utte, idolization, and misogyny in alien stage: girl as a paragon of love
** please note that this analysis will center mizi as an object of idolization; i am not discussing ivantill in this particular analysis, as this piece primarily has to do with misogyny. let's go in with the knowledge that mizi = till's conscious mind, and ivan = till's unconscious mind.
as our introduction to till, "unknown till the end" lays the groundwork for his character, establishing the following: the commodification of till's rebellion, his use of violence as a means to exert control, and his crush on mizi as an escapist fantasy.
till's love songs, utte and mi vida loca, use mizi as a vehicle to externalize his desire for intimacy, affection, and closeness, without endangering himself by cultivating these things through intentional action. mizi's static image as an unattainable paragon of love makes her an eternal fount of inspiration, and an ostensibly unchanging foundation on which to ground himself. her disappearance at the conclusion of round 5 violently destablizies him, as the cornerstone of his mental stability and the conduit for his creative expression is seemingly destroyed. a dreamy, conjured mizi, the comfort of his conscious mind, reaches out to him in his delirium, while ivan, the steady presence in his subconscious, physically comforts him through it. he fails to truly see them because of his fears.
till laments the paralyzing effect of his self-hatred and fear of abandonment when he highlights the distance he places between himself and the object of his affections ("i feel so pathetic / whenever i stand in front of you. i can't say a word, i turn back around everyday"). still, till understands, albeit subconsciously, that this distance permits his fantasies to exist and these fantasies fuel his music, which in turn secures his continued survival ("my light is born from you").
till maintains distance from mizi and sua while modeling his idea of love after theirs. this distance is illustrated through outdoors/indoors imagery, with mizisua freely expressing themselves to one another in the sunlit garden while till conceals himself in a dim corridor. mizi's success is shared with her partner. till's success is solitary, and shared with noone.
till's idolization of mizi fundamentally denies her interiority: her personality, desires, insecurities—even her aspirations to reciprocate his friendship. his idolization is a solitary act with a single beneficiary: till. his confession to her secures his victory in round 2, as till humiliates both his competitor (acorn) and his segyein subjugater (urak) by betraying the agreement to duet.
till's treatment of acorn mirrors his attitude toward mizi in that he disregards them as individuals to ensure his own survival, not with malicious intent, but with an egocentric need for control (after being victimized by urak for so long) that produces violence by virtue of living in a power hierarchy. he denies acorn the victory by taking away his chance to perform, to speak. he takes away mizi's ability to really talk and connect with him by maintaining distance (he is always quiet and red-faced when they're together, and struggles to ask her even one question). in utte, he makes her "audience" to his on-stage confession rather than disclose his feelings in a personal and honest way. importantly, she cannot respond. upon literal threat of death, till professes his feelings to a bereaved mizi whose internal world has been upended with the fulfillment of sua's wish. his survival in the power hierarchy is reliant on abstracting mizi into a fantasy that cannot leave or hurt him, a static image that does not act autonomously, which he can always draw upon.
on a meta level, i dislike the idea that till's love for mizi is far less complex than his love for ivan, as they are both intensely compelling relationships with the latter being explicitly romantic. till's crush was shallow, naive, and self-serving, but certainly not simple. discussions that neglect mizi as an object of idolization who wanted to build a familial relationship with till (a desire post-karma till can finally reciprocate), threatens to reinforce the misogny alien stage criticizes.
