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GCF in Tokyo and the validity of interpretation

When it comes to GCF Tokyo, I’m not going to make a step by step analysis, but my point is to talk about meaning and interpretation. I will only look at the vlog, although contextual information can be used when it’s necessary if its purpose is to reinforce something already existing in the content in question, but that’s not what I’m doing today.

I’ll start with adding a definition of a vlog

“A vlog is understood as a deliberately constructed presentation of self, a mirror of the author or creator of the vlog.(…) Vlogs may appear to be one–way communication — the vlog creator posts a video and the audience examines it — but interaction develops if audience members utilize the comments section available on most vlogs. While the vlogger may imagine a certain interpretation and response by the audience, the audience in turn can create a response that may nor may not harmonize with the vlogger’s expectations.”.

That presentation of self comes from Erving Goffman’s theory about how people present themselves depending on the social situation they find themselves in. In public and in social interactions we are like actors on a stage, while what we call our true self happens in private, back-stage. A personal vlog works with both of these aspects. Since it’s a personal creation that doesn’t involve a team of people, and because it’s only apparently a one way communication, the author looks to present a version of his true self, but of course it’s idealized. Because of the type of medium, the person cannot change his self-presentation according to social queues, so, as it transpires from the definition, the response comes in form of commentaries, the audience has its own interpretation.

The act of interpretation is something that happens naturally in a way. Let’s take the image, or the moving image (all types of media are included here). We look at all the elements and then our brain automatically translates it. In a more fancier use of words, we can call it semiotics, which is used to make meaning from signs, codes, conventions. Everything has a meaning and we decode it. I’ll choose a very simple example from GCFT and I only have to post two shots that an audience can easily decode.

In order to create meaning, the author and also the audience, looks at the vlog, film, etc. in its entirety. (I’m not talking here about something experimental that focuses only on form, but something conventional, which applies to GCFT). I have read opinions about this vlog, from multiple perspectives. The one which I reject completely, simply because it makes no sense, is the one that focuses on what people understand as Jungkook’s artistry, mainly looking at form, ignoring the content. This vlog showcases his technical skills, of course, but he is also a director, which means his purpose is also to create meaning using those skills. So what is the meaning then, looking at the form and content? It’s a vlog that focuses on two elements, a city and the person which appears in the vlog (Jimin) while the director becomes an observer. He uses diegetic sound at the beginning of the video while for the rest of the material, he uses extra-diegetic sound, that is a song used as background music. Looking at the type of editing (transition of the shots, the fact that there is a certain rhythm, using slow-motion for certain shots emphasized by a certain part in the song) can lead to the conclusion that the background music is used to create meaning as well.

My point is, we cannot separate form and content when we decode this type of vlog, or any other for that matter.

Let’s go back to audience and interpretation now. Looking at all the elements, there is a validity of interpretation if the audience sees the video as one that has as its focus a main subject – Jimin - (due to the majority of shots, the way he was filmed) and uses a certain song to give another layer of meaning to the video. We cannot separate stylistic choices from content if we want to understand the meaning of it. It’s as simple as that.