A View On Zombie Stage Round 1
Zombie Stage just like Alien Stage focuses on the negative and expoitive side of the K-Pop Industry: with Alien Stage on effects on Child Idols into adulthood and Zombie Stage with Adult Idols.
Both Mizi and Sua seemed to grow up in poor and or abusive households, creating a co denpendent bond between the two. The two shared a dream: to become idols! Though this dream went no where with all their failed auditions till after gradutation they attended another one.
Mizi was able to become one but Sua was not, a fact that devastes Mizi more then Sua.
Sua encourages Mizi to continue their shared dream, Sua had no qualms becoming the moon that got light from a bright star.
And Mizi burned bright, she became a popular idol but at the cost of her mental health, the objectification of her body and the pushing of heterosexual ideals despite herself being a Lesbian.
Intentionally or unintentionally, Mizi became cold to Sua causing a rifted and pushing distance in their relationship. It came atop the head when Sua stopped Mizi from smoking: a thing that most likely became a coping mechanism to Mizi in the Idol industry's toxicity. Mizi slapped Sua, but instead of anger, Sua hugged Mizi in the face of this rejection.
Mizi was then reminded of her past (perhaps of her mother?) and pushed Sua away, not knowing how to deal with her emotions she run way where a Zombie then attacked her making her one aswell.
The humans took notice of this Zombie Outbreak and managed to separated them from humans. Sua snuck into the place where the infected were keep, looking for Mizi, she then kissed Mizi becoming inffected herself—Sua could not live in a world with Mizi.
The Zombies were seen no longer as a threat but a form of entertainment and creation of Zombie Stage. Whenever a Zombie losses, a piece of themselves were cut off and sold. It shows how idols sells bodies and or how they lose parts of themselves (emotionally, Zombies are lesser or dulled versions of a person afterdeath. Physically as Idols are often times having to diet to the point of starvation).
In Zombie Stage, Mizi face is rotten (her body parts like her eyes long sold off) perhaps her brain too, she doesn't seemed to be fully there. This removal of her face (and brain?), makes her lose her identity yet her body is shown off—her objectifications didn't stop, she is just her body
Sua seemed to fair better, she has some consciene and her love for Mizi still comes through, losing (like her alien stage counterpart) against Mizi and giving up her arm.
The two as said before, they are being objectfied, especially sexually as all the fans during round 1 were male, blushing and screaming as the two danced and in the end shared a kiss. Wlw relationships are often times sexualized and enjoyed by straight men. They believe that gay women do not turly desire one another romanically and only sexually for the male benefit—another case of pushing of heterosexual ideals and objectification of the two.
This also shows how fan react to idols, they love their idols but only as entertainment not as people or human beings. The idols are basically rottening on stage (in mizisua case literally) yet the fans don't see or blind themselves from the truth to keep up their fantasy. This happy fantasy is broken by Hyuna perpective decipering how gruesome and horrorfic this is.