Bangtan Remixed delves into the cultural impact of celebrated K-Pop boy band BTS, exploring their history, aesthetics, fan culture, and capitalist moment. The collection’s contributors-who include artists, scholars, journalists, activists, and fans-approach BTS through inventive and wide-ranging transnational perspectives. From tracing BTS’s hip hop genealogy to analyzing how the band’s mid-2020 album reflects the COVID-19 pandemic to demonstrating how Baroque art history influences BTS’s music videos, the contributors investigate BTS’s aesthetic heritage. They also explore the political and technological dimensions of BTS’s popularity with essays on K-Pop and BTS’s fan culture as frontiers of digital technology, the complex relationship between BTS and Blackness, the impact of anti-Asian racism on BTS’s fandom, and the challenges BTS poses to conservative norms of gender and sexuality. Bangtan Remixed shows how one band can inspire millions of fans and provide a broad range of insights into contemporary social and political life.
Contributors. Andrea Acosta, Patty Ahn, Carolina Alves, Inez Amihan Anderson, Allison Anne Gray Atis, Kaina “Kai” Bernal, Mutlu Binark, Jheanelle Brown, Sophia Cai, Michelle Cho, Mariam Elba, Ameena Fareeda, Vernadette VicuÑa Gonzalez, Rosanna Hall, Dal Yong Jin, JIN Youngsun, Despina Kakoudaki, Yuni Kartika, Alptekin Keskin, Rachel Kuo, Marci Kwon, Courtney Lazore, Regina Yung Lee, S. Heijin Lee, Wonseok Lee, Amanda Lovely, Melody Lynch-Kimery, Maria Mison, Noel Sajid I. Murad, Sara Murphy, UyenThi Tran Myhre, Rani Neutill, Johnny Huy Nguyễn, Mimi Thi Nguyen, Karlina Octaviany, Nykeah Parham, Stefania Piccialli, Raymond San Diego, Hannah Ruth L. Sison, Prerna Subramanian, Havannah Tran, Andrew Ty, Gracelynne West, Yutian Wong, Jaclyn Zhou
Note on Terminology and Romanization xi
Acknowledgments xiii
Introduction. On Bangtan Remixed: A Critical BTS Reader / Patty Ahn, Michelle Cho, Vernadette VicuÑa Gonzalez, Rani Neutill, Mimi Thi Nguyen, and Yutian Wong 1
I. “You Can Call Me Artist, You Can Call Me IDOL!”: Contexts, Genealogies, and Aesthetics of Performance 29
1. Tradition, Transition, and Trends: Contextualizing BTS’s Gugak-Inspired Performance of “IDOL”; / Wonseok Lee 33
2. Hustlin’ until Dope: How BTS Rap Line Cultivated Their Hip-Hop Identities / Nykeah Parham
3. “Life Goes On”: Social and Musical Space in BTS’s Midpandemic Album BE / Stefania Piccialli 57
4. Blood, Sweat, and Tears: BTS, Bruegel, and the Baroque / Marci Kwon 68
5. Martha and the Swans: BTS, “Black Swan,” and Cold War Dance History / Yutian Wong 79
II. “Mikrokosmos”: The Universe of BTS 91
6. The Platformization of K-Pop: From Weverse to NFTs / Dal Yong Jin 95
7. Under the Same Sky: Synchronicity in BTS Media, Online and Offline / Despina Kakoudaki 107
8. Bridging the Senses: Medium and Materiality from Music Videos to Graphic Lyrics / Andrew Ty 120
9. Sweet Chili and Cajun: Tasting the Power of Language with the BTS McDonald’s Meal / Melody Lynch-Kimery 133
10. Fragmentary Redemptions: ARMY, RPF, and the AU at the Heart of the Bangtan Universe / Regina Yung Lee 144
11. “Black Guy Reacts to BTS for the First Time”: Provocations from a Black ARMY / Jheanelle Brown 157
12. “Your Story Becomes Our Universe”: Fan Edits, Shitposts, and the BTS Database / Jaclyn Zhou 169
13. Jung Kook’s Button, or the GIF That Keeps on Giving / Mimi Thi Nguyen 180
III. “Not Today”: Geopolitics and Activism 191
14. Empire Goes On: Transpacific Circuits of Care Work / Vernadette VicuÑa Gonzalez 195
15. Like a Criminal Undercover: Love, Hate, and the Performance of Inclusion / Rachel Kuo 206
16. Recoding the Bot: ARMY and Digital Transgression / Andrea L. Acosta 221
17. Break the Structure: BTS ARMY Digital Activism and State Surveillance in Indonesia’s Omnibus Law Protest / Karlina Octaviany 229
18. From Purple to Pink: The Filipino ARMY for Leni and the Fight for Good Governance / Allison Anne Gray Atis, Noel Sajid I. Murad, and Hannah Ruth L. Sison 241
19. “Yoongi, Can You Hear Me?”: Demanding Justice for #Melisa and ARMY Activism in Turkey / Alptekin Keskin and Mutlu Binark 254
20. “Spring Day”: Nostalgia, Pop Mediation, and Public Mourning / Michelle Cho 264
Interlude. “Magic Shop”: So Show Me, I’ll Show You (My Fanart) 279
IV. “You Never Walk Alone”: Fandom and Community
21. The Skinship Diaries / Sara Murphy 289
22. “Gender DOES NOT Exist Outside of Patriarchy”: Flower Boys, Gender Envy, and the Radical Possibilities of JIMIN GENDER / S. Heijin Lee 299
23. Permission to Desire / Rani Neutill 313
24. Fifty Shades of Butter: Consensual Nonconsent in BTS Fan Fiction / Raymond San Diego 322
25. Bangtan Scholars and the Ethics of Care / Courtney Lazore 335
26. Sincerely Yours, ARMY: Exploring Fandom as Curatorial Methodology / Sophia Cai 345
27. The Digital ARMY-Ummah: Faith and Community among Muslim BTS Fans / Mariam Elba 357
28. “Let Us Light Up the Night”: BTS and Abolitionist Possibilities at the End of the World / UyenThi Tran Myhre 368
Outro. For Youth / Patty Ahn, Michelle Cho, Vernadette VicuÑa Gonzalez, Rani Neutill, Mimi Thi Nguyen, and Yutian Wong 379
Bangtan Glossary 385
Contributors 389
Index 399
