Choi Jin-ri, better known by her stage name Sulli, was a South Korean actress, singer, and model. Sulli first made her debut as a child actress, appearing as a supporting cast member on the SBS historical drama Ballad of Seodong. 

Just like her name Jinri ( “Truth”), Suli was also an existence that went beyond her name. She was someone who practised her resistance for freedom with her whole body and soul, and it shows. She spoke openly about her struggles with mental health issues, cyberbullying – and even her romantic relationships, which many K-pop stars are banned from doing by their management.

The 25 year old insisted women should be free to dress as they pleased, and she was often strongly criticised for not wearing a bra in public. She brazenly spoke out based on her own beliefs. These nonconforming, loud and bold female stars have to risk their entire career to be who they are.

Sulli was found dead at her home on Monday. The initial police report said there was no sign of foul play. Her close friends said she had been depressed before her death.

Several idols have since spoken out about the need for better support for stars in the K-pop industry, and the pressures they are under.

Sulli left this industry at a time when K-pop stars, especially women, are still not able to fully, freely express themselves without risking a major backlash from the public. While she will be undeniably missed, one hopes that not only did Sulli’s outspoken, confident way of living make a change to the traditional, harshly rigid standards that Korean celebrities seemingly must keep, but also evolve the toxic culture of online commenters that plague and taunt the K-pop stars – perhaps more than anyone may realize.

“My name is Sulli. Sul means snow and Li means a pear flower. So I’ll probably reborn as a flower that is small but full of strong vitality.” – Sulli (Choi Jin-ri) (March 29, 1994 – October 14, 2019).

BTS joins hands with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to stage campaigns against violence toward children and teens around the world, with the hope of making the world a better place through music.

The campaign idea was introduced by the group as a sponsorship to #ENDviolence, a UNICEF global campaign aimed at the protection of young people so they can live without the fear of violence

“In the year since UNICEF and BTS joined together to eradicate violence against children, we have raised over 1.6 billion won,” said UNICEF Korea in a statement. “During it, they have continued to spread their positive influence, such as with the UN General Assembly ‘Speak Yourself’ speech.”

The Love Myself campaign has raised funds based on direct donations and a percentage of the income from the Love Yourself series and other related goods. At the launch of the event last year, BTS and its label Big Hit Entertainment announced they planned to donate 500 million (around $447,000 USD) KRW.

Though it’s not updated in real time — it currently states that the fund has accumulated 1.15 billion KRW — the Love Myself website has recorded over 6.7 million uses of the hashtag #BTSLoveMyself.

Indian K-pop fans were in for a treat when famous gathering KARD performed in – New Delhi and Guwahati – this July.

With two K-pop visits previously finished over the most recent couple of months alone (IN2IT kicked things off in April while VAV pursued not long after in May,) India is in for a significantly greater treat. The gathering comprises of four individuals B.M, Jiwoo, J.Seph and Somin–and took off even before their official presentation in 2017, increasing a monstrous worldwide after gratitude to their exceptional dancehall sound and co-ed idea an invigorating difference in pace in the K-pop circle.

They’re likewise one of the most well known K-pop gatherings in India with fans clamoring for a show in the nation by means of remarks on the gathering’s web based life pages and different petitions on the web.

The individuals themselves have likewise recently communicated enthusiasm for India; a clasp of rapper J.Seph endeavoring to cover “Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi” from the 2008 film of a similar name turned into a web sensation in 2017.

Spirited Away, is a 2001 Japanese animated coming-of-age fantasy film. It was written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki, animated by Studio Ghibli. Spirited Away tells the story of Chihiro Ogino (Hiiragi), a moody 10-year-old girl who, while moving to a new neighbourhood, enters the world of Kami (spirits) of Japanese Shinto folklore. After her parents are transformed into pigs by the witch Yubaba (Natsuki), Chihiro takes a job working in Yubaba’s bathhouse to find a way to free herself and her parents and return to the human world. The film was originally released in Japan on 20 July 2001 by distributor Toho. It became the most successful film in Japanese history, grossing over $361 million worldwide.
There’s so much to Spirited Away that it’s tough to tackle it from one angle. The first part of this piece will discuss how the film practically redefines what we should expect from animation (traditional or digital). The second part will dig into the film’s themes and ideas to see how Spirited Away not only entrances us with its visuals but also with its content.

The one thing that is most impressive about Spirited Away is how alive almost every frame of animation is. Even the hand-drawn backgrounds, which are devoid of actual movement, sparkle with life. This “life” is present in large scenes like our introduction to the bathhouse where what seems like hundreds of different and creative spirits are congregating. Every aspect of a big scene like this throbs with motion, creating an animated film that feels more alive than most non-animated ones. We’re thrown into a massive world of ideas, but the attention to detail on every subject we see is stunning.
It’s this detailed view of the world that separates Spirited Away’s animation from all others. Large scenes, like the introduction to the bathhouse, play out in animated films all the time, but the smaller scenes that are routinely present in Spirited Away do not. Take the Susuwatari (tiny, living dust balls who man the bath house’s furnace). While they play a role in the film, many of the scenes are almost completely irrelevant to the actual plot. Instead of attempting to move the story along as fast as possible Miyazaki pushes instead to establish a world by paying attention to (admittedly adorable) minutia. Most animated films veer away from the extra movement in a scene as it means extra animation work, but Spirited Away not only puts extra animation into pivotal scenes but also adds entire scenes that are not “needed.” In this way Spirited Away doesn’t just tell a story, it creates a world.

It’s an amazing world to look at, too. Miyazaki understood this and it’s so blatantly clear from the film’s direction how much the fine folks at Ghibli love what they do and the art of animation. This is apparent throughout the film, but once again it’s the less obvious scene that makes the point. Take Chihiro’s family’s first steps into what they think is an old amusement park. The family walked into what looks like a small train station or waiting room. Instead of a quick establishing shot to the outside of the building to show where they are, the camera slowly pans across the beautifully painted background as if it is savouring every brush stroke. It then cuts to a shot of light streaming through one of the room’s windows. It’s not a special window and it doesn’t have any real purpose, but it might be one of the most important shots for establishing tone in the film. This devoted focus on presenting the art behind the film is not only a testament to Ghibli’s love of the medium, but creates a deeper world for the viewer to get lost in.
Beyond becoming fully immersed in the world, what is there to understand? Surprisingly, a lot. Even more surprising, for a film released in 2001, a lot of relevant issues crop up today. Looking at Spirited Away at its most basic level we see an adventure about a girl. Peeling back that level the film opens up to two other interpretations. The first is pretty easy to notice: growing up. Taking a cue from Alice in Wonderland, Spirited Away turns the awkward move from childhood to adulthood into a fantasy metaphor. Anyone with even a cursory viewing of the film can easily see Chihiro’s growth from a scared girl crying out to her parents to a mature child growing into herself. She falls in love, learns about loss, and through her interactions with the spirits in the bathhouse discovers that the world isn’t so black and white. Played against the foil of Yababa this growing up metaphor becomes even stronger. Yababa steals Chihiro’s name effectively killing her child self and is the mother who won’t let her child grow up in contrast to Chihiro, who is forced to.

That metaphor is pretty obvious though as it’s part of the plot as well. What stood out for me upon my re-watching of the film this time around is how much it speaks to societies flaws, the burned economy and the constant pull between the past and the present. I’m sure these things have been noted before, but it’s incredible how much more appropriate they seem today after our current financial crisis. In 2001, Japan’s economy was already crumbling so many of the economic themes of the film relate to that originally, but are now all the more appropriate post-Great Recession. The bathhouse, in general, can easily be interpreted as the pre-recession economy as it explodes in wealth and luxury. No Face, a creature who usurps the identity and actions of those around it, sees the overwhelming consumption of the bathhouse (and to a lesser extent Chihiro’s parents) and duplicates it. In the process of his non-stop consumption, he destroys the very house that is feeding him and yet no one thinks to stop him until it is too late. This interpretation of the film puts Chihiro squarely in the role of the “next generation.” Much like a college student graduating into a depressed economy where they’ve been promised a job, she comes kicking and fearful into the bathhouse unsure of what or where she is supposed to go. However, she eventually recognizes the issues with the culture of the place she is in and realizes that personal sacrifice and growth are the only way to change what is happening around her. Her maturation as a person is what the film believes society needs to do to move beyond where we are. While the film has a clear and obvious fascination with (if not love for) Japanese past, it’s Chihiro, a modern child, who must act to move the world forward.

Alexander McQueen

“Life to me is a bit of a Brothers Grimm fairytale,” – Lee Alexander McQueen (1969 – 2010)

The British designer has certainly lived a life of a fairytale if we look at his rag to riches story, but unlike most fairytale, we read bout he never made it to a happy ending as the designer tragically died in 2010. McQueen’s meticulously crafted designs and theatrical catwalk shows pushed the boundaries of fashion into art, making him one of the most visionary designers of his generation.

McQueen worked as chief designer at Givenchy from 1996 to 2001 and founded his own fort Alexander McQueen label in 1992. Many of McQueen’s designs were imbued with a strong Gothic sensibility. He loved the Victorian era and its attendant melancholia. And it’s no surprise that McQueen felt a kinship with American film-maker Tim Burton, who is also known for his works of dark fantasy.

Alexander McQueen changed how the runway was presented, he introduced theatre, and he let you experience every breath, every song, everything there was always poetry and it all meant something. He found inspirations everywhere like his Scottish ancestry, Historical events, Alfred Hitchcock music, Yoruba Mythology, his friends, and the destruction of the environment.

McQueen’s shows caused a shift in how fashion shows are presented; he inspired the entire fashion world. His artistic view on clothes inspired some of his fellow designers including John Galliano, Isaac Mizrahi and Vivienne Westwood, Dolce and Gabbana and Avril Lavigne all created renditions of McQueen trends.

Although McQueen’s aesthetic is dark in places, and it was sometimes laced with references to mortality, he had a very positive attitude toward death. He once commented that, although death is sad and melancholy, it is a natural part of the cycle of life that leaves room for new things to follow.

When BTS isn’t busy with the agenda of world domination through a record-breaking album at a time, the seven-member boy group can be seen redefining what it means to be “manly”. With their growing popularity `in the west, they are bringing forth an idea of masculinity that isn’t based on stereotyped guidelines and yes, it does run deeper than the way the dress.

The traditional idea of masculinity that is built upon the agenda of portraying men as tough, unemotional, dominant, macho, sex-obsessed, and being termed as feminine, queer or even “beautiful” as an insult to their manhood. And in this web of gender-based stereotypes Asian men have often been showcased as something lesser than masculine by their western counterparts. In movies, Asian men are often showcased as the guy would never steal your girlfriend, he bows and folds hands, wear silk tunics and is polite, submissive, novel and in simpler words, he is feminine.

Though now the game is changing and the new players who are leading the team are Korean boy group BTS. They are fully embracing their Asian masculinity without changing anything about that while also effortlessly bending the boundaries of what is feminine or masculine. The group is often seen wearing makeup, jewellery, pastels and pink, even clothes straight from the latest women fashion weak collections. Even going as far as to wear fishnets, chokers, corsets and skirts various photoshoot.

Often seen on stage wearing smokey eyes and red lips and even posting pics of their skincare routine (somehow having clear and healthy skin is considered as too feminine?) that most of us wish to make a part of our daily lives.

But this masculinity runs more than skin deep, they are also not afraid of showcasing emotions on stage or offstage, not a single award has gone by whereupon winning the award they told their fans and members how grateful they are for each other and how much they love each other, many times with tears running down their faces. In their previous reality show ‘bon voyage’ the members sat down together and wrote heartfelt letters to each other, saying much the other members meant to them. One of the members, Park Jimin has also said the most treasured gifts he ever got was the letters other members wrote to him on his birthday.

Suga the prodigal producer and rapper of the group have his whole mixtape dedicated to his internal struggles, fears, depression and social anxiety. The group have also written several struggles that the society, their parents, the education system have put on them. And many of their songs have such strong messages, one of my personal favourite being ’21st-century girls’ which talk about women empowerment, as to how often you see young male hip hop artists make a song on such topic.

Although eradicating the culture of toxic masculinity is a long fight, one can’t deny the impact of this group, their fans who are referred to as ARMY often talks about BTS have helped them gain confidence in the way they express themselves and live a life that is free of prejudice and stereotype that limits you.