You are right about treatment of idols in the west vs SK. I am from South Asia and celebrities in countries like India, Pakistan, Bangladesh are treated like normal people. Yes they too have rabid fans but people aren't shocked when their favorite celebrity is caught in scandals. Its an open secret that most celebrities in the entertainment industry have to do "things" to get a career and the perception of celebrities is much like in western countries. Most people know they are out of touch with the masses and are greedy liars and manipulators so I had a huge moment of culture shock when I saw how idols are treated by fans.
Like, Armies still don't accept that BTS's music went to shit after Dynamite and that they are releasing basic pop music because they are greedy and just chasing charts. Swifties get a bad rep for being insane like Kpop fans but most of TS's fanbase admits she is a greedy capitalist who cares about chart success and breaking records. A lot of Swifties hated the re-recorded version of Style and most songs on 1989 Taylor's version saying the OG version had better production. You won't ever see Kpop fans doing this because if an idol has a production or lyric credit on a song the fanbase must like the song or it is taken as an attack on the idol themselves. Kpop idols will milk their fans by adding a huge pay wall behind every piece of merchandise and fan interactions but most kpop fans will still not accept their favorites are doing this for the money. They always blame the company or the staff for everything and keep coddling up their favorites like children who can't make decisions for themselves but on the other hand if a song or album is good then the idol is 100% deserving of the credit and composers, songwriters, directors and the company didn't do anything.
But, I still feel bad for idols sometime because the one thing I disdain about Kpop is how idols focusing on their solo careers or wanting to do less group content is seen as some kind of betrayal or a serious crime. Fans see idols as nothing more than group members because of the whole family narrative pushed by companies. For Instance, Apink's Naeun received massive hate for leaving the group because she wanted to focus on her acting career and Shawols recently have made a huge fuss about Taemin releasing his own light stick and logo saying stuff like "The light stick will ruin our pearl aqua ocean", "we have always seen him as a SHINee member and not soloist", "It will destroy fandom unity" like that guy doesn;t have any identity or interests outside of being a boyband member and throwing tantrums over what?? a piece of plastic that glows?? Groups are great for getting your name out there but most singers want to have a solo career because it lets them showcase their own talents and personality like they themselves want and its weird to expect idols in their 30s to enjoy doing aegyo and scripted variety shows. Most idols are actually more mature than fans and realize how fake and childish Kpop is. This is why most older idols turn to acting and stop doing idol promo to rebrand themselves as serious musicians.
