The Cinema of ARTMS Part I: ‘Virtual Angel’, The God In The Machine, Greek Theatre & The Exploitation of K-Pop Idols
So remember like a year ago when I said I was going to write this. I wrote about 750 words of it and left it to gather dust in my google drive until I had time to come back to it. And I've done all my a-levels now (yay), so for the first time in 2 years I basically have??? nothing to do for six weeks????? So here it is !! It's less so an analytical essay of 'Virtual Angel' and more of a bit of a ramble, but I hope you like it anyway. The part 1 in the title is optimistic, but if i end up making a part 2 it will be about club icarus (which hadn't even been released when i started writing this... yikes). Anyway, i love loona and artms and greek theatre and I hope that comes through despite the kind of pretentious language lol x
The Latin phrase ‘deus ex machina’ is most commonly used in reference to a shoehorned-in plot device that solves all the unsolvable problems in a narrative, but the phrase itself is a Latin translation of a concept from Greece, or more specifically Athens - the birthplace of theatre. It literally means ‘god from the machine’ but it comes from the use of a crane (or mechane in ancient Greek) to lift an actor into a scene within a play. This was often used to represent a journey to or from the heavens, and so was most frequently used by actors representing gods, or mortals blessed by them (see Medea in the final scene of the tragedy named for her by Euripides). You must also understand that theatre in Athens was inherently religious, being foundationally a method of worship to Dionysus, and being performed at religious festivals (see the City Dionysia), in the presence of altars and priests of Dionysus. Gods are a standard inclusion in Greek plays, tragedies and comedies alike, and if they are not present in the narrative themselves they are guaranteed to be brought up frequently in dialogue, choral odes (sung poems by the chorus), or present via a proxy such as a prophet. In many ways, entertainment in Ancient Greece was synonymous with religion and worship, and humans have been using man-made machinery to simulate godliness for us to worship literally since the dawn of visual entertainment. ‘Simulate’ is the key word there - the machine and the actor are understood to not be the god themselves, but that doesn’t detract from the religious significance. The god in the machine is fake, but the worship is real.
The kpop idol system as it exists today functions on a similar basis. Most fans generally understand that we are seeing a highly processed fraction of who an idol truly is, and yet, through the lens of the internet that the vast majority of kpop fans see the industry through thanks to the international influence of the genre, they still love them. We use the internet and the videos and songs that these companies produce of their idols to experience our adoration of these people - just as the ancient Athenians simulate godliness with their machinery, we simulate a form of godliness with ours. The question is, have we forgotten that the god is only a simulation - that the angel is purely virtual?
