29-07-2025
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
From Seoul to soul: ‘We Are Forever Young' chronicles the BTS ARMY's global bond
K-pop is enjoying a fresh landslide of interest from the runaway success of 'KPop Demon Hunters' on Netflix, Blackpink's summer tour and, most recently, BTS completing its South Korean mandatory military enlistment, with new music and a tour teased for 2026.
Amid these seismic events, documentary filmmaker Grace Lee (' The Grace Lee Project,' 'American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs') and UC San Diego professor and K-pop scholar Patty Ahn couldn't script a better time for their documentary to drop. In ' BTS Army: Forever We Are Young,' which opens Wednesday, July 30, in theaters, the Korean American directors spent three years meeting with and learning about the group's fiercely dedicated global fan base known as ARMY, an acronym for Adorable Representative M.C. of Youth.
There are many documentaries floating around about the elite seven-member Korean boy band, but 'Forever We Are Young' is the first one devoted just to ARMY. The duo traveled the world to understand how BTS — rappers, singers and dancers RM, Jin, Jimin, Suga, J-Hope, V and Jungkook — have affected the lives of this intergenerational collective, and how ARMY manifested that inspiration to spread the BTS gospel, advance social causes and love themselves.
'Forever We Are Young' captures fans' intimate thoughts, many confessing how BTS' music and message helped them overcome hardships and find connection and community. With Ahn and Lee being self-proclaimed ARMY, their familiarity with and understanding of BTS and the attendant cultural minutiae comes through and allows their subjects to feel comfortable opening up to them.
And there's a strong diversity of voices represented. The film introduces viewers to YouTube content creator Nico, who related his story about how BTS' ballad 'Epiphany' helped him reexamine his life and reconcile feelings of loss and trauma due to Hurricane Katrina. Len, a nonbinary dancer in Mexico City, spoke about how BTS' youngest member Jungkook inspired her to express her masculine side. And there's Jackie, an older small-town ARMY flying BTS' purple colors in a deep-red state. She credited the band with helping her deal with severe depression. 'I found myself becoming happy and alive again,' Jackie said. 'I truly believe God used BTS to save my life.'
The documentary focuses on DIY organizational tactics fans use to influence airplay, awards show voting and chart positions. They also mobilize for social media campaigns that the group supports. When BTS and their management company donated a million dollars to Black Lives Matter in 2020, ARMY quickly matched that amount.
That said, fandom is not all finger hearts. The filmmakers acknowledge pain points when someone's favorite underdog group suddenly becomes popular and how fan behavior can turn toxic when old and new opinions mix.
There's lots of footage from key moments in the group's evolution, from the 2013 debut days begging passersby to attend their 200-seat showcase to the massive 2022 post-pandemic concert at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood (Los Angeles County). Despite the constant onscreen presence of BTS, there's no face-to-face interview between directors Lee and Ahn with BTS. If the film has a shortcoming, it's the absence of bespoke commentary from the band about ARMY.
