Hieronymous Bosch meets Cyberpunk is not at all a combination I ever expected from a K-Pop video in the Year of Our Lord 2024, but I would be lying if I said it didn’t go remarkably hard.
“Last Parade” is part of the long tradition of dystopian K-Pop videos started by Seo Taiji and Boys, along with the cinematic tour de force that was the early Brown Eyed Girls era. However, it elaborates upon it the same way “Blood Sweat and Tears” by BTS incorporates renaissance art in a young adult drama. Not only that, it also pulls from “Welcome to the Black Parade” by My Chemical Romance through the use of military uniforms – and the very title, “Last Parade.”
It is the Hieronymous Bosch allusion that stands out to me the most, though. Hieronymous Bosch was a Dutch painter in the late 15th and early 16th centuries, known explicitly for his incredibly dense paintings. He also painted triptychs, which were essentially cabinet-style paintings made up of three vertical pieces that closed in on each other, sometimes even with paintings on the outside.
Bosch was incredibly preoccupied with religion, though in what capacity this reflected his own beliefs remains to be seen. His art generally took a pessimistic lens, one that I would argue could be considered “grimdark” by today’s standards. In essence, his art seemed to posit that bad people were many, good people were few, and that damnation was inevitable. That said, modern-day discourse concedes that he may have been using religious iconography to safely commentate on the events and rulers of his era, since he was an artist often commissioned by the Habsburgs.
BamBam, a K-Pop idol known for his connection to Got7, using Bosch’s iconic style is fascinating as a result. BamBam is placing himself as an object of worship, not as eye candy. The military iconography and rebellion iconography both put him as a leader, but the very nature of the Bosch allusions places him as a religious figure. Even the use of a solar eclipse is indicative of this – he is showing us what being an idol means, figuratively and literally.
Whether or not he is using this as explicit commentary on the K-Pop industry or is simply expressing complex emotions about fame and personal anxiety through art is left up to the viewer.