An Idol Documentary Done Right: "BNK48: Girls Don't Cry" Review

I’m a very critical person when it comes to documentaries about idol culture. Documentaries like Tokyo Idols or the average Vice exposé that market themselves on sensationalism. They often times use western viewpoints and outright racist agendas to paint Asia as nothing but a “creepy, perverted” part of the world. This is not okay nor acceptable.

​That being said, there are only a select handful of documentaries that show idol culture in a neutral yet thought provoking manner without the racist, western undertones. Despite this, they still focus more on the fans. Out of that handful, only a few look into the humans behind what are known as “idols”

"BNK48: Girls Don’t Cry", a documentary by Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit, dives deep into the Thai idol group, BNK48 (Bangkok48), as the 1st generation members open up about their experience from auditioning to where they stand in the group currently. After its August 2018 release in Thai theaters, the documentary was viewed at numerous film festivals around the world. Currently, it is available on Netflix and can be viewed by subscribers in the United States, Philippines, Thailand, and Indonesia.

I can already tell you right off the bat, this isn’t one of those “creepy” documentaries about the industry or the fans. In fact, the only perspective you recieve is of the members of BNK48. No narrators, no “informative statistics”, just the members speaking about going through their auditions, training, debuting, and going through selection of the three major singles for the year: "Aitakatta", "Koisuru Fortune Cookie", and "Shonichi".
 
This, by far, is a huge step in the right direction for helping people on the outside look into the world of idol culture. Other idol documentaries interview male, hardcore fans with partial to no interview of the idol herself and how she feels and doesn’t have an agenda to paint Asian or Japanese culture as “creepy” region of the world. It is what it is: interviewing the members on their experiences. While fan interviews are important, I don’t believe they are the only gateway into understanding idol culture and the dynamics that are involved in the idol industry. It is important that we see what our idols see and I commend "Girls Don’t Cry" for taking that step.
 
AKB48 and its Japanese sister groups usually have a major documentary done in the same format. However, unlike their Japanese counterparts, "Girls Don’t Cry" takes more focus on the struggling members and their frustrations.
 
Popular members like Cherprang and Music are still involved, but only for short periods of time compared to the less popular members. We see members like Pupe, Korn, Orn, Miori, who primarily speaks Japanese for the documentary, and even Izuna Rina, a transfer member from AKB48, discuss their frustrations for not being picked for Senbatsu, why they aren’t as popular compared to other members, the struggles of creating and maintaining a social media persona, and other insane hot topics we can all relate to.
 
Idols may be the happy-go-lucky ball of sunshine we see on stage, but there is so much more to being an idol than wearing a cute costume and smiling on stage. Throughout "Girls Don’t Cry", we see all the members maturing, going through struggles of training, not letting friendship get in the way, and achieving goals they thought was once impossible for the average girl next door. The idol concept is about watching idols grow and become the person they want to become and I believe they have captured this image well. Any girl who is looking into becoming part of the idol industry should watch this documentary before auditioning.
 
Overall, "BNK48: Girls Don’t Cry" is a true idol documentary that anyone new to or has a shadowed view of the idol industry and culture should watch. Our media and average content creators loves to take advantage of us using sensationalism. We are blind and ignorant because if it and documentaries like this, with no agenda or sensationalism, is what we need to be supporting.
 
You can watch "BNK48: Girls Don’t Cry" right now on Netflix!
https://www.netflix.com/title/81059444

-Konaru (Milky Kitty)