Seoul government, Mnet dance around 'Born This Way' LGBTQ references

Korean female dance group "Lachica" performs Lady Gaga's "Born This Way" during a New Year ceremony by the Seoul Metropolitan Government, in central Seoul, Saturday. The lyric subtitles are wrongly translated in Korean and bypass the LGBTQ reference in the song. Screenshot from Seoul Metropolitan Government's YouTube

By Lee Hae-rin

The Seoul metropolitan government is facing criticism by some viewers for airing wrongly translated lyric subtitles for a dance performance of "Born This Way," thus blurring the LGBTQ references of the song during a New Year ceremony, Saturday.

LGBTQ is an acronym for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer or questioning.

The city held the annual bell-ringing ceremony without an audience to prevent the spread of the coronavirus this year and streamed the event online via YouTube and the city's affiliated local broadcaster TBS.

Among the performance line-up was Lady Gaga's "Born This Way" by a Korean female dance group "Lachica," with which it previously created a nationwide sensation on cable music channel Mnet's entertainment program, "Street Women Fighters."

During the ceremony, the song's lyric subtitles, "Don't be a drag just be a queen," were wrongly translated in Korean. The term "drag" refers to a form of gender blurring entertainment that involves the performer dressing up in clothes typically associated with the opposite of their biological gender. But the wrongly translated word conveyed another meaning of the word which is to pull an object by force.

Many welcomed the performance while pointing out the erasure of its political context in the mistranslation. Some internet users wrote online, "I love how the song supports my identity," and "it's great to see this performed at the bell-ringing ceremony." Some wrote: "They just shouldn't have mistranslated it," and "it seems that the misinterpretation was intentional and that breaks my heart."

"The origin and performance of Lady Gaga's "Born This Way" have a clear political message on accepting diversity," Sohn Hee-jeong, a culture critique told The Korea Times, Sunday.

"Back in 2013, the song led an extreme anti-gay group to protest against Lady Gaga during her tour in Korea. The dance team was fully aware of the political context in its performance as well, which was welcomed by queer and feminist viewers alike. Unfortunately, the political and cultural context was erased," Sohn said.

The performance also omitted a line in its edit with lyrics that read "No matter gay, straight, or bi, lesbian, transgender life," drawing more criticism.

This was the second time the mistranslation and edit occurred as Mnet's broadcast last October made the same changes.

"The bell-ringing ceremony is a significant annual event for every Korean citizen. We apologize for not taking care of the details and will make sure to consider such points in the future," the city government official in charge of the event told The Korea Times, Sunday.

Site Map E-paper Subscribe Register LogIn
Site Map E-paper Subscribe Register LogIn