So Ji Sub 소지섭 - Best Korean Actor & Rapper -

[Guest cyan4jy]

Actually I bought this W magazine. I found these pictures different but not offensive. Jisub has matured a lot and I think this is one way of him telling us that he is shedding his image from the usual Jisub we know.

[tanio12]

1) Good lord, my issues with Richardson don't preclude having issues with other photogs as well. Helmut Newton, Bruce Weber -- they are irrelevant to this conversation.

2) It's this kind of "but it's art!" knee-jerking that allows bad art to proliferate. It's like the photo equivalent of the "but it's free speech!" argument. Sure, you may have a right to say whatever you want but that doesn't make it good. And I have no desire to waste my breath arguing with anyone who defends this (http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a259/thu...b2/17831976.jpg) kind of glorification of misogyny as worthwhile. Lemme tell ya, that image does a lot more harm than a pic of a girl in a slinky dress. I don't care about SJS liking porn or even the Brown Bunny or posing half-naked or whatever. I'm not "disappointed" or "upset" because I don't care that much about any pop idol. But I'm saying this spread shows an awful lack of taste.

I'm outtie. The fact that I'm even arguing this point when the pics should speak loudly enough leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

Okay Javabeans calm down I've already stated that violence against women is wrong, give me your definition of good art, you keep dwelling on bad art I don't understand. Also it is free speech whether it's good or bad, how did you want SJS to be portrayed with flowers and roses in his hand? Is that what one would consider good art? Also all of the pics are not bad pics and like I said before I like them and I am glad SJS decided to challenge the norm even to his biggest critics at least they are talking. Also what is your issue with Richardson since you think he is crappy not like he or Vogue, Harpers Bazaar or anyone else in the fashion industry would care as they probably have keener eye than most including you and me.

[Guest jicks]

I am usually more of silent reader of this thread but this latest photo shoot for W magazine has moved me to open up my mouth. Free speech apparently.

W magazine has been known to be controversial & Terry Richardson is notorious for images like this, nothing is ever too vulgar to shoot. And sure he has produced images much more explicit than these. Quite honestly although I do not find them attractive, I can deal with almost all the photos from this collection. However the picture/s of SJS grabbing the model's throat, tugging her hair & suppressing her mouth really are in bad taste. tanio, I don't doubt that this is a form of art, but if it is meant to be conveying a message, what is it trying to say?

If its intention was to shock & provoke then it certainly has achieved that but these few shots by no means would make anyone think more of Asian men, nor does it help any woman feel better about themselves.

I am a huge fan of SJS because of his talent & depth in acting & also because of his generous & heartfelt image thus far projected in his career, but I don't think this photo shoot does anything to enhance his reputation. I much prefer to see him play out a huge bad richard simmons in a series or a movie rather than working w/ such a controversial photographer knowing exactly the level of explicitness his work is accustomed to.

But hey, that is just my viewpoint. Sorry if I offend anyone.

[Winetu]

This is also my opinion. Violance towards women should be stopped with whatever means.

However, there are two sides in that picture, and I am sure that that woman was not forced to do so. At fault are those who buy such material. I would have never came across those pictures if they weren't printed here.

Actually I am not suprised at all SJS made these pictures.

[Guest inez]

Hi guys...and wow..i think JiSub is a professional...he's an actor..

His expressions are...(i'm speechless..*)almost real!!

i've seen much 'racier' scenes from other actors in movies tho'..

p/s: thanks Saturn...for your help !!..*hugzz*..

[Guest safiresteele]

When I first saw these pictures my mouth fell wide open. They shocked me. Granted I do not know Ji Sub personally, but I would never have imagined him taking part in these types of photos. It's not my place to judge and I'm not going to judge, but wow. I would really be interested to know what he thought of these photos after seeing them spread out in the magazine like that.

He is still a great actor though and I will continue to support him.

[Guest liezle]

i read somewhere that ji sub had seen 'brown bunny' several times [7 times?]. probably when richardson offered him the opportunity to be photographed with the concept of brown bunny and since he likes the movie he agreed to the project. i'm guessing that ji sub may have had some doubts in doing this. he surely knows the risks because of the concept but he probably is also thinking that this is one way of showing his fans that he's maturing and willing to take roles.

i don't know if anyone of you noticed, but when he came back from military, he seems to have changed a lot little by little which some of us have mixed feelings. a change that i think is in his own accord. it may be his way of letting us prepare of the changes that he will be taking in the course of his career.

[Guest merc]

Risk getting my head chewed off, I have to say a few words about the pics mentioned above. I saw them too. SJS was

fully dressed hugging the woman. Her head was resting at his chest area, nothing as vulgar as you would let people

to believe.

I would not go so far as calling these set of photos as arts. Too bad these days sex and violence do sell products.

As a SJS fan, I don't worship him like a god. He is likely to make mistakes along the way. But I do give him a lot

of credits for risk takings, for trying to shed the very popular images in the past, for refusing to stay in the comfort

zone, for trying to become an even greater actor!

I am still waiting for the W magazine from innolife, so I can't comment too much without going through all the pics as a project in the magazine. But from what I saw in here, yes, I don't like it, and I am not totally convinced that it is some kind of pretty art. But so what? We don't have to like it or get disappointed. Think about it, SJS is an actor and a model. He needs to push and test the limits in order to advance his career, and he needs to try something new and different at different stages. It does not have to be something we like to see or we desire to watch. It can toally be an opposite to what we used to project him as. SJS is willing to take this challenge and bring us something new/different/fresh, why can't we just open our mind and hearts to observe it and support him? SJS is a professional actor and model afterall.

[saturn]

Ha ha many debates. I love to read all.

Maybe what Jisub really wanted was this?

Korean fans are the same, majority are happy but still many fans are unhappy to see them.

(Personally I am in the happy fan side haha)

Did you see the movie The Brown Bunny? If you see it, you will be shocked even more

But that movie is so much Jisub-style. A lonely passage of an abandoned guy.

That's in my clubbox http://clubbox.co.kr/youngsosa (X-rated)

Dear thunder,

The pictures you posted are just part of them, there are some more (comparatively speaking) normal shots in the magazine.

I watched the movie then I saw the pictures, it reminded me the old song. 'The long and winding road' by Beatles.

Or the movie 'Leaving Las Vegas' (I hated it)

Jisub is still in Korea... I wonder when he starts filming...

[Guest autumn1]

As a jisub fan, i'm extremely disappointed. Infact, i'm disappointed beyond words. To me, those pics were appalling!!!

I hope someone would just delete those pic links as there's really no need to help them advertise by posting it here.

[Guest thunderbolt]

Dear thunder,

The pictures you posted are just part of them, there are some more (comparatively speaking) normal shots in the magazine.

Dear saturn unni

More "normal" pics in the photo spread do not make the "abnormal" ones less revulsive. A guy is pulling a woman's hair. In another pic his clenched hand shows the force he is using to choke her. No amount of persuasion can make those appalling pics acceptable to me and many others. That those pics are justifiable because an actor needs to take risks and to shed his old image is pure crap. An actor is defined by his acting, not by the controversy he invites through posed photos that promote sexual violence against women. This is what Jisub wants? He had no objections to the "embarrassing concept" of the photo spread? Fine. I guess the Jisub I've been supporting is just an illusion I created in my head. I thought he was a decent soul with a gentle heart. I didn't think him capable of starring in a photoshoot that is based on a misogynistic concept.

Anyway, like javabeans, this whole argument leaves a very bad taste in my mouth. The more comments I hear supporting the pics, the more surreal the whole issue becomes. It's impossible for me to comprehend that there are fans who are actually happy with the photo spread. As someone who hates the pics, I feel emotionally and mentally displaced. Maybe I need a heart or brain transplant.

thunder

[Guest Dahee Fanel]

Yes, Jisub can take risks. Yes, Jisub can be edgy, different, show a different side of himself to his fans. Yes, he can push the envelope. Sure, he can take sexually explicit pics, no big deal. I've seen a lot worse. I tend to have highly liberal viewpoints. I'm no prude. I can handle it. I even applaud him for his courage and his willingness to take risks.

But I draw the line at pictures that promote the suffering of women. I draw the line at pictures that promote sexual violence and the "silencing" of women's voices. Okay, it's supposed to be "art". But like jicks said, if an "artistic" picture has that kind of theme and subject, what is the message it is conveying to the viewer? That's the key.

Art of all forms has been used throughout history to show messages, to promote certain ideas and thoughts. Art is never just art (and I'm using this term in the broadest sense). It always carries baggage with it. The photos of Jisub strangling that woman, pulling on her hair and covering her mouth, hold a certain message. And that message is absolutely, completely despicable. It's sexist, violent, even, I would venture to say, evil.

This is why women the world over are still suffering from all kinds of abuse. Because people like Terry Richardson are taking such narrow-minded, misogynistic photographs, and it's taken as being "okay". How can violence against women be abolished if people won't fight against it?

I still want to love and support Jisub. I still want to be his fan. But as a feminist, and as someone who believes in fighting sexism in all forms, big or small, every minute of every day, I am severely, devastatingly disappointed. And I don't think that's something I should be ashamed of. Just because I'm a fan doesn't mean I have to blind myself in regards to everything Jisub does.

I don't know about anyone else, but I'm fully planning on writing a long letter to BOF telling them exactly what I think about this photoshoot.

[Guest sophia76]

I believe that supporting a star doesn't mean condoning everything that he does. Personally I can't do that; I feel like a hypocrite if I do.

I totally agree dear Thunder!!

As I wrote some weeks ago, I can't condone everything about him. I can't...I'm his big fan and I still wish to support him but...

I have the Dahee thought: in the world so many women are still suffering because of violences, especially sex violence.

Because of this I don't like the photos, I don't like the message of them, I can't see "art" in those pics.

Saturn: I watched part of the Brown Bunny movie (but I felt asleep during the showing). It is one of the worse movie presented in Cannes festival in the last years.

Maybe I'm ingenuous person but there were so many themes to create a photo reportage with Jisub...why that movie?

We know how great is Jisub's acting, then can these photos improve his popularity?

Jisub is still in Korea... I wonder when he starts filming...

Really?? Maybe he could join the young so sa birthday party...

BTW I wish to see some shooting pics soon.

[Guest pujung]

Actually I bought this W magazine. I found these pictures different but not offensive. Jisub has matured a lot and I think this is one way of him telling us that he is shedding his image from the usual Jisub we know.

i agree with cyan4jy but i haven't got the book yet.the comment here seem to be 2 sides. i understand both sides but we should support him anyway.what else we can do? it's already been published.by the way, he didn't choose this work himself but he still tried his best to get through the concept. For me i think this is just another kind of his work. the actor should be able to do everyting and he proved that. He is a very talented one. I know that it's a kind of shock for many of his fans but please support him anyway

ps. for me, i like it and happy to see all his works

[Guest kattaka]

I’m bikyo fan .. I saw these pictures .. I think JiSub is a professional He is a great actor though and I will continue to support him.

aja aja fighing

[Guest dru_irkins]

debate??? ahh... anyway, every people have their own sense of what was really on that magazine. It's either bad or good the results it'll have... but can we all get off that topic?

about cain and abel... it's almost NOVEMBER!!! i'm excited to see any filming pictures from SF!

[saturn]

Dear pujung,

I don't think we SHOULD support him anyway.

Just follow your heart, if you don't like something, just hate it.

Anyway, I conveyed some criticisms to Korean fan cafe.

Because there's no such criticism in Korean fan site at all!!

I didn't think it's strange, I just thought people feel as I do.

But now I think it's strange, after reading articles in soompi.

Maybe many Korean non-happy fans are keeping silence being pressed by the admiration spirit.

It's no good for either fan club or Jisub.

[Guest chandrashekhar]

Hello, everybody . My first post ……just want to express some feelings about those pix in “W” magazine.

In my own opinion, Richardson had tried to artistically capture and evoke a special mood and feeling of Ji Sub. Well done!! Ji Sub cannot hide his sensational eyelight in his eyes – wild and sexy. His body language is all nicely captured. I am simply overjoyed to see this new concept of photos! And I also follow my heart because I am a big fan of Ji Sub. Although there are so many themes to create photo reportage with Ji Sub but I appreciated very much Ji Sub’s courage to accept this job. To me, I was just entirely fascinated and enamored by what Richardson did; he created a brand new image for Ji Sub’s fans.

[Guest merc]

about cain and abel... it's almost NOVEMBER!!! i'm excited to see any filming pictures from SF!

My dear, I have been waiting and waiting but I haven't seen a filming sign in SF lately ... Or perhaps I will see them and bring you guys some screaming news tomorrow, wish me luck, hehehehehe!

[Guest inez]

Hello, everybody . My first post ……just want to express some feelings about those pix in "W" magazine.

In my own opinion, Richardson had tried to artistically capture and evoke a special mood and feeling of Ji Sub. Well done!! Ji Sub cannot hide his sensational eyelight in his eyes – wild and sexy. His body language is all nicely captured. I am simply overjoyed to see this new concept of photos! And I also follow my heart because I am a big fan of Ji Sub. Although there are so many themes to create photo reportage with Ji Sub but I appreciated very much Ji Sub's courage to accept this job. To me, I was just entirely fascinated and enamored by what Richardson did; he created a brand new image for Ji Sub's fans.

hi there chandrashekhar..welcome!

you put it the best..JiSub's a stunner in those pics..~

since his birthday's coming he deserves something better from us....