Eugene Lee Yang

If any of you have been watching some of Buzzfeed’s videos, you’ve probably seen this guy. This is Eugene Lee Yang, overnight mini celeb of his own right. Within his first month of creating a Facebook page, he received over 50,000 likes, and the video he did starring three other colleagues (Keith Habersberger, Ned Fulmer, and Zach Kornfield) centered around a recreation of Kim Kardashian’s controversial butt photo has garndered over 4 million views. Being such a opponent to the idea that celebrities shouldn’t be given more attention than any other person, I found myself wondering why I was even writing this article, and with introspection I think I’ve narrowed it down to 3 things: An analysis of his popularity and its causes, a personal respect for the man, and perhaps a humanization of him so as to make all his other male admirers feel better about themselves.

Does Eugene Lee Yang have sex appeal? Let’s objectively list a few of his features that people find appealing about this person (in order of which I personally discovered them): Clean face/good skin, stylish hair, stylish fashion sense, above average body, a “no fucks given” personality combined with an pursuit towards the intellectual, openness to trying new things, appreciation or at least ability to drink alcohol, dancing ability, acting ability, singing ability, has dogs, “angry eyebrows”, is asian (korean to be specific), has shown an appreciation for the classic cinema/literature, is a foodie, graduated a good school (USC), can do near perfect splits, and is apparently one hell of a quidditch player. I list many of these knowing that they are hit-or-miss qualities but the fact that some people do find them attractive means that I include them. Superficially, the defined muscles, clean face, and glorious hair; styled or left alone for the day, are a treat to look at when given the opportunity. After getting past his defined chin and intense eyes, his penchant for alcohol and dance imply culture, and his directing and singing show a good level of attention to detail and an ability to bring the imagined to life. The dogs are just icing on the cake. Did I mention his bad boy attitude?

Yet, all of these listed things above are an incomplete picture of the puzzle of Eugene’s attractiveness. After some inner turmoil and confusion, I eased my thoughts by watching more of Buzzfeed’s Try Guys series. It was here that I realized a fair amount of Eugene’s attractiveness comes from a contrast to the other three co-stars. I don’t mean in his ethnicity here, but his personality. In comparison to Eugene, the other three guys are much happier and open to trying things. Eugene, throughout the videos, tends to be much more reserved and complains a lot more about the types of things the four are forced to go through. The contrast between the happy go lucky and the sourpuss attitude highlights Mr. Yang as the most relatable and modest. This is a huge factor to his attractiveness

Body language says it all.

So hotness aside, why do I have respect for ELY? I’ve complied a bullet list:

1. Poise in handling his newfound fame to both appear modest and still cater to all of his followers. As an example, posting thank you videos for reaching a milestone amount of followers and then surprising them which a video of himself singing while playing with his dogs.
2. Good online presence: Eugene has a tendency to reply to a good amount of comments on videos he uploads on his Facebook page. Being an overnight celebrity is tricky, but all Eugene’s responses seem light-hearted and not pandering which is a tough balance to maintain.
3. Worked hard to get where he is. Graduated USC? Won a commercial directing contest? Worked as an unknown director for years before Buzzfeed?
4. Takes advantage of sexuality rather than letting it take advantage of him: Though he never makes a direct reference to his personal sexuality, plenty of sources have confirmed Eugene’s homosexuality. My respect in this area comes from the fact that Eugene never tries to use his sexuality to cater to anyone. Rather, he takes opinions and attitudes that he feels and simply expresses him. His sexuality is nothing more than a normal part of him, as it should be, and he does a great job of keeping it that way.
5. Eugene understands that Asian representation in the media isn’t at the level it could be, but he doesn’t embody the idea of “people should be prominent because they are asian.” Rather, it’s great that they are, but Hearing Eugene’s answer to this question in regards to Disney princesses makes me think that he feels anyone who wants to be in the spotlight needs to work for it.

Call it jealously, call me a hater, whatever. Eugene Lee Yang is a human, and what many of us view as his natural state of being is a product of a lot of behind the scenes work. Everything past this point is conjecture and should be taken with a grain of salt *DISCLAIMER I HAVE NO RELATION/CONTACT WITH EUGENE YANG. Eugene’s hair is glorious. It’s flowy, takes on many shapes, and generally always serves to make him look good. BTS of ELY’s fabulous hair is likely a lot of time, gel, and blowdrying. No one wakes up with hair that contorts itself is a variety of angles and you can bet Eugene has put in that time to go over every detail. While I was writing this, he just put up an AMA video in which he admits to his hair taking quite a bit of time in the morning. While Eugene’s body is quite nice to look at, it’s honestly a typical skinny person body with a nicer chest area. I’m keenly aware of Eugene’s consistent dance class attendance but the body likely isn’t a result of incredibly hard work (if it is, then shows how much I know). Finally, while Eugene’s talents in directing, singing, writing, video editing (Check out his “Art of Fame” video, link below), dancing, and acting are enviable, that likely means he’s missing out on other areas, as are all humans. Perhaps he has a weak spot in physics, or has absolutely no interest in anime. The point of this particular paragraph for my readers who aren’t Eugene Lee Yang is that while ELV is an incredible person with a lot to show for his hard work, he’s not your dream. He lives his life and evolves it acording to his wishes and desires, and so should you. Realize there is no easy perfect life, despite what all celebrities might appear to have, accept that fact, and work hard to embody a life that excites you to wake up to every morning. Inspiration? Yes. Imitation? No.