mat-suka - Tumblr blog

[mat-suka]

I love videos of people performing religious ceremonies for small animals. Especially if it’s not something a small animal could participate in theologically.

[mat-suka]

"Thank you...for loving me!!" ❤️‍🔥🔥✨

I cry every time :(

[mat-suka]

Beautiful from Ordinary Days

[mat-suka]

FASHIONISTAS AAAAA

inspired by @/wisdm8 on tiktok and @/wisdm on insta!!!

[mat-suka]

Jedi are absolute adrenaline junkies at their hearts of hearts and I respect that.

[mat-suka]

stoking the flame.

[mat-suka]

[mat-suka]

lee francesco taemin really said: you fucking cowards. i’ll do every bdsm restraint in the book cause i can — a thread.

Keep reading

[mat-suka]

Beautiful

[mat-suka]

i started the anime and the 🎸🎸⚡️⚡️⚡️ before zoro did anything killLed mee

[mat-suka]

Thirsty, Cocktail, & Intoxicating:

The SHINee gay sex trilogy

[mat-suka]

x . x

[mat-suka]

complete.

[mat-suka]

231031 levinchk instagram update Taemin ‘GUILTY’

So I want to talk about the various reactions I've seen to the people Taemin is interacting with in the MV trailer, MV teasers, and the MV itself.

I'm actually surprised that anyone would be stunned that this moment above in the MV is Taemin touching a man, not a woman. Everything leading up to the MV had Taemin being touched and surrounded by men (to my eyes, younger men or men around his age). As these tags by @jaythajujubae say, everyone Taemin is intimate with in the MV is male, while he mainly dances with women. (very bicon of him I agree)

And in this analysis on twitter (I shared the whole thread here) saying that Guilty is the prequel to Advice, op points out something very telling -

Here op is saying that in MV teaser #1, Taemin is looking at a younger version of himself, which is a view I saw others echo - that this person here is a younger Taemin, and that this scene reflects the innocence he had in his early years in the idol industry - the entire concept of Guilty is heavily focused on corruption of innocence.

But when I first saw MV teaser #1, I had these thoughts that I posted on 10/27:

The person who may be the object of Taemin’s affection in the MV teaser seems to present in a genderless way, and I feel like that’s purposeful… especially based on what we see in the trailer (everyone has short hair, 3 are dressed similarly to Taemin in the beginning shot when they’re playing in the water, and some are petite, making it difficult to say if they’re male or female)

Because to me, this person looks more female than male, and I believe a point is being made here (again I will link to this video about the sexualization and feminization of Taemin, detailing what he went through all through his career as an idol, including when he was a minor - what he did with Move was pivotal to how he perceived himself as an artist, reclaiming what others had tried to dictate for him):

After reflecting a little, and seeing how others took the younger person above as a young Taemin, the phrase "object of affection" lingered in my head. Whether this person represents young Taemin or someone Taemin cares for and later feels guilt about, the meaning is the same. Corruption of innocence. The character Taemin represents in this comeback is both someone who has been corrupted and someone who has ruined others. As we see in the MV trailer and also the MV, he is forced to shoot a gun at someone begging for mercy - from an authority completely indifferent to both their suffering.

Going back to the twitter thread about Guilty prefacing Advice, in MV teaser #1 Taemin could be looking back at a younger self surrounded by older men, whereas when he is forced to commit violence in the MV trailer, he is dressed as if he is younger than he is and surrounded by younger men. To me, the first scenario reflects a view of his younger self in the idol industry, and the second scenario reflects a view of his recent self during his military conscription.

Another speculation, what if the person he is being forced to shoot represents his younger self? We aren't shown that person's face on purpose. They are representative of a bigger concept - loss of innocence, and loss of that self who possessed such innocence. Just like the quote (the first line which is on Taemin's insta), from Hermann Hesse:

"The bird fights its way out of the egg. The egg is the world. Who would be born must first destroy a world. The bird flies to God. That God's name is Abraxas.”

And now theories of this quote being personified by Taemin in the MV (put out on twitter and reddit, which I shared here) have been proven true by the Guilty MV's director - 231030 Guilty MV director Byul Yun instagram update:

credit to @nso-csi for sharing this here!

So ultimately, I think Taemin choosing to be intimate, sometimes manhandled, by men in the MV is a choice that makes a profound point. The moment in the MV that's being shown in the first picture on this post, Taemin sings this line: "Give up, you’re trapped inside me". I believe in parts of this song, Taemin is speaking of himself. Parts of his identity that society used to deny him to express that he gives free reign to now, through this lens of exploring the border between what is provocative and what is disturbing.

I haven't even gone into more imagery the MV provides us plus the lyrics. But the opening scene itself gives a hint that this concept also touches on the idea of forbidden love, i.e. queer relationships.

These are the opening lines of the song:

Poison apple Spellbound, you wanna take a bite Hand outstretched In danger, sinking deeper

During the last line "in danger, sinking deeper", we get this shot:

If you look closely, I am almost sure the person on the left is the same person Taemin is focused on in the pillow fight scene in MV teaser #1. And the person on the right looks female. To me, that person on the left appears genderless, or nonbinary. Taemin himself has said he embraces a genderless expression in his art. Just like with Advice, I think with Guilty he is saying that he embraces an identity that goes against societal expectations for male idols (and male music artists in general). With Guilty I think he's also embracing a love that makes the audience feel guilty (something I also talked about in rambling not-really-an-essay here, after the second MV teaser photos came out).

How exactly Guilty links to queer relationships is a deeper conversation than I can manage (and this post is already very long), but I hope someone does, because I think the potential for such a connection is there.

I do not think Taemin is giving queerness itself negative connotations. I feel that he is drawing a parallel between queer love and a relationship with the (queer) self. I think a lot of concepts are coexisting in Guilty, and the fact that this comeback has resulted in so many theories and interpretations is proof of that.

This verse that Taemin named as his favorite in the song keeps standing out to me:

I want you to lose yourself That’s what’ll make our love easy Just doing things my own way The bigger the pain, the sweeter it remains

~

Edit (November 2, 2023):

I'm just gonna leave these here:

[mat-suka]

from the SHINee Reddit

Edit: I wanted to supplement this meta with the teaser images and segments of the MV trailer, and just fangirl a bit more:

Here is the “transition moment” in the MV trailer where we see Taemin use the inhaler for the first time. I love how he looks at the camera twice, acknowledging the viewer as if he’s saying “this is what you wanted, isn’t it?” right before the scenario becomes disturbing (I screen-recorded it at 0.5 speed)

In the newest teaser images, that gaze seems to become accusing, especially as they are framed as being right after the abuse we saw him suffer in the trailer, his leg still bleeding:

I’m also fascinated with the framing of putting things suggestively in his mouth; here are the first ones we got in the teasers:

Having given us these images before the MV trailer, I feel as if Taemin was setting us up to feel guilty when we watch the moment where he first puts the inhaler to his mouth. (He also sets us up by showing us him taking his shirt off right before he first uses the inhaler.)

Like op says, the inhaler introduces the sex/death concept, blurring the line between what is provocative and what is disturbing.

More under the cut (I sort of wrote an essay, but it's not academic level by any means)

The mirroring between the images in the teasers and the images in the trailer have also been commented on, and along with the voyeurism pointed out in the teasers, altogether supports the idea that Taemin wants us to feel guilty, but still enjoy what we're seeing. Blurring the line constantly between what we want and what we know is wrong.

x . x . x

Here are more mirrored images I wanted to point out between the teasers and the MV trailer:

This is obviously a reference to the point choreo he already spoiled for us, but the contrast in setting really strikes me. The first he's in a motel room, the second he's in the woods. Both are voyeuristic in nature - we observe him playing innocently with other young people in the beginning of the MV trailer - but the vibe of the woods teaser strikes me as more innocent and shy. Some have pointed out the motel teasers are showing the character after the traumatic experiences of the MV trailer, after escaping and trying to seek out a new life (staying in a seedy motel as they continue to run away). So we could be looking at a more experienced, worldly character in the motel teasers.

I also think this whole concept is playing with the blurring of lines between innocence and sexual experience, which touches on the themes of the corruption of innocence - and Taemin has experienced this in two industries, the idol industry and the military. The MV trailer could be referring to either, as others have pointed out. The motel teasers are voyeuristic, but also paint Taemin in an innocent light. He's just swimming and standing under the sky and holding a toy car. He's just eating fruit and popsicles, he's just laying on the bed, but it's the way he's showing skin and looking with hooded eyes either at the camera or down and away that make it suggestive. This is blending the line between innocent action and what we want to see as his audience, fans of an idol.

The MV trailer does this in a different way, with what Taemin is wearing during his abuse. It's a school uniform, something teenagers would wear.

This shot looks like it came straight out of a high school kdrama. Taemin is emphasizing his youthful spirit in the face of horrific abuse. It's as if the institutions that force youth to commit violence - either physical violence on others or psychological violence on themselves - are bent on weaponizing youth, using it to manipulate others to their will. I think this concept's purpose is to make us consider just how the appeal of youth has been abused, both by sexualizing minors (as Taemin was in his early career with SHINee, as was done indirectly in the Sherlock photobook, as has happened and still happens with many other idols who are underage) and conscripting young people, barely adults, into the military against their will.

I don't think Taemin just wants us to feel guilty for finding him attractive in an abusive and traumatic situation, although that intent is definitely there - he wants to point out how society, as he has experienced it, is built on the abuse and manipulation of youth, both as a concept - maintaining it - and the young people themselves.

Of course, Taemin is now a full-grown adult, and he is using his art to point out a very twisted, disturbing aspect of an industry he has spent more than half his life in, and I strongly believe, an aspect of his country's military, which has had conscription of male citizens since 1957. It is difficult not to think of the military when watching the MV trailer. I cannot speak for the male citizens of South Korea and their experience with conscription, but Taemin can, and I believe he is, purposefully.

Others have speculated that Taemin's character is being forced to kill the second unnamed person - the one wearing the white shoes. We see the authority figure force the gun into Taemin's hand, and then we jump to another scene where the second person with the white shoes is walking toward, (then later into) the same car the group of prisoners is transported in.

Seconds later, we get this shot:

As others have noted, this may not be Taemin. This could be the other character depicted. And what I immediately made note of when I first watched this is how Taemin blends in with the other people who become prisoners alongside him. There are a couple stand outs - but when I first watched I had trouble picking out Taemin in this shot.

Because three of them are dressed similarly to Taemin, in white tank tops and dark pants. And then later, as prisoners, they are all dressed the same except a couple are in skirts.

And in this post, op points out that parts of the trailer are giving unreliable narrator vibes:

This all makes me think that the trailer is pointing out that youth are seen as interchangeable, and thus disposable. We don't know for sure if it's Taemin begging the indifferent authority figure for mercy, or if it's someone Taemin is being told to kill.

And in the moment the other character slams the car door and we see Taemin's expression in the next second, I'm not sure what others felt but I felt a strong sense of abandonment. Because he's using the inhaler in what seems like desperation, likely right before or right after he's forced to shoot the gun.

And this brings me back to the inhaler that provides the crucial transition from innocent youth to disturbing events. In another reddit post I shared, someone pointed out that Taemin's character is "medically unfit to carry out what is happening but is forced to anyway."

As the op of the reddit post states, the inhaler is used as a means to reveal the full concept, exploring the "link between sex and what we consider disturbing/taboo".

When we see Taemin first using the inhaler, it is framed sensually, the same way the food was framed in the first teaser images. It is also clear that Taemin is unfit for a militaristic life because of his breathing difficulties. He has to be forced by authority to shoot the gun.

The inhaler is being used as a symbol of otherness, yes, but a specific otherness in Taemin's concept. What makes Taemin special and appealing is also considered a weakness in certain contexts. This could be seen as many things - his "pretty boy" appearance, something that has been to be used to oversexualize him against his will, which he has now embraced in genderless expressions, his depression and anxiety (two things I also have an can relate to), which prolonged his military conscription, and/or his identity as an idol, a role that he used to separate completely from his non-idol self, but now has blended into his non-idol self, revealing more of his offstage side to the outside world as his career has progressed.

Taemin is acknowledging with this concept that he knows exactly what people want from him, and he's going to tell us what we want in a way that makes us uncomfortable, because he has been made uncomfortable, many times, throughout his career, in several contexts. That this one trailer and the teasers communicate all this, before we've even heard a single lyric from the album or seen the full MV, leaves me in awe.

[mat-suka]

【Kim Hongjoong/Choi San】