Dear Readers, Welcome to Chapter 2—for BTS. For us. This is a chapter about change. Not just the change that happens to you, but the change you choose to make. Two years ago, we published Issue 3. In our letter at that time, we talked about courage. The courage it took our creators to share […]
Beyond Parasocial: ARMY, BTS, & Fan-Artist Relationships
⚯ ACADEMIC ARTICLE | ESSAY ⚯
. . . I want to examine these relationships more closely in order to bring greater nuance to the way we understand and discuss them. What I want to demonstrate can be split into three branches: that PSRs are as “real” as any other relationship, and the key is to define what “real” actually means; that BTS and ARMY in particular clearly illustrate creative connection; and that we should be open to creative connections in our lives whether they fall into socially recognized categories or not.
A Re-flection: How BTS Helped Me Re-define Myself
⚯ SUPPLEMENTAL STORIES ⚯
It’s a never-ending song loop of ♪ work suffer ♪ work suffer ♪ and the stop button can’t be hit until retirement in 30 more years. When I heard Jin sing, “I just wanna be happier²” for the first time, I cried.
How Has BTS+ARMY Redefined Fandom for Me?
⚯ SUPPLEMENTAL STORIES ⚯
Adipoli (അടിപ ൊളി, Malayalam word), or the Korean equivalent daebak is a concept that really doesn’t have a good English interpretation. It is an expression we Malayalees use to describe an experience that is wonderful, crazy, surprising, and loving at the same time.
The Dynamics of BTS
⚯ CREATIVE COLLECTIONS ⚯
The Navier-Stokes equations is a set of mathematical equations that describe the motion of viscous fluids. It is a well-known set of equations among scientists and engineers; some of its uses are modeling weather or ocean currents. These equations cannot be solved using traditional methods, which make them an interesting mystery among the scientific community.
Counting Grey Rhinos
⚯ SUPPLEMENTAL STORY ⚯
But there is beauty in knowing that the present is always changing, and in its incompleteness is the potential for something better to be written.