๕ඞChick3ncu1ry
Life is a beautiful journey, just enjoy the rides.
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This has to do with East Asian culture in general, rather than just Korea. Korea has indeed taken an extreme side of it, but generally, "Appearance" is what really matters in East Asian cultures.
While Western culture would emphasize function over form, Asians tend to go the opposite - form over function. Koreans are usually extreme examples of this. Everything is judged by the looks and appearance - whether it be people, fashion, cars, and even food.
There's an old saying in Korean: "A good-looking rice cake will be more pleasant to eat". A so-so looking rice cake would still taste exactly the same and fill your hunger just as good as a good looking one; but when given a choice, the preference always goes to a better looking rice cake. Going even further, a "bad" looking rice cake will be rejected and sometimes thrown away.
In Korean corporate culture, for example, it's very natural for a report or presentations to be rejected because of wrong font, wrong color, slight misalignment in table, or wrong type of paper it's printed on. I am not even kidding. No matter how good your content is, you have to make it look nice in order for that content to be accepted.
Similarly, a "better-looking" person will find himself/herself in easy side of life. You will be admired by many, make friends quicker and eaiser, probably has much higher chance of getting a job anywhere.. etc etc..
It's a sad thing for sure, but a reality as well. Hence, yes, people do get obsessed with looks and it's because of the pressure the society puts on them to be like that.
While Western culture would emphasize function over form, Asians tend to go the opposite - form over function. Koreans are usually extreme examples of this. Everything is judged by the looks and appearance - whether it be people, fashion, cars, and even food.
There's an old saying in Korean: "A good-looking rice cake will be more pleasant to eat". A so-so looking rice cake would still taste exactly the same and fill your hunger just as good as a good looking one; but when given a choice, the preference always goes to a better looking rice cake. Going even further, a "bad" looking rice cake will be rejected and sometimes thrown away.
In Korean corporate culture, for example, it's very natural for a report or presentations to be rejected because of wrong font, wrong color, slight misalignment in table, or wrong type of paper it's printed on. I am not even kidding. No matter how good your content is, you have to make it look nice in order for that content to be accepted.
Similarly, a "better-looking" person will find himself/herself in easy side of life. You will be admired by many, make friends quicker and eaiser, probably has much higher chance of getting a job anywhere.. etc etc..
It's a sad thing for sure, but a reality as well. Hence, yes, people do get obsessed with looks and it's because of the pressure the society puts on them to be like that.
