Military service for men is required of everyone, even celebrities, and it is expected from all men, but MC Mong was accused in 2010 of trying to avoid service. “Even the suggestion of ‘shirking’ military service is scandalous and easily end the most prominent celebrity career overnight” (Yeo 2017: 294), which was the case for MC Mong. “Fame” is his first comeback after hiatus, and in this essay, I argue that he utilizes Korean tradition and soundscapes to prove to audiences his “Korean-ness” and show that the Korean identity can take many forms and is evolving.
One aspect that is visually shown in the video, and is aurally represented is t’ûrot’û. According to Son, “in recent years t’ûrot’û has come to be regarded as a symbolic composite of traditional Korean social values” (2006: 67), and MC Mong utilizes this symbol in his song to bring legitimacy that it he is Korean. It is also an extremely distinct sound to use, which is heard repeatedly, along with Korean traditional instruments like the piri. He does not visually show these instruments except when he pretends to play pantomime the piri with a fan seen at 3:57 in the video. Visually, though, at the end of the song in the video, when Song Ga-in sings “Aigo, Aigo, Aigo”, MC Mong and others in the video bow just like how t’ûrot’û singers “bow deeply and gently to the audience before and after (even in the middle of) their performances” (Son 2016: 67). Son also comments that “t’ûrot’û singers, in addition, have acquired the image of true Koreans dedicated to the preservation of traditional norms such as hyo, inna-sim (perseverance), and chinjiham (sincerity)” (2006: 67), which MC Mong is emulating in his video, and he uses this to show his sincerity of humbling himself to the audience. He made mistakes and acted childish in his career, mentioned in his comeback performance, but he wants to use this opportunity to humble himself. The use of t’ûrot’û in this way is meant for the Korean audiences or others who have this knowledge while also shining a spotlight on traditional Korean sounds.
MC Mong creates a sense of what it means to be Korean by incorporating Korean soundscapes, but he also challenges it with showing hanbok type dresses stylized in a modern way by making them short and showing off the woman’s body more. “The function of this othering process … is to anchor Korea in its headlong movement toward the uncertain future, by harking [harkening] back to the past” (Lee 2006: 141). MC Mong is harkening back to the past by showing traditions like jesa and using the motif of the Hahoetal masks. He is showing Koreans that tradition can be entertaining even with the pull of modernization and western culture. Korean music is presented is a modern style but is rooted in tradition. MC Mong in the music video at some points has pink hair, and Lee posits that “otherness in many Korean MVs is not about dominating another racial group - or becoming one. Rather it is about opening up the possibility of distancing oneself from traditional ideas of Korean-ness” (Lee 2006: 142). MC Mong is showing tradition but with a twist. He does not represent it in its natural habitat but on a set and with humor.
The sets used in the video are in the style of idol K-pop music videos, but he subverts the idea that Oh argues that “K-pop idols are a metacommodity created to sell secondary products, including celebrity merchandise and K-pop places.” Mong is not selling Korean landscapes per se, but he is selling the tradition of Korean culture and music. He is also subverting the trend of independent artists selling Korean landscapes and instead selling the idea that culture can be seen outside of the traditional Korean landscapes.
In conclusion, Mong utilizes Korean traditional rituals along with soundscapes to represent the Korean experience to audiences which can be rooted in tradition but is ever changing.
