Make no mistake, BTS’s 10th Anniversary documentary BTS Monuments: Beyond the Star was made for their ARMY – ARMY being the moniker given to their fans after the Korean name for BTS – BangTan Sonyeondan – meaning bulletproof boy scouts. And bulletproof they are. BTS can do no wrong. With estimations that the band brings in US$4.9 billion a year to the Korean economy, no wonder the government considered exempting BTS from the compulsory 18-month national service. But alas, the BTS Bill was not passed, and members of the band have slowly begun to do their civic duties with the three oldest members – Jin, J-Hope, and Suga currently enlisted.
Perhaps this documentary is supposed to serve as a timely reminder for fans of BTS’ journey so far. And while it is still watchable to those outside of their fandom, it may appear slightly mystifying to outsiders hoping to catch a glimpse of what the hype is all about.
Never Stop Never-Stopping
The documentary unfolds with a series of videos and behind the scenes footage from various time periods, charting BTS’ rise from their very humble beginnings to the global juggernauts they are today. Interwoven between these vignettes are interviews with members in the present as they reflect on these moments and periods in their lives.
Early on in the documentary, BTS members started complaining of burnout by year two of their debut. As a fan of Gen 2 K-pop, I was a bit flabbergasted. But then you remember the time at which BTS debuted – in 2013 – and it all starts to make sense. K-pop currently runs on what I can best describe as a fast-fashion timeline, with bands constantly having to churn out something on a monthly, if not bi-weekly basis. So much so that the word “comeback” becomes almost meaningless.
We live in an age of non-stop K-content, with groups having at least 2 EP releases every year. That’s a schedule that’s all fine and dandy for groups within the three K-pop factories (with their army of songwriters and producers), but for a group like BTS who write and produce a majority of their own songs, plumbing the depths of your soul every few months for material is neither healthy nor sustainable. This enormous pressure isn’t really conveyed to you within this documentary. And therein lies the rub.
BTS Monuments: Beyond the Star tries to lean into the themes that are close to BTS’ heart, particularly their struggles and issues of mental health. But it doesn’t lean heavily enough, nor does it explain why and how BTS became the juggernaut of K-pop it is today, at least not to non-fans anyway.
Believe the HYBE
I believe that BTS’ appeal comes from their willingness to engage directly with their fans, sharing their own struggles as idols and as youths living in our current digital age. BTS are truly a product of their time.
A group born of the social media era, their global rise to fame was cemented when they wrested the Top Social Artist title at the 24th Billboard Awards in 2017 from six-year consecutive winner Justin Beiber, with their ARMY casting over 300 million votes for them. BTS created their close knit connections with their ARMY through direct interactions on social media, but this coming together of BTS and ARMY is not really highlighted in this documentary in a way that is comprehensible to outsiders.
The documentary shows a group of young men literally thrusted, almost unprepared, into the global spotlight, hailing from a then small and little known entertainment company, Big Hit Entertainment – now known as HYBE. I don’t even think HYBE were wholly prepared and equipped to help them become the global giants they were destined to be. But to their credit, and perhaps precisely because they were a small company, this documentary shows HYBE’s chairman, Bang Si-Hyuk, as a man who deeply cared for the welfare of his talents.
Wading in Shallow Waters
With only two episodes out, as someone unfamiliar with the BTS journey, it is hard for me to speculate what the rest of the documentary will hold. As a non-BTS fan, a part of me genuinely wanted to walk away from this documentary with a greater appreciation for BTS. That, unfortunately, is not the case. While the documentary does give some insight into the lives of BTS, I would argue that it is not enough.
Everything we are shown is quite surface level and glazes over a lot of what BTS does and goes through. Perhaps this was done in an effort to keep things lighthearted, but I honestly feel that BTS and their ARMY deserve more; deserve better. With an unwillingness to engage deeper, this documentary comes across as something generic and lacking a strong narrative, while giving off a slight exclusionary tone, an “if you know you know” vibe, keeping us outsiders at arm’s length. What this means is that non-fans may have a hard time relating to the true impact that BTS has on its fans, and who knows, we might actually want to.
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