#pro NCT Hollywood

[mistiskie]

⠀ ♡ . NCT 127 COMO SEUS NAMORADOS !

: Moon taeil <3

- é o namorado que assume o papel de mais responsável que você.

- desde que começou a namorar com Taeil nunca viu ele deixar passar um dia sem contar as piadinhas sem graça dele.

- consegue ser bastante bebezão quando quer, e você tem que aceitar isso porque ele vai pedir carinhos, beijos, mimos e tudo o que tiver direito.

- é do tipo que te lembra das coisas. Sabe o seu cronograma todinho e quando você esquece de algo ele vai está lá pra lembrar. Um namorado ou uma agenda humana? Não sabe responder.

- ele gosta que você tenha bom relacionamento com os amigos dele, mas também não gosta de muita aproximidade. (Mesmo te conhecendo através de um deles.) Talvez isso seja ciúmes e Taeil não queira admitir.

- passa tempo preferido de vocês? Acordar cedo para ir a feirinha local e gastar horas e dinheiros com frutas, verduras e outros alimentos.

"Olha amor que alegria, esse coentro aqui tá uma perfeição. O pessoal que vem durante a tarde não sabe o tanto de coisa boa que perdem."

- veja Taeil mudar da água para o vinho quando ele decide ser o romântico da relação, particularmente você gosta quando esses momentos chegam porque são SEMPRE memoráveis. 😼

: Johnny Suh <3

- Muito conceitual, muito elegante, muito carismático, muito TUDO. Você com certeza ganhou na loteria tendo esse homem como seu namorado.

- espere muito diálogo nesse relacionamento e nem precisa ser sobre coisas sérias. Só imagina vocês dois casualmente conversando sobre qualquer assunto que der na telha, fofoca, novidade, planejamento pro futuro, qualquer coisa mesmo.

- sommelier do seu guarda roupa. No começo te ajudava com as roupas por brincadeira, depois levou a sério e agora toda vez que tu resolve sair pra comprar roupas novas ele vai tá lá sendo o crítico por trás de casa cropped ou saia.

- amante de cafés por diversão!!!!! O tanto de cápsula pra cafeteira que vocês devem ter enche um armário praticamente todo (sem exagero.) E é de lei viu? Todo dia tem que ter um tempinho pra apreciar um cafezinho.

- esse homem consegue ser o cara mais dramático e ator que você ja viu quando quer alguma coisa ou quando você nega algo. Hollywood perde um tesouro desse muito fácil.

"Aí... e eu tenho culpa se tu não deixa eu fazer sua bunda de travesseiro?. . . Pode me enterrar, eu não tô bem. . . . Você tá me negando coisa de vida ou morte."

- são pessoas noturnas, que gostam de aproveitar o momento que a noite pode proporcionar. (No fundo vocês acham a noite mais chique pra sair juntos.)

- Pode ter certeza que se Johnny tiver com tempo livre ele VAI te perturbar até você se estressar. É a especialidade dele te ver irritada. (Imagine aquela risadinha gostosa dele nesses momentos!)

: Lee Taeyong <3

- O homem mais romântico que já pisou na terra, naturalmente Taeyong consegue ser assim. Parece até que ele é personagem criado em shift.

- nas composições dele você com certeza vai tá lá. Ele gosta de trabalhar no estúdio dele com você por perto e adora também compor letra de música que te envolva de alguma forma.

- Taeyong é o tipo de cara que não sabe flertar sem compromisso, por isso que quando ele foi investir em você já foi visando em um relacionamento e tudo o que tinha direito. (No off ele é meio emocionadinho.)

- Pode chamá-lo de brega, mas pra mim o Taeyong gostaria SIM de fazer uma tatuagem em conjunto contigo, se tu vai aceitar ou não já não é comigo!

- É o que lembra das datas especiais no relacionamento, porque com toda certeza você acaba esquecendo de alguma.

- Ele fala de ti o tempo todo e nem percebe. Os amigos que lutem! Pode ser o assunto mais distinto e mesmo assim Taeyong vai conseguir relacionar a você. ( e quando ele sente saudades sua???????? Tópico sensível!!)

"Poxa gente, eu sei que vocês estão cansados, mas, que saudades da minha namorada...😔😔" /barulhos de insatisfação vindo dos amigos.

- Ele é muito de atos de serviços e presentes. É sempre de tá fazendo alguma coisa pra te vê feliz e te encher de qualquer coisa que ele tenha visto e lembrado de ti.

: Nakamoto Yuta <3

- Namorado guarda costas. Daquele que você pode andar sozinha e segura na rua porque do seu lado vai ter um homem com cara de poucos amigos, todo trabalhado no preto, pra te proteger.

- É cheio de gracinha e de provocação, você não vive em paz enquanto tiver com ele, e tá tudo bem, você com certeza gosta de ter essa perturbação na sua vida.

- É da line up do "Vai rindo que daqui a pouco cê tá grávida de mim e casada a três anos." Realmente, isso tava acontecendo contigo mesmo.

- Casal que gosta de maratonar animes às altas horas da madrugada, mas isso é quase como um segredo de estado de vocês. Se perguntarem os dois negam até a morte.

- Ciumento mesmo, não esconde não, ele é confiante até demais só que com uma namorada gostosa dessa é difícil não ser ligado nos talaricos né.

"Vou clonar seu zap, vou te observar pela câmera do celular, cuidado não!!!--- tô brincando amor.... aí, aí, bate em mim não."

- Na maioria das vezes ele é muito sincero, então tem umas opiniões bem diretas... você tem que explicar pra ele que não se pode ser direto assim o tempo todo.

- Aí ele é do tipo de querer fazer tudo contigo e de te ajudar a fazer as coisas também. Esse cara é o maior grude de todos.

: Kim Doyoung <3

- É o namorado da line up psicólogo. Quase sempre te namora, mas de vez em quando abre as sessões terapêuticas de conversas profundas, você sai enxuta de tanto chorar.

- resolve tudo na base da conversa, não é necessário brigas nem picuinhas com ele e se por um acaso você resolva agir desse jeito, ele vai te puxar e dizer que não é assim que as coisas se resolvem.

- na relação quem vive de irritar é você. O bichinho é muito estressadinho, precisa de uma coisinha só pra ele fechar logo a cara, por isso é divertido o deixar com raiva.

- Doyoung é lana del rey vibes sim. Nem precisa se esforçar pra ser, é algo natural. (Muitos gatilhos envolvidos.)

- Crítico de filmes, tá?! Pelo menos uma vez na semana vocês tem que fazer uma sessão cinema, escolher um filme que ainda não viram e depois debater sobre.

"Assim, pra mim o Billy e o Stuart são dois casais de gays que casualmente se juntaram pra matar pessoas. Isso é fato! 😌"

- Talvez seja um pouquinho parecido com o Renjun em alguns aspectos. Do tipo de ficar bravo quando você compartilha seus gostos com alguém e não com ele, pra Doyoung isso é mega importante!

- Empenhadissimo na culinária viu?! Se você reclamar da comida dele por algum motivo esteja preparada para o caos que será instaurado no relacionamento.

: Jeong Jaehyun <3

- O bichinho é um pouco tortinho, lerdinho. Você tem que ter calma porque Jaehyun trabalha no tempo dele, principalmente quando ele viaja na batatinha e demora pra voltar.

- Degustadores fiéis de vinhos, todo dia quando chega do trabalho ele trás um vinho novo para vocês experimentarem. Vocês tem até uma coleção das rolhas do vinho!!!

- você sempre reclama e fica inconformada em como todas as fotos que tiram juntos o Jaehyun sempre parece tá assustado e traumatizado. É só a carinha dele mesmo não tem o que fazer.

- Ele preza muito pelo silêncio, nesses momentos ninguém fala nada em questão, mas gostam de ficar abraçadinhos curtindo a presença um do outro na calada do momento.

- É o rei das playlists. Faz playlist pra tudo e tá sempre compartilhando com você, de algum modo vocês dois carregam o mesmo neurônio e conseguem se entender só com isso.

" A playlist do dia é: músicas que a gente escutaria juntos em um possível naufrágio no meio do mar."

- Muito fofoqueiros, quase sempre fofocando sobre a vida dos outros ou o mundo dos famosos. Passaram horas discutindo sobre a situação da Selena e Hailey Bieber.

- não precisam de muita coisa pra saírem, as vezes só caminham de noite e aproveitam a companhia um do outro, tá ótimo assim.

: Kim Jungwoo <3

- É da line up homem meio bicha que conquista seu coração e você se vê perdidamente apaixonada.

- Muito focado numa rotina de skin care com você. As vezes é ele quem te lembra de fazer porque não pode perder nenhum dia.

"Amor entenda que os cuidados com a pele são importantes, não podemos vacilar, esses ácaros são tenebrosos!"

- ele também costuma fofocar muito com você. E no final ainda solta uma daquelas "mas quem somos nós para julgar não é??" Já julgando geral.

- não faz nada sem te avisar antes, pode ser a coisinha mais besta do mundo mas ele vai te avisar porque você merece explicações sempre.

- É daqueles de ficar muito magoado se você vai terminar de assistir alguma coisa sem ele. É motivo de discussão séria, ele gosta de fazer parte de situações assim.

- gosta tanto quando você usa as roupas dele, por Jungwoo ele dava o guarda-roupa todo pra você vestir sem problemas, tudo que é seu é dele e ele tá muito feliz com isso.

"Que princesinha mais linda usando meu moletom 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 você me ama? Responda com sim ou sim."

[we-survive-endlessly]

SM is definitely both genius AND insane for it lol

1) Have all members ever sang on one song?

Yes! NCT has come together three times so far to release collaborative albums with one song on each that has all members, the rest of the album is usually different NCT U groups and maybe a song from each fixed unit.

Black On Black - NCT 2018 (18 members at the time)

Resonance - NCT 2020 (23 members at the time)

Beautiful - NCT 2021 (still technically 23 members but only 21 participated in the album due to a member being on hiatus and a member filming a drama in China)

I believe we are supposed to get NCT 2023 this year. We are down to 20 members now so hopefully they will all be able to participate!

2) Does the NCT U lineup change every album or every song?

Every song! NCT U stands for NCT United. It is any combination of members from any unit that is not the regular fixed units! Here are some examples:

The 7th Sense: Taeyong (NCT 127), Ten (WayV), Doyoung (NCT 127), Jaehyun (NCT 127), and Mark (NCT 127/NCT Dream)

Baby Don’t Stop: Taeyong (NCT 127) and Ten (WayV)

Coming Home: Taeil (NCT 127), Doyoung (NCT 127), Jaehyun (NCT 127), and Haechan (NCT 127/NCT Dream)

Rain Day: Taeil (NCT 127), Kun (WayV), and Yangyang (WayV)

3) Are some members significantly less involved than others? Are some clearly in more projects than others?

Unfortunately yes. I feel like SM in general is pretty bad about favoring certain people. The number one person that came to mind for being less involved is Winwin. He has constantly gotten the short end of the stick since the very beginning. They literally used him for the teasers and concept videos before NCT even debuted, but when he debuted with NCT 127 he constantly got the least amount of lines. In 2019 he left NCT 127 and joined WayV where things got a little better but still not good. He’s still in NCT but now does a lot of solo promotions and acting and good for him honestly. Other members that come to mind for getting the short end are Taeil, Yuta, Kun, and Jungwoo.

As far as members being super involved, of course I have to talk about Mark and Haechan. Mark is known as a pro debuter. He has debuted officially FOUR times (NCT U, NCT 127, NCT Dream, and SuperM) and also has released two solo singles. Haechan is also in NCT 127/NCT Dream and has participated in NCT U. Because they’re in so many units they have pretty much worked nonstop since 2016. Like I don’t know if Mark has ever taken a break and Haechan only took a one month hiatus earlier this year due to health reasons.

4) Is wayv an nct unit like dream or 127 or does it work differently??

Yes, WayV is the Chinese subunit of NCT! They debuted with a Chinese version of NCT 127’s song Regular. They are under SM’s Chinese label, Label V, and do not have NCT in their name due to the tension between China and Korea. This way they could promote easier. But honestly nothing about their journey has been easy and SM needs to do better by them.

5) What is nct hollywood/ nct tokyo??? Are they even happening???

So NCT Hollywood and NCT Tokyo were supposed to be the next units of NCT. NCT Hollywood was supposed to be formed with a competition show, and NCT Tokyo was supposed to be NCT members Shotaro and Sungchan (members that debuted in 2020 with NCT U and then were never given fixed units), as well as three SM Rookies that were announced.

As far as I know now, NCT Hollywood isn’t happening and NCT Tokyo will be the last subunit. However people are pissed because it was announced that Shotaro and Sungchan have left NCT and will be debuting in a different boy group, the rookies won’t be a part of NCT Tokyo either, and the group will be formed by a competition show.

Long story short from most of this is that NCT and SM groups are wonderful, but SM itself has turned into a shit show that needs to get itself together and treat its idols better.

Omg welcome to Ncity!! I will gladly answers any questions that you have if you need help 💚 I know it can be a bit overwhelming at first

thanks so much lol I’m literally an orbit and yet somehow this is the most confusing kpop group I have come across

I have many questions :)))

have all the members ever sang on one song?

if I’m understanding, the NCT U lineup changes, but does it change every album/era or every song?

are some members significantly less involved than others? Are some clearly in more projects than others?

is wayv an nct unit like dream or 127 or does it work differently??

what is nct hollywood/ nct tokyo??? Are they even happening???

[adrenaline-j]

Y’all acting brand new, like we haven’t been talking about NCT US since 2016/2017.

I’m pro-NCT Hollywood, because your arguments are wrong, here’s why:

-People concerned with SM not their promoting older artist. You guys did this already with SuperM, are we in time loop?! SuperM debuted in 2019, and guess what happened that year:

—Red Velvet had 4 comebacks/albums

—EXO had a collected total of 5 albums/comebacks (EXO, Baekhyun, Lay, Chen, and EXO-SC)

-Taemin had 2 comebacks/albums

-DBSK/TVXQ has a collected 2 comebacks/albums (DBSK/TVXQ and Yunho)

-Super Junior had a collected 3 comeback/album (Super Junior, Yesung, and Ryeowook)

-Taeyeon has 2, Yoona had 1, and Tiffany had 1 album/comeback

-WayV, Dream, and 127 all had a comeback/album

So this was the same concern when SuperM became a thing, and it was obviously proven not a concern, so why is this happening again? We already did this and it was okay.

NCT unit wise, at the end of the day they are musicians. Every year every NCT unit, with the exception of U, has had a comeback. Every single year. Adding WayV didn’t stop that from happening, so why should adding another subunit all of sudden stop that from happening, when that’s never happened?

-We knew NCT was a limitless concept and that’s it would have units around the globe so why are people surprised?

-People hating on NCT Hollywood, because certain members don’t get things makes no sense. It’s always been this way and they added 8 other members to NCT but there was no hate on those decisions. What does WinWin and Yuta not having a lot of lines (when technically the person in NCT with the least amount of lines on the whole discography is Hendery, but we’re not going to talk about that ☕️) have to do with NCT Hollywood, when Doyoung and Johnny were added to 127, and they still didn’t have lines then, nobody brought this up. Then Jungwoo was added, so how is this a concern specific to NCT Hollywood? Why is the hate on NCT Hollywood when literally other members were added to NCT while this was happening either way? Johnny, Lucas, Jungwoo, Xiaojun, Hendery, YangYang, Sungchan, and Shotaro were added to NCT despite this, and no hate went towards those decisions,but you guys want to pile on hate on whoever is in NCT Hollywood, when you didn’t have this level of “concern” when 8 other people joined NCT??

-People concerned about Sungchan and Shotaro being unit-less when Ten and Kun were unitless for 3 years, Lucas was unitless for nearly 2 years, and Doyoung and Jungwoo were unitless for 1 year. Where was this concern for them? There is literally no rush, they’ll get a unit. NCT Hollywood doesn’t effect that, that unit is part of a show it’s not going to even debut anytime soon.

-People thinking there’s no need for NCT Hollywood because 127 is successful in the US, when you know that 127’s also really successful in Japan, but we still want NCT Japan, so what kind of argument is that? They literally have higher chart success with their Japanese albums in Japan than they do with their albums in the US. So saying 127 is so successful in the US so we don’t need NCT Hollywood, when they’re more successful in Japan, but we need NCT Japan, makes no sense. Also 127 is literally the Seoul based unit who goes around the globe. They constantly say this. They’re supposed to have success globally, while other units are suppose to have more success in their region, that’s the point! We see it with WayV! That’s the point.

-People concerned about SuperM...How does that even have anything to do with NCT? At all, not even NCT Hollywood. Literally we’ve seen EXO and SuperJunior have comebacks when people were in the military. Why would that not be the case here? Hell, SM promotes a group that is literally down to 2 people. So how is this a reason to hate NCT Hollywood?

-People wanting solos for members that have been there longer when NCT is barely 5 years old is bizarre when most boy groups at SM, like EXO and SHINee, members didn’t start getting solos until the group was at least 7 years old or older. Look at Taemin and Baekhyun they had to wait over 7 years. So what is this expectation, and what does NCT Hollywood has to do with this? Ten and Taeyong have their solo stations, Doyoung has his OSTs, Taeil works with up and coming artists like Shohlee and Moon Sujin, and Jaehyun is acting and MCing. Mark is still in 4 units. So the members who have been their the longest aren’t just getting left in the dust, so where that concern even coming from.

-People who don’t want it to have the “NCT” label. Bruh! Everything needs to be NCT from here on out! We want to continue to grow NCT’s brand recognition. Our fandom has had a major growth from 2019-2020, and a lot of that is from people seeing WayV on Chinese programs and variety show, seeing 127’s tour, and SuperM. So many people joined our fandom from so many different directions and learned about the other members of NCT. We want to spread the knowledge of NCT music and members across everything. We don’t want SM to have any more new rival boy groups, if it’s NCT it can only benefit the other members because it will be just another way to get to know them.

-Bruh, it’s AAPI Heritage month in the US, out of all the times to think NCT Hollywood would only be Caucasian people, why...Just why. Just like SM global auditions, hell, just like any Kpop global auditions this is a big opportunity for Asian Americans. It’ll probably be more comfortable to train in a country you’re familiar with while learning about the industry you’re joining, and they have the opportunity to do so. So many of the Asian Americans in Kpop in the past mentioned how they joined the Kpop industry to have a better chance at success if their field there verses the US, and now this generation is getting a chance to potentially have both, how is that not a great thing? Let’s be optimistic instead of pessimistic. Besides if it works like an actual survival show, won’t we be able to vote people to stay in, so what’s the problem?

-People have been asking SM for a survival style show, and yeah, it may not be the way we expected it, but here it is.

-I’m pro-NCT Hollywood, none of the arguments against it really makes sense. I’m supporting anything NCT. Y’all with this disband hashtag are giving them an underdog story, you guys are pulling another SuperM, you guys are giving this more attention than the 7Dream Full Album Comeback we’ve been waiting on for years...

[kidnamedfinger]

my nctsona is named mckarty hes a college republican and pro fortnite gamer and his position in nct hollywood is guy who holds a fish

[potatzu]

6) ultimate bias: THE PRO DEBUTER

Mark Lee from NCT U

Mark Lee from NCT 127

Mark Lee from NCT DREAM

Mark Lee from SUPER M

Mark Lee Solo soon

Mark Lee from NCT hollywood

for @tuanzie 💋✨

[redlightreflux-blog]

Resistance/protest imagery in NCT’s Limitless MV: graffiti, Muhammad Ali, surveillance, arrest, complicity [analysis pt 1]

Man, so I’ve long thought the Rough version gets misunderstood as a faux-street, too-ugly-to-watch piece of low-res crap without either meaning or storyline. but I believe the MV and lyrics are full of nods to revolution, protest, and “fighting the unjust status quo” – let’s get started.

1. street graffiti as protest speech

What does protest look like? The “civil,” squeaky-clean-legal type can be voting in elections, donating to political parties, and in some countries and U.S. states, mass-assembling in public for “peaceful” demonstrations. Except sometimes people feel disenfranchised by all institutional modes of political participation. Resistance can also be illegal: violence, riots, obstructing traffic, trespassing on private property...and vandalism.

The MV begins with a blurry close-up horizontal pan across a wall of graffiti, and the boys are shown with aerosol spray cans again and again until the end – shaking them, painting with them, chilling with them in the background.

Right away, we’re faced with the puzzle of whether NCT are swaggering revolutionaries...or just angsty, privileged youths defacing public space to “rebel” against their "boring” lives. On one hand, it’s implied by the shabby warehouse littered with cheap goods – pizza boxes, a jumbo cheetos jar, posters taped over un-wallpapered walls- that they’re poor, maybe college students. Yet we see expensive luxury goods that look completely out of place: a glittering chandelier, iMacs, Sony camcorders, guitars, pro lighting kits, Doyoung’s audio mixing panel, the iPhones that they get caught on.

Are NCT 127 a gang that splurges on luxuries? Privileged college students who transplanted dorm items into an abandoned warehouse to film, edit, and produce an indie film? Or maybe they’re a resistance movement using graffiti “writing” as the only alternative media in a censored press, as El Salvador’s FMLN guerilla rebels used graffiti for recruitment, criticism of regime violence against protesters, and commemoration of their fallen from the 70s through the 90s against their brutal (US-backed) right-wing government?

I found NCT’s recurring use of camcorders to be strongly in favor of the (I think) intriguing resistance movement theory...but we’ll get to that later.

Graffiti can be a tool to alleviate boredom or gain fame (or a design career lmao), it can "beautify” urban spaces, and it can serve as gangs’ territory markers. But political graffiti is often the voice of the oppressed in cities where systemic poverty, economic and racial segregation, unemployment, crime, and police brutality ravage communities. In 1989, New York City and Los Angeles each spent over $50 million on graffiti cleanup, and other countries like Peru, Argentina, and Spain are also covered in graffiti that reflect the civil unrest among marginalized indigenous, labor, and student groups.

So is NCT hijacking or co-opting the protest speech of the oppressed? Or are they representing the resistance against injustice in the Limitless MV? I believe they’re consciously paying homage to revolutionaries and activists, as I’ll try to show below, despite the cocky Supreme outfits and sleek, pricey consumer tech.

2. homage to Muhammad Ali: the Greatest (1942-2016)

Who’s that on Mark’s shirt? Called “the Greatest,” the legendary Muhammad Ali was ranked the greatest heavyweight boxer of all time by Ring Magazine and The Associated Press, and the greatest athlete of the 20th century by Sports Illustrated. Ali won gold at the 1960 Olympics at age 18, and is still the world’s only three-time lineal heavyweight champion. He was also a civil rights activist, anti-Vietnam War protester, and a prolific philanthropist.

Muhammad Ali is famous for his 1966 refusal to fight in the then-popular Vietnam War, which he was arrested, stripped of his boxing titles, and charged with draft evasion for – the Supreme Court overturned his conviction in 1971, even though my President hilariously offered to pardon him just days ago. Ali publicly stated:

Today, Ali has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, two Academy Award-winning films based on his achievements, and has graced Time Magazine 5x, and Sports Illustrated 37 times. But his activism antagonized wealthy white America long before he became the mainstream icon that he is today.

Muhammad Ali’s protest to a then-popular war cost him 4 of his prime years as an athlete and landed him in jail, so it’s maybe not surprising to learn that the NSA’s “Minaret” program and FBI’s COINTELPRO operations had been illegally spying on him for years. In 1971, an (also illegal lmao) civilian raid on a Pennsylvania FBI office exposed over 1000 FBI records of surveillance, disinformation, and infiltration plans against civil rights and anti-war activists, and most damningly, of their 1969 assassination of 21-year-old Illinois Black Panthers chairman Fred Hampton in our boy Johnny’s hometown, Chicago.

I mention Fred Hampton and the FBI’s COINTELPRO (COunter INTELligence PROgram) because the whole Limitless MV is steeped in this...unsettling, sinister, you’re-under-surveillance discomfort that many civil rights activists felt in their resistance activities through at least the 50s and 60s. In many shots, NCT look like deer frozen in the headlights, caught off guard by the camera.

3. surveillance of activists & revolutionaries

Besides the general feeling of paranoia about being watched, there’s also shots that look straight-up taken without NCT’s consent or knowledge, as if by a secret camera, spy drone, or informant.

Which leads to the question: if NCT are just poseur revolutionaries partying with camcorders and Supreme streetwear in a warehouse, what are they so terrified of? Why do the members look scared out of their minds, as if for their lives? What danger are they constantly on the lookout for? what are they trying to hide?

I actually think this is the most important pattern to catch from the Limitless MV, even more important than the recurring imagery of resistance and protest that I’ve been writing a whole long-ass post about. If NCT fans remember nothing else about this MV, I hope they’ll remember the members’ reactions of fear, defensiveness, and hostility upon suddenly sensing the camera’s presence in each scene. Limitless is an MV with lots of “swagger” and lots of moments where NCT smiles knowingly for the camera, but there’s also these moments where they’re freaked out by the sudden presence of the camera.

Even if you don’t buy the “revolutionaries” theory, it’s still clear that there’s something profoundly, deeply wrong and disturbing going on in much of the VHS camcorder clips.

4. civil disobedience & riots –> arrests

Alright, so I’ve always thought the YouTube thumbnail for the Rough version looked like Taeil, Jaehyun, Doyoung, and Johnny getting arrested or “frisked” by police, and not just showing off their sculpted side profiles lmao. The image of an apprehended person being told to “put your hands up!” or “get on the ground!” or “put your hands up against the wall!” is burned into public consciousness.

Police want to check that the person is unarmed, or unable to reach for a weapon, hence the order to keep palms spread in plain sight.

As you can guess, unpopular peaceful protests are often labeled “riots” and result in arrests, like in the Sir William George “riot” of 1969 in our boy Mark’s own Canada, even if participants only started throwing objects to prevent their forcible removal by armed police upon their arrival.

Several other scenes also struck me as drawing heavily from the imagery of arrested protesters: while I can’t catch the hangul in the background signs (can you?), I get the vibes of police photo lineups and “mugshots” from this shot:

At least, I get that vibe from Doyoung and Taeil on the right. It’s made more discomforting because why the hell is Jaehyun upside down? he looks like he’s being...tortured? and why is Johnny holding him in that position? The boys look like they’re aware they’re being photographed, then catalogued.

In the final few shots, NCT are shown huddled together in poor lighting and throwing sparkler fireworks in arcs that remind me of “armed” protesters throwing rocks, bottles, gas canisters, or molotov cocktails at riot police.

The pose struck by someone throwing a long-range projectile looks the same no matter what the protest is against: a right-wing government, settler colonialism, locally harmful infrastructure like pipelines or military bases, strike-breaking, austerity, police violence, martial law, a verdict, state corruption, high-profile arrests and convictions, food shortages and unemployment under a left-wing government, an inauguration, etc. Anonymous graffiti artist Banksy even produced this meme-famous piece riffing on this iconic pose:

The images above are from Gaza, the Stonewall Inn in New York City, Paris, and Athens – and there’s plenty more to show from Baltimore, Standing Rock Indian Reservation, and outside of the U.S. too. But back to the act of NCT throwing ~lit~ fireworks into the air: how do we know if they’re punks who are celebrating or protesters who are rioting?

Since there’s never anyone else shown in the MV except NCT, we can’t tell for sure. But I’m inclined to take the maybe-protesting shots along with the maybe-arrested scene and the maybe-police-photo-lineup scene as belonging to one theme that also explains the graffiti, Muhammad Ali / boxing references, and the pervasive fear of being watched: the theme of resistance.

Also, intriguingly, remember how it was Taeil, Johnny, Doyoung, and Jaehyun who were maybe-arrested and maybe-photographed in a police lineup? Earlier, these guys jostle each others’ shoes in a circle, as if sealing a mutual pact with a secret handshake. Later, the same four are shown arrested.

By the way, there’s a couple of secret handshakes in this MV: gang signs? college boys antics? the identification codes of a legit resistance movement? no one knows.

If we believe Limitless to be the (sketchily told) story of NCT’s resistance, we might speculate that TI, JN, DY, and JH took mutually agreed-upon actions that resulted in their arrest and detention. Still, all of NCT lights their sparklers together, and all of NCT throws them into the air. What do you think?

It also makes you curious: what could they have done? Staged a sit-in? a walkout? a strike? a march? a riot? sprayed graffiti and got caught? or maybe, as I’ll half-seriously propose in Pt 2, they organized a forbidden film screening?

4. 🙈🙉🙊 & “monkey see, monkey do”

There’s a couple of old sayings about monkeys, human behavior, and morality. In the above shot, Yuta records as Mark arranges his body into the gold gorilla statue’s crouching position, and we’re shown this footage in the next scene.

That gold gorilla statue...can actually connect us to more meaningful interpretations of the MV. We see Mark bizarrely, weirdly, almost disturbingly, mimicking the position of the primate with great sensitivity to detail – why is it so unsettling? For me, it’s because he looks almost brainwashed or exploited while doing it. Mark is meticulously copying the example of an inanimate object, and he doesn’t laugh or show signs of having fun either. In fact, he looks almost anxious about messing up.

Later on, we see a highly symbolic shot of all nine boys placing their hands over their eyes, covering their sight as if to say, “see no evil.”

There’s no practical reason for all of NCT to cover their eyes indoors, so it’s not literal, it’s a metaphor. In Western culture, the act of deliberately impairing one’s sight evokes the idiom “to turn a blind eye.” That is, when a person knows evil is happening but doesn’t want to fix it, they can pretend the evil doesn’t exist by covering their eyes so they “see no evil.”

By the way, Kim Namjoon recently shared in a Billboard interview that BTS’s Fake Love choreo references the old “three wise monkeys” saying: see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil.

Here, Winwin covers Taeyong’s mouth while they both steadily meet the camera’s gaze. Their stillness and the camera’s smooth zoom in HD, in such contrast from previous low-res scenes that had almost spastically shaky camera motion, emphasizes this setup as another metaphor, instead of a literal action taken by characters within the story of Limitless.

NCT is trying to send us a message in this scene, it seems: that leader Taeyong, and thus maybe all of them, are being silenced for whatever reason and can’t speak the truth. They can look us dead in the eye, but there’s certain things they can’t say out loud –maybe because of the offscreen danger that keeps them living in fear.

I’ll add that I believe the “see no evil” part is meant to evoke the unsettling idea that people, especially youth, are ignoring the present-day evil or injustice in their own countries – the complicity of their willful blindness. The recurring lyrics “wake me u-up” and “open your eyes”( 눈을 떠 봐 오) in the chorus reinforce this association. Back to Mark mimicking the gold gorilla, the old pidgin saying “monkey see, monkey do” refers to the act of learning or mimicry without either knowledge or concern for the consequences.

Is this a critique of youth uncritically adopting the beliefs of their parents and mainstream society without thinking about the systemic injustices they condone and perpetuate? I think the answer depends on the viewer’s interest in politics and comfort with interpreting works that haven’t been explicitly explained by a creator lmao.

conclusion & lyrics.

I think I’ll stop Part 1 here lolol, since there’s still so, so much left. The plan is for Part 2 to introduce the origins of Third World Cinema and the Korean Independent Filmmakers Association (KIFA) as possible influences but, most definitely, amplifiers for the images of resistance used in the MV. Part 2 will address the...uh, limitless cinematic storytelling styles used in the Rough version, and the effects of editing them together into one MV to tell one story.

I also super-duper recommend @seasquared​‘s “Direct Address” essay for a more complete idea of the viewer’s gaze as intruder into NCT’s world – though I sort of interpret the boys’ unpreparedness for the camera’s presence as more of a metaphor for resistance movements’ existential paranoia at being “caught” by the establishment than as a critique of fans’ objectification of idols:

Oh baby it’s you It’s only the beginning, the limitless me || 이제 시작이야 무한의 나 From the start of the East to the end of the West || 동의 처음과 서의 끝 쪽부터 The light gets stronger || 빛은 암흑 속 퍼질 As it spreads through the darkness || 수록 강해져 가 Open your eyes || 눈을 떠 봐 오 My song is getting louder || 점점 커져가 나의 노래가 Did you see? That hot and explosive world? || 봤니 뜨겁고 터질듯한 세계 Can you hear? We have become one || 들리니 우리는 하나가 돼 Baby I don’t want nobody but you

[trans from colorcodedlyrics.com]

If we choose to interpret “the light” as a revolutionary movement, which my eagerly politics-following ass thinks is a meaningful exercise, the lyrics and MV might suddenly start to paint a story of NCT as underground revolutionaries who meet and fall in love with a new friend, eventually begging the friend to join them in the resistance.

I absolutely love it – Limitless then simultaneously becomes a greasy recruitment message (”baby I don’t want nobody but you 😘”) and a desperate plea for a fellow citizen to join the cause against oppression. (”open your eyes”) But it’s also a passionate love song, and I’m a total hoe for the scorchingly intimate hunger the lyrics convey. The obvious “thirsty, thirsty, f-or love” bit aside, the speaker in the lyrics is urgently seeking intimacy: both a personal connection, and a sense of belonging within something greater than himself.

I need a connection, I want it like crazy I need you I need something to make us feel each other completely I need you

Help me so I can do well Sometimes, I get lost Eventually, we are all connected You know this Like finding a big ocean At the end of a desert Your existence is limitless

Change the heavy world Look how free we are, so free Inside, only you are allowed The one to take my heart, that is you

I think it’s interesting to ask: is Limitless more of a love song that borrows its ferocity from the metaphor of revolution, or a revolutionary manifesto that amplifies its fervor with the universal passion and frustration of youth?

I think it’s similar to asking if the MV is more of an “aesthetics” moodfilm that boosts its own glamor by appropriating the imagery of resistance movements (graffiti writers), activists (Muhammad Ali), and hardships (arrest)...or if the MV is itself a story of resistance against oppression, and only dons the gloss of expensive streetwear to add a spirit of youthful cockiness and anti-establishment swagger to the cause.

But in reality, aren’t things more complex than that? The spirit of any revolution and the passions and frustrations of its youth have always fed and strengthened each other, I think. It feels only honest and hard-hitting that a song about youth-led revolution would also be a hungry, impatient love song.

I hope you enjoyed reading this – I’ll die of joy if you decide you want to comment, discuss, message, or interact with me or other fans in whatever way about any of this!

~ masterlist link ~

[a-bts-world]

I'm not Pro-NCT hollywood yet, but some good arguments were made in this post! I will decided if I stan them when they are formed, just like I did with I-land and just like I did when 1D first released solo stuff. Just like you should do, it is okay to dislike a subunit/member but you shouldn't hate on it so much

Y’all acting brand new, like we haven’t been talking about NCT US since 2016/2017.

I’m pro-NCT Hollywood, because your arguments are wrong, here’s why:

-People concerned with SM not their promoting older artist. You guys did this already with SuperM, are we in time loop?! SuperM debuted in 2019, and guess what happened that year:

—Red Velvet had 4 comebacks/albums

—EXO had a collected total of 5 albums/comebacks (EXO, Baekhyun, Lay, Chen, and EXO-SC)

-Taemin had 2 comebacks/albums

-DBSK/TVXQ has a collected 2 comebacks/albums (DBSK/TVXQ and Yunho)

-Super Junior had a collected 3 comeback/album (Super Junior, Yesung, and Ryeowook)

-Taeyeon has 2, Yoona had 1, and Tiffany had 1 album/comeback

-WayV, Dream, and 127 all had a comeback/album

So this was the same concern when SuperM became a thing, and it was obviously proven not a concern, so why is this happening again? We already did this and it was okay.

NCT unit wise, at the end of the day they are musicians. Every year every NCT unit, with the exception of U, has had a comeback. Every single year. Adding WayV didn’t stop that from happening, so why should adding another subunit all of sudden stop that from happening, when that’s never happened?

-We knew NCT was a limitless concept and that’s it would have units around the globe so why are people surprised?

-People hating on NCT Hollywood, because certain members don’t get things makes no sense. It’s always been this way and they added 8 other members to NCT but there was no hate on those decisions. What does WinWin and Yuta not having a lot of lines (when technically the person in NCT with the least amount of lines on the whole discography is Hendery, but we’re not going to talk about that ☕️) have to do with NCT Hollywood, when Doyoung and Johnny were added to 127, and they still didn’t have lines then, nobody brought this up. Then Jungwoo was added, so how is this a concern specific to NCT Hollywood? Why is the hate on NCT Hollywood when literally other members were added to NCT while this was happening either way? Johnny, Lucas, Jungwoo, Xiaojun, Hendery, YangYang, Sungchan, and Shotaro were added to NCT despite this, and no hate went towards those decisions,but you guys want to pile on hate on whoever is in NCT Hollywood, when you didn’t have this level of “concern” when 8 other people joined NCT??

-People concerned about Sungchan and Shotaro being unit-less when Ten and Kun were unitless for 3 years, Lucas was unitless for nearly 2 years, and Doyoung and Jungwoo were unitless for 1 year. Where was this concern for them? There is literally no rush, they’ll get a unit. NCT Hollywood doesn’t effect that, that unit is part of a show it’s not going to even debut anytime soon.

-People thinking there’s no need for NCT Hollywood because 127 is successful in the US, when you know that 127’s also really successful in Japan, but we still want NCT Japan, so what kind of argument is that? They literally have higher chart success with their Japanese albums in Japan than they do with their albums in the US. So saying 127 is so successful in the US so we don’t need NCT Hollywood, when they’re more successful in Japan, but we need NCT Japan, makes no sense. Also 127 is literally the Seoul based unit who goes around the globe. They constantly say this. They’re supposed to have success globally, while other units are suppose to have more success in their region, that’s the point! We see it with WayV! That’s the point.

-People concerned about SuperM...How does that even have anything to do with NCT? At all, not even NCT Hollywood. Literally we’ve seen EXO and SuperJunior have comebacks when people were in the military. Why would that not be the case here? Hell, SM promotes a group that is literally down to 2 people. So how is this a reason to hate NCT Hollywood?

-People wanting solos for members that have been there longer when NCT is barely 5 years old is bizarre when most boy groups at SM, like EXO and SHINee, members didn’t start getting solos until the group was at least 7 years old or older. Look at Taemin and Baekhyun they had to wait over 7 years. So what is this expectation, and what does NCT Hollywood has to do with this? Ten and Taeyong have their solo stations, Doyoung has his OSTs, Taeil works with up and coming artists like Shohlee and Moon Sujin, and Jaehyun is acting and MCing. Mark is still in 4 units. So the members who have been their the longest aren’t just getting left in the dust, so where that concern even coming from.

-People who don’t want it to have the “NCT” label. Bruh! Everything needs to be NCT from here on out! We want to continue to grow NCT’s brand recognition. Our fandom has had a major growth from 2019-2020, and a lot of that is from people seeing WayV on Chinese programs and variety show, seeing 127’s tour, and SuperM. So many people joined our fandom from so many different directions and learned about the other members of NCT. We want to spread the knowledge of NCT music and members across everything. We don’t want SM to have any more new rival boy groups, if it’s NCT it can only benefit the other members because it will be just another way to get to know them.

-Bruh, it’s AAPI Heritage month in the US, out of all the times to think NCT Hollywood would only be Caucasian people, why...Just why. Just like SM global auditions, hell, just like any Kpop global auditions this is a big opportunity for Asian Americans. It’ll probably be more comfortable to train in a country you’re familiar with while learning about the industry you’re joining, and they have the opportunity to do so. So many of the Asian Americans in Kpop in the past mentioned how they joined the Kpop industry to have a better chance at success if their field there verses the US, and now this generation is getting a chance to potentially have both, how is that not a great thing? Let’s be optimistic instead of pessimistic. Besides if it works like an actual survival show, won’t we be able to vote people to stay in, so what’s the problem?

-People have been asking SM for a survival style show, and yeah, it may not be the way we expected it, but here it is.

-I’m pro-NCT Hollywood, none of the arguments against it really makes sense. I’m supporting anything NCT. Y’all with this disband hashtag are giving them an underdog story, you guys are pulling another SuperM, you guys are giving this more attention than the 7Dream Full Album Comeback we’ve been waiting on for years...