loonatism

[loonatism]

WHAT IS THE LOONAVERSE? PART 2 – THE NARRATIVE DEVICES

LOONA is special among K-pop for its immersive storyline. These girls are not just k-pop idols performing a song, they also perform a story and that story is what we call the Loonaverse.

So, what is the Loonaverse? In a few words: The world and story that LOONA inhabits.

Yeah. Duh. But what is it?

Well… it’s complicated.

The Loonaverse is a fictitious story that borrows elements from real science and fantasy to build its world but also uses allegories, metaphors, allusions and other literary devices to tell its story. Our job as spectators (and specifically us theorizers) is to look beyond those devices to understand the message they are trying to send. In this post I’ll attempt to explain the numerous literary devices used to narrate the story of the Loonaverse.

So, these 2 things are LAW:

Each girl has two conflicts: an external one and an internal one.

The LOONAVERSE story is one of fantasy and mystery.

INTERNAL CONFLICT VS EXTRNAL CONFLICT

Or as I like to call it: UNIT vs SOLO

I’ve explained how the girls are trapped in a time loop and how escaping it was their overarching goal. This is the external conflict of the Loonaverse. The progression of this storyline is seen mainly in the Sub-Unit MVs and LOONA MVs but also in some teasers and other videos like Cinema Theory. The conflict is external because: 1) It comes from the outside. 2) The characters not have power against it, at least not at the beginning. 3) The conflict has effect over multiple people.

Also…

Every character has an internal conflict. A personal story. Each girl perceives the world differently and that changes the way they act and interact with each other. It is internal because: 1) It comes from within the person. 2) They themselves may be the cause for the conflict. 3) The conflict has effect on only one person: themselves. This Internal conflict is presented to us in the Solo MVs. Every solo MV is a window to the character’s mind. While the solo MVs are tangentially related to the main external conflict, they mostly focus on the internal conflict of the character.

External and Internal conflicts often mix and interlace each other to create a wider story. We will see how the external conflict fuels the internal conflicts of the girls and how their internal conflicts will shape the way they act towards solving the external conflict.

FANTASY AND MYSTERY

What is fantasy? The genre of fantasy is described as a story based in a world completely separate from our own. It usually features elements or magical/supernatural forces that do not exist on our own world. It is not tied to reality of science.

Wait a minute. You just spent an entire post explaining the science of the Loonaverse. You can’t call it fantasy now. Well yes, yes I can. Since most of the scientific elements I explained are theoretical, unproved in our world but in the world of LOONA they are a reality, a scientific reality. A reality that differs from our own, and thus a fantasy to us. But regardless of that the reason I call the Loonaverse a fantasy is because of the themes it explores.

Fantasy is a broad genre, it is one of the oldest literary genres, being found in old myths. Some of the themes often found in fantasy stories include: tradition vs. change, the individual vs. society, man vs. nature, coming of age, betrayal, epic journeys, etc. All of these themes are very present in the Loonaverse. But I’ll delve into each one as we encounter them.

What is Mystery? The mystery genre is a type of fiction in which a person (usually a detective) solves a crime. The purpose is to solve a puzzle and to create a feeling of resolution with the audience. Some elements of a mystery include: the Crime that needs solving, the use of suspense, use of figures of speech, the detective having inference gaps, the suspects motives are examined in the story, the characters usually get in danger while investigating, plus these:

Red herring. something that misleads or distracts from a relevant or important question and leads the audience to a false answer.

Suspense. Intense feeling that an audience goes through while waiting for the outcome of certain events.

Foreshadowing. A literary device that hints at information that will become relevant later on.

I just though you should know these definitions.

In the Loonaverse, the “crime” is the time loop itself, and the mystery is finding a way to break it. Or so we think. In reality, the “How do we break the loop?” question is solved rather easily. But can we really call this a mystery if the main question is already answered? Yes! It may no be a mystery story for the characters themselves but because BlockBerry uses various mystery genre tropes while telling the story, it is a mystery TO THE AUDIENCE.

That’s right! WE are the detectives!

In a classical mystery, the detective examines all clues, motives, and possible alibis, for each suspect, or in our case, each character. The same way we analyze every MV, every interaction, every possible clue to where and when everything is happening.

The Loonaverse differs from a classic ‘Who done it?’ by establishing that no suspect is actually guilty. The crime IS the loop, but no girl is responsible for it (or so we think). Our job as detectives is not to figure out who is doing this but to explain how and establish an timeline of events that shed a light to what really happened. In that sense, our job resembles more closely a real crime investigation than a mystery novel.

LITERARY DEVICES

There are many literary devices an author can use to tell its story. Too many to cover them all in here, so I’ll focus on the most recurrent ones in the Loonaverse:

Allusion. Referring to a subject matter such as a place, event, or literary work by way of a passing reference.

Archetype. Reference to a concept, a person or an object that has served as a prototype of its kind and is the original idea that has come to be used over and over again.

Faulty Parallelism. the practice placing together similarly structure related phrases, words or clauses but where one fails to follow this parallel structure.

Juxtaposition. The author places a person, concept, place, idea or theme parallel to another

Metaphor. A meaning or identity ascribed to one subject by way of another. One subject is implied to be another so as to draw a comparison between their similarities and shared traits.

Motif. Any element, subject, idea or concept that is constantly present through the entire body of literature.

Symbol. Using an object or action that means something more than its literal meaning, they contain several layers of meaning, often concealed at first sight.

Genre. Classification of a literary work by its form, content, and style.

Some other literary devices worthy of your private investigation are: Negative Capability, Point of View, Doppelgänger, Flashback, Caesura, Stream of Consciousness, Periodic Structure, THEME, Analogy.

About Genre:

Genres are important because they give a story structure. They help an author tell the story in a way that makes it simple for the audience to understand what kind of story is being told. The classic genres of literature are Poetry, Drama and Prose. Some scholars include Fiction and Non-fiction. 

In film there are a variety of accepted genres: Comedy, Tragedy, Horror, Action, Fantasy, Drama, Historical, etc. Plus a bunch of subgenres like Contemporary Fantasy, Spy Film, Slapstick Comedy, Psychological Thriller, etc. What defines a genre is the use of similar techniques and tropes like color, editing, themes, character archetypes, etc. 

I point this out because the Loonaverse uses many genres to tell its story. Sure, the main story is a fantasy/mystery but every MV or Teaser has its own genre (especially the solo MVs). So, when I point out later that Kiss Later is a romantic comedy or that One & Only is a gothic melodrama, this is what I mean.

TLDR:

The Loonaverse is the world and story that LOONA inhabits. It borrows form real life science and fantasy elements to better tell its story. Each girl has an external conflict (escaping the loop) and an internal conflict (portrayed in the solo MVs). Both conflicts interlace to tell the story. The Loonaverse is a story of Fantasy because it takes place in a different world from ours and it is a Mystery because it is told using various mystery tropes. The story uses multiple literary and visual devices to tell it’s story and fuel the mystery.

REMEMBER: This is all my interpretation. My way of comprehending and analyzing the story. You don’t have to agree with everything. I encourage you to form your own theories. Remember: every theory is correct.

After all that you may be wondering what the story even is. And we’ll finally be getting to that. While I have my own interpretation of the timeline, themes and who did what. I think it’s more fun to slowly explore every brick instead of just summarizing it in one (incredibly long) post. I’ll do that much, much, much later. The journey will be just as interesting as the destination. I hope you’re in for the ride.

Let’s get to the real deal: The MVs. I’m going in chronological order so let’s start with girl No. 1!

Next: The bright pink bunny of LOONA: HeeJin’s ViViD.

[loonatism]

WHAT IS THE LOONAVERSE? PART 1 – THE SCIENCE

LOONA is special among K-pop for its immersive storyline. These girls are not just k-pop idols performing a song, they also perform a story and that story is what we call the Loonaverse.

So, What is the Loonaverse? In a few words: The world and story that LOONA inhabits.

Yeah. Duh. But what is it?

Well… it’s complicated.

The Loonaverse is a fictitious story that borrows elements from real science and fantasy to build its world but also uses allegories, metaphors, allusions and other literary devices to tell its story. Our job as spectators (and specifically us theorizers) is to look beyond those devices to understand the message they are trying to send. In this post I’ll attempt to explain the science of the Loonaverse: parallel universes, time loops and the mobius strip.

PHYSICS VS FICTION

The Loonaverse can be described as the physical universe where the characters of LOONA live and where the events of the story happen.

By physical universe I mean that literally: its own universe. There are multiple theories that explain the existence of multiverses; from infinite universes theories to bubble theories to parallel universes to daughter universes; all incredibly interesting readings and all with fundaments in real physics.

On the other hand, the Loonaverse is a fiction story. Created by the creative minds of the people working in BlockBerry Creative (The company LOONA is under) and specifically by Jaden Jeong (who is a polarizing figure amongst Orbits). As a fiction story it is undeniable that the Loonaverse takes elements form science fiction and fantasy to build its story so going hard into the nitty gritty physics of how it works is ambitious at best and purposelessly time consuming at worst (though if you are interested in the nitty gritty of multiverse theory by all means go read about it, is mind-blowing). Nah, for the purposes of this (really not that long once we get to it) theory, we’ll focus only on a few key science related aspects:

MATHEMATICAL UNIVERSES

This particular multiverse theory debates whether math is a tool used by us to describe our universe or a fundamental truth of the universe itself. If it were the latter, then the possibility of multiple universes with vastly different mathematical structures is possible. This implies a different set of physics working in those universes. Basically: physics and mathematics themselves may work differently in different universes: It is as simple as is sounds. (Yeah, 2+2 may = fish in another universe, or flying is possible and even normal).

Using this admittedly long explanation for a constant in science fiction and fantasy, we now have a physics approved explanation for all the odd things that happen in the Loonaverse: super powers, climbing in air, destroying the moon, walking in the moon and most importantly: time disruptions.

 SPACE/TIME RELATIVITY

So… time is weird. Physicist can’t decide what exactly is time. Is it a dimension? A physical force of the universe? An illusion we humans use to perceive existence? Does it even exist at all? We’ll just assume it does and use Einstein’s theory of relativity to explain it.

So… The universe is composed of a 4-dimensional fabric called space-time. (Like, picture an actual tablecloth). When anything with mass falls into that tablecloth it creates a bend, that bend is what we call gravity. This gravitational pull modifies both how space and time are perceived. Everything close to that gravitational pull will move at exponentially slower time than anything outside of it. In simpler terms: Time varies depending of your relationship with another object. But if gravity can modify the way time is perceived, so can speed. The explanation for this is long and complicated and involves a difficult choice between speed not being absolute for anything except that light has an absolute speed and those two statements don’t match. But Einstein, being the clever guy he was, came up with Time dilation: The faster you move the slower time moves for you.

A simpler way to understand all this is to just watch the movie Interstellar. They did a really good job of conveying Einstein’s theory.

Of course, physics haven’t been able to prove the possibility of moving through time backwards, only forward. But hey! We are dealing with a different universe where the laws of math and physics don’t abide by Einstein’s theories. Well let’s unify science and fiction and talk about time travel.

 TIME DONUTS AND THE MOBIUS STRIP

Yeah, we finally got here.

The Mobius Strip. The one constant in the Loonaverse is the Mobius Strip. It’s importance has been confirmed by BlockBerry Creative and you’d be hard pressed to find any theory that doesn’t include it somewhere. So, What is a Mobius strip?

Also called the twisted cylinder, it is geometrical shape that has one side, one curve and it’s non orientable, forming a loop on its own. The properties of the mobius strip come into play in the sense that if you were to travel through it, you would go through you starting point once but from the opposite side of the strip before returning to your original starting position.

Here’s a 3D model of the thing: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:239158

Curious things:  If you were to cut down a Mobius strip through the middle you would end up with long mobius. If you were to cut it twice at 1/3 the size each cut, you would end up with one long ass loop and one shorter loop that surrounds it.

Here’s a video that shows that: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlQOipIVFPk&ab_channel=ThinkTwice

Okay one more schiency term to explain:

Time donuts (not really called that way) is a time travel/time machine theory  that claims that a donut like vaccum that envelopes a sphere of matter and surrounded by a strong gravitational pull would create a void where time/space would collapse into itself, crating a sort of time loop where the closer you move to the sphere the bigger the gravitational pull to the point where you could even start going backwards. Here, space/time is the time machine (yeah, trippy). The physics to this theory are quite debatable at best but it is a theory nontheless, and perfect one for our purposes.

A new time-machine model with compact vacuum core by Amos Ori: https://arxiv.org/pdf/gr-qc/0503077.pdf

IT ALL COMES TOGETHER

Okay I read all this sciency stuff and I still don’t get it: How do all this relates to the Loonaverse? Well, my patient reader, all this science mumbo jumbo helps us understand the main conflict of the Loonaverse: escaping a never-ending time loop.

The theory states that the Loonaverse happens in a parallel universe where the laws of physics don’t abide to our own. In this universe the girls (LOONA) inhabit a space (moon maybe) that moves through time inside of a Mobius Strip, which itself envelopes a large dense sphere of mass, thus creating a time loop. The closer the girls get to the sphere the slower time moves to the point it may go backwards. Because they move through time in a Mobius Strip, the amount of time it takes them to re start the loop is long (though I am not sure how long). In the mean time they will go though their starting point but in the opposite side of the loop.

This means the girls are essentially trapped in a never-ending loop. Think Groundhog Day, Palm Springs, Russian Doll, Happy Death Day; and if time loop movies have taught us anything is that time loops kinda suck after a while.

But this also gives us the tools to possibly escape this loop. Our physics don’t abide in this universe, there are super powers, and mirror images and the possibility of escaping if we understand how it all works in the first place.

With all this science talk, doesn’t that make the Loonaverse a ScyFi story? Well… No.

Science Fiction as a genre uses technological and/or scientific advances to investigate and/or explain a human reality. It usually comes in the form of a warning (Brave New World) or as an exploration of what makes us human (Blade Runner). Science Fiction explores the possibilities of humanity in a technologically advanced future. Because the story LOONA tells us doesn’t explore the possibilities of a technologically ridden future or focuses on our relationship with these advancements, it cannot be called ScyFi.

TLDR:

The Loonaverse is the world and story that LOONA inhabits. It borrows form real life science and fantasy elements to better tell its story. It exists in a universe where the laws of physics differ from ours and where there is a set time loop in the form of a Mobius Strip, which the girls are trying to escape.

REMEMBER: This is all my interpretation of some very complex theories, theories I am unabashedly morphing to my will to fit a certain narrative (like scyfi and fantasy often do). Also, I didn’t come up with the idea of escaping the time loop, it’s kinda the oldest theory out there. It may even be confirmed by BlockBerry Creative. I am just explaining it the way it makes sense to me.

 Next: How does all this science help explain the narrative conflict of the characters in the Loonaverse?

[loonatism]

Intro to the members of LOONA

So, if you’re new to LOONA, here are a few key things to know:

LOONA is a K-pop girl group under the company BlockBerry Creative. It has twelve (12) members, slowly introduced one by one via their own solo MV (It took them two years to debut as a whole group!).

These twelve members divide into 3 subunits: 1/3, Odd Eye Circle and YYXY.

 Each girl has a representative color, animal, shape and extra factor (related to their sub unit).

The encompasing story that this group tells is what we call the Loonaverse. It is complex, filled with symbols, mysteries, allegories and more. The story is told mainly thought their MVs but also through their lyrics, dances and other videos.

I’ll go though each MV in due time but right now I’ll introduce you to each member in the group, in order of debut. Be mainly aware of: the order of debut, the subunit they belong to, their color and animal. 

HeeJin

Jeon Hee-jin

Solo: ViViD

Color: Bright Pink

Animal: Rabbit

Subunit: Loona 1/3

Country: France

HyunJin

Kim Hyun-jin

Solo: Around You

Color: Yellow

Animal: Cat

Subunit: Loona 1/3

Country: Japan

HaSeul

Cho Ha-seul

Solo: Let Me In

Color: Green

Animal: White Bird

Subunit: Loona 1/3

Country: Iceland

YeoJin

Im Yeo Jin

Solo: Kiss Later

Color: Orange

Animal: Frog

Subunit: none (kinda Loona 1/3)

Country: Taiwan

YeoJin’s place in Loona 1/3 is kinda wierd. As far as we know, back when 1/3 debuted, she wasn’t allowed to be an official member due to her age BUT she is an official member of the subunit now. It’s worth mentioning that YeoJin is meant to represent the slash ( / ) in Loona 1/3 (this was confirmed by YeoJin herself). This will come to play into the storyline of Loona 1/3.

ViVi

Wong Kahei

Solo: Everyday I Love You

Color: Pastel Rose

Animal: Deer

Subunit: Loona 1/3

Country: China / Hong Kong

Kim Lip

Kim Jung-eun

Solo: Eclipse

Color: Red

Animal: Owl

Subunit: Loona Odd Eye Circle

Power: Super Speed / Time Manipulation

JinSoul

Jung Jin-sol

Solo: Singing in the Rain

Color: Blue / Black

Animal: Blue Betta Fish

Subunit: Loona Odd Eye Circle

Power: Teleportation

Choerry

Choi Ye-rim

Solo: Love Cherry Motion   

Color: Purple / White

Animal: Fruit Bat

Subunit: Loona Odd Eye Circle

Power: Interaction with mirror images

Fruit: Cherry

DISCLAIMER: Many people point out that Choerry’s power is dimensional travel but I haven’t found any official source that confirms this. For intends of my theory, I’ll refer to her power as the ability to interac with mirror images and not as dimensional travel. I’ll explain it further in later theories.

Yves

Ha Soo-young

Solo: New

Color: Burgundy

Animal: Swan

Subunit: Loona yyxy

Fruit: Red Apple

Chuu

Kim Ji-woo

Solo: Heart Attack

Color: Peach

Animal: Pinguin

Subunit: Loona yyxy

Fruit: Strawberry

Go Won

Park Chae-won

Solo: One & Only

Color: Eden Green

Animal: Butterfly

Subunit: Loona yyxy

Fruit: Pineapple

Olivia Hye

Son Hye-joo

Solo: Egoist

Color: Silver / Grey / Black

Animal: Wolf

Subunit: Loona yyxy

Fruit: Blood Plum

Those are all twelve members. I encourage you to look up for each solo. Next I´ll explain the physics and machinations of the Loonaverse.

[loonatism]

Intro to this Blog

Hello! Welcome to Loonatism!

So I love LOONA and I fell in love with them due to the concept of the Loonaverse. After seeing multiple theories on the matter, analyzing every video on my own and doing some soul searching, I finally came up with my own interpretation of the entire lore. In this blog I'll attempt to best explain how the Loonaverse is composed and what the overall message is (the way I see it). But before I get to theorizing: 

Some aspects I take to heart:

- Each member is as unique and as important as every other. So no ‘creators’ or ‘gods’ or ‘angels’.

- While the Loonaverse is filled with symbols and hidden messages, I believe some things are pretty straight foward. My job will be to identify the literal aspects from the symbolic ones. Because of this, I think I've come up with a pretty 'grounded' interpretation of the entire lore.

- There are no villians in the Loonaverse. Just coincidences, desires and physical (or metaphysical) limitations. No one and nothing is truly evil.

- The mobius strip affects only the temporal aspect of the universe and everything takes place in the same dimension but within different aspects/life conditions. I'll explain this two aspects in a latter post.

- My theories may get a bit meta at times. I think it's silly not to consider how the real world influences the Loonaverse.

Of course:

- I don't have the one & only answer. The Loonaverse is brilliant because of the many interpretations it may have. Be sure to share your own theories.

- Just because I don't acknowledge a particular theory doesn't mean I haven't heard it or that I dissmiss their validity. Again, the Loonaverse thrives in the different opinions and interpretations of the fans. This will be just mine.

Without further to say, I'll see you in the next post where I’ll introduce every member.