With zombie stage clearly mirroring alien stage, I think it’s important to note that the alien audience is now replaced with a mostly male one. It’s probably supposed to reflect the actual idol industry but the implications go way further than that.
At the end it’s revealed that just like alien stage, participants are eliminated directly on stage following a round. The alien audience was one thing—creatures that don’t fully understand our nuances, behavior and psyche watching us die on stage for their entertainment—but the human audience is another entirely. You don’t need me to point out how sadistic it is for the human audience to watch former humans be butchered and dismembered live on stage. But I do want to highlight there’s an even more twisted aspect of having the audience be men—a group that has historically led systemic violence and oppression against marginalized groups—instead of equal parts men and women. If it was equal parts then you can say the audience is a stand-in for society but if it’s just men, that’s saying something. Having the audience be predominantly male really adds to how disturbing zombie stage is because it directly reflects how feminine suffering is sensationalized by men in real life.
Women have always been defined by their attractiveness and even more so their tragedy. Think about Marilyn Monroe and how she’s been remembered. Although she led an amazing acting career, her story is often overshadowed by the pain she experienced to the point where it’s become intrinsically intertwined with her legacy as a Hollywood sex symbol. Her story was used as a stepping stool for many news outlets to profit off of at the expense of understanding her as a person. And even decades after her death, men still list her feminine fragility or fleeting beauty as one of the defining qualities of an attractive woman.
Dressing these idols in frilly dresses won’t hide the fact they’re actively decomposing. It won’t hide the fact that they were human once with feelings and memories and history and now you’re watching their bodies be butchered like black market meat. You get off on seeing these beautiful women dance on stage for your pleasure because it makes you wonder how can they turn something as tragic and violent as death into something worth admiring, right? How they can be half dead and yet their unaffected smile makes your heart beat ten times faster than theirs could anymore?
This reflection is deepened by the element of lesbian fetishization too. Sua and Mizi don’t kiss for the fans (obviously, you KNOW Sua was gonna do that regardless) but still having the male audience be present for that turns it into an even more controversial spectacle on top of the already grim circumstances. You literally hear them chant “wooo—“ full with suspense up to the moment they kiss where they scream “yeah!” as if they were waiting for that so very hot exchange between two women not because it was a celebration of love but because it felt deliciously forbidden to watch. Zombie idols are one thing but female lesbian zombie idols? That’s even more alluring to someone who’s already drawn to their exploitation because it adds another layer of controversy. Another reason to objectify them. Vivimeng are a lesbian couple so I’m sure they’ve had their fair share of experiences with this—having their relationship be nothing more than a voyeuristic fantasy to straight men—and it’s not a stretch to say this was intentional.
All of this is to say that vivimeng replacing the alien audience with a male one is worth mentioning. Perhaps it’s not a one to one comparison but there’s considerations to be had about this artistic decision. The aliens don’t understand us. They don’t know human ethics, human emotions, human connections etc. They saw humans as pets and as an extension of that, we became disposable sources of entertainment. But these men know our pain. See it. Understand it and yet they continue to sensationalize, romanticize and glorify these fucked up circumstances by being adoring voyeurs to the girls’ detriment. Even in death, no woman can escape exploitation. Especially not beautiful ones. That’s what’s so striking to me about this.
Maybe it’s not that deep. Maybe the curtains are just blue but I’d like to see it through that Vivimeng does everything with intention.
