"THEY ARE COSPLAYERS" says the fans upon the circulation of the holding hand images of the most famous K-Pop idols in the industry – BTS’ V and BLACKPINK’s Jennie. This rumor definitely shocked the entire industry due to the fact that fans tend to be possessive towards their idols, excluding the idea that they might date other people. Hence, the occurrence of Parasocial Relationship is observed wherein it is indicated to be a one-sided relationship between the media user and a media personality (Vinney, 2022). It is considered as a one-sided relationship due to the fact that the media personality, may it be an artist, a singer, and more, do not generally knowtheexistence andthe identityofthe other. Although the distinguished person has an idea that their fans exist, they do not specifically know the identity of each individual who admires them. However, despite such a fact, their fans indeed have a significant influence towards them, not as one, but rather a unified group of individuals forming a population.
In consideration that the involved K-Pop idols have their relatively huge crowd and fandoms, this creates both a clash, and an agreement. Both fandoms tend to argue which includes the discrimination and insult towards the other side of the party, and the idols, as well as the discourse of whether the photos are indeed them and not random people. Meanwhile, it is observed that although most of the fans disagree and have conflicts towards the other, there is a point that they have reached an agreement–denial. Relative to the rumors, various stories circulated. as well including the fans’ belief towards the idea that those are only cosplayers, random people, and even a media play.
In relation to this, a study entitled “Breaking up with my idol: A qualitative study of the psychological adaptation process of renouncing fanship,” explored the psychological concept of parasocial relationship between a fan and their idol. This study emphasized that there are three phases including the resistance phase with acute stress, the negotiation phase with bargaining, and the recovery phase with attachment reconstruction (Liu et al., 2022). Despite being under a parasocial relationship, most fans feel that they are breaking up with their idols, especially in the context of an idol having a relationship of their own (Kretz, 2020). This includes the feeling of loneliness, sadness, disappointment, and anger which explains the fans’ expressed rage towards the rumor of Jennie and V’s relationship. However, due to this anger, there are instances that some K-Pop idol couples break up due to the experienced backlash of their relationship, such as Jennie and EXO’s Kai, EXO’s Baekhyun and Girls Generation’s Taeyeon. Likewise, EXO’s Chen is reportedly requested by their fans themselves to be removed from the group because of his marriage, and a child along with EXO’s Chanyeol (Lee, 2023).
Under a parasocial relationship, the fans' individual existence is unknown unless informed and revealed directly with their idols. Nonetheless, they have an influence towards their idols’ life and decisions which is prevalent in the Korean Industry which even reached the global scale. The recent rumor regarding V and Jennie specifically showed the existence of parasocial relationships and its downsides once it goes out of hand.
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