#im not that smart but i am obsessed

[ohmuqueen]

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:

[rabdoidal]

FUCK netflix for every reason imaginable but god. catking deadboydetectives being exactly my type of character is ruining my LIFE i have THINGS TO DO and im just thinking about that horrible little bisexual man

[luxiguess]

hello guys i would like to make a psa of sorts!!!!

so theres this guy that i have been seeing around... it seems like they have gotten a decent amount of traction, but the more i look into their stuff the more i am put off in a way. Which has happened a lot when looking more into peoples accounts

I have seen that they have posted some... very suggestive and straight up cp works that included mob in it... but basically they are a creepy reimob shipper.

But basically I found that they hated serizawa which is a red flag in its self but the reason why they hate serizawa and serirei is because serizawa adds nothing to the story except for him having to "touch grass" and that his fans are annoying or smth????? they also said they head-cannoned serizawa as a "certified predator" to excuse the fact they were sexualizing mob??????

I really dont care if you age up mob your still sexualizing and shipping a character that is a middle schooler for the majority of the series.... And also the whole "fiction doesn't equal reality" is so weird and stupid like your still sexualizing a minor. Just because its fiction doesn't mean it can't effect someones thoughts or perceptions on things. fictional cp is still illegal!!!

some freaky stuff they said/drawn!!!!!

Im just really sick of seeing so many reimob stuff and a lot of it is normalized like.... thats really not something we should be encouraging or something that was even implied!! its just really creepy and your projecting your weird fantasies!!!

But i would really like to say that you need to be much more careful with the things you're engaging in. Please look more into the creators before reposting/rebloging their stuff!!!!

please dont engage in this persons content

[ilostmymojo]

Hello, Pikmin community, please accept my humble offering.

[pop-roxs]

green and pink :3

[wizardnuke]

MATTHEW TELL ME LORE ABOUT THE LUXON BEACONS WHAT IS GOING ON WITH THOSE THANGS. WHAT DOES ESSEK KNOW

[microwave-core]

local farm witch who just wants to live a peaceful life with her wife while obliterating local monster populations to fuel her crippling iridium addiction

[sidesteppostinghours]

6, 11, and 19- UHHHHHH any of them that vibes these questions! <:"Dc

afternoon lori!! thank you for the ask :D

6. Who will they take advice from, no matter what it is? Who won’t they take advice from, no matter what it is?

Caine-

taking advice: chen. without a doubt its chen. caine would question him or argue if they dont understand why hes giving the advice he does, but at the end of the day, he trusts that chen has his reasons, and that those reasons make sense.

refusing advice: hmmm,,, significantly harder to answer tbh. caine is pretty accepting of a lot of avenues of information. maybe hollow ground? so far hes been extremely suspicious of the kingpin, Especially after almost getting threaded. either that or regina, but would she even survive long enough to give them advice???? shes the only person so far they actually want revenge against.

Cyrus-

taking advice: anathema. too bad hes dead. nobody to stop cyrus now.

refusing advice: id say chen, purely for "fuck him, he wouldnt piss on me if i was burning" reasons. hed be way too suspicious of any 'advice' chen gives to act on it.

Cecilia-

taking advice: ceci doesnt exactly do advice. more like suggestions. most of them come from ortega, not because she particularly trusts him but because most of his suggestions tend to be fun. ofc she also turned down therapy so like ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

refusing advice: daniel. for extremely petty reasons. even deciding to stay at his place was an idea she came up with, not him. danny has no Idea how much of a pain shes going to be now that theyre rooming together.

Cynthia-

taking advice: hollow ground. #justthreadedtingz😍🤪

refusing advice: the funny thing about cynthia is that she cares for the people shes close to, she just doesnt trust them, so this applies to a lot of people. definitely ortega because thats probably the messiest divorce i ever did see, but also dr mortum, because she doesnt think she would understand the situation shes in enough to give advice even if their relationship Doesnt completely fall apart when the puppet thing is revealed.

11. They’ve won the lottery. Spend, or save?

Caine- nothing really to spend it on. save, unless theres something he really wants to get his hands on.

Cyrus- could be useful in the future. save.

Cecilia- depends, does she still have her funds from thievery? if no, spend. if yes, pretend to spend it by showing off things she already owns to throw people off her track, then save it. or spend if theres something mundane she wants.

Cynthia- doesnt really like having big sums of money lying around. spend it on villain work.

19. Do they study before tests? Practice before job interviews?

Caine- i mean. does going into a rabbit hole of tangentially relevant information a week before count? not for job interviews though. they couldnt care enough about that.

Cyrus- duh. hes the person somebody would go to if they need notes or extra tutoring.

Cecilia- no, but if she cared about tests enough shed be a top student, and she usually manages to fly by on job interviews because shes pretty charming.

Cynthia- yes, but for school its because the subjects are interesting to her, while the job interview is for general "i want to get the job" reasons.

questions from here!

[hotmess-exe]

locs coming in nice 🥰

[dashiellqvverty]

my interpretation of krisnix btw is that they DO hate each other the whole time but they ARE attracted to each other for real so like the fucking is very much mutually enjoyable. and theyre both thinking "wow this guy doesnt even know i hate him" all the time except i do think kristoph believes he has tricked phoenix into thinking they're friends/whatever while phoenix has no illusions that kris likes him bc the whole point was to investigate him

[hecksupremechips]

Honestly though I think it’s really a bad sign when I look at Shin Tsukimi and literally feel like he’s a self insert 😩

[astrxealis]

btw to filipino moots im gna be an arenean B) or iskolar ng bayan who knows!

[cuntycadaver]

You know whats sexy actually? LEVELED EXPECTATIONS

[linipikk]

ah shit, they are onto me

The answer is many. Too many.

but not as many times as I've watched s1, so there's a lot of catching up left to do

[fujouppy]

okay wah oh i remembered the Outfit Interest. man i need to find more fashion youtubers that dont suck

[sga-owns-my-soul]

if anyone wants to scream with me about the parallels between link and zelda in botw and mcshep feel free to hmu bc i am 🙃 insane