"This", you mean the tortured artist thing? The "I will withhold my affections except when you act how I want you to" thing? Or something else?
I think Daesung and Taeyang were taken in as well, in the beginning, but they were never as dependent on Jiyong for every bit of approval...they both had to face a lot of opposition from the their families and I think it gave them a better sense of their own agency. I also think that Daesung and Taeyang took up singing because they literally couldn't imagine any other possibilities, whereas Seungri has also been able to imagine lots of possibilities - but not "failure" which in his mind is linked to total collapse. Whatever he's decided on, he has to stick with it until the end no matter what.
Daesung is definitely guarded though... like the interview where he talks about how his mother and sister and really emotional people and how much his father disapproved of that sort of open display of emotion from Daesung. And Taeyang used to define himself as "the calm and rational one," the one who knows GD the best and keeps his head in every situation.
Seungri, on the other hand, almost didn't have a choice because he's a completely externally validated person. When other people like him he likes himself, and when other people don't like him he doesn't like himself. (Which is why his charm is, "I really like you, Seungri!") I guess I also think he was primed to like GD because he was already this big TVXQ fan and that's another pretty messed up group... it's a big like he came in to Big Bang already thinking that was super cool.
I'd agree with you that Jiyong is tragic, but I see him as a fluke almost... just a snowballing of really improbable circumstances, starting with the lucky birth day and fluid gender conception (in GD's heart of hearts, I bet he thinks women are more powerful and scarier than men... actually I bet that's what most of Big Bang thinks). I think it must be terrifying to be him, because he can never have a stable self image, even apart from from the bipolar.... Meeting TOP and Taeyang was a great stroke of luck too, because sometimes I honestly think Jiyong is a rapper because of TOP and wants to conquer the world because of Taeyang... GDragon is a bit of a shapeshifter, it's not really clear to me what he's like, besides someone who likes to collect special people and is used to being the center of attention.
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I think Daesung and Taeyang were taken in as well, in the beginning, but they were never as dependent on Jiyong for every bit of approval...they both had to face a lot of opposition from the their families and I think it gave them a better sense of their own agency. I also think that Daesung and Taeyang took up singing because they literally couldn't imagine any other possibilities, whereas Seungri has also been able to imagine lots of possibilities - but not "failure" which in his mind is linked to total collapse. Whatever he's decided on, he has to stick with it until the end no matter what.
Daesung is definitely guarded though... like the interview where he talks about how his mother and sister and really emotional people and how much his father disapproved of that sort of open display of emotion from Daesung. And Taeyang used to define himself as "the calm and rational one," the one who knows GD the best and keeps his head in every situation.
Seungri, on the other hand, almost didn't have a choice because he's a completely externally validated person. When other people like him he likes himself, and when other people don't like him he doesn't like himself. (Which is why his charm is, "I really like you, Seungri!") I guess I also think he was primed to like GD because he was already this big TVXQ fan and that's another pretty messed up group... it's a big like he came in to Big Bang already thinking that was super cool.
I'd agree with you that Jiyong is tragic, but I see him as a fluke almost... just a snowballing of really improbable circumstances, starting with the lucky birth day and fluid gender conception (in GD's heart of hearts, I bet he thinks women are more powerful and scarier than men... actually I bet that's what most of Big Bang thinks). I think it must be terrifying to be him, because he can never have a stable self image, even apart from from the bipolar.... Meeting TOP and Taeyang was a great stroke of luck too, because sometimes I honestly think Jiyong is a rapper because of TOP and wants to conquer the world because of Taeyang... GDragon is a bit of a shapeshifter, it's not really clear to me what he's like, besides someone who likes to collect special people and is used to being the center of attention.