'Joy Ride' and the beauty of fandom friendships
'Joy Ride' is raunchy, messy and hilarious. But it also understands the joy of finding friends through fandom
(Photo credit: Lionsgate)
Ever since the release of Crazy Rich Asians in 2018, Asian American-led productions are continuing to have a moment. Earlier this year, Everything Everywhere All At Once swept the Oscars with seven wins, including Best Picture. And while the release of Netflix’s Beef had messy behind-the-scenes drama, it garnered critical acclaim for its portrayal of intergenerational trauma and rage within the Asian diaspora.
The momentum continues now with the release of the raunchy, messy and hilarious Joy Ride, which I can only describe as the Asian version of Bridesmaids or The Hangover.
The synopsis is as follows: Audrey (Ashley Park) heads on a business trip to Beijing and enlists the help of her childhood best friend Lolo (Sherry Cola), her college friend Kat (Stephanie Hsu) and Lolo’s eccentric cousin Deadeye (Sabrina Wu) to help her navigate the language barriers of a foreign country. What ensues is a chaotic trip of wild debauchery filled with drugs, sex and road-tripping.
I absolutely love that Hollywood continues to make space for a variety of storytelling featuring Asian voices and perspectives. We get to be messy, loud AND funny!
But what I really loved about Joy Ride is the fact that it features a small but powerful storyline about what it’s like to be a K-pop fan today. It went beyond the typical stereotypes of screaming, obsessed fans we often see onscreen. Instead, it shows the importance of online fandom friendships. It’s hard not to feel moved by it, and that’s largely thanks to the writing of the film and Wu’s heartfelt and funny performance playing Deadeye.
When Deadeye is first introduced in Joy Ride, it can be easy to immediately dismiss them as antisocial and weird. But we soon quickly learn they are a massive K-pop fan (BTS ARMY at that!) and has friends all over the internet through a shared love of the genre.
Later in the film, we learn that Deadeye has trouble making friends in real life, but explains why K-pop makes them feel seen.
“K-pop loves me back,” they say.
Later in the film, Deadeye’s point about K-pop is further reiterated in a particularly crowd-pleasing and hilarious moment. Without spoiling too much, their K-pop friends show up and help orchestrate an elaborate scene during a particularly desperate moment for Deadeye and their friends. The quartet pretend to pose as a K-pop idol group named Brownie Tuesday that’s just debuted. And while chaos ensues in that moment, it’s also hard not to identify and feel moved by the scene. It shows your online besties have your back!
(Got my hands on Brownie Tuesday merch. Officially a stan!)
While my life is not a Hollywood comedy, there was a time when I barely had any K-pop friends at all. That changed after I decided to make a radio documentary about being a fangirl, and how BTS helped me connect to the outside world during the pandemic.
The moment that documentary went out into the world, my Twitter mentions blew up almost immediately. Hundreds of fellow fans shared their personal stories of finding joy through fandom into adulthood. Suddenly, I was connecting with people all around the world.
This is how one of my best friends Ting and I actually met, after she sent me a DM saying that I could always reach out if I needed someone to share some fangirl joy with. To this day, we chat every day.
However, it took more than a year for us to actually meet in person in Las Vegas for the BTS concert last spring.
We often joke that we could have catfished one another. Ting bought my tickets and put the hotel we were sharing under her name. I also could have scammed her by making her spend more than she needed to.
But needless to say, we came through for one another due to our shared passion and joy through K-pop. In fact, Ting has also come through for me during my bad days. Beyond sharing stories about our lives and work, she also makes sure I never feel left alone.
When I couldn’t see BTS in Los Angeles in December 2021, I will never forget how Ting video called me before the show and bought me a lightstick at the venue. That gesture alone meant so much to me.
(Brownie Tuesday from the film ‘Joy Ride.’ Pick your bias!)
Beyond my friendship with Ting, I now count myself part of many other K-pop-related group chats. In fact, I’m in an Instagram group titled BTS Book Club! — even though we don’t really read books together. We share videos, funny memes and have thoughtful conversations about what our faves are up to. We’ve met up a few times amidst our busy schedules, and it’s always nice to catch up over dinner and drinks.
Because of K-pop, I’ve also reconnected with one of my high school friends after she became a fan of BTS during the pandemic too.
Since then, we’ve hung out numerous of times and I’ve even met her group of friends. We also started a group chat called BLACKPINK IN OUR AREA just to strategize buying tickets to the Blackpink concert in Hamilton. To this day, that chat continues to live on, and we plan “Chingu” hangouts. I even started convincing all of them to get into Seventeen as well. Welcome to the Diamond life!
That’s the beauty of the internet and fandom. People show up because they love the music and the friends who are part of the experience. I can also confidently say that I wouldn’t have met as many people as I have if I didn’t take a chance at starting Bunni Pop either.
That’s what Joy Ride gets so right. And it is a damn delight.
I recently asked some other fans to share how they met their online friends through fandom. Below are some stories I received!
Sliding into people’s DMs really does work. I’m not talking about romantic relationships, but a simple private message is how all my online K-pop friendships have started. I am a customer of a lot of fan-made K-pop themed/inspired merchandise shops, so I frequently engage with these business owners on their social media platforms when I like a product. I will usually send these businesses a DM just to thank them for their wonderful products/designs when I receive my order. And from my message, we usually just start chatting. It’s fun to hear each person’s story of how they got into K-pop/a specific group and how it inspired their products. This small talk often turns into daily conversations which includes the exchange of memes and total freak outs over the latest comebacks. I’ve had the opportunity to meet many of my online friends at in-person events like concerts. The bond that we’ve created all because of a K-pop group is so special. I never imagined that I would find this type of community online but it was exactly what I needed during the height of the pandemic. K-pop gave me hope in my darkest moments and it’s given me these beautiful friendships that I will cherish forever.
- Ting, my friend in her own words!
I met my Army BFF (or Army Sistah as she prefers) when I couldn’t figure out how to buy merch on Weverse to ship to Canada. I appealed to a FB group I was part of, and she said to DM her and she’d walk me through it. I was so frustrated and she was so kind to me, and we ended up becoming friends. I’ve heard it said BTS finds you when you need them, but your BTS friends find you when you need them too! 💜
- Paula
Fans camp out in New York to catch Jungkook’s free concert
BTS’s Jungkook will be playing a free mini-concert in New York this Friday on Good Morning America in conjunction with his official solo debut “Seven.”
Once word got out about the show, fans have already starting camping out at Central Park. Stay safe out there!
I really have no idea what to expect from Jungkook…but I am LOVING his new concept photos. He looks like a total rockstar.
I have also pre-ordered my copy of BTS’s new autobiography Beyond the Story — 10 Year Record of BTS, but have not received my copy yet. I have read a few spoilers online because they were hard to avoid. However, I can’t wait to read their story in their own words and dive in fully.
What I’m listening to:
I don’t have a ton of real updates to share this week as I am currently hunkering down to produce another short-form radio documentary (K-pop related!). What I will say is that I am currently looking forward to a busy month of comebacks. Right now, I’m really digging the following new tracks.
Jun - Psycho
Seventeen's Jun returns with a new solo single "Psycho", which follows a similar theme to last year's "Limbo." It's dark and sultry. Plus, the choreography also plays to the theme of Joker, with Jun laughing maniacally while dressed in an immaculate red plastic outfit that would surely make me sweat my butt off.
My only issue is this song is too short! Another 30 seconds could have seen it develop even further.
New Jeans - 'Super Shy'
What can I say? These girls continue to deliver hit after hit! While NewJeans are known for a more minimalist and understated sound, you can't just help but have its catchy synth hooks stuck in your head. I absolutely love the choreography for this song and it definitely makes me want to join in on the party.
JUNNY (feat Gaeko) - 'Invitation'
JUNNY has been teasing his song "Invitation" since as early as 2020, when he posted a verse from the track on TikTok. Now three years later, fans can finally hear the whole thing. JUNNY has written for some of the biggest names in K-pop including EXO's Kai and NCT Dream, so it's no surprise he can write a solid and free-flowing R&B track. He's truly underrated and I hope this song does very well!
This is not K-pop related, but I recently went to the Beyoncé concert as she opened the North American leg of her Renaissance tour in Toronto.
While I am not Beyhive, I can honestly say she is incredible. Beyoncé is the celebrity of celebrities. Her aura is just too powerful, and I feel blessed to have witnessed her perform in this lifetime.
The show had visuals, a cohesive storyline, elaborate costumes, production and Beyoncé’s vocals have never sounded better! She even flew in the air on a flying horse!
I also loved how it was a tribute to the LGBTQ ballroom scene, with Queen B giving space for some of the performers to show off their best moves.
The Renaissance tour is a masterpiece. No TikTok video can actually do the show justice. You really have to view it with your own eyes.
If you ever have the opportunity to see Beyoncé live, don’t hesitate. Just do it.
AUTHOR’S NOTE: Accountability is important to me, so please address corrections and concerns by sending me an email at bunnipopnewsletter@gmail.com. Continue the conversation by following Bunni Pop on Instagram and Twitter.
Joy Ride sounds so fun! Can't wait to watch it.
The Joy Ride trailer looks fun and I like the strong theme of camaraderie that runs through it. And like how you pointed out K-pop has this power to unite people--there’s a humility to the community that is pleasantly unexpected. Glad to have met you here Sam!