I came across your blog and found your thoughts interesting but I want to ask you: doesn't the filmic quality that Jikook provide seem a little - fantastical? I think there's something afoot in BTS but I find the amount of Jikook médiatisé - from the subtext of G.C.F. Tokyo or Saipan, to the Black Swan pas-de-deux, the rainbow photoshoot, to earlier BTS videos where Jimin would say he's 'the one that likes Jungkook' - makes me mistrust rather than trust Jikook... It is vey neatly presented for what would be a very messy and complicated relationship.. a Truman show mirror. At the very least I have to conclude that there are two Jikooks - one that is their 'iconography', their presence in media as a Bangtan power couple, with a triumphant narrative; and a private Jikook who few know or can imagine the trajectory of. Kind of like how I feel about TomDaya.
Note : TaeKook imo lack both this inner private world and this iconic outer world. Taehyung imo does have his own 'iconicity' - Singularity for e.g. - but it exists independent of most other group members, only ocassionally expanding to include Jin.
Oh my, I never thought of grading my asks, but this one deserves an A+. It is rather refreshing to have a more nuanced perspective when it comes to this certain ship, one that I haven't encountered in a long time in the discourse that seems to have some very settled and narrow views. Anon, I think we have similar ways of looking at this and I like your use of the term filmic quality because I have thought of this as well in a way.
It was always interesting to me how jikook as a ship has this story-like quality to it, much as a romance movie, with a couple who has ups and downs and moments worthy of iconic scenes if it ever were to be transferred on a screen. But as you mentioned, it has nothing to do with private jikook, or more exactly Jimin and Jungkook because what we as viewers are able to see is a story woven by shippers and believers alike, using snippets and fragments which leave empty holes that have to be tied together somehow. This is somehow a natural process, something to be expected. We need to make sense of our world and what we see. And if we are presented with only bits and pieces that somehow may lead us to certain conclusions, then we feel the need to make sense of it all. And on top of that we like stories and isn't it uplifting to see a romance such as that, or at least as we think it is? One that makes people believe in great love stories, or how it can be an influence on their own personal lives, to be better for their partner? How many times have shippers/believers mentioned how jikook remind them of their own relationship and use that as a way to legitimize their own views? The point is, we love love and everything that has to do with it. But, we also love love when it's just like in the movies because it's more thrilling and exciting and how we wish it could be like that in real life. All those slow motion clips of jikook or any other ship in which it looks like they're touching their hands, but just briefly, makes shippers burst with excitement and perhaps have butterflies in their stomach. It always reminds me of that scene in Pride and Prejudice, when Darcy flexes his hand after he helps Elizabeth enter the carriage. What a glorious and unforgettable cinematic moment. And you know why? Because despite being surrounded by people, only us the viewers saw it, no one else. It makes us feel part of it, as we're in on the secret. That's what if feels in shipping as well. When one sees a ''moment'' and thinks ''oh my god, I can't believe that happened, they did that, I saw a glimpse of a hand behind the guy's back. Young love''.
But here's the thing and the iconography you mentioned plays a big part. Those moments have a certain meaning that has been attributed by the shippers. It doesn't mean it's meaningless for Jimin and Jungkook and there is also a chance that they themselves think of it as having other meaning that we are not privy to because that is their personal life. Shippers may think GCF Tokyo must be a milestone or something impactful in Jimin and Jungkook's life but I would say it is actually impactful in the jikook lore â created and perceived by outsiders. Who is to say what that trip and video meant? Maybe it was something that was unusual for outsiders, but maybe for them it didn't hold that same importance because they have done other things in their life, perhaps more important to them and GCFT fails by comparison. Or maybe not. The truth is, we really have no way of knowing.
There are patterns in shipping practices that we can find in multiple ships, including jikook. And this aspect doesn't say anything about Jimin and Jungkook as individuals and how they act with each other. But it does say something which can lead someone to reach the conclusion you have. Let me add some more elements in the iconography which relate to the bigger shipping picture: black and white couple, (not) promoted by the company, sun and moon duo, matching jewelry, ''jealousy moments'', hints of the relationship through social media posts, etc. We can find these exact or at least similar aspects in other ships because they are the instruments used by shippers in order to ''lift'' their ship and make it unique, to explain why their ship is different that a usual friendship within a band. And in time, they become narrative elements of the story. As to jikook as a ship, on top of it, there are ''extraordinary'' moments which usually lead the shippers in saying ''how can you not see it? It's obvious as day and night'' or something like that, such as things they have said, a hickey, something that looks like an almost kiss. I'm not mentioning these in order to invalidate it completely. All those ''actions'' that we have seen and heard about are, let's say markers of an intimate relationship and we could recognize it in our daily lives, in media and so on. But, they are transformed into moments which are elevated and given major importance by the shippers. What I'm trying to say is that normally (at least my own definition of normal), one would see something like that and could say ''oh, they do that? Cool'' and move on, but when it's filtered through shipping, it's always something bigger, something amazing that needs to be woven in the story that has been created, a big puzzle piece that was needed in the attempt of figuring out how a supposed relationship looks like.
It will always be a situation of standing outside looking in through a window and the biggest flaw is that it's impossible to see all the space, the corners and the rest of the house, forever feeling a deep desire of wanting to be inside, including when people say they are fulfilled of getting just a glimpse. If that were true, they wouldn't spend so much time theorizing about what happens in the other rooms, would they?
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