Early in my ARMY career, at the stage of the process in which I was consuming as many clips and interviews as I possibly could, I ran across a red carpet interview - it was unclear which event it was - where the interviewer (an American) asked BTS (specifically RM, as the spokesperson) if they were ready to be heartthrobs in the US.
The problems inherent in this question are almost too many to count. It’s only a 30-second soundbite, but it actually distills one of the huge issues of BTS in Western media down into one quick interaction: the boys are often seen as heartthrobs, not artists.
Therefore, it is incredibly refreshing when a media personality recognizes them as being not only handsome young men but also talented musicians.
Personal, fluffy questions are to be expected, especially when an artist is new on the scene. New artists are fun and fascinating, and it’s only natural that questions such as “What song do you have on repeat right now?” and “Who is your dream collaboration?” would come up.
The problem isn’t that they happen - it’s that they happen quite a lot. In far greater numbers than other types of questions, in fact. And, if you think about it, BTS is not exactly new on the scene, are they? Perhaps they’re newer on the Western scene, but that doesn’t mean they’re new artists.
There’s an agenda in these sorts of questions, even if it’s an unintentional or subconscious agenda - it helps relegate the group to being “just a boyband”, which is a subsection of the agenda to make the boys appear as “not serious” artists.
It’s hard to bring to mind a time when Justin Timberlake, Adele, and Lady Gaga were asked about their celebrity crush, which is something BTS has been asked in the past. It’s just not something you’d see a “serious” artist being asked.
Fortunately, in recent weeks, there seems to have been an upswing in articles and interviews taking the boys seriously. James Corden and Zach Sang both interviewed BTS and covered topics that were far from the fluffy, bubblegum topics of other interviews. Variety also had an interview that accompanied the release of Map of the Soul: 7 which was heartfelt and in-depth. Paper Mag and Rolling Stone featured articles recently which had a different variety of questions, as opposed to falling back on “Who’s your dream collab?” and “What songs do you have on repeat?” Both of these articles were featured in previous installments of Check Yourself: Facts specifically because of their effort to take BTS as a group of serious artists and musicians.
With their increased presence in the West and their very visible album releases, including both MOTS releases, which received significant media attention, it’s possible that we are slowly starting to witness a shift in perception. It’s almost hard to believe, after years of combating media bias, that we could see a tonal shift from snide and derogatory to respectful and thoughtful. However, with the interviews surrounding the release of MOTS: 7, there may be some hope.
As with all things in the world of entertainment, there will always be fluctuations - it’s conceivable, even believable, that in a few months’ time, we’ll see a rash of articles which push the standard agenda with which we have become so familiar in the past few years. In fact, 2019 had a seeming 50-50 split between good, useful articles, and terrible articles that all of ARMY hopes fervently will never be seen again by the general public.
Countering media bias is one of the tenets Borasaek Vision is built upon - it’s arguably our backbone. It would be hubris to assume that we have, through our singular actions, made that much of a difference in the relatively short time we have been in operation. However, ARMY has been in operation since 2013, and how many times have we heard that ARMY is the most powerful fandom in existence?
In college, I had a wonderful journalism professor, Phil, who said a great number of things which have stuck with me over the course of my career, but one of which is particularly applicable in this circumstance. He instilled in his students a belief that it is not only the media’s responsibility to deliver the things the people want but also the responsibility of the people to indicate what they want.
In other words, both the content creators and the content consumers have a responsibility to each other to form the landscape into one which is useful for both parties.
Using this logic, it makes sense that, eventually, through concentrated effort, ARMY will be able to shape the landscape of media around BTS. However, our love for BTS shouldn’t eclipse the facts. We want the facts reported truthfully, and we don’t want propaganda.
It’s possible that, in ARMY’s constant campaign to get BTS the attention and respect that they deserve, we are at last beginning to make some headway. With a few more years’ of smart work, who knows what we’ll see?
“With great power comes great responsibility.”
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Written By: Anna Moon
Edit By: Caitlin
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