MASCULINITY THROUGH THE BTS LENS

For eons it has been preached that sex, rock and roll and a casual disregard for basic hygiene are the pillars on which masculinity is built. Then BTS came along and changed all that

- MAYUKH MAJUMDAR

Musicians have been using fashion and personal style to make bold statements and pay homage to their culture, music and religion for decades. Sometimes so dazzling is their vision, that they become a religion unto themselves. Michael Jackson, Madonna and Beyoncé have regularly used religious motifs to transform themselves into ethereal beings on screen. Accompanied with stringent brand control, an online persona plus careful social media and PR management, musicians have become more than flesh and bone — they are phantom beings that have deigned to walk the world among us.

But while Beyoncé, The Beatles, Cliff Richard and Madonna receive praise and notoriety (the good kind) for this ability, South Korean boy band BTS have faced brutal amounts of homophobia and xenophobia in every country outside their own.

For the West, which so far had only been introduced to Asian men like Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan and Jet Li, seeing BTS take over the Grammy Awards (despite not winning), touring London and the United States, entering the Time 100 list and pulverizing world records, was shocking. The fact that the seven-member team did all this while singing in a language that was not English, made it a bigger stumper.

From being called ‘a fad’ to being asked if they’d sleep with their fans or if they even knew English, BTS have faced numerous hurdles during their attempt to establish themselves as world-renowned artists. One of those hurdles is the assumption that their fanbase comprises hysterical pre-teen girls on Twitter. This couldn’t be further from the truth.