst Ulzzangs; the Haduri webcam and image editing interface. But there's been a trend of polaroid and DSLR picture taking, or so i've observed. Photoshop/any other photo editing software is commonly used to edit the hell out of every photo, ensuring porcelain doll-esque skin, perfectly sculpted noses, flawless v-lines and enlarged circle-lens wearing eyes.
Obviously if you end up looking like this:
you're doing something wrong. Because that isn't attractive in the least. (
There seems to be an emphasis on a certain standard of authenticity in the photos posted by Ulzzangs or aspiring Ulzzangs. Those who over-photoshop don't get very far.
Some Ulzzangs do transcend their popularity on the internet and appear on magazine, or TV programmes like Ulzzang Shidae, and few are able to become celebrities.
A good Ulzzang resource would be this tumblog where i got information for this post, as well as follow for Ulzzang photo updates. (because i have no clue how to use Cyworld)
Most information here barely scrapes the surface of the entire culture of appearance based popularity which is portrayed very prominently by this trend.
I do, however have several Ulzzang who i find pretty/good looking (based on personal standards), and whose pictures i follow in the above linked tumblog.
Do Hwae Ji
Hwang Ju Won
Park Ah In
Park Ji Ho
Park Tae Jun
Seul Mi
Song Ah Ri
Of course we could write the whole trend off as shallow and not worth looking into, but there's something interesting in people becoming popular based on appearance, and others' interest in the lives of those people.
It's probably an alternative sort of celebrity culture where common people are looked up to and considered as achievable targets. Of course my single sentence assessment is not enough to encompass peoples' reasoning behind idolizing the attractive, but it sums up my take on the matter at surface level.
WELL, NO PROBLEMS WITH MORE EYE CANDY ON THE INTERNET.
/obligatory flawless gif of Taecyeon/
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