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I went to see the documentary last night, and here are some of my thoughts on it.

First of all, it really highlighted how important it is to have a supportive family. Her mom saw her potential and how passionate she was about dancing, so she found her the best teacher she could. I also got emotional hearing the way her dad talks about her with so much love, and seeing that the feeling is clearly mutual.

On a more personal level, it made me sad to see how Lisa, like so many other idols, can’t really live her personal life freely. I honestly think it’s crazy that being able to love someone and be loved in return is somehow supposed to interfere with being a celebrity.

Professionally, her dad was right about something: everyone sees the fame and the money, but nobody sees all the hard work that goes into it. People are also quick to criticize idols when they seem low-energy, without considering that they might be sick, spending nights sleeping on planes, going straight from the airport to a performance, and then having to travel to another arena in a different city. The expectations are honestly insane sometimes.

Then there’s the cruelty of the idol system. It’s not just the restrictions, but also the amount of control these companies have over young people who are just trying to pursue their dreams. You’d think that making it through the trainee period and finally debuting would mean they’d come out of it feeling more confident, but that’s clearly not always the case. They can achieve incredible things and still struggle with the same insecurities and fears.

I had no idea her album had been leaked or that she’d received so much negative feedback about it. Criticism itself wouldn’t necessarily be a problem if people didn’t use the anonymity of social media as an excuse to be so hateful and cruel, deliberately choosing the nastiest words they can find to hurt someone, as Lisa points out at one point.

Maybe she aimed a little too high with the Alter Ego concept, because we’re living in a world that seems to be getting increasingly ignorant and cruel. Empathy is something people demand when they’re the ones being hurt, but they often seem incapable of considering that their own words, and the way they choose to express them, can hurt other people too.

This also ties into the controversy surrounding the N-word. It genuinely saddened me to see videos of Black content creators going after the girls so harshly. I’m not trying to invalidate their experiences or the history behind that word, but that history is specific to their own cultural and historical context, and the rest of the world doesn’t necessarily share that same background or have the same understanding of American racial issues.

And context matters, too. Even assuming the girls chose the song themselves, the word was part of the lyrics. It wasn’t a video of the three of them sitting in a circle, deliberately making derogatory comments about the Black community. I think there’s a difference, and I wish more people were willing to acknowledge that.

Overall, I really enjoyed seeing a more human side of Lisa on the big screen. Seeing her insecurities, her sense of humor, her energy, and her incredible stage presence made the documentary worth watching for me.

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