Celebrity and the Public Sphere Analysis of JungKook

JungKook

For this essay, I have chosen the topic of Celebrity and the public sphere. I will analyse the difference between Jungkook’s public and private life drawing on Jerslev and Mortensen (2018) to frame my discussion. Through multimedia content, I can analyse the difference between his public and private life. Jeon Jeong-Kuk, known by the stage name Jungkook, is a 27-year-old singer from South Korea. He debuted and rose to fame as the youngest member of the K-pop group, BTS. Depending on the media content of Jungkook you are viewing will depend on the persona you will see. This relates to the portfolio questions as it relates to the different personas, he has across different media forms and how he maintains them.  

There are multiple documentaries that give insight into Jungkook’s persona onstage and off stage. ‘“Are you sure?”’ (2024) is a documentary on Disney +, which gives a better insight to what he’s like in private. During the documentary, Jungkook and his member Jimin travel around the world during their break before enlisting. Jungkook swears while reading out a text message from another member. Even though it was bleeped out, it was very unexpected as he doesn’t usually swear when he knows he is being filmed. He normally maintains his public persona, and everything is mediated to protect his image. 

The documentary ‘Burn the Stage: The Movie’ (2019) includes backstage clips of Jungkook as he’s exhausted and overheating lying on the ground being helped by his staff after he overexerted himself on stage. This is a vast comparison to what is seen of him on stage moments before. This does not completely fit Goffman’s (1990 [1959], cited in Jerslev and Mortensen, 2018) emphasis “that even though backstage spaces are private, they do not equal the private home” as “performers behave out of character” despite Jungkook breaking his celebrity persona that he portrays in a private setting it ties into the manifestations of authenticity. While this example appears to challenge Goffman's theoretical framework regarding backstage behaviour, it actually reveals the complexity of how contemporary celebrities navigate private moments within mediated spaces. 

Jerslev and Mortensen states that “the performative practice of celebrity to a still larger degree takes place through social media, which alters the continuous production and reproduction of what counts as sellable celebrity self, including manifestations of intimacy, authenticity and access.” (2018. Page 158) Jungkook often blurs the lines between public and private life. He often creates a manifestation of intimacy and authenticity through his live streams on Weverse. He spends hours talking to his fans while doing things that he’d usually do in the privacy of his home like cooking, eating, watching videos and shows, singing karaoke, and housework. During one live, he cried while watching fan made song created by his fans, ARMY. Jungkook appeared on ‘The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon’ where he talked about his solo debut album ‘GOLDEN’. The appearance benefits Jungkook as Jerslev and Mortense states in Celebrity in the Social Media: Renegotiating the public and the private helps the ‘growing exposure and performance of the private lives of celebrities.’ He admitted that he was embarrassed that he fell asleep during a live stream but ‘I think my fans, ARMY, liked it because… It was something very unexpected” adding to the sense of intimacy, authenticity and access. He turned a private moment, embarrassing and unpolished moment into an opportunity to connect with his fans. He explained the backstory behind his nickname ‘Golden Maknae’ as his mother had a “golden dream” while she was pregnant inspiring the nickname and the title of his album. This strategic revelation of personal history illustrates how celebrities carefully curate biographical narratives to enhance their public image while maintaining perceived authenticity, a key dynamic in contemporary celebrity culture.  

Over the years, Jungkook’s ability to navigate his public and private personal across different media forms demonstrates the contemporary celebrity culture. By drawing on Jerslev and Mortensen’s concepts of intimacy, authenticity, and access, we can see how he efficiently blurs the boundaries between his personal and professional lives. Jungkook constructs a multifaceted persona through documentaries, social media, and traditional media appearances, that resonates with his fan while creating an element of control over his narrative.