[Note: This series originally started as a project on Reddit. You can find an explanation of what Bible Study is all about here.]
Today we begin Mingi's page and try very hard to stay on topic--and very nearly succeed!
Bobby: I have stuck Jongho stickers all through my diary binder
Results are varied and hilarious
GD: I assume it's delightful
Bobby: Well, yeah. It's Jongho
GD: Jongho's face makes everything better
We are on Mingi today?
Bobby: Yes. And I like this entry
GD: I opened the diary to his page and was like "oh I must've missed a couple of pages"
but I didn't
Bobby: I have a note on this page asking if we're outside the dome. I have forgotten why I think there's a dome
GD: Because they told us there was? Didn't they?
Bobby: When did they do that?
GD: In one of the worlds
I feel like they mentioned domes and moving between the domes somewhere
Bobby: I have searched "dome" on the blog. San's page from pt 2 comes up
GD: Well if they mention the domes in the world, we wouldn't have gotten there yet
Bobby: Yeah, we're talking as if it's something yet to be revealed
Also, it's a bit annoying that the search function on the blog brings up not only the word you asked for but also any word even remotely close to it
GD: I found it. Page 6 of world 1
"a large dome was placed in each zone to block out the solar heat... this dome also served as blocker and boundary between zones"
Bobby: Ah. okay.
GD: Now I can focus back up. I knew I remembered domes
Bobby: I need to make a note of that
01: where are we in the story thus far?
[Editor's Note: We accidentally skipped this part, whimsically.]
02: thoughts on the page
GD: My first thought upon reading this was about Mingi realizing he's been living in the past
Because I guess I've always felt like Mingi was living in the present, but his present was much harsher than that of the others.
Like, he wasn't living for anything.. just living to survive
Bobby: Such an atmospheric entry
It reminds me just a bit of Yeo's letter in pt 2 in that the action has stilled for a moment so that a member can pull away from the group and be introspective
GD: It's very poetic, which matches Mingi the person, so I like that about it
Bobby: It's like. . . his dark past was too strong a filter for him to see the present correctly
GD: The hopeless sun is beautiful phrasing, and it makes me think about how they use the metaphor of heat as both a good and bad thing. Like their passion is hot, and that's good, but they also use the metaphor of fever and sort of the oppressiveness of heat.
Bobby: Same with darkness. Here it's welcoming because it allows the stars to shine and brings relief from the sun, but it also symbolizes blindness and confusion
GD: The intern is so very clever
I like "the stars of hope" because it also reminds me of all the times they compare themselves to stars. The plural of it makes me think the stars of hope are the members.
And it also reminds me of Hongjoong's very first entry where he says he wants to be a star so that his family notices him
Bobby: I've been reading a collection of creative nonfiction essays during lunch the past couple of weeks
One of the essays is about learning to navigate by the stars
It's not entirely related here--except that pirates would also navigate by the stars--but one of the things I highlighted was this idea that the stars are absolute. There are no gray areas with the stars.
There's something about certainty and walking steadily on your path in there
GD: Did you ever read Night Flight?
I feel like they talked about navigating by the stars in it too
Bobby: I know Night Flight is a thing but I don't know what thing it is
GD: It's the Korean title for Turbulence and a book by the same author who wrote The Little Prince, so I read it when Turbulence came out
Bobby: Everything about Exupery is just romantic. Even his "death"
GD: I don't remember much about it except that it had lovely metaphors.
But I feel like stars were mentioned there as a guiding point
Bobby: Well, he was also obsessed with stars in Little Prince, so it tracks
I should read it
GD: I remember it being sort of boring. But you know, it's fine. A good book before bed.
I know I bring this up a lot
But there is a line here that's just soooo reminiscent of a line from The Brightest Star in Paris by Diana Biller
"Dancing defines at least the smallest will to live. So, people dance in the brim of hopelessness."
This idea that when everything is the most hopeless, that's when you need to see beauty in the world the most. That it is that beauty that can pull us back from the brink
Bobby: Reinforces my theory that art belongs on Maslow
GD: I agree with you
It's sort of like what I said earlier about Mingi?
It's the difference between surviving and living
Bobby: It's interesting to me that they are watching a video of Left Eye's daughter dancing. That he has a video (and a phone I assume?) tells me his daughter may have danced often. Which takes me back to my shelved Be Free Girl is Left Eye's daughter from the other world theory
GD: I was thinking about Be Free Girl while reading that bit too. But we know that Be Free Girl of this universe is alive.
Bobby: Do we know she's from this universe though?
She probably is
But do we KNOW it
GD: We do not know anything about her except that she is at Prestige and seemingly has rich/powerful parents since she's part of Thunder
"Wandering relentlessly" reminds me of Fever the song, which I think is because Maddox says those words in the intro to that album?
Bobby: He does not--the young girl narrates the intro for Fever pt. 1
You may be thinking outro?
GD: At some point Maddox says "wandering relentlessly with this unknown fever" doesn't he?
I don't know where
Bobby: It's Fever Outro on Epilogue
GD: Well, silly that it reminds me of Fever the song then but it does
Bobby: “Standing on the edge of where our confusions have led us, we are gathered here”
Something like that
GD: Yes, that's the one
I have... a lot of thoughts about the first paragraph and it reminds me specifically of a conversation we had during Halazia era
At the time, one of us, maybe me, maybe you, talked about how it felt like the people of strictland were sitting and waiting for halateez to come back and save them. And that the actual story of Halazia is Ateez saying 'no, you have to wake up and save yourself'
I can't help but notice that the goal here is not to save the world themselves, but to save the Black Pirates
Because the Black Pirates can fix it. We have to wait for the hero to return, instead of becoming the hero which is why the Black Pirates have to be dead
Bobby: Right. I know I've talked about it in some post somewhere. Ateez had no intentions at this point of being heroes
GD: But that's a different story
Bobby: Oh, my Giver post. My theory being that Ateez decide to save Strictland during the events of Treasure--whatever those events are
Because we don't see that at all during Fever
GD: Right, it's a shame we don't have a story book for Treasure
Because I'm still not convinced Treasure is any one time as much as I think Treasure is a map to their overall story
Treasure: Map to Answer
Bobby: I think of Treasure as an introduction
An interlude/introduction
Treasure: Map to Answer aligns with my theory
It's all about accepting their new identity
GD: I've always felt like we are missing the training montage from Fever to World and I've often wondered if I spent some time with the Japanese releases I could find it there
Bobby: Rocky is the training montage
GD: Right? Rocky is the training montage, but does that represent them making the choice to be the heroes? When do they choose? Why don't we get to see that choice?
Bobby: Why don't we get to see so many things??
My thought is that after they rescue Yeosang, he tells them what it was like to be trapped and what happened to the Grimes siblings. And perhaps that spurs their need to do something about it. Because now it's personal
GD: Perhaps the answer is that for some reason, those choices are not actually important to the story they want to tell. Which feels unbelievable, but we've seen them do that with other things.
Because the story they want to tell is of these boys coming together and saving each other? Probably? So their personal fulfillment and connection to each other would presumably be what they want the diaries to highlight?
Bobby: Well, this story is not about being heroic. It's about art and friendship
GD: Right. Despite its very over the top setting and robots and what not, the story isn't about being the hero.
I have one additional thought
Bobby: I suddenly have a Marvel thought that I'm probably stealing from you
GD: It feels like all of the important metaphors of the story are mentioned in this entry. Having a voice, the sea, heat, dance, the past, the sun, the horizon, the stars.
Bobby: I had a thought that might have even been on topic but who knows what it was about
OH--the hopeless sun also reminds me of--was it Hongjoong talking about the bright spotlight?
We had a conversation at one point about spotlights being isolating
GD: Yes, I think with Hongjoong's first page
It reminds me of real life Jongho. He says he always gets really nervous when he has to perform alone and he's the only one there. But when he's with the members, he doesn't feel worried. And I think we may have talked about the pressure of being under the spotlight alone vs with others
Bobby: Yes. I think Hongjoong has said something similar?
GD: That sounds right
Bobby: I'm thinking about how Mingi has separated himself from the group for this scene
I don't know what I'm thinking exactly
It does feel very true to irl Mingi though
GD: We've talked before about how Mingi doesn't really believe he deserves this type of happiness
You said you had a marvel thought? did you ever share it? did we skip past it?
Bobby: Oh--just that Marvel is exactly what it is on the surface. It is not a vehicle for a larger story or thought. It's just--heroes saving the world. Which is not bad. But I think partially explains why I disconnected from it so quickly
And probably explains some other things but we don't need to travel down that road that would need to be edited out
GD: Ah. Yes--that is something I was thinking and talking about the other day, and I agree
Any other thoughts before we head into the praise and prayer?
Bobby: I have not had a single cohesive thought in my brain this whole day
Let's praise it up
Please forget I said that
GD: Lol
Impossible
03: praise and prayer
GD: I would like to praise the KQ marketing team for always having a fun time with their marketing instead of just releasing an article about what's to come. They make it feel like every comeback is meant for us instead of just meant to get new fans, and I appreciate that
Bobby: Yes, a good praise
GD: I think there may have also been a subtle dig in there to some Atinys, but sometimes that can't be helped
Bobby: Can't speak truth without dissing Atinys just a bit
I have my usual post-Ateez performance praise: they are just so great and so reliably great
I'm pleased with people who've posted fancams of the end which I mostly missed (and apparently which the cameramen also mostly missed)
Because there have been some cute moments
And since I'm in my toxic era--I'm happy that Ateez still deign to do performances which are clearly beneath them. Because it means more people may see the Light and I get to see them perform more
Happy is not the word. Grateful is the word
GD: I had mixed feelings on them being there today. But, I will choose to take it in the way you just said
I hope everyone can come to the way, the truth, and the light
Bobby: Be the Light
GD: Halazia
We hope you enjoyed our discussion inspired by Mingi's entry. We'll be back next week with part 2!
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