My Tablet Has Been Malfunctioning Lately D: Gonna Not Be Posting Digital Art For A Bit Until I Can Get

triple h - retro future

tom hardy in inception (2010) dir. christopher nolan

¡ ¡  my half of an art trade with @valngl0ry / @fruitynamjoon 

(( really if you haven’t checked them out please go give them a follow bc theyre such a good artist ))

Happy birthday! Hope you have a great day

thank u so much!! i hope u have a great day as well <3 <3

Happy birthday! ❤️❤️❤️

thank u so much!! <3 <3

@valngl0ry​ these are so sweet omfg ily (╥﹏╥) 

something i drew for tvxq’s 17th anniversary :”D 

smol cubics

upgraded the cube! (check my ig @/cubichelium for photos)

taemin confirmed my apple theory today (210511)

taemin: where's the idea about "the forbidden apple" in want from? it's from the old testament where adam and eve ate the forbidden apple, eve tempted adam to eat it, it's about temptation

taemin's never gonna dance again trilogy tackles his complex relationship and feelings towards fame. in criminal, the criminal in question is fame and taemin sings about his extremely contradictory emotions towards its impact on him: "i know well that you're bad for me ... but being brainwashed, all i can do is nod. so elegant, a criminal who hurts me. it's okay, you soothe me just to torture me again." it's akin to stockholm syndrome, as taemin has been lured in by the glitz and glamour of fame but is frustrated by its toxicity, the ways in which it has wounded him. there's an added layer of irony as taemin further perpetuates his fame by singing about it, selling albums that contain stories of his misery. the harder he fights, the deeper he falls. it's an incredibly genuine and honest side of taemin, making himself vulnerable to the public eye through his own art.

the theme of fame continues in idea, as fame is "the dangerous dream that swallowed me," taemin's self proclaimed messiah that kills him softly. something that immediately stood out to me was how often taemin stands with his arms outstretched in the music video, mimicking a crucifixion pose (we also see this in criminal). this could allude to the way taemin's been viewed as a god, given the title "idol of idols" in reference to how many other individuals in the industry have stated taemin as their primary inspiration behind dancing. this bears an extreme burden on him, viewed as their otherworldly and untouchable creature by so many when he's nothing but an ordinary human being. the crucifixion pose simultaneously elevates and grounds him. the key visual motif in idea are shadows, notably the metaphor that shadows represent the uncertain, the darkness that taemin wishes to escape even if he's unsure of what he's running away from in the first place. "the shadow holding the night is getting darker ... beyond the limit of realization, your shadow i finally found. at this moment i've become to trust everything that is invisible." the final lines almost feel like a moment of catharsis: "on the night that i cut you from my heart, (killing me softly, killing me softly) finally i open the eyes." taemin thrusts himself into the darkness of the shadows, but he is now in control. his eyes are open to the way he lives his life through contradictions, but he is living on his own terms. fame can be dangerous, but taemin is determined to take back his own life, his own humanity.

theory: what if want and famous (released the year prior) fall into this overarching narrative of taemin's precarious relationship to fame? want is ultimately a song about a relationship between slave and master, and could symbolize the ways in which fame has seduced taemin into submission. taemin is incomplete without fame and he talks about how he craves it, how fame leaves him thirsting for more. the way fame has broken him down is one that is slow, deliberate. it's engrained into him in such a way that is difficult to unravel the impact it has had on him. he's been in the industry since he was 14, spent more than half of his life in the spotlight. fame is a parasite yet he cannot fathom what it would be like to live without it because this is all he's ever known.

the line "the sweetness of the forbidden apple tempts you" particularly stands out, as one of the key visual motifs in famous are apples. there are several shots in the music video where taemin is lying on the ground, surrounded by apples, each one with a bite taken out of them. (i also enjoy the biblical allusion to eve, especially how apples symbolize indulgences of the utmost unholy kind.) famous is the visual representation of taemin giving into the erotic, sweet pleasure of fame: however, this is something he will later have to fight against in criminal.

have i mentioned how much i love kate bishop