On January 25, queer Korean model, stylist, and artist Nara Kim, who is known to have worked with the HYBE girl group LE SSERAFIM, published several stories on Instagram.
Here, the stylist expressed several criticisms at IU and V’s “Love Wins All” MV, claiming that the MV delivers shallow messages that exploit minority communities like LGBTQ+ people and people with disabilities.
In particular, Nara Kim referred to the “magic camera” in the “Love Wins All” MV, which allows IU and V to see themselves without their injuries. It also shows V without his in-story blindness and IU’s alleged deafness.
According to the stylist, the magic camera is basically saying that “normalcy” is better. However, as a minority, she didn’t want to be “distorted” into a heterosexual who is “normal” due to their lack of disabilities.
“I’m satisfied with myself”, Nara Kim said, before adding the hashtags “#lovewins” and “#lovewinsall”.
Nara Kim then expanded on her point by analyzing that the “Love Wins All” MV depict a “conventional” love between a man and a woman, and yet almost utilizes a slogan used by the LGBTQ+ community.
“The reason why I mentioned this is that the song was initially titled ‘Love Wins’. Korean queers, who thought queer’s slogan had been stolen, were furious. There is still controversy after the title of the song was changed and the music video was released. The two main characters (IU and V) in the music video appear as blind and deaf people who are chased by ‘discrimination and oppression’. Different situation from reality shows through camcorder (it means love filter, the director says) and the two appear to be happier (without disability)in this. I mean, a music video featuring two rich, non-disabled world stars (known as cisgender hetero) uses disabilities, minorities as props to say about overcoming, ending up with a very normal ending of wearing a wedding dress and a tuxedo. What needs to be overcome is the world, not disability or minorities. Stop the shallow compassion and using minorities as inspirational material”, Nara said.
So far, while some people agree with the stylist’s point, many fans argued that IU herself did struggle with hearing impairment. Some also discussed that Nara Kim is assuming the sexuality of IU and V and criticizing them based on appearance and outside information, which directly goes against the stylist’s belief.
So far, Nara Kim published a new story, saying, “It’s wrong to assume someone’s sexuality. I admit it and apologize”.
However, the stylist doesn’t say anything about other criticisms she made regarding the “Love Wins All” MV.
Additionally, a topic regarding this matter was published on the Korean forum theqoo, drawing huge attention with almost 70,000 views and 1,500 comments. Below are some opinions from Korean netizens:
- If you think about it from the perspective of a disabled person, you might feel bad
- Just where does these criticisms come from?
- If you talk about people with disabilities, criticisms from those involved are to be expected. You can’t make content about a community and don’t want to hear their opinions about the matter.
- I’m not saying that IU did a wrong thing, but I do think she should be more careful when it comes to these matters. The song and MV are great to watch, but the controversy is a pity
- It is ridiculous that non-disable people are defending IU against the opinions of the actual people with disabilities
