G.C.F. in USA: Jungkook goes to America and What He Sees There

Released just about a year ago on July 16, 2018, Jungkook’s “GCF in USA” was compiled from footage shot during the whirlwind of promotions and recordings that was BTS’s trip to Los Angeles and Las Vegas, May 14-22, 2018, for the Billboard Music Awards. Like all of Jungkook’s GCF films, it’s beautifully shot and edited but unlike his more aesthetic focused films (GCF in Saipan’s study in horizons or the 3J@2018 MMA Practice’s study of body movement) “GCF in USA” tells a story.

Start with the title. This isn’t “GCF at BBMAs” or “GCF in Los Angeles”, this is “GCF in USA” and it’s that “USA” that hints at what is to come. This film illustrates Jungkook’s experience of being in USA, of what “USA” means to him. And as the title flashes over a shot of a washed out Los Angeles strip mall, a Burger King flanked by a handful of palm trees, taken from behind the tinted window of a van traveling--one can only assume--from the airport directly to the set of the James Corden Show, we begin to understand what “USA” really is.

It’s this.

USA is watching strip malls pass by outside the tinted window of his van.

USA is being on set for a Dispatch photo shoot.

USA is Namjoon looking tired.

USA is goofing around with Jimin and Taehyung backstage at an American television show.

USA is Yoongi’s pained expression.

USA is Hoseok pulling two bottles of champagne from a hotel mini-fridge.

The film is set to the song When We Were Young by the Lost Kings (also managed by the same guy who manages the Chainsmokers which is maybe how JK found the song) and as the title implies it’s a song about looking back towards a more innocent youth. The line “Can we go back when we were young and didn't care if we messed up?” repeats over and over throughout the song. We can’t know if Jungkook, who is not fluent in English, chose the song for it’s bittersweet lyrics or simply for the yearning tone of the female singer’s voice and the way the music pushes and pulls but never goes anywhere. Either way the effect is the same. “GCF in USA” feels… sad. The subject has become trapped in that soupy EDM beat and never hits a build-up. Can never escape.

“GCF in USA” is a needed companion to the “official” behind-the-scenes, the 35 minute long [EPISODE] BTS (방탄소년단) @ Billboard Music Awards 2018 where we see the group penned in by shrieking fans at the airport, penned in by staff and handlers backstage at various events, penned in by hotel walls and cameras, gawked at by celebrities and civilians alike. Namjoon unable to keep his worries and insecurities from spilling out. Yoongi with a smile that never reaches his eyes.

And flickering through the background is Jungkook with his camera looking for beauty where he can find it.

Jungkook’s visual sense is something I’ve really come to love and appreciate about him. He notices and highlights things that we may not otherwise see. Like really see. One of the things we glimpse throughout “GCF in USA” is the sky. Or, rather, not the “sky” but of what somebody sees if he’s looking up. Up to where there are no cameras and handlers and fans gawking at you. Jungkook shows us wires framed against a blue, blue sky. He shows us a sliver of moon at night. But these snatches of freedom come between wan faces and blank interiors.

And Jungkook’s editing choices are also really something special. The more you watch “GCF in USA”, the more you appreciate the way Jungkook lines up things like Namjoon adjusting his legs so that it syncs with a beat of the song. The way Jungkook highlights the passage of time jump cutting between a plate of raw and cooked meat. The way he slips in a small clip of what hints at an actual celebration not for the cameras before showing the V-Live “celebration”.

Namjoon's long, long legs.

Raw meat in the seconds before it will be cooked and consumed.

Hoseok in the outfit from when they met Zedd the day before the BBMAs hinting that that was the day they actually had their party

Jungkook is often painted by English-language fandom as a baby and his films used as fodder for shipping wars between Taekookers and Jikookers. Jungkook does not really speak at length in interviews, especially in English and has a reputation for being quiet but that doesn’t mean that he doesn’t observe and feel and think. Jungkook’s GCF series communicates more than any interview with Jungkook ever could because he doesn’t have to turn his thoughts into words. He puts them through in his editing choices. We’re seeing what he wants to show us. All you have to do is open your heart.

Jimin always trying to make people happy.

Yoongi's professionalism in the face of extreme emotional distress.

Seokjin caught in an unguarded moment of exhaustion.

The way his landscapes contains no other people. No fans. No general public. Nobody. Trapped behind metaphorical glass.

“Can we go back when we were young and didn't care if we messed up?”

(Originally posted August 6, 2019. Happy Birthday Jungkook.)