Saturday, November 21, 2015

Let's Not Fall For Magic: Kpop Groups Actually Treated As Separate People!?!

I've been thinking a lot about the new trends in Kpop music videos.  Recently there have been a lot of things that I have liked.  There have been a lot of really good songs and also a lot of music videos that have been different enough to make me do the nod of approval.  One of the trends that I noticed was the one where our boys were actually treated like separate people.


You know how most groups have to go through that thing at one point in time where they hire one actress and the entire group interacts with her as if they are the same person or something.  It's weird, but they pretty much all do it.


Of course this is a broad generalization, but you all know what I'm talking about.

A more recent example of this can be seen in VIXX's Eternity MV.  All six of them are interacting with the same girl, in the same house, but not at the same time.

Here is N and the girl, on bed- whoo risque!



Now she is playing the piano for Hong Bin, how nice of her.


Being sketched by Ken... wait...


Being flirty with Hyuk, tsk tsk girl.


Leo is now playing the piano for her, how lucky can she get?


And she is also dancing with Ravi.  Either we're supposed to believe the entire group is the same person, or she is doing some serious cheating on 6 boys in 1 house.  Whew.


The only real acknowledgement we have that they are separate people at all is this:


All six of them (eventually, they pop in and out) in the same room with six versions of the same girl, or six girls who all look exactly alike.  It's trippy.

But I was excited that in BIGBANG and Super Junior's latest videos this was not the case!

I noticed it first in Let's Not Fall in Love, perhaps because I knew and loved some of the actresses who played their "not girlfriends."  BIGBANG has good taste in this one.






But then I noticed that they actually had five different girls in Bae Bae as well.






Haha.

But actually, BIGBANG is not a well known offender when it comes to this.  In the early days, back before they could afford to hire multiple actresses for each of them, they also only had one girl.


The difference was that she usually only belonged romantically with one of them, and it was usually G-Dragon, like in Haru Haru.


This is the other opt out, but happens less frequently than the weird cheating/multiple personalities thing.

But it is still acceptable, when the group is so large that even if they are super established and excellent they couldn't afford to get a girl for all of them, that they instead fight over the one.



But the fact that they are acknowledging that all of Super Junior are separate people who interact in non-dancing scenes!  Amazing!  And the interaction is priceless.


I could literally watch Donghae get pelted in the face with a mug all day.  I laughed so hard when I saw this.


The thing I love about Super Junior is seeing them be dorks together, so to have a MV that highlights that is pure Magic.  Sexy dance, Kyuhyun!  Woot!


Their level of fighting over that one girl is way over all the other one girl MVs... combined.


This isn't a new thing, but it is a newer trend, since it is now happening more frequently.

I mean, B.A.P did something similar in the MV for Stop It.  Even though they weren't ALL after the same girl, there was interaction.  It is a plot type, which generally are good examples of the early interaction between members, and using the members as different people.

First Yong Guk gets hit by a car that DaeHyun is driving (is he old enough to have a license?)


Yong Guk then takes care of the cheeky students, Jong Up and Zelo.


There is more love rivalry for the girl when Young Jae turns up with roses.


And then Himchan at the doorstep for some skinship, apparently.


As hilarious as this MV is, it still leaves us wondering what is going on.  Is Yong Guk dead?  Can she see him?  Can't she?  They love being ambiguous.

BIGBANG has been love rivals to the one girl before, now that I think of it.  Check out Taeyang's Only Look at Me to see his buddies potentially stealing his girl.

Taking a more recent ambiguous middle example, 2PM's My house is a weird mixture of both approaches.

There is one girl, interacting with all the members, but it is somewhat ambiguous whether they are all courting her or if they are all just the same person.  The main point of the song is innuendo, so obviously they weren't trying to be super clear about that.

There is also some weird almost plot going on there, almost.  So they are all in different parts of the party room, checking her out, but never at the same time.  The only interaction they have with each other is the dance, which is super sexy, btw.

Jun.K whispers the naughty proposition in her ear, sexily.


Taecyeon does some further explaining, while he makes wolf eyes at her.


Creepy sexy apple feeding with Wooyoung, as if we didn't really know what this was all about.


Stopped in the hallway by Junho to make sure she really is going to meet at least one of them in 10 min.


And it's Nichkhun who is waiting for her with a super nice car.  How did he place all those roses around it in just 10 min?


Wait!  Intercepted with a wrist grab by Chansung.  So... are they all different people then?


But my, isn't he dashing?


So... yeah.  Are they all the same person?  Are they fighting over her?  Are they all just different, naughty versions of fairy tales?  I've heard that theory too.  Anyway, it is definitely an ambiguous middle ground between the different methods.


I guess I started rambling with some of those examples.  However, if this is a trend that is going to continue, I like it.  I like the interaction, I like the multiple girls, and I also like plots, even if they are weird.  Deepness is good too, when done well.  I like picking up on symbols, it makes me feel smart and stuff (winky face).  So I am glad that there seem to be a growing number of examples to push this along.  I want more of these type deals.