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BTS and positive psychology: New pathways for exploring BTS’s effect on well-being

Sydney Rubin

Introduction

Hello! Welcome to my booth about BTS and positive psychology! 

My goal is to introduce the field of positive psychology to those who might not already be familiar with it. I will also describe how positive psychology (the science of well-being) offers perspectives and tools which can be incredibly valuable for studying, analyzing, and amplifying the positive effect that BTS has on so many people. I hope that this will spark some conversations with people who are also interested in this topic, perhaps leading to future collaborative projects related to positive psychology for both research and practice. 

But first, I’m going to speak myself. I share my story to convey why understanding BTS through positive psychology excites me and makes my heart beat. 

Speak yourself

It’s one of those “you find BTS when you need them most” kinds of stories. When I discovered BTS (by chance, on Twitter), I was in my second semester of graduate school. I had moved across the country for a program in a city I’d never been to, where I knew no one. My degree program was brand new; there was only one other student. At first it felt exciting, but by early 2018 I was struggling. How had I gotten to that point?

When I started graduate school, I had already been studying positive psychology for seven years. I had long known that I wanted to use the science of well-being to help people in their moments of feeling down, lost, isolated, out of control, or even “just fine”—feelings that don’t necessarily call for clinical therapy, but that keep us from doing as well as we could be. What immediately attracted me to positive psychology was the fact that it was relevant to anyone, no matter who you were, or how successful or “together” you seemed. We can all benefit from things like focusing more on what’s best in us and our most deeply held values; intentionally cultivating our most meaningful and affirming relationships; and working towards our best possible futures.

The problem was, I didn’t know how I wanted to go about creating this positive impact in the world. When I worked as an administrator at the University of Pennsylvania’s Positive Psychology Center after college, I saw professional master’s students passionately applying the science of well-being to just about any field you could think of: healthcare, education, business, politics, the arts, clinical psychology, even law. I realized I had no field of my own through which to make change. Yet I was seized, maybe obsessed, by ideas about entertainment technology and leisure. I thought: it’s one thing to convince someone to take a course on positive psychology, or read a self-help book, or go through a corporate training. But what about all the things people like to do in their spare time? Things they were already motivated to give their attention to and engage deeply with? I had to admit to myself that as informed as I was about the research, I still opted for video games over gratitude letters when I was feeling depressed. Wouldn’t it make a huge difference if we could bring the science of well-being to things that are already entertaining? 

I eventually found my master’s program about game design for health and wellness. I learned a great deal in graduate school, but in many ways, it wasn’t what I expected. And I definitely didn’t expect to find the lessons I was looking for (ways to positively impact large numbers of people through meaningful entertainment) by fangirling over a Korean band. Whereas seeking those answers in school left me feeling uncertain, depleted, and alone, finding those answers—experiencing it—through BTS filled me with love, joy, and connection. And now, I can hardly imagine taking care of my emotional wellness without BTS. 

What is positive psychology?

Positive psychology is the science of well-being. Positive psychology takes a holistic view of mental health based on the observation that the absence of mental illness is not equal to the presence of mental health: that psychological well-being and flourishing is its own construct, separate from but related to mental illness. This perspective mirrors the World Health Organization’s definition of health: “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity” (World Health Organization, n.d.). Positive psychology has roots in earlier traditions that have focused on the whole spectrum of human functioning, such as Maslow’s Humanistic Psychology and Jung’s concept of individuation, and also has foundations in philosophical thought about well-being and virtue, particularly those of Aristotle (ex, Ryff, 2014). 

Positive psychology can be thought of as an umbrella term for the study of many different psychological topics that are concerned with well-being, as well as the practice of applying research on those topics with the intention of increasing the well-being of individuals and communities. Constructs like gratitude, self-efficacy (the belief that you can do something; see Maddux & Kleiman, 2020), meaning in life, mindfulness, awe, savoring, resilience, post-traumatic growth, and flow experiences (a state of full absorption in an activity; see Nakamura & Csikszentmihalyi, 2020) are all examples of topics that are studied and applied under the umbrella of positive psychology. 

The application of research on well-being topics to other fields and contexts typically takes the form of “positive psychology interventions” (PPIs, or simply “interventions”). An intervention could be anything that is designed to influence thoughts, feelings, or behaviors, if it is (1) based on research with (2) the intention to produce a positive outcome for the people or communities who experience the intervention (see Sin & Lyubomirsky, 2009). An intervention could be as simple as a journaling prompt or goal-setting app, as involved as a multi-day meditation retreat, or as subtle as encouraging people to spend disposable income on things that benefit others rather than themselves, in light of research on spending and happiness (ex, Dunn, Gilbert, & Wilson, 2011). 

Positive psychology as a lens for exploring BTS’ well-being impact

There are two main reasons why I think positive psychology is particularly useful for analyzing BTS’ impact.

The first reason is simply that positive psychology is all about well-being. Similarly, BTS represents the idea, or the mission, of “Music and Artist for Healing.” We can think about healing as another way of saying increasing well-being, involving both mitigating or recovering from undesired states as well as cultivating and prolonging desired states. And BTS are effective. I’m far from the first person to point this out! Many ARMY know how impactful BTS are intuitively, through experience. BTS has helped many of us experience better psychological wellness, whether we were going through very difficult times—perhaps trauma, clinical depression, or periods of mourning—or simply the everyday stressors and worries of normal life. They also, often simultaneously, help us build our capacities for joy, personal growth, love for others and ourselves, and purpose and meaning in life. A positive psychology perspective allows us to consider this full range of BTS’ well-being effects in an evidence-based way. In sum, if the goal of increasing well-being is central to BTS’ reason for existence, and we see that they achieve this goal in a variety of ways, the science of well-being is a natural choice for furthering our understanding of the BTS phenomenon. 

The second reason positive psychology is useful is because it is a lens, meaning it can be applied to basically anything. This is important because the types of things we engage with as BTS fans—music, live performance, content, social media, etc.—is hugely varied; although music is the most central, our experience of the music is deeply enriched by these other forms of engagement. When we say that BTS is effective at increasing well-being, we are talking about effects that arise from multiple (likely all) of these different engagement sources. Therefore, for a full picture of how BTS influence well-being, it’s not sufficient to only use perspectives from sciences specialized to one of those sources. The lens of positive psychology has already been applied to relevant fields like music studies (ex, Groarke & Hogan, 2016), media and entertainment studies (ex, Reinecke & Oliver, 2017), technology and social media (ex, Calvo & Peters, 2014), and more. By embracing the overarching perspective of positive psychology, we gain access to a diverse toolbox that allows us to examine all the avenues by which BTS increase well-being, and perhaps to amplify that experience as well. 

New pathways for research and practice 

Here are some preliminary ideas about the various ways we can apply the lens of positive psychology to BTS for both research and practical application. These are only a few examples out of a nearly endless list of possibilities! For those who are not already familiar with positive psychology constructs, I intend to offer a greater sense of the breadth and content of the domain of positive psychology here. 

  • Examining BTS’ work through the framework of a theory of well-being. Example:
    • Seligman’s (2012) theory of PERMA (Positive emotions, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, and Achievement); how does BTS contribute to our experience of each of these constructs? 
  • How different types of content from BTS relate to particular topics within positive psychology that are known to influence well-being. Examples:
    • Savoring: Ways in which BTS have exemplified strategies for intentionally increasing appreciation of positive experiences (i.e., savoring) or provided opportunities for fans to practice savoring. (See Smith, Harrison, Kurtz, & Bryant, 2014.) Includes:
      • Future-focused savoring (anticipation): Ex, how different comeback strategies (surprise teasers, establishing patterns and expectations, comeback maps) encourage anticipatory savoring
      • Present-focused savoring: Ex, BTS’ practice of creating space during concerts to fully explore their current thoughts and emotions (“ending ments”)
      • Past-focused savoring (reminiscence): Ex, ARMYPEDIA as a tool for re-living meaningful memories; or how BTS revisiting musical themes, lyrics, and performances from earlier in their career might contribute to an appreciative experience 
    • Meaning: Ways in which BTS enhance meaning in life—our personal assessments of how meaningful our lives are—via three dimensions identified by researchers (Steger, 2018): 
      • Comprehension: The “cognitive” component of meaning; the feeling that our lives make sense and are not too chaotic. Ex, investigating whether the interconnectedness of the universe of BTS content contributes to a more generalized sense of high coherence and meaning in life for ARMYs
      • Purpose: The “motivational” component of meaning; having a purpose for the future that directs our current behavior. Ex, examining the role of a strong purpose in BTS’ story of growth and development through hardship, and investigating if and how this perspective influences fans’ thinking about purpose in their own lives
      • Significance: The “evaluative” component of meaning; feeling that we matter. Ex, how the attitude of “teamwork makes the dream work” might contribute to a sense of mattering and significance within a large fandom; or, ways in which relatable themes in BTS’ music enhance meaning by helping fans feel seen and validated
  • BTS through the lens of character strengths: 24 personality trait-like qualities (validated cross-culturally) that define “you at your best” (see Park, 2018 and viasurvey.org). Character strengths include things like kindness, creativity, love of learning, bravery, teamwork, love, social intelligence, humor, etc! Examples:
    • Analyzing ways in which BTS express, cultivate, and appreciate character strengths 
      • Ex, identifying themes of gratitude and where they appear (music, speeches, interviews, games); how BTS express gratitude personally, to each other, to colleagues, and to ARMY; how this relates to research about gratitude as a construct
    • Studying possible consequences for fans becoming more aware of character strengths through BTS, and whether it leads to recognizing and developing strengths within themselves 
    • Practical application: multimedia “collages” of BTS content corresponding to each strength with optional discussion prompts for further exploration (see Niemiec & Wedding, 2013 for an example of using entertainment media to explore strengths) 
  • Designing positive psychology interventions for ARMY and other positive psychology-informed fan projects
    • I want to point out that this is not a new idea. ARMY is already doing this! A perfect example is the current Army Help Center (AHC) project in which they share journaling prompts designed to help ARMY think about their purpose in life. Many of the prompts used are taken directly from existing positive psychology interventions that have been studied for their efficacy. For instance, the “Current Me VS Future Me” exercise is an adaptation of the best possible self journaling intervention which can increase feelings of optimism and positive mood (Peters, Flink, Boersma, & Linton, 2010). There is always room for more intervention projects in this spirit.

Other possible goals for collaboration around the topics of BTS, ARMY, and positive psychology

  • Finding ways to help ARMYs with this common interest connect
  • Supporting, developing, and amplifying each other’s research and applied projects, and starting new projects
  • Sharing or cataloguing existing projects (ex, the AHC journal project referenced above) in a centralized way for ARMYs who want to try positive psychology interventions within the fandom community 
  • Providing additional information and context for BTS and ARMY activities 
    • Ex, research summaries of topics of interest with citations as they relate to BTS
      • Covering major concepts such as self-love
      • As complements to new content and experiences as they arise, for instance, exploring the stress-relief effects of being outdoors in nature (see a summary in Grinde & Patil, 2009) inspired by In the Soop to enhance our experience of that content
  • Ensuring that conversations about BTS, ARMY, and well-being are as inclusive as possible by highlighting cross-cultural differences and diverse perspectives

If any of these topics or suggestions excite you, please reach out to me on Twitter at callme _ _ baepsae! I would love to talk to you! 

About the Author

Sydney Rubin is an experience designer and a consultant on applied positive psychology. She is also a scholar with degrees in psychology and game design who has worked at the Positive Psychology Center at the University of Pennsylvania and the International Positive Psychology Association (IPPA).

References, Further Reading, and Other Resources

Calvo, R. A. & Peters, D. (2014). Positive computing: Technology for wellbeing and human potential. The MIT Press. 

Dunn, E. W., Gilbert, D. T., & Wilson, T. D. (2011). If money doesn’t make you happy, then you probably aren’t spending it right. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 21, 115-125.

Gable, S. & Haidt, J. (2005). What (and why) is positive psychology? Review of General Psychology, 9, 103-110.

Gander, F., Proyer, R. T., Ruch, W., & Wyss, T. (2013). Strength-based positive interventions: Further evidence for their potential in enhancing well-being and alleviating depression. Journal of Happiness Studies, 14, 1241-1259.

Grinde, B. & Patil, G. G. (2009). Biophilia: Does visual contact with nature impact on health and well-being? International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 6, 2332-2343.

Groarke, J. M. & Hogan, M. J. (2016). Enhancing wellbeing: An emerging model of the adaptive functions of music listening. Psychology of Music, 44, 769-791.

International Positive Psychology Association (IPPA). https://www.ippanetwork.org/ 

Maddux, J. E. & Kleiman, E. (2020). Self-efficacy. In R. Biswas-Diener & E. Diener (Eds), Noba textbook series: Psychology. Champaign, IL: DEF publishers. Retrieved from http://noba.to/bmv4hd6p  

Nakamura, J. & Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2020). The experience of flow: Theory and research. In C. R. Snyder, S. J. Lopez, L. M. Edwards, & S. C. Marques (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of positive psychology (3rd ed.). Oxford University Press. 

Niemiec, R. M. & Wedding, D. (2013). Positive psychology at the movies: Using films to build virtues and character strengths (2nd ed.). Hogrefe Publishing.

Park, N. (2018). Classifying and measuring strengths of character. In C. R. Snyder, S. J. Lopez, L. M. Edwards, & S. C. Marques (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of positive psychology (3rd ed.). Oxford University Press. 

Peters, M. L., Flink, I. K., Boersma, K., & Linton, S. J. (2010). Manipulating optimism: Can imagining a best possible self be used to increase positive future expectancies? The Journal of Positive Psychology, 5, 204-211.

Peterson, C. & Seligman, M. E. P. (2004). Character strengths and virtues: A handbook and classification. American Psychological Association / Oxford University Press.

Reinecke, L. & Oliver, M. B. (Eds.). (2017). The Routledge handbook of media use and well-being. Routledge. 

Ryff, C. (2014). Psychological well-being revisited: Advances in the science and practice of eudaimonia. Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, 83, 10-28.

Seligman, M. E. P. (2012). Flourish: A visionary new understanding of happiness and well-being. Atria Books, New York. 

Seligman, M. E. P. & Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2000). Positive psychology: An introduction. The American Psychologist, 55, 5-14.

Sin, N. L. & Lyubomirsky, S. (2009). Enhancing well-being and alleviating depressive symptoms with positive psychology interventions: a practice-friendly meta-analysis. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 65, 467-487.

Smith, J. L., Harrison, P. R., Kurtz, J. L., & Bryant, F. B. (2014). Nurturing the capacity to savor: Interventions to enhance the enjoyment of positive experiences. In S. Schueller & A. C. Parks (Eds.), The Wiley-Blackwell handbook of positive psychological interventions. Wiley-Blackwell. 

Steger, M. F. (2018). Meaning in life: A unified model. In C. R. Snyder, S. J. Lopez, L. M. Edwards, & S. C. Marques (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of positive psychology (3rd ed.). Oxford University Press. 
World Health Organization (n.d.). Frequently asked questions. https://www.who.int/about/who-we-are/frequently-asked-questions

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A journey of word and art in Music Videos

Yonsue Kim

Words are rendered visible in some BTS music videos. These words include English, Korean, and/or Chinese. I propose to share the thoughts and feelings we get towards these words we see in BTS’s music videos in the light of typography, the art of arranging letters and text that makes words not only legible but also visually appealing to the audience. To be specific, what sort of emotions or specific messages do we get from discovering words in view of typography that involves font style, appearance, and structure?

About the Author

Based in Oxford, I conduct research on visual culture and make art.

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WIP PhD Proposal – Our Mikrokosmos: The Interactive Myth-making of BTS and ARMY

Dominique Brigham

“The impact of supergroup BTS is presently being felt around the globe. Smashing records left and right, BTS has claimed an irrevocable and indelible space in the public consciousness as the face of K-pop and Korean soft power. Just as powerful is their legion of fans, known as ARMY. Unlike most common perceptions of fandoms, ARMY outstrips expectations of participatory culture by actively organizing itself across the globe according to the core message of BTS: love yourself.

It is this extramural, united sense of purpose that makes BTS and ARMY unique. Music groups and the publicity that surrounds them are often steered by the entertainment companies that initiate and drive their popularity. BTS is unique in that the reach of ARMY is unequivocally farther, faster, and fiercer than what BigHit Labels can wield on its own. As a result, ARMY has had just as much of a hand in crafting the image of BTS as the members themselves, if not more, through social media and activism.

This dissertation would explore how fandom and group intertwine to craft the coherent, unified mythos that is BTS and ARMY. The two are inextricable, co-dependent on one another to survive and thrive in a way that few other musical groups — K-pop or otherwise — have ever emulated. The Mikrokosmos (so-titled after a BTS song written directly to ARMY) coalesces as a result of both meticulous effort and ardent devotion to the concept, execution, and interrogation of what it means to be BTS and to be ARMY.”

I am currently in the process of formulating this proposal, selecting my objects of analysis, and deciding on methodology of research. I would appreciate any suggestions regarding source material (particularly as it relates to the smeraldo flower and its various appearances), as well as recommendations as to major contributors to fan theory regarding the BU.

All feedback is helpful! Diving into mythological thinking will be a first for me and I want to position BTS/ARMY appropriately. My academic background is not one founded on interviews or quantitative research, so any help in laying out a methodology for that would also be wonderful.

View the full (very much) WIP proposal here

About the Author

Dominique Brigham earned her MA in Cultural Analysis at the University of Amsterdam, researching the translation and adaptation of “Pokémon: The First Movie” from Japan to the United States in the 1990s, and has previously presented on the cultural impact of video games. Currently she works as a product marketer for the medtech company Siilo, where she writes on how healthcare professionals utilize communication technology in clinical settings. She is also preparing a PhD proposal on BTS, the ARMY fandom, their (a)political natures, and their joint and disparate impacts on global culture and social media activism.

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A Mikrokosmos of Hearts: Art Project Exploring Perception of Jimin as a Dancer

Zuza Resides

Introduction

I’m obsessed with movement. Movement, being one of the most vivid manifestations of a life force, possesses inexplicable beauty and has been fascinating me ever since I went to study traditional animation at college. Due to the natural development of events, I ended up focusing on dance as a representation of movement and I have been exploring my feelings and perception of both dance in general and specific styles, dancers, and performances.

Recently, I’ve been heavily focusing on Jimin as one of the dancers I wanted to portray but I was growing nervous about one problem – I no longer portray just “a dancer” that caught my eye. I do portray Jimin the dancer but due to my becoming his fan, my perception includes my experience with his public persona and all the feelings related to that. And maybe it’d be wasteful not to utilise this situation in a better way than just including him in a long list of performers I wanted to react to. Even before reaching this phase, I would often ask myself: “Is what I see in him as a dancer the same as what others see? How is it different? Why?”

I grew up very curious about the topic of perception and how subjective it is. What is the real truth? What is reality? Maybe the portrayal that is the closest to the true “JM the dancer” is not about one person grasping the movement accurately. Maybe it’s the summary of all our experiences and feelings. And this has become the starting point for my project.

Abstract

An art project to explore the difference in perception of Jimin as a dancer by one artist creating regularly an artwork to which participants could consequently react freely, in any way they choose.

Philosophy – A Mikrokosmos of Hearts

Lately, I’ve been challenging more and more the concept of universal truth and its presumed trait of objectivity, especially in relation to artwork where subjective perception plays the main role. Instead of focusing on the layers of our perception we share, I’m interested in where we differ. Each of us is a world on its own and that’s something incredible and miraculous. My own approach to artistic creation has been heavily influenced by British author Neil Gaiman, who made me realise that it should be about a dialogue and that the one thing you have that no one else does is yourself. My reacting to Jimin as a dancer is something only I can contribute — and equally, others have their own truth there and it’s also only theirs, something unique to them.

Consequently, I’m even more invested in the emotional part of the whole artistic process and I’m aiming at putting my heart there to a point where the technical part is secondary to me. What lies in my heart is the point of my artwork while the technical part is the language I use. I do not omit the technical part but I seek how to make the best compromise between the craft and my “truth”. Another work that influenced me a lot was a book by Chinese painter Shi Tao called Sayings on Paintings from Monk Bitter Gourd. While the book draws on Zen Buddhism as Shi Tao allegedly tried to use his art to translate the philosophy to people, for me it was more about the way it made me think about visual representation of truth in relation to a mind.

To explain, my hand – my technical skill – should be in tune with my spirit and my spirit should be awoken to the universe in order to grasp on the truth and express in my artwork. For me, my brush should be an extension of my heart and hence my heart should make the moves, not my hand.

That however means that if the brush is led by a different heart, the truth will be the one that belongs to this other heart. And, going back to what I said previously, the truth is in the dialogue these hearts share together.

Since this project is related to BTS, I decided to feature the term Mikrokosmos in the name, since I think the song Mikrokosmos beautifully corresponds with the idea.

Why Jimin

Jimin has been a long time present in my art project on dance as a dancer simply due to inspiring me. Some people may search for deeper meaning behind him inspiring me, but that’d actually be false: he’s inspiring me as a dancer because his artistic expression speaks to me very strongly in regards to the topic of my artwork. In fact, no other dancer currently inspires me as much as he does.

I can’t really include all the members of BTS in the project because while I like them and they’re also brilliant in their own artistic expression, it would make the topic too complicated for me. Also, the level of inspiration I could draw from them in relation to my own artistic projects (dance being the topic, does not balance the downhills of such approach.

Why ARMY

Perhaps a better explanation to the question “Why Jimin?”, however, is “Why ARMY?” When I realised I was no longer able to keep detached from Jimin as a subject of my artwork, I kept thinking how to work with this situation and I thought about it as a problem, a handicap for a long time. But as they say about many issues that may be the source of our insecurities, why not make it the main point instead? There is probably no other dancer that inspires me whom I could try to use as a subject to explore the topic of perception and the reason is simple – no other dancer on my list has such a dedicated and well organised following. Originally, I was a bit unhappy about portraying someone who’s being portrayed by numerous people but then it came to me that the fact so many people are focusing on him is the unique opportunity that deserves it’s own attention.

And if we have such an opportunity, we should use it.

When people react to my artwork, it comes from two places – a person reacting to my artwork with the knowledge of the subject or a person reacting without the knowledge. When ARMY react to my artwork on twt, it’s because they know the subject and so instead of evaluating the technical part of the picture, it seems to me they’re more focused on whether it’s Jimin for them or isn’t. When my family and friends, who generally don’t know Jimin, react to my artwork, they evaluate what does it make them feel, yes, but as a picture with no other meaning than “a dancer”. A friend of mine even thought I was drawing it out of my head. That was making me more and more frustrated as I wasn’t really interested to know whether the picture in question pleased their eyes and soul, I wanted to know whether I grasped the essence of Jimin the dancer. But they could not say, they did not have their own perception of Jimin to compare it to. ARMY does. Each of us have our own perception, our experience there. And that’s incredibly valuable.

Objectives

I’d like to confront my perception with others, meaning to explore how perception of a person, in this instance me, fits to the perception of others. I don’t plan to draw any concrete conclusions, it’s not a scientific work but an art project. Instead of numbers and stats and analyses, I’d like to present practical experience and instead of making it divisive, as perception may seem, I’d try to focus on the inclusiveness of diversity. Would you change a line? Would you search different colours? Is this what you feel? Everyone would be invited to make their own experience and perhaps challenge their own ideas about perception and objective truth.

Methodology: How would I go about this?

In the duration of one year, I’d periodically share artwork based on JM’s dancing and I’d invite fans to freely react to this artwork: reaction could take the form of both verbal commentary and interference with the artwork itself. Those interested, would be free to demonstrate visually what they’d change using my artwork as the basis. In other words, they could delete a line and draw a different one, change colours – whatever they’d felt didn’t sit right with them. There would be no restrictions about the nature of the artwork I’d deliver, except for the fact, it would be a form of fine art. On my account, I still keep realistic to an extent but I’d like to leap into more abstract expression too.

After the year, I’d conclude the project by reflecting on it – possibly by creating one more artwork where I’d try to somehow address the opinions of others. All artwork and commentary, including the input of others, would be consequently published on a website in form of a gallery and everyone would have the opportunity to visit and think for themselves about the topic of perception, commenting on their experience would be very welcomed too.

Problems

There are some issues which I am still not too sure how to go about.

Firstly, people joining in may be from the same background and hence their perception may be rather similar. I don’t have a solution on this, since it isn’t about science and instead of inviting specific people, I’d like to have people join by themselves on their own free will.

Another problem is that people are often used to accepting ideas instead of questioning them, especially with things that seem to require some specific technical skill and I fear people being scared to express themselves freely. I mean, they might feel they are not in a position to interfere with my artwork if they are not artists. But my artwork doesn’t focus on the technical part, the point is within emotional experience and general perception.

When thinking about this problem, I thought it could be partially solved by hosting actual real life events, where a group of volunteers would react to a particular artwork together and could feel more comfortable to share their own visions. However, in the current global situation, this may not be exactly possible. If everything was safe and a tour could take a place, I’d try to use the opportunity of many fans getting together to organise such events but right now, I’m not sure as it seems too complicated to do it online right now.

Interested in participating?

What/Who I seek: A technical savvy ARMYs who’d be interested in helping me with the whole process, including establishment of the website volunteers, who could eventually help with hosting any organised event (but this part depends on the development of global situation) All ARMYs interested in participating as reactors to my artwork. General feedback on this idea is welcomed too

About the author

For several years, I’ve been working on a long term art project called All the Dance in My World which aims to explore my perception and feelings related to dance as both the audience and the dancer as well (I am not really a dancer, but I do learn contemporary dance and have some little experience with other styles and approaches too). Having a full time job in the media, I currently create artwork in my free time, although it’s still the most important activity for me. I never finished art college where I studied traditional animation and due to mental issues I got behind all my other artist friends. However, art makes me the most happy and so, I’ve returned to it after a few years and instead of thinking about the issues around career and livelihood in relation to art, I’m not focusing on the art itself. Due to complicated reasons, the only artwork of mine which is publicly available is featured on my Twitter account @ResidesIn. Since the account is dedicated to Jimin, BTS and issues related to mental health, it doesn’t really feature any other artwork.

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#BTSSyllabus

Dr.Candace Epps-Robertson

and Dr. Jin Ha Lee

The #BTSSyllabus project is an effort to collect and maintain resources related to BTS. This project will act as a repository to help those interested in teaching, writing, and researching about BTS.

About the Authors

Dr. Candace Epps-Robertson is an Assistant Professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Director of the Writing in the Disciplines Program. Her research interests include cultural rhetoric, literacy, citizenship, participatory archives, and social justice.

Dr. Jin Ha Lee is an Associate Professor at the University of Washington and Director of the GAMER Research Group. Her research areas include music, game, and multimedia information seeking and retrieval, and information organization and access. Both are working on several projects related to BTS and ARMY.

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Language Structure and the Rapline’s Poetic Styles

Guillermina V

The BTS Rapline have unique poetic styles that shine through all their work. But what makes each style unique? One possible answer lies through the lens of language structure. In their poetics, Namjoon, Yoongi, and Hobi each focus on one level of the language: sound, construction, meaning, delivery. In this work we explain this structural aspects of languages and analyze how each member of BTS’s rapline builds his verses on a different level.

About the Author

Guillermina is a college professor, Literature student, former ballerina, and fandom grandma from Argentina.

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Artists for Healing: Anxieties of Youth, Storytelling, and Healing through BTS

Courtney Lazore

Introduction

Although many attempt to explain BTS’ surge in global popularity by pointing to their social media use, grassroots fandom, and performance skill, there is a clear lack of focus on the importance of the storytelling found in BTS’ work, as well as the underlying influences from literature and psychology. If we are to truly understand BTS and their significance within pop culture and the global music scene, it is necessary to examine BTS’ narrative and its effects more deeply.

Throughout BTS’ conceptual journey from 2013 to the present, trials and anxieties are brought to the surface, contemplated, and resolved. Within their lyrics, music videos, and fictional Bangtan Universe, universal themes of wandering youth, school, temptation, love, and self-development are amplified by related themes seen in works of literature and psychology. These influences help BTS tap into a form of bibliotherapy, a creative art therapy that uses literature to promote healing. A close examination of BTS’ work reveals how BTS engages its fanbase with a cohesive cross-platform narrative that effectively helps fans explore their own anxieties and learn to heal.

This presentation, originally given at the BTS Global Interdisciplinary Conference at Kingston University in January 2020, interprets BTS’ conceptual narratives and themes within the context of works by Hermann Hesse, Carl Jung, and Erich Fromm. I also apply the theory of bibliotherapy to explain how BTS’ narrative succeeds in helping fans cope with anxieties and pain. To illustrate impacts on the fandom, I include data from a global fandom survey I conducted for this project. 

Research Surveys

The research survey used for this presentation has been opened for a second round. If you’d like to participate, please go here: https://rebrand.ly/btsandhealing 

Presentation Survey

The survey is completely anonymous, and you can participate even if you participated in the first round! The data are being kept separately. 

Indepth Fandom Survey

Additionally, if you’re interested in a more in-depth fandom survey that covers a wide range of topics, please visit: https://rebrand.ly/btsgeneralsurvey 

Both surveys will be used to inform my future projects. Thank you for your participation! 

About the Author

Courtney Lazore is a writer/editor with special interests in BTS, Korean culture and history, language, gaming, and fan studies. She received her BA in History with a focus on East Asia and her MA in English before completing a four-year Korean language program. She currently serves as an editor for Revolutionaries Press and is a team member of @BangtanScholars. You can find her on her website, TheBTSEffect.com, where she posts writings and projects related to BTS and guides to the Bangtan Universe and HYYH Notes, as well as on Twitter @writer_court.

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The use of color on the Map of the Soul video clips: Persona, Shadow and Ego

Thais Stephannie Freitas Silva

Introduction

This project was originally presented in a production design class for college. The purpose of the project was to study and analyze the color palette of a piece of media. I decided to analyze the use of colors in all three of the Map of the Soul video clips since they complement and reference each other. For that, I had to study what is the Map of the Soul theory and how color psychology can be applied to it. 

What is the Map of The Soul?

According to the psychiatrist Carl Jung, a person’s personality is made of several parts that may act together and influence each other. They are the animus/anima, the ego, the persona, the self, and the shadow. For their last two albums, BTS decided to work with three of these concepts: the persona, the shadow, and the ego. One’s persona can be interpreted as the masks one uses when dealing with the exterior world. How a person behaves at their job or when speaking with a stranger is not their true self, but a mask, since they are restricted by social rules and the desire to be accepted. The shadow is almost the opposite of the persona, as it is everything one tries to hyde or deny about themselves. It is the most emotional and irrational part of the psyche. Finally, the ego is the center of our consciousness, it links the persona and the shadow and is responsible for our sense of identity. All of these aspects together combine into the map of our souls.

What is color psychology and how is it applied to audiovisual media?

Color psychology studies how hues can affect human behavior and emotions. It is widely used on audiovisual media since it helps in telling a story without the viewers being completely aware of it. One can use colors to code a character or evoke emotions from spectators. Lighting, scenery, props, and costumes of a media (may it be a movie, series, or video clips) are all thought out to fit a specific color scheme.

Analysis

How is color used in the Map of the Soul videos?

Persona

In the first scene of the Persona video clip, RM is wearing neutral colors (beige, white, dark blue) in a neutral environment (mostly white and light brown). Neutral colors such as these do not evoke strong emotions and tend to be perceived as bland and tame, adjectives that can also be applied to one’s persona. This part of one’s psyche will do everything it can to follow society’s expectations, and that includes being harmless and fitting in, becoming neutral. The color palette starts to change in the following scenes. In the one with the mirrors, in which the infinite RMs represent his infinite personas, the neutral colors of his clothes are maintained as warmer tones begin to appear in the background. His persona is starting to be influenced by something else. The next time we see the schoolroom from the beginning of the video, it is destroyed and with strong red and blue lights on the background. RM’s neutral clothing is substituted by a colorful coat and neon green shoes. His persona is not in that room anymore, we can see the person behind the mask and the different aspects of his personality. With red representing his shadow, and blue and green, his ego. In the last scene of the video, RM is back to the neutral hues. He wears a full white outfit, but there are touches of color on him and the background. He wears a green necklace and stands in front of a coral fabric. The shades are not as aggressive as in the previous scenes, indicating that as much as his persona is still a huge part of him, he is letting his shadow and ego show a little.

Shadow

The video for Shadow uses darker colors than the one for Persona. In the first frame of it, Suga and six other men are wearing entirely black ensembles in a corridor with deep red-tinted walls and a blue carpet. These are the same colors used in RM’s destroyed classroom and indicate that we are seeing his true self. However, this Suga is quickly hidden behind a mirror and replaced by one wearing beige clothes, his persona has taken over.  In the next scenes, we continue to see Suga’s persona but now he’s in green and blue environments. In the video clips, green and blue are the colors associated with the ego, the use of so many scenes with them show that Suga is more in contact with his ego than RM, but that relationship has not reached a balance because he has hidden a fundamental part of it: his shadow. In the last sections of the video, Suga’s shadow reappears and red becomes the main color of the lighting scheme. This time, his shadow takes over and the instability of the persona/shadow/ego relationship breaks his ego.

Ego

Ego’s video clip is much more colorful and uses many more scenarios than the two previous videos. This indicates that J-Hope is not trapped by any aspect of his personality and is able to live freely. Neutral tones, reds, greens, and blues all appear harmoniously but with the addition of a new constant color: yellow. Bright yellow is often associated with the Sun, with happiness and exuberance. By mixing yellow and blue (another constant color in the video) we get a solid green shade, different from the ones shown in the videos of Persona and Shadow, which tended more to blue or even neon.  This shade of green often represents nature and balance, which is the state in which J-Hope finds himself. In the latter part of the video, he is in a green room looking at himself in the mirror, there are no multiples of him or cracked images. He is able to face himself and accept him as he is. Right after that, J-Hope enters a dark room in which the lights keep changing from red to green, and through its door, we can see the same coral color used in the Persona video clip. J-Hope is able to find harmony between his persona, his shadow, and his ego.

Conclusion

As shown by this analysis, colors have an extremely important role in telling a story. The art and production design crew of the three videos did an excellent job in choosing the colors and incorporating them in a way that enhances and connects the narratives without compromising each video clip’s visual identity. Each media can be appreciated individually, but seeing them together and understanding their connections makes the experience more fulfilling as we notice the thought and care that was put in each of them.

About the Author

Thais Stephannie Freitas Silva is an EFL teacher in Brazil and is currently majoring in cinema.

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Singing Singularity: BTS in making their liminal mark on the map of music’s categories

Tannishtha Bhattacharjee

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Abstract: BTS rebrands itself as liminal to the boundaries of ‘pop’ music. This presentation will examine the politics of this liminality. I examine how BTS transcends, transgresses and reinvents these categories in their unique negotiation of borders in music. These negotiations animate the tension that Arjun Appadurai pointed out between the commodity potential and the singularity of an object in postmodern commodity culture. Let us discover how BTS presents interesting insights into this tension through the unique modality of music and self-image.[each aspect of this paper is being developed as standalone separate publications]

BTS concert picture with lyrics of IDOL, “You can call me artist (artist) , You can call me idol (idol)”
Picture Source : BTS, Official Facebook Page | Lyrics from IDOL Music Video

While the song itself is about the struggles of being a public figure and musician, these introductory lines are very telling of an inherent tension that BTS has faced against the fortresses the genres, and categories in music have built over time. The categories ‘idol,’ ‘musician’ and ‘artist’ are all coordinates in a wide discursive range of South Korean and the larger musical realm. Each category comes with its own set of structures, norms and practices as much as each category has its own perks. The strict boundaries of these categorisations give rise to competing claims for benefits and concessions, as well as for awards and recognition. When BTS received the fifth-class Hwagwan Order of Cultural Merit in 2018, it raised many questions and fans speculated the possibility of exemption from military service as well. However, in response to a popular query regarding the same, the government assured that allowing a ‘k-pop’ band to exempted would mean challenging the long-standing distinction between ‘classical’ music and ‘popular’ music.  For BTS the longest challenge has also been to navigate the larger orders of music as a global artist, where locationally specific categorisations like k-pop fail to contend or be absorbed by universal categories of music like ‘pop’. The question that these instances present to us, is about the nature of the discourses that sustain the borders of these categories, and how these discourses can be transcended or transgressed by genre fusions, collaborative work and significantly smart strategies of marketing by a band like BTS.

Questin set 1: Is BTS’s music art or pop culture? Are these mutually exclusive categories? What is the difference between the two? Or what does discourse dictate the difference is? What kind of qualitative parameters apply to marking these distinctions?

The ‘pop’ in pop music stands for popular culture. In other words, culture consumed by masses is what constitutes popular culture. Popularity attests to mass appeal of a particular commodity. The imagination of ‘art’ as form of a ‘high culture’ with its own niche refutes being collated with that which everyone enjoys. Pierre Bourdieu in his landmark work Distinction theorizes the idea of cultural capital, where cultural forms are appropriated to negotiate symbolic parameters of ‘class’ identity. Therefore, class positions, and their borders are protected by limited access to the category of ‘high culture’. Therefore, ‘pop’ culture barely ever shares the symbolic prestige associated with ‘art’. Therefore, ‘artistic’ forms of music like classical or orchestral, or even opera music resist being associated with anything near ‘pop’ music. 

These boundaries are products of postmodern discourse, as is the demarcation between folk culture and the rest of culture. As products of discourse, those invested in very vehemently protect these boundaries thus leading to relegation of any genre of ‘pop’ music outside of this hierarchy, regardless of the nuanced compositions and musical complexity they boast of. Gramsci, the 20th century Italian Marxist has taken great lengths to theorize the ‘cultural hegemony’ that the ruling classes enjoy. Cultural Hegemony reaffirms the access and ability to dictate the direction and flow of capital and discourse by maintaining the boundedness of the category of ‘traditional intellectuals’. This category here would be inhabited by bodies like the Recording Academy, classical musician and even the South Korean cultural wing of the government. Their positions as ‘experts’ of music cannot be challenged by any composition that fits the ‘pop’ genre and reach like BTS’ does.

Quote: One thing cannot be a commodity, for once it is a commodity, something is lost about its singularity. The minute you put a thing—be it a piece of clothing or food, a tool, a person, anything — on the market, you have to believe there could be others of its kind. Arjun Appadurai

Thus, here is where Appadurai’s perception of the tension between ‘singularity’ and commodity-ness comes into full view. ‘Art’ or ‘high culture’ seeks to be a commodity, as an object that can enter the market, but actively resists ‘popularity’ so as to not lose its ‘singularity’. Where does this leave works by bands like BTS? How are they aware of the politics of recognition and prestige attached to these processes?

“…the world of art is increasingly tied to the related worlds of collection, criticism, auction, appraisal, and commodification.” (21, Appadurai, “The Thing Itself”, Public Culture)

Why is something that is popular and mass-consumed difficult in being acknowledged as ‘art’? Who designates something as ‘art’? What kind of cultural hegemony (in the Gramscian way) applies to these categorisations?
How can a commodity navigate capitalist markets while securing categorisations in both these arenas? How can the tension and contradiction between a product’s ‘singularity’ and its ‘mass consumption’ be understood?

Appadurai here refers to art in terms of paintings, sculptures and art installations. However, what this indicates is that music, like art, is but an abstract objective product of labour. However, what makes the music meaningful is the worlds of discourses, and regimes of value that it engages with. The popularity and mass consumed music of BTS also has another arena of politics to engage with, which determines its location on the map of art and music. In addition to the set of politics between pop and high culture, BTS also faces a double relegation being from the non-West. The tag of k-pop, whether or not they proudly embrace it, brings with it a significantly polarized world of politics in the global domain of music. The cultural hegemony in the world of music is dominated by the West, as in most other things, wherein the category of ‘pop’ is sanitised of the non-Western elements that could possibly occupy it, for example BTS. Despite the widespread popularity of BTS even in the West, its assimilation into the category of ‘pop’ still registers resistance from the doyens of music’s market in the West, like the Recording Academy, and the various radio stations. So vehement is this attempt to distance non-Western elements regardless of their popularity, from the Eurocentric, English speaking nature of ‘pop’ music, that Western award shows came up with a new category to register the popularity of bands like BTS, that of ‘k-pop’. 

Most importantly, how does BTS steer through these tensions to carve a niche out for themselves in the wide map of music? How do their efforts and strategies reflect in their marketing models? How do these efforts converse with larger politics of ethnicity, nationality, and east-west in the domain of music?

BTS over the years has produced some magnificent quality of music. However, their music is not abstract form of notes arranged together in melodious orders. BTS seems to deploy very consciously some strategies to navigate the politics and limits of all these categories in the world of music. Some of the songs by them registers their frustration with the regimes that limited them in their early career. Take Airplane pt. 2(from Love Yourself:Tear) for example, ‘It’s time to console you who couldn’t make it, I’ll give you the flight points as a present.’ Not only do they routinely transgress, transcend and challenge normative generic boundaries of music, and k-pop as a system, structure and phenomenon. But they also reinvent modality of music entirely that posits their brand as a composite of elements beyond music. This model of marketing is significantly powerful, and it, therefore, becomes worth our time to pay academic attention to how exactly BTS seeks to establish its liminal self. As most people since MAP OF THE SOUL: 7 have been, ‘the genre is BTS’. This statement attests to BTS’ productions as having transcended the borders of music and makes forays into art, culture and literature all at the same time. I will briefly examine four such strategies deployed by BTS in manufacturing this liminal brilliance, all of which work reinforcingly in a coalition with each other. 

A group of people posing for the camera Description automatically generatedAs an ARMY, I can safely vouch for how many of us dwell in the starlit galaxies that BTS has gifted us with. These metaphors of pure poetic genius serve much more than lyrical melodical purposes. 

“I was here
You were the one that made your way to me; I do believe your galaxy
I want to listen to your melody; Your stars in the Milky Way
Don’t forget that I found you anyways; At the end of my despair”
(Magic Shop, Love Yourself: Tear, 2018, BTS)

The ‘galaxy’ based metaphors institute powerful anchors of ontological imaginations that ARMY evocatively engage with. Materially speaking, these ‘galaxies’ find their realities in closed ARMY+BTS spaces like Weverse. The suggestion that a universal predicament of precarity haunts this generation irrespective of ‘who you are, where you’re from, your skin colour, gender identity’ is a significant one in constructing an alternate mode of ontological belonging. Their music, the  para-social interactions and platforms, the reality shows, and the behind-the-scenes series like Bring The Soul, Break the Silence and Burn the Stage are all significantly formulative of these alter-ontologies, and enable an imaginary in their audience that transcends their material location like borders of nations, an also that of music and its role in everyday life.

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These alter-ontologies and songs like Spring Day, Mikrokosmos and Love Yourself, the whole Love Yourself era in particular witnessed the emergence of BTS as a master-symbol of consolation and therapy. Rooted in the neoliberal discourse of care, and mental-health, BTS transformed the meaning and purpose of music, putting its formidable galactic metaphors to care-giving affective labour. Launching multiple platforms, modes of ‘loving’ the self and others, BTS carved a niche for itself, as being no longer just the bulletproof boy scouts for the youth facing social norms. But they also donned the armour of being a caregiving superhero Anpanman, whose quotidian everyday-ness accentuated the alter-ontological imaginary while transforming the market of music into incorporating questions of material and emotional utility. ‘even if it takes up all my strength I will be sure that I stay by your side.’ (Anpanman, Love Yourself: Tear, BTS) The marketing model, which included their collaborations with UNICEF on their end-violence campaign demarcates itself from celebrity ambassadorships that UN often engaged with on many counts. Not only has ARMY turned out to be a formidable force of capital through the #MatchAMillion campaign in the light of Black Lives Matter movement. But ARMY also instituted some organisational foundations of the fandom, wherein para-social spaces exhibit potential for affective exchanges or trauma, pain, suffering, and depression. Across several interviews, ARMYs (including me) cannot stop recounting how powerful BTS’ meaningful engagement with issues of mental health, social norms and regimental paradigms of success has been to their own affective states. BTS, in this way, went beyond the usual affective kin-relationship that k-pop idol culture was used to promoting. They took that model a step further by establishing a wide-ranging environment with varying level of profit generation (some coming entirely for free to its users) dedicated to the cause of affective labour.

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BTS also redefined the limits of music as a form of expression by mounting their melodic genius within a web of literary canvas. BTS’ music from the HYYH era has endorsed rooting their message in a wider world of narrative. The narrative function of their music is also reflected in their music videos, and in the narrative of the self that dominated the subsequent eras like Love Yourself and Map of the Soul. Narrativising experience and emotion sustained the affective labour and alter-ontologies, as the Bangtan Universe propagated an alter-ontology of the members themselves. A deeper dive into the psycho-social philosophies of the soul, ego, and persona took forward the autobiographical element in their music. These narrativisations enabled a deeper engagement from their audience into the vectors of emotion that their songs sought to project, as extensive networks of fan-made fictional universes sprang up from the base laid by BTS’ Save Me webtoon and the novel The Most Beautiful Moment in Life : the Notes. Narrativising as a marketing strategy perhaps reflects best in the way BT21, the collaboration with Line Friends, shaped up. Each domain of narrative, be it the music videos, webtoon, novel, or the BT21 web-series mirroring the members’ own affective states and personalities reinforced the imaginaries that their vision of using music as affective labour sought to install. This also propelled their music to induce creative engagement from their audiences and engage them affectively. The enormous potential of the several narratives that are being cultivated since the Run era will soon serve more purpose with the forthcoming album in October being anticipated through the release of The Most Beautiful Moment in Life : the Notes. pt 2. Marketing models by Big Hit and BTS, therefore, dialectically engage the literary, musical and artistic forms through narratives thereby, transcending yet again the normative domains of pop music. 

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BTS’s last album sought to introduce a new dimension to their pre-release promotion. The whole project of Connect, BTS not only reinforces this collectively precarious alter-ontology that the HYYH era introduced, but also incorporates another non-popular cultural form, ‘art’ as a part of the assemblage that BTS represents. Projects like Aerocene, Catharsis, Rituals of Care not only invoke the Posthuman and Post-Anthropocene undertones that has dominated the sphere of art in recent times, thereby signalling a significant ontological reordering that echoes with some of BTS’ own metaphors. They also map BTS’ musical enterprise as a part of a larger framework of visual and performative art. This could be both an acknowledgement of the wide range of interest of its audience-base, ARMY, as well, as BTS’ own strategy to exceed the locationally specific anchors of the tag ‘k-pop’.  By involving far reaching coordinates of artistic voices with universalist traces, BTS seems to seek an entry into a larger circulating market of art and culture. The increasing significance of art installations as a part of BTS’ performance universe also signals a new vision of sonic sociality. The diverse range of BTS’ musicality from Latin to Korean traditional sounds, is mirrored in the diverse anchors to the conceptual frameworks of their albums as expressed by their collaboration with artists across the planet and genres. Art-installations have always been a part of performances through stage designs. 

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However, pushing the aesthetic flagging these undertones in music videos, BTS sought to push their strategy to establish their singularity within the regime of ‘pop’ through their performances as well. 

“7 billion different worlds
Shining with 7 billion lights
7 billion lives, the city’s night view… 
Inside those pitch black nights
The lights we saw in each other
Were saying the same thing
Starlight that shines brighter in the darkest night” (Mikrokosmos, Map of the Soul: Persona, 2019, BTS)

The live performance of Mikrokosmos at Melon Music Awards, 2019 brough together these elements of BTS’ singularity to a spectacular climax. The galactic metaphor of Mikrokosmos found a material formin the visual treat at an event that was not even BTS’ own concert. The alter-ontological imaginary, the assemblage of visual art-installation as stage décor and audience luminosity at this performance, along with affectively consoling lyrics of the song, brought the whole narrative of BTS’ strategy to establish and hold their hegemonic singularity to a pinnacle. The performance of Mikrokosmos routinely, even at concerts, upheld the scale and the representation aesthetic that Connect, BTS was seeking to articulate. The mortality and body of the artist in a live performance, wove into the fabric of the artwork and the consciousnesses of its audience in a significantly pervasive way. However, this live performance embedded the impermanent spectacularism of this assemblage through its grandiose fabric, thus sealing the singularity of BTS as a commodity in the impermanence of the performative sociality.

Putting these processes together, it truly becomes more pertinent to pay attention to the nuanced strategies that BTS has deployed in staging their critiques, and silently evading the limits placed on them by regimes of discourse in music and politics. The weaving together of narratives, metaphors, performances and cultural forms as entrenched in BTS’ long career reflects their intelligent ways of delving into the dialectic of singularity and mass appeal by transgressing normative boundaries of music and culture. Given their eclectic range, BTS is sure to surprise fans in forthcoming albums and projects.

About the Author

Tannishtha Bhattacharjee. Tannishtha is a PhD student of history at the University of California, Santa Barbara. She holds MPhil, MA and BA Honours degrees in History from the University of Delhi, India. She specialises in Marxist histories, cultural history, and histories from below. Her life as an ARMY and an academic often collide in producing a deeply analytical and passionate investment in BTS’s work.

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