I have mentioned a few times (mostly to @gaykey and @devil-taemin, the usual suspects) that I’ve been wanting to write meta on Taemin and his songs – well, I guess in this case it would be his MVs more than anything, but anyway, since people seemed to enjoy my Bad Love meta so much, I figured why not go ahead with this?
I do, however, have the distinct feeling I’m in more danger of being raked over the coals for this meta, but I have so many thoughts and feels about this. I flat out told my friends that sometimes I have to remind myself that there’s no reason to think of Taemin as Nonbinary (ENBY), even though every time I watch him and listen to his music it’s like looking in a damn mirror.
For the purposes of this meta I’ll be looking at the full version of the MOVE MV because it has a bit more story to it, so it’s much easier to explain what it is I’m seeing here. Meta under the cut, and I use the term queer yet again.
(a huge thank you to @musingsofabooklover and @itsumademo for their help)
Full disclosure: I’m nonbinary, specifically androgyne. Taking from Gender Wiki about Androgyne people, it says “[...]it’s a nonbinary gender identity associated with androgyny. They have a gender which is simultaneously feminine and masculine, though not necessarily in equal amounts. [...]In terms of social gender roles most androgynes feel various degrees of discomfort with the expectations of the gender binary. They may use a combination of feminine and masculine clothes to better communicate their nonbinary status, but there is no ‘correct’ way to present.”
Keeping this in mind, I have a tendency to gravitate towards people who display or present as gender non-conforming, but with Taemin it goes much deeper than surface level pretty boy presentation. I do talk more about that later, but what I really want to get into is his MOVE MV. I love this music video, especially the duo version where he’s dancing with his choreographer, Koharu. The amount of gender envy I feel is off the charts (and Taemin is very good at making me feel this – like how are you doing this so effortlessly king??) And it’s not like I forgot the whole reason behind the dance choreography in the first place. But let's move (hah!) to the OG MOVE mv, shall we?
In the first verse, we see him dancing with his girl crew, but it keeps cutting back to him dancing by himself in the rain, like there’s a way he wants to move, but right now it’s just a fantasy. What's interesting to me is during the first and second verse, you see him in this strange place, with his face covered in a glittery shell that only sort of resembles a human skull; while the girls' faces are uncovered, they’re all facing away. NOTE: the glittery mask always vividly reminds me of the parts in Kim Jaejoong's MINE MV where his face is covered in rhinestones, making him look almost completely featureless.
The next time we see our dancers in this strange place, Taemin is (occasionally) unmasked, but the girls' faces are glitching. This can be viewed several ways: him voluntarily masking himself, because people don't need to see everything about you - it's called privacy, dammit. It can also be viewed as him being forced to hide or censor parts of himself: if he presents feminine, he has to cover his face; if he presents masculine, that feminine part has to be hidden away.
Not a single facial expression
In the second verse, he sees Koharu out on the street, someone who looks very much like him. They're foils for each other, one person is a bit more masculine and one is a bit more feminine, but not by much. Suddenly he's dancing, his face is uncovered, he's dancing with his girl group, no one is hiding, and we don't see that strange place again. The song itself goes on about how, regardless of how you look, you’re beautiful, you’re worth seeing, and it sums itself up neatly in the bridge:
Not a single sentence can express all of yourself
Because we are perfect just the way we are
Don’t even worry at all, just like that, repeat
Just like that, repeat
In the MV, he dances, he shows off his body, and of course it comes off as sensual because gender focuses on bodies and how we look at them. But at the end of the day it doesn't matter who you dance with or why, or how, we're just people, they're just bodies, there's absolutely nothing to be ashamed of regardless of the face you present to the world.
I’m building off something someone said (who or where escapes me) about Taemin; when he's dancing with male dancers? He's one of them. Dancing with female dancers? One of them. Dancing with both? He's both of them. By himself? He's neither. Dancing with Koharu? He's all of the above, fuck you and your expectations.
I think sometimes people forget, even genderqueer people, is that gender can be expressed however you want. Going further, even if someone is completely cishet and presents in a gender non-conforming way, they are still queer in a way – I mean, really, being queer ultimately means you fall outside of what society expects in terms of gender and sexuality. Gender is a lie and a trap, and forcing ideals for what is supposed to be masculine or feminine hurts all of us.
Honestly, from the stories I've heard, Taemin could have very easily gone the route of toxic masculinity to prove himself, yet instead we have him embracing it, going 'You know what? I'm a guy regardless of how I present, fuck you' and THAT makes me realize what an incredible person he is. He chose to become more accepting, and to react with kindness and understanding when the world hurts you? That, my friends, is strength.
