Shine, Bright, Forever.

Despite finding myself enjoying Jessica Jung’s Shine where she detailed how sh-I mean, Rachel, clawed her way towards K-Pop superstar-dom, I found its sequel, Bright, ironically dull and instead, rather problematic. This series was always going to blur the lines between fiction and reality, especially since there’s so much mystery surrounding her departure from Girls’ Generation but art doesn’t always have to imitate real life. In light of that, I would like to make full use of my editorial instincts (coupled with a blatant disregard for authorial intent) and consider how this story can be retold, in a more powerful manner.

There are several problems which make this an awkward narrative.

1. First off is the time skip which does Rachel no favours. In following her story from Shine to Bright, her accomplishments just don’t feel earned. We were told that she’s incredibly successful and that both radio and Vogue wants her but we don’t know why. Everything just feels like it’s handed to her on a silver platter and on top of making her character motivations unclear, it also makes it hard to feel invested in her disappointment when they get taken away from her. All things considered, Rachel comes off as a bit of a dilettante who moved on quickly from K-Pop to Fashion, as much as she insists that both is important to her.
2. Second is the HUGE amount of characters. A common complain Shine got was that it had way too many characters and on top of giving them a lot less room to grow here, Jessica throws in the rest of her group mates, an international celebrity mentor and a new love interest. You can barely tell anyone apart and they all end up being nothing more than a cluster of named but insubstantial stars orbiting around the centre of the universe. Given that a huge part of the book is about how the world is against her, the lack of character development for the supporting cast makes her come across as rather narcissistic. That said, one character does get developed pretty substantially and that’s Alex which brings us to the next problem with the story that I will highlight here.
3. There is a lot of internalised misogyny going on. Despite Shine’s focus on feminism, there is an utter lack of meaningful relationships within women in this story. Are the girls really all of her problem or is it the system, the industry? Further compounding this is Alex’s work as a fashion investor. With his help and support, her successful transition into the fashion industry seems handed to her. Aside from being awfully convenient, Jessica unwittingly posits men as the solution to all of her problems.

As Bright is a lot longer than Shine, I would have balanced things out by transforming Jessica’s literary endeavours into a trilogy. Bright would have been split at its first third while including further detail on (1) the group’s rise to superstardom, (2) Leah’s debut and (3) her fading friendship with Akari.

Aside from Mina, Shine also gave brief mentions to Lizzie, Eunji and Sumin. The second last chapter throws in Youngeun, Ari, Jiyoon and Sunhee as the last remaining group members though they are not mentioned anywhere else. A book detailing the group’s rise to superstardom would give these severely underdeveloped characters more room to grow while also showing how Rachel contributes to the group. This addresses the problem with Bright which is that as much as claims to be dedicated to her group, we don’t really see that aside from her making it to every schedule despite being late at times. While those mistakes are petty and not really that much of a big deal, the focus should be on how does she actually add to the group. Perhaps its because her status as a fashionista had helped the group as opposed to just herself? Also, after spending 5 years together, were no meaningful relationships formed at all? Maybe she could have put a bit of a focus on some of the other girls, especially the four that were only introduced in Shine’s penultimate chapter?

Given that Leah also makes her debut, I think a character with huge potential is Lizzie as like Rachel, she also has a sister that is keen on becoming an entertainer. By shedding light on this dynamic in a new story that begins right where Shine ends and having it build towards to the 1, 2, 3, win scenes (which was awfully short and hence unconvincing as to why the general public would be so interested in a Kim sisters show), the story would have been able to further explore the importance of sisterhood and female relationships in a meaningful and insightful manner. Through this, Akari would also seem a lot less like an afterthought, especially since she does play an important role towards the end of Bright despite being mostly unmentioned throughout. Altogether, there is much opportunity to make the story about the system that the girls are entrapped with and their difficulties in navigating through that as opposed to pitting girls against one another which is a tired, tired trope.

Ok this is when I get a bit crazy with what I would do with what’s left of Bright which is when the cracks in their relationships really start to show. My biggest problem with the story is that as much as she says she would be happy for the other girls, it did not feel like that at all. Given how much she vilifies them, her choice of naming the group Girls Forever seems kind of snarky and mean spirited even. While the novel is rather juicy, I wonder how many of the girls feel blindsided by this book that seems intent on putting them down so as to elevate Jes-I mean, Rachel.

I’m not sure how that can be fixed without making major changes to the story but maybe something small that can be done is that perhaps the bags that she made were all inspired by her group mates? Perhaps it’s the OT9-er in me speaking but what this part of Bright which I will name Forever needs is a more positive spin. If we were to keep the story as is, I think it would have been sweet if Rachel reaches out to the other girls in the epilogue, to show that she is the bigger person. Imagine if Girls’ Generation leverage upon this and uses it as a marketing campaign for an OT9 reunion just in time for their 15th anniversary?!

If not, following from my idea of problematising the system (which makes a lot more sense than to portray the girls as petty in perpetuity), maybe they can all come to the joint decision that it is best for her to take a break from the group as part of a bigger plan to let the girls have more freedom? After all, Girls’ Generation did end up focusing more on their solo careers from that point on. Forcing her out seems so unnecessary, both in real life and within the story. The fact is, the novel didn’t have to stick so closely to what actually happened especially since they mostly corroborate with what fans have already gathered. Narratives should give hope and inspire possibility. What’s so frustrating is that even after so many years, this narrative of how she had been forced out is still being perpetuated as if nothing had been learnt from it. The greatest irony is that after spending all that time writing this novel, Jessica doesn’t come across any better. Well. As an OT9 SONE, I guess my dreams of a full reunion are now completely dashed.