Shattering the camera lens: behind the picture-perfect life of the idol
- Isa Zyby
- Mar 3, 2024
- 7 min read
This is the second part of my K-pop thread. For the previous one, "Why K-pop will fail", check gallery.
Let's get something straight: K-pop is a mess. Of fans, of cultures, of contradictions, of values - you name it. It is based on contradictions, like cancel culture vs over appreciation, and behaves in constant dichotomy. Despite all this agglomeration, K-pop is represented by fandom, which, in turn, is split into hundreds of little fandoms, based on groups, idols or companies. All groups consist, of course, of members, and usually each member has their own fan base.
Around 3 years ago, I got really into a particular boy group, called NCT, which held (back then) an amazing number of 23 members. Each fan base had their own (un)official names: Taeyong's fans were called Tyongf (Taeyong's friends), while Johnny's fans were called Johfam (Johnny's family). Lucas had one of the biggest fan bases, named Lumis. They supported Lucas in his every move, every promotion and every comeback, and the fan base grew exponentially thanks to Lucas's rise in K-pop popularity. He even debuted in SuperM, a 7-member supergroup which only included the best of the best from his company. He seemed absolutely unstoppable: more fans, more success, more recognition. He was living the dream.
Big K-pop blogs and sites, such as Koreaboo, Soompi and Allkpop, kept track of his every move, posting all details possible on his activities. These sites had an extremely large audience, as they shared up-to-date, sometimes exclusive information that shocked and amazed at the same time. They got this information from all around the web, from Reddit and Quora to Chinese forums. Any small misunderstanding could be amplified by these sites, and the audience would be fed with loads of articles that put fuel on fire. Most of the time, the main idea got lost in all this amplification, and sometimes the reason behind all the fuss was totally erased and forgotten. The audience didn't want facts, they wanted factual fiction. This is a perfect summary of how media can affect the transmission of news: see the facts, but stay for the drama.
On August 23, 2021, Koreaboo posted an article that caught on fire almost instantly.
It described a series of serious allegations brought up against Lucas, how he took advantage of women and badmouthed his other members. Lumis immediately came to the rescue, trying hard to provide evidence for why these allegations were false, and, sure enough, some of those accusations were debunked, either because of timestamps that didn't match or events that couldn't logically follow one another. But, news spread like wildfire: at that point, everyone had heard of Lucas's scandal - yes, it was a scandal by that time, not just a short-fused fight - and began doing their own part. Some looked at the allegations and tried to decide whether they were true or not; others took to the apps, like Twitter and Instagram, and voiced either their support for or disappointment in Lucas. But, a considerable percentage remained neutral, and of that percentage, a big part was made up of Lumis. Why was that?
As a Lumi during that period of time, I have to say that I initially sided with Lucas, because I just didn't believe the allegations were real, even more so when so many of them were debunked. But I started looking on more sources. I searched on Google, I chatted on Instagram and saw YouTube clips, and I became unconvinced. I couldn't side with Lucas anymore, because the most important accusations weren't proven false, but I couldn't not be on his side, because I'd have felt like I was betraying him. I settled on staying neutral.
Waves of news came and went, but I stood my ground. I wouldn't budge to either side, and it was the best decision I made. Lucas entered a 6-month hiatus, during which he didn't participate in any activities, and, 2 years later on May 10, 2023, his company announced that he would depart from NCT and all its subunits. Small heartbreak followed, but then quick self realization: if those un-debunked allegations really were false, all of this could've been cleared up 2 years ago... So, I gave my strong will a pat on the back for not siding with any part, and I made peace with the though of Lucas being a past member of NCT.
Radio silence from Lucas and other parties affiliated with him, until a surprise documentary released on YouTube on his official channel (which hadn't existed prior to that day), on February 24, 2024. That came as a wrecking ball in the community, both NCT's and K-pop's - Lucas, out of the blue, had a whole documentary dedicated to, well, him. It consists of two parts: Freeze and Unfreeze. The former talks about his experience during the months-long break, and his own tumult of emotions. The latter, on the other hand, shows how, during that time period, he reconnected with his loved ones, and realized what truly mattered in his life.
Now, this is specifically what drives Lumis nowadays: these excerpts of Lucas, these own bits and pieces of what he remains. But what I understand from this two-part documentary is that ideas can be exaggerated. I stated before that the media can amplify anything, but that doesn't mean it can only amplify negatively. What I've seen in the documentary is that amplification is powerful and versatile, and can shape anyone into anything.
During the 40-minute documentary, Lucas is seen as deeply affected by the incidents that took place and all the backlash he got from the media. He begins to share personal, private stories on his time spent in hiatus, and how he felt both regret and disappointment: he'd had no control over his actions and hadn't realized their consequences. The message these videos hint at is that Lucas is human, and he is allowed to make mistakes, too; his status shouldn't amplify this condition just because he is an idol, and the media isn't allowed to do so, either.
Yet, upon close watching, I realized that, much like Kim K's "Selfish", the border between public and private was not only blurred, but diluted. Lucas's personal feelings were put on open display for anyone to see, comment on and discuss. His own tumult of emotions turned into an exhibition of sentiments, which anyone had access to. And, to top it all off, this whole documentary was just the prequel to a comeback announcement. So, really, were these videos a glimpse into Lucas's life, or were they a commercialization of his self, something to profit off of?
Let's look more closely at the details in this documentary.
Firstly, the camerawork and lighting. All of the shots are focused on Lucas, and there are too little frameworks in which he isn't center. The background is almost always grey, sometimes with hints of other colors, but none that could polarize it. This paints a somber, solemn atmosphere, one of seriousness - these documentary isn't joking around.
Secondly, the setting. The locations are aimed to be as personal as possible: his own apartment, the gym to which he goes and his favorite childhood restaurant. He spends almost the whole documentary either alone or talking to someone to which he's close, like his manager or his best friends. These all give more of a closed, private feeling to the documentary, that we get to see excerpts of his life without the filter of the idol life.
Thirdly, the content. I would like to highlight two fragments, the ones which I think are the most important.
A) How he described himself in the past: a reckless, ignorant person.
In these particular frames, I want to highlight why Lucas's downfall was so big. He is a foreigner, coming from Hong Kong, and when he first arrived in South Korea, he needed cultural validation. His presence as a foreigner wasn't widely accepted, so he would've needed that extra boost in order to assure his place in society as valid. But, Lucas skipped that step. He arrived in Korea as a trainee, and he only sought appreciation. From the other trainees, from trainers and, eventually, from the media - he searched for appreciation from all over. After some time, he received it, but his scandal revealed what he lacked in the first place: that initial validation. So, when the media scoured him, Lucas went back to where he came from, a person in need of acceptance. I'm particularly referring to the second frame, "I was just a small fish in a big pond". He was still just a pebble in a great canyon of values, and the stepped he skipped over turned out to be the one he needed the most.
B) His father's words, and the wisdom they held
I think this specifically highlights the consequences of the previous point. Constant search for appreciation only proves fruitful if you have the prior validation, which he didn't. Instead, he turned to his family, the people closest to him, who could forgive and forget and propel him into healthy development. But, let's remember something: his allegations were serious and, from all we know, possibly true. So, what these particular frames do is contour Lucas's personality as a lost, helpless, confused person just like anybody else, living life for the first time. Yet, at the same time, this documentary breaks down the barrier between idol and not, and the direct criticism goes to Lucas, the person, not Lucas, the idol. The question this leaves me with is quite direct: Is the idol just a person, or is the person more than just an idol?
To sum up this long blog post, NCT member Lucas's fandom Lumis is, nowadays, driven by excerpts of the idol, any scrap of him that can be found. This is, in my opinion, a sad outcome of what the scandal can do to the fandom. Instead of focusing on the beauty of fan bases, fans focus on regulating Lucas's online and offline presence, supporting him despite the allegations faced. This event is as old as time, and Lumis aren't the only fans who went through scandals like this. Yet, this is the fandom closest to me, of which I've been a part of for almost half a decade.
What this documentary does is break the front between personal and public, and I'm curious what you think: is this a manipulative manner for the commercialization of the self, or is is a simple clarification that everyone is human, and everyone makes mistakes?
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