Park Jin-hai primarily focuses on K-dramas, entertainment shows and actor interviews. Beyond that, she also pens articles covering the broader arts scene, with a particular emphasis on classical music, dance and various aspects of lifestyle. Since joining The Korea Times in 2013, she has made significant contributions in the realms of hallyu (Korean wave), industry news and international affairs.
BTS becomes cultural phenomenon
By Park Jin-hai
Superstar K-pop band covered in films, books, webtoons, games
By Park Jin-hai
On Saturday, the CGV theater in Seoul's southwestern Yeongdeungpo-gu discrict, was turned into a concert hall.
Fans waited in long lines to enter the theater for the special two-night screening event called “ARMY Bomb Screening,” where BTS fans could sing along to songs and wave light sticks called “BTS Bomb” while watching live BTS concert tour footage on the big screen.
Like the real concert, fans chant each member's names, passionately waving color-changing sticks as guided by Bit Hit staff members.
"Love Yourself in Seoul," a documentary released on Saturday that recorded BTS' "Love Yourself" concert series in the city, attracted over 180,000 moviegoers in two days during the opening weekend. It became the second-most-seen film at the local box office.
It is BTS' second film in just two and a half months ― its first, "Burn the Stage: The Movie," garnered an audience of 2 million in some 70 countries and regions following its release in November 2018.
Their second documentary film was released at a total of 3,800 theaters in 96 countries including the United States and the United Kingdom on Saturday.
World K-pop sensation BTS' brand power is being felt industry-wide.
Along with BTS films, the stories of the seven-member boy band have been or will be made into books, a webtoon and mobile games.
The upcoming BTS book and BTS webtoon “Save Me,” unveiled through Naver Webtoon earlier this month, share BTS' world views, as featured in their “The Most Beautiful Moment in Life” music videos.
The BTS book, awaiting its official release on March 5, is titled “The Most Beautiful Moment in Life: The Notes 1” and depicts the anxieties and uncertainties of young boys as they confront their fate.
In the form of a diary, it builds on a theme that runs through booklets contained in BTS' "The Most Beautiful Moment in Life" album from 2015.
The book, 234 pages long, will be published in Korean, English and Japanese. The Big Hit Shop website began taking pre-orders on Jan. 21.
Though there have been many books published about BTS since the band rose to global stardom, fans are expected to respond particularly enthusiastically to this book as it is the first put together by BTS' agency and because BTS members are known to borrow from literary works and enjoy reading in general.
The webtoon "The Most Beautiful Moment in Life Pt. 0: Save Me" is also about the friendship and fate of seven boys, who take on the real names of the BTS members. One of the boys returns after two years in the United States and brings together his friends, who have gone their separate ways.
In the prologue and the first two episodes, the character named after RM is imprisoned for assault and the one named V has become a suspect in his father's death.
The webtoon, which was unveiled on Jan. 17, was released simultaneously in seven regions around the world and targets consumers in their teens and 20s.
A BTS mobile simulation game titled "BTS World" will also be released in the first quarter of this year. “BTS World” enables users to manage BTS and work on BTS' behalf to promote their careers and run their affairs. The game will include 10,000 photos and more than 100 videos. A new BTS song is scheduled to be unveiled through the game as well.
Critics say BTS' cross-industry movement is different from any other K-pop artists. "Everything about BTS was different from existing K-pop groups, from its inception to its way of creating a phenomenon," pop culture critic Kang Moon said. "Usually, when artists are satisfied with just creating music, they lack motivation for exerting social influence, but BTS has already become a social sensation by sending various messages and is demonstrating its will to continuously communicate with fans around the world by creating omnidirectional content."
One music industry insider points out that BTS has succeeded in achieving Marvel-like world fame. "BTS has established a solid domain in the global content market. As seen in Marvel films and cartoons that pursue a shared world and have expanded into various content channels, BTS has created an overarching theme that branches off to expand and develop content across various genres and media,” the official said.