Beyond The (K-Pop) Scene: BTS’s Wings and Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray

Nayoung Bishoff

Introduction

Oscar Wilde employs the element of art—portraiture—in The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890). Wilde describes how Dorian Gray appears perfect, satisfying social expectations, while Gray’s hidden portrait becomes stained over time. This article will explore how this stained portrait symbolizes Gray’s hidden self beyond his persona and how the South Korean popular music (K-pop) group BTS (Beyond the Scene) reinterprets this idea in their short film series Wings (2016) within South Korean context. I will first demonstrate how BTS’s intertextuality with Western literature, including The Picture of Dorian Gray, expands the definition of adaptation through a transnational lens. By incorporating elements of this classic novel into their work, BTS not only reimagines the story for the global audience but also highlights the fluidity of literary themes. This approach underscores the transformative power of adaptation, showing how different cultural contexts can work together to create resonant messages that transcend traditional boundaries.

Through a comparative analysis between Wings and The Picture of Dorian Gray, I will further explain how BTS, with nearly all of its members coming from working-class families, conveys the message of self-discovery in the stifling environment of South Korea. Like young people in Victorian England, Korean youths are often taught to adhere to the ideal standards set by their elders and struggle to express their own thoughts or beauty. This pressure often leads to depression and a high suicide rate among young people. According to a 2023 BBC article by Serin Ha, South Korea has consistently ranked among the countries with the highest suicide rates in the OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) since 2003. This high rate of suicide is particularly prevalent among young people, with more than two in five deaths among teenagers and over half of deaths among those in their twenties attributed to suicide (Ha, 2023). Through their sincere storytelling in Wings, BTS portrays their own “stained” portraits on stage, sharing genuine narratives of the mental, social, and generational challenges they faced during their youths. By emphasizing the importance of expressing their true selves despite the expectations of older generations, BTS demonstrates the journey of discovering a youth’s liberating identity amidst societal pressures to conform.

K-Pop’s Intertextual Links to Western Classics

As exemplified by Wings’ reference to Western literature, Korean studies scholar CedarBough T. Saeji attributes the success of K-pop’s global popularity to its intertextual connections with literature worldwide. She argues how “[t]he use of intertextual links to familiar and widely known texts welcomes everyone to enjoy K-pop not as a foreign language but as a new field of cultural play” (Saeji 60). Their use of texts extends beyond Korean literature to include Western classics. Saeji explains how Koreans have been exposed to Western classics through their historical engagement with America:

Historically, there has been a long engagement between Americans and Koreans, particularly in education. In the 1800s, there was a US-Korean treaty and the arrival of American missionaries who shaped the Korean education system. In part due to this length of engagement, the average Korean knows the Western classics as well as various important Korean works, and to many Koreans these stories are as familiar and beloved as the Korean ones. Post 1945, there was a growth in literary scholarship in English in Korea, and this was seen as a source of modernization. Second, although this may not be as true in all countries around the world, in fact American and English classics from Moby Dick to Frankenstein are very widely known (51).

Familiar with both Korean and English classics, K-pop groups like BTS often employ themes or concepts found in Western classics in their artistic works such as music videos (MVs). Saeji notes how “within the short 3- to 5-minute time span of MVs, intertextual references to non-Korean cultural elements frequently refer to classic and widely known works of Euro-American fiction” (51).

To analyze such intertextual references in their artworks, fans are interested in reading and analyzing books that have been mentioned by BTS. Based on books recommended and introduced by BTS’s leader RM (Namjoon Kim) in his interviews or magazines, fans have started to seek out and read these books to better connect with their artistic works. These efforts are not limited to the Korean fan community but extend globally. In 2021, fans created a website titled Namjoon’s Library, where they can easily discover the books RM and other BTS members have discussed. The website provides further information about how those books are mentioned by him in different interviews, broadcasts, or social media platforms. The website is regularly updated with new literature (see Figure 1). His book recommendations not only include Korean literature such as Han Kang’s Human Acts (2014), but also Western classics such as Albert Camus’ The Stranger (1942), George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949), and Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis (1915).

If you want to continue to read, please click link below and visit LFQ Literature/FilmQuarterly.⚡Beyond The (K-Pop) Scene: BTS’s Wings and Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray, Nayoung Bishoff, Literature Film Quarterly