See No Lies

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With the new Yoongi photos, I see a lot of people bringing up Scarface references and linking it to the Tony Montana song, which honestly I love. As a Cuban-American and a giant history nerd, I feel like babbling about why Yoongi selecting Tony Montana as a representation of his music is so perfect.

Hali being a fucking long-winded nerd under the cut

For those that aren’t familiar with Tony Montana, who inspired Yoongi’s track Tony Montana, he’s a fictional character in Howard Hawk’s movie Scarface. Tony Montana is a Cuban who, along with thousands of other Cubans, came to Florida by way of the Mariel Boatlift in 1980.

Let’s talk about the historical aspect of this first cause I think everyone should actually know the cultural significance of the Mariel Boatlift. 

The movie starts with the Mariel Boatlift event in 1980. It was basically a mass immigration all at once of Cubans to the United States when Cuba’s president at the time, Fidel Castro, agreed to release the thousands of Cubans who were trying to escape Cuba and its violent communist dictatorship. The US (Carter administration at the time) agreed to take Cubans under asylum - until they realized that a majority of the Cubans Fidel released were only the members of society the Cuban government considered ‘undesirable’. So people who had been in jail for years - and very specifically anyone who identified as queer - were sent to the US where they ended up stuck in immigration camps in absolute CHAOS. 

In the movie, Tony is one of the Cubans released who was a “criminal” (we could discuss for hours what actually constituted a criminal via the Cuban government but that’s not the point). The point is, that because of this realization, the media and the Americans freaked the fuck out when this happened and there was a HUGE wave of hate, backlash, and fear against the Cubans who were now plopped in Miami with nothing to do and nowhere to go. There was a HUGE pushback to get them out of the US and there was a lot of villainization of Cuban people for just existing. 

Thus - the growth of the cartel industry. Miami in particular was built on the back of Cubans and Cuban-Americans and I will die on this hill, and the cocaine boom in the 80s/90s is largely responsible for Miami becoming so funded the way that it was. Through the beginning of the movie, Tony is jumping through hoops as a low-level drug runner, but he’s viewed through the lens of a hero from the audience: does good by his family, has a great relationship with his best friend, is kind of making the best with what he has and wants so much more. We can liken this to how Yoongi views his own story: someone who is just trying to make a life for himself, someone who loves his members and his fans and family, someone who is passionate about what he does and is fighting for his legitimacy. Yoongi is the Tony Montana, being hated and shamed by Western media and even K-Media and struggling with enemies all around him.

The drug trade in Miami at its beginning was predominantly run by elite white men. In the 70s/80s/90s cocaine was a “white man's drug” as it was largely expensive - the majority of it was coming from South America. Tony essentially climbs the ladder through a white man’s game and trade, and ends up top. He slaughters his way there, killing whoever is in his way, and the entire time he does it, the viewer loves his story because he’s so proud and his brutality is from pride and want for power because he comes from nothing. 

This is literally Agust D. It’s Yoongi fighting his way to be who he is, to establish himself. His entire first two albums are consumed with anger and saying fuck the industry because he, like Tony, is good at what he does and even though others do not want him there, he doesn’t care. He will do whatever he wants to get to the top.

And both Tony and Yoongi get to the top, but once there, the enemies are even worse. The people who hate you are tenfold, you’re paranoid, you want more because you realize it isn’t enough, and you feel like you have people trying to fucking snipe you and tear you down every second. Your friends aren’t your friends anymore because you don’t know who is trying to bring you down, but despite all that, you’re the king because you did it. Which is Yoongi’s going in feel like Tony Montana.

Also, it’s not lost on me that using a character not native to the United States who started from nothing and climbed their way to the top with enemies everywhere is the fucking genius of it. Yoongi, a Korean rapper, has dealt with people thinking his music is a joke, not taking him seriously, and having so many haters - especially in the Western music industry predominantly controlled by white media (we can dissect this bullshit too)- likens himself to Tony because of the insane pride, the willingness to do anything, and the way you have so many people out for you when you fucking get there.

There is also a great comparison to draw between the two when you consider that Americans largely hated Cubans when they first came to Florida and it was all: they’re going to take our jobs, they are criminals, they don’t belong here. 

When you look at kpop and the BTS experience in general, it’s the same fucking thing. The Western media does not want BTS here - doesn’t get it. Thinks that kpop and BTS specifically are there to take jobs, that they don’t belong here. And then BTS did it anyway. 

Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk idk I could talk about this so much longer and there are more things I want to include but this is just a summary on why Yoongi x Tony Montana is such a vibe.

also fun fact about hali's dad - he went out on his fishing boat to help rescue Cubans from Cuba and brought them back during the Mariel Boatlift lmfao

It's time to add batch number 3 of asks and this concludes my little experiment. Unfortunately, it's not the most conclusive one and the analysis is superficial at best (I wish I had this idea when I was feeling better), but I'll try to write a few words.

First, the asks:

I've observed some common themes throughout all the messages I've received.

I think our opinions regarding the topic of dating and what we think of these idols is obviously influenced/determined by our cultural understandings of relationships, our gender politics and relation to our own gender because we interpret and give meaning to what we see through those frames.

Another interesting result was to see how obvious it is now that our rational arguments are so deeply connected to what is actually an emotional response that on the surface, doesn't contain much logic, but then it ends up being used as a logical argument. I would say that the fuckboy allegations about Jungkook are ilustrative of this and I'll try and explain why. Once again, this shouldn't be seen as me being judgemental or pushing my own position at the front, but merely an exploration of that response.

Calling someone a fuckboy without having any actual insight into his dating history is indeed an ilogical reaction that is not based on facts. I find that most likely comes from disappointment and that it is a label used in opposition to ideas of what people understand as commited relationships and partners. In this particular case, JK hugging a woman turned him into a fuckboy for those who used to believe in jikook as a long-term relationship, while those who were not exactly shippers were influenced by their already formed opinion of JK as more of a superficial person.

It doesn't follow a logical train of thought, as it actually translates into frustration, anger, a difference in morals, etc. It's interesting how such words were not really found in some of the asks.

Someone said that a lot of those who sent their messages tried to rationalize their thoughts anyways, instead of focusing on their feelings. It is true, but it's also something that I expected. We tend to do that, not only for those that get to read, but also for ourselves. There is a constant need to make sense of whatever we see, we look for explanations because not knowing might be worse than the actual outcome.

I'd like to go back a bit to the fuckboy label. Would someone think the same if Jungkook was filmed in his house backhugging a man? How do we know that the woman in question was not a long-term partner? How do we know that Jungkook jumps from partner to partner, without caring about their feelings and uses them for his own gratification? Isn't that what the label implies? My point is, we don't know any of these things and yet it is a simple way for some of us to explain our disdain towards what we see. Perhaps the voyeuristic angle (looking at it through a window from outside) has had a significant contribution to these judgements. Then there is also our own bias and other feelings we might have harbored already.

In opposition to that, Jimin gets a pass a lot more which based on the responses I got, shows the difference in the way he is perceived compared to Jungkook or Tae.

As I've mentioned from the beginning, this is just a small glimpse into how we process and express what we feel in connection to some people that we've formed a parasocial relationship with. Amongst the reasons why I said early on that this will be a judgement-free zone is because I find that it is inevitable in most cases to not be affected in any way. A reveal that shows a part of someone that had been kept hidden due to industry practices and behaviors is not something that can be looked at as a mere fact, without anyone being affected by it. The secrecy nature of it can have an effect on all of us, regardless if we're happily married or not, regardless of our gender, age or if our day-to-day happiness is dependent on some idols.

240503 - #RM #RightPlaceWrongPerson Concept Photo 2

jungkook is reminding you to drink water and stay hydrated ♡

[126/547] — until we meet again, jungkook ♡