#BST mv review

[btsandvmin]

What made you like Jimin individually and Taehyung individually ? And do you have a slight preference between the two ?

I love all the members so much, and for me picking a bias is still kind of difficult. I have concluded that I do bias both Jimin and Tae but kind of switch between them at different times for different reasons. As for a bias wrecker I legit cannot choose and it changes all the time.

The way I got into BTS was through the BST MV and then trying to learn the members (the first one I learned and checked up on was Namjoon). I also got fascinated by the BU storyline as storytelling and analysis/reviews is a big hobby of mine (the fandoms I’ve been in are many, and character/story analyses/reviews/theories are something I have engaged in a lot). 

On top of that I work in the media industry and have an interest for visual storytelling as well and I got hooked by the concepts, the beautiful MV and the both story-based and symbolical clues they left. I also loved their music and like groups in general because of the interesting vocal dynamics you can create.  Basically, BTS managed to hit all my buttons and I had to look up more.

Mind you, I barely knew the members' names properly and I was already investigating the meaning of their MV and storyline. I listened to their album and loved the songs before I could tell which member was who. (Both Awake and First love made me cry without even knowing the lyrics).  I also have to mention how much I love both of Vmin’s voices, who are both very unique and interesting. I basically biased their voices before I knew who they were. (Fun or sad fact but I am really bad with faces and actually learned the members' singing voices before their faces.)

Let’s just say that I got into the music and visuals/concept first, and then started to consume material to get to know the members. They all also had incredible chemistry between each other and reminded me a lot of one of my favorite j-pop groups with their dynamics. 

What I started to watch was “get to know them” videos and recent interviews and clips, meaning from BST era. It was hard for me to not notice Jimin (even though vocal line were the ones I had the hardest time separating from each other in the very beginning). And perhaps even more so since the introduction videos tended to have a lot better and varied things to say about Jimin amongst vocal line. But even on his own Jimin simply stood out to me during the BST era when I joined. He took a lot of space in the group as a performer (especially with his high notes, his dancing, his hair and his outfits all combined) but also as an individual in off stage material. I fell for his voice and performance and the “Jimin effect” was hitting me hard. 

I also related to him a lot. I am a sort of clingy but shy person who is a perfectionist and likes being in control. I also thought he was both cute and funny without being too over the top with things like aegyo (I mean, we all know he is horrible at it when he tries to do it on purpose). I think the way Jimin is so open (though private) makes him easy to understand and relate to. He has a lot of different moods and there is an honesty in how much he shows us even though he clearly still remained in control.

As time went by, I found myself focusing on Jimin more than the other members and I realized my bias. I was simply drawn to him more than the others from the start. That in turn brings me to Taehyung... Because honestly, at the time it was impossible not to notice their closeness. And looking up a lot of old material, where Jimin was there was also Taehyung. They were very clingy and had a lot of cute interactions. One of the first things I watched of their more off-stage material was also Bon Voyage in Scandinavia (being from there myself I was extra curious) and the Vmin moments in there just cemented their bond for me.

I am not saying I only appreciate Tae for ship reasons, simply that Vmin got my attention early on and that did make me focus more on Taehyung as well. I thought as many that he was a bit odd, but very funny and playful, that he was incredibly good-looking (my opinion from the start was that JK and Tae were the most good-looking) but also a bit difficult to read. Taehyung made me want to understand him, and I was interested in him for quite different reasons than how I related to Jimin. I love him for his way of thinking and how he seems to have this innocence or happiness in the small things about him. Like, Tae getting lost in Sweden but still being happy about the small adventure, enjoying himself and stopping to blow on a dandelion might just be one of the most endearing things I have ever seen. (Honestly, another point I relate to Jimin on so much is his love for Tae and how he just makes us smile no matter what he does.)

Of course, as they change and as I get to watch them more, the more I find to love and appreciate (as well as flaws of course) and now I would say all the members are just very precious to me and I love them both for who they are on their own and for their bond as a group. It is impressive and not to be understated how rare it is to find a bond like theirs. I have seen many groups, and few are as compatible as BTS, and few seem to truly love each other the way they do.

But as for bias it will likely always be Jimin and Taehyung unless there is some drastic change.

For Jimin I love the way he dances while controlling every fiber of his body, the way he pours love into all his relationships but isn’t afraid to call people out, the way he keeps getting funnier (I think Jimin’s sense of humor is so underrated), the way he acts like an angel but actually has the whole world fooled (and he knows it), the way he shows his emotions so animatedly no matter if he gets annoyed or laughs with his whole body, the way he knows his principles and stands his ground when he believes in something, the way he works so hard to improve and better himself both as a performer and as a human, the way he thinks about things deeply and is so eloquent with how to express it, the way he is there for both ARMY, his members and even strangers because he is empathic to his core. There is a lot to love with Jimin, and he always makes sure to return that love when deserved.

For Taehyung I love the way he stand against the norms, the way he shows it’s ok to be different and embrace himself and others without judgement, the way he almost plays with us when he performs, the way he sings with such emotion and how he loves to express himself through all kinds of art forms, the way he learns and take in valid criticism but isn’t afraid to call bullshit, the way he knows when to be serious but also the importance of having fun, the way he is both the biggest dork and a fierce performer at once (I mean he can be so unapologetically silly and then suddenly switch to lethal seduction), the way his unique way of thinking opens up to new points of view, the way he can’t help but show his excitement or love for something and wants to share it with the people around him. He goes all out when he loves something and doesn’t hide his opinions when he doesn’t. Taehyung is just a very honest (though perfectly capable of lying and fooling us thank you very much) and incredible person that I both admire and adore.

There is just so much, and even small things get to me, like don’t get me started on their smiles, or even just their habits when they laugh... (how Tae usually laughs quietly but once in a while will let out these light giggles, or the way Jimin seem to automatically covers his face when he laughs).

I love them both to death (as all the members). It is not easy to just sit down and pour years of love into words, but I tried. I love them both as singers, performers, artists, and humans. I also love them as soulmates and how much they both just spread love and positivity to the people around them. The impact they have had on me, and surely many of you, is hard to comprehend. I am so lucky and happy that I decided to become a fan of this wonderful group and these wonderful people.

Phew, that was a lot wasn’t it? All opinion based, probably a bit hard to understand and not very well structured either. This is all just a flow of consciousness, and I likely forgot to mention a lot of things I could have said. Even so I hope you found it a nice read. :) Thank you for the ask.

[thedramafilesblog-blog]

We’re not a blog that is dedicated to reviewing music (including Kpop), but because we absolutely adore BTS and their music, we decided to do a memo-style review of the Music Video (MV) for their Japanese Version “Blood, Sweat & Tears” (血、汗、涙 -Japanese Ver.-).

***Note: If this is your first time browsing the Drama Files, please read The Rules on how our Memo-style reviews work.***

***Note: We really wanted to analyze the Blood, Sweat, Tears Korean MV before, but we missed out on the opportunity. We thought this MV was very interesting as well, so we were really eager to share our theories about what they could possibly signify. There are definitely many theories, so we thought we’d propose ours. Our views are simply theories and purely speculative.***

Memo

Dear Reader,

There have been some questions regarding the recent release of BTS’s 血、汗、涙 -Japanese Ver.- (“BST”), particularly:

(1) Who/What does each member represent?

(2) How is the ending clip that is reminiscient of the “I Need U” MV connected to BST?

Conclusion

(1.1) J-Hope acts as a guide. J-Hope is Archangel Michael and Frau Eva from Demian.

(1.2) V is Max Demian (“Demian”) from Demian and the Devil/Lucifer/the Fallen Angel (“the Devil”) .

(1.3) Suga is Pistorius and the Old Wise Man (archetype).

(1.4) Jimin is Sinclair from Demian and Adam from the Bible.

(2) This will be answered in a subsequent Memo.

Background

Please read the first post to understand how this MV fits in with the other MVs and the different types of reality in this MV.

Please read the second post for more information on Demian and other important concepts.

Please read the third post for a detailed analysis of Suga’s role.

Analysis

(1.1) J-Hope acts as a guide. J-Hope is Archangel Michael and Frau Eva from Demian.

Please read the first post to see this analysis.

(1.2) V is Max Demian (“Demian”) from Demian and the Devil/Lucifer/the Fallen Angel (“the Devil”) .

Please read the second post to see this analysis.

(1.3) Suga is Pistorius and the Old Wise Man (archetype).

Please read the third post to see this analysis.

(1.4) Jimin is Sinclair from Demian and Adam from the Bible. 

Jubiemon J: We will first look at Jimin being Sinclair, then at Jimin being the Hero archetype, and finally at his being Adam from the Bible.

(i) Jimin is Sinclair from Demian.

Let’s do something a bit different this time and start by looking at his short clip called “Lie”. Rapmonster narrates from Demian‘s Chapter 1, “Two Realms”: “My parent’s house made of one realm. This realm was familiar to me in almost every way–mother and father, love and strictness, model behaviour, and school.” This part is towards the beginning of the novel, where Sinclair is recounting his story of self-realization. This passage, as a result, suggests that Jimin is also on the path to self-realization.

In the clip, we see Jimin by himself and he seems to be eerily looking at this camera and smiling. On the outside as in the external reality, Jimin is happy, but then we see that inner struggle within himself. We get a feeling that he is “caught in a lie” like his lyrics suggest.

Jimin forcing a smile

Jimin struggling internally – look at the dance too! He is covering his mouth, which is something people do when they’re trying to stop themselves from saying stuff. He’s resisting to tell his lie.

Then Jimin falls back and we get to see his inner world. We see him in a hospital bed and in this room that’s completely white. We’re getting the vibes of a psychiatric ward. After, we see a glimpse of a card that has the word “Eva” all over it. Frau Eva is who J-Hope represents from Demian. To be brief, Eva is like Sinclair’s mother and acts as his romantic interest (See J-Hope’s post for more). We know that J-Hope is involved here as Eva because J-Hope has been associated with pills in the previous BTS MVs. Eva also represents a symbol of completion and perfection; she has both masculine and feminine qualities. Therefore, Jimin is striving to find that perfection through J-Hope and we notice Jimin struggling via the pillow whacking.

Jimin struggling internally

Eva!

J-Hope and pills…

Seeking perfection

There’s also a sign that signals Jimin’s journey to find his self. The sign says Pulkkot Arboreteum 1.2 km. Pulkkot translates to Hibiscus, which is South Korea’s national flower, while an arboreteum is a botanical garden dedicated to trees. These likely allude to the Garden of Eden. Another point is that when I was searching for the meaning of the sign, I came across the Korean words: 불꽃 (“bul” + “kkot”). 불 means “fire” and 꽃 means “flower”. Together, they can either mean a flame, a spark, or fireworks/fire cracker (See here).

In the last chapter of Demian, “The End Begins”, Sinclair and Demian are soldiers at war and one night, Sinclair sees this giant godlike figure that looks like Frau Eva. Figuratively, she swallows up the soldiers and then cries out in pain. Stars explode from her forehead and one gravely wounds Sinclair. Demian lies beside Sinclair and says that he has to leave. Demian then gives Sinclair a kiss on the forehead, which is said to be from Frau Eva. Sinclair (the Ego) ends up merging with Demian (the Self) and Frau Eva (the Animus).

The Ego is our conscious self; it’s when we think of “I” and “me”. The Self is the consciousness, the unconscious, and the ego. Carl Jung believed that when you are born, you start out with the Self, but then you gradually develop a separate ego-consciousness in order to fit into society. During the later half of your life, you’ll spend time finding your Self again.

The centre dot is the Ego. The bigger circle and the inner circle make up the Self.

I think the sign, Pulkkot Arboreteum, does serve as a reference to this scene from Demian. Yes, it is likely the Garden of Eden, but it is also where an explosion will occur to cause Jimin to find his Self once more.

During this journey of self-discovery, Jimin will feel lost and confused. We see tons of clips of his struggles. That’s probably why the lyrics from “Run” are seen from the short clip: “Please stop me. Please guide me. Please let me breathe.” There also seems to be a reference to a verse from “Save Me”: “I’m trapped inside of myself and I’m dead.” That line is telling because Jimin is struggling internally like Sinclair and metaphorically speaking, his old, innocent self becomes dead due to this journey. In the end, Jimin succumbs to temptation and bites that apple. He leaves us with a smirk because he has now become wiser and knows more than us.

Struggling Jimin

Burning piano – leaving his mentor, Pistorius aka Suga

Sinking deeply into the darkness – remember how Taehyung’s fall into water is associated with turning “evil”? This is similar here.

Forbidden apple sinking deeply into the water

Jimin fighting the urge to jump into the pool of water.

Eating that apple

Jimin smirking

We also see in the MVs that Jimin is searching for himself. In the Korean “BST” MV, Jimin begins his journey to self-discovery. Like Sinclair, Jimin has probably led a sheltered, innocent life and therefore, in the Korean “BST” MV, we see Jimin’s eyes being covered by Suga’s hands from the beginning.

Suga shielding Jimin’s eyes

As mentioned in the previous post, Suga is Pistorious to Jimin and Pistorius represents someone who is progressive yet still wants to cling onto the foundations of our society (See part 3 memo for more details on Suga’s role as Pistorius). Thus, it makes sense that Suga is the one guiding Jimin and colours Jimin’s lens of the world via the blindfold Suga puts on Jimin. Although Suga is allowing Jimin to explore and understand the world better, Suga is also restraining Jimin. Jimin, as a result, hasn’t succumbed fully to “temptation”/what people perceive as the dark side. We see in the Korean “BST” MV, Jimin still has not bitten the apple. He held onto it, but he didn’t bite it.

This situation is analogous to the one we find between Pistorius and Sinclair. Pistorius acts as a mentor to Sinclair and educates him about many concepts. However, Sinclair later realizes that Pistorius is archaic and still unwilling to let go of the set ways of understanding God (standard biblical beliefs). Upon this realization, Sinclair criticizes Pistorius and leaves him, meaning that the student has left his mentor.

We see this act of departure from Jimin in BST. In the beginning of BST, Jimin runs away from Suga who is by this piano. (Remember: this is the inner reality/psychical reality because Jin is looking through the lens of the painting.) Jimin is now on his way to explore and figure out himself by himself. We also see before this that there is another Jimin in this blue room. That is his innocent self that he will reunite with later.

Innocent Jimin here

Jimin pushing away Suga 

Jimin leaving Suga

Jimin running for his journey

This Jimin, which I’ll call Innocent Jimin from now on, is sitting on a chair that reminds us of those ones that we see in films where a patient is talking to his therapist/psychiatrist. Moreover, we also see that he is dressed more purely: white button-up shirt and trousers. That’s different from the sweater he wears when he is looking for his innocent self; that sweater reminds me of feathers/wings.

We see Jimin trailing behind Taehyung and Jungkook. V walks further away, leaving Jimin behind in the kitchen. Jungkook and Jimin are Sinclairs, so it’s interesting to see that they are tagging behind V, who is clearly the most “developed” Demian. Because Jimin has run away from Suga, he has “fully” succumbed to the “dark side”. Hence, we see Jimin taking a bite from that apple and the blender mixes some crazy colours.

Then we see Jimin and Jungkook restraining V to let J-Hope punish V. I think that makes sense because Jimin and Jungkook are still not as developed as V and there are times where they too are fighting within themselves about change. That’s seen throughout Demian where Sinclair goes back and forth about his feelings. He feels guilty for criticizing Pistorius, yet he still leaves him.

In the end, there is that battle between the two thoughts with J-Hope dancing in a room that has a ceiling of heaven in blue and then Jimin is dancing in the same room with the same ceiling in red. We know from J-Hope’s post, the boys can’t stick to the old belief system and so J-Hope “loses”. Jimin is covered in red in the external reality where he is looking into a mirror at himself, while Jungkook is covered in this grey smoke in a red washroom.

Jimin dancing

J-Hope dancing

At the end of this journey, Jimin is able to reunite with his Self that’s in that blue room. Suga is covering the Innocent Jimin’s eyes because he probably doesn’t want the Innocent one to be completely tainted.

However, the two Jimins make eye contact and merge together. I’ve talked about how Sinclair merges with his other entities so this scene represents that unity. That’s why as soon as the two Jimins combine together, Jimin is shot back to the external reality through that weird neon-coloured whirlpool.

Jimin being shot back

(ii) Jimin is Adam from the Bible.

Jimin is the one that has an apple in his hand. Adam bit the apple from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Adam couldn’t resist the temptation and gave in. Similarly, Jimin gives into this temptation to know more and leave his sheltered life. Because of that, Jimin goes through some painful trials and “chaos” ensues.

Memo: BTS Blood, Sweat & Tears (Japanese Version) Music Video Analysis Part 4 We're not a blog that is dedicated to reviewing music (including Kpop), but because we…

[skraw11]

I decided to look at some bikes and come across this pretty piece of machinery. 125,100 AUD or 80,000 USD

1000CC MV Agusta F3/F4 Reparto Corse review:

• A carbon fibre fairing with alternate gloss and matt-finish patterning;

• Carbon BST Rapid Teck wheels

• Laser-engraved, dual-exit titanium SC-Project racing exhaust

• World superbike-spec left and right racing-type push-buttons;

• Full colour AIM dash with data acquisition, integrated GPS exclusively customised with dedicated graphics;

• Cross-stitched rider seat with embroidered Claudio logo; and

• O¨hlins USD NIX 30 forks & O¨hlins TTX36 shock absorber.

MV Agusta F3/F4 Reparto Corse 212 hp at 13,600 rpm, with 85 pound-feet torque peaking at 9,300 rpm, more than 4,000 rpm below maximum power peak. The MV Agusta F4 Claudio engine compression ratio is 13.4:1 and features variable geometry throttle bodies. Each cylinder is fed by two injectors: four Mitsubishis down the inlet port and four high-capacity Magneti Marellis in the overhead “shower” position.

[trunewsofficial]

Iran Seizes British Oil Tanker in Strait of Hormuz

The Persian Gulf is teetering on the brink of all-out war after Iran has seized two British oil tankers operating in the Strait of Hormuz. Shortly after 2 p.m. EST, Iran’s state-run PressTV announced the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had seized the British-flagged Stena Impero in the Strait of Hormuz. According to the report, the vessel was seized for “violating international regulations.” Stena Impero is a 600-foot-long oil and chemical tanker with a capacity of nearly 30,000 cubic feet. Its owners issued the following statement following the reports of the vessel’s seizure: “Stena Bulk and Northern Marine Management can confirm that at approximately 1600 BST on 19th July UK registered vessel Stena Impero (built 2018, 49,683 DWT) was approached by unidentified small crafts and a helicopter during transit of the Strait of Hormuz while the vessel was in international waters. We are presently unable to contact the vessel which is now heading north towards Iran. “There are 23 seafarers aboard. There have been no reported injuries and their safety is of primary concern to both owners and managers. The priority of both vessel owner Stena Bulk and ship manager Northern Marine Management is the safety and welfare of the crew. “Northern Marine Management has not been able to establish contact directly with the vessel since it was notified of the incident at approximately 1600 Today, 19th July 2019. We are in close contact with UK government authorities.” While British officials scrambled to learn more about the ship seizure, the White House issued its initial response. National Security Council spokesman Garrett Marquis told reporters: “We are aware of reports a British oil tanker was seized in the Gulf. This is the second time in just over a week the UK has been the target of escalatory violence by the Iranian regime. The U.S. will continue to work with our allies and partners to defend our security and interests against Iran’s malign behavior.” Iran announced it seized a second tanker, the Liberian-flagged MV Mesdar, a 1,100-foot-long supertanker with a capacity of more than 160,000 cubic feet. The vessel was operated a British management company, but did not have any UK citizens among its crew. British Prime Minister convened the COBRA committee at Whitehall a short time after the second incident was reported. Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt briefed reporters prior to that meeting, stating: “I’m extremely concerned by the seizure of two vessels by Iranian authorities in the Strait of Hormuz. I will shortly attend a COBRA meeting to review what we know and what we cand o to swiftly secure the release of the two vessels … Their crews comprise a range of nationalities, but we understand there are no British citizens aboard either ship. “Our ambassador in Tehran is in contact with the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to resolve the situation and we are working closely with international partners. These seizures are unacceptable. It is essential that freedom of navigation is maintained and that all ships can move safely and freely in the region.” At 5:30 p.m. EST, the Tasnim news agency in Iran announced that Mesdar has been allowed to continue on its original course. Officials in Tehran said the vessel was briefly stopped in order to “follow up” with the crew regarding environmental regulations. GPS data for the vessel show that it had picked up speed in a westerly direction, heading into the Persian Gulf, rather than north toward Iran. It is no longer in Iranian waters. Regardless, the U.S. is no longer taking any chances. Defense officials have told CNN the Navy is now monitoring the transit of U.S.-flagged commercial traffic through the Strait of Hormuz with armed aircraft overhead. The cable news network reports Pentagon believes the seizure of both ships today was pre-planned and coordinated. As TruNews reported Thursday, the amphibious assault ship USS Boxer shot down an Iranian drone that came too close for comfort. This was reportedly done with a new system equipped to Marine Corps Expeditionary Units called the Light Marine Air Defense Integrated System. LMADIS uses highly sensitive radar to detect small incoming targets and then deploys signal blocking technology to sever the link between the drone and its control tower, causing it to fall from the sky, or it can direct conventional missiles to destroy the target. The Pentagon’s statement about the incident suggests it was used to do the former, rather than the latter. Iran, however, insists the U.S. claim of downing one of its drones is false. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has released this video that it claims is from yesterday showing USS Boxer operating in the Persian Gulf. The video also shows the unmanned aircraft taking off and landing from its base inside Iran. A senior official in Tehran has suggested that perhaps the U.S. downed one of its own drones by mistake. (Photo Credit: BalticShipping.com) source https://trunews.com/stream/iran-seizes-british-oil-tanker-in-strait-of-hormuz

[terjemahanliriklagu-blog]

REVIEW MV BLOOD SWEAT AND TEARS JAPAN VER. - BTS

Ini teori asalnya dari Taehyung base tapi aku kembangin lagi dan gue hubungin sama MV Blood Sweat and Tears ver.korea nya.

Jadi gini

..

...

Masih inget sama adegan ini? 

Yap! Ini adegan di Prologue sebelumnya, tapi di BST adegan ini paling akhir. Kemungkinan disini awal dari semua kejadian yang ada di MV. Disini Jin bilang ke Namjoon “Hai, lama tidak bertemu”. 

Jin disini ayak ngasih tau ke RM tentang sesuatu. Dan dia pengen RM ngasih tau ke member yang lain, Jin nggak bisa ngasih tau sendiri karena dia udah meninggal.

Rm nyuruh Jungkook minum sesuatu yang menurut gue itu wine beracun. 

Kenapa RM ngasih ke Jungkook? Karena RM pengen ngasih tau sesuatu yang dikasih tau sama Jin. Tapi disitu Suga nyegah Jungkook karena Suga udah tau apa yang mau dikasih tau RM. Dan Suga juga udah tau apa yang sebenernya terjadi. 

Suga berusaha nyegah Jimin juga, ini keliatan di MV BST ver. Korea. Tapi Jungkook udah terlanjur minum dan dia muntah/mabok, 

Ini scene BST Korea

Menurut gue nih Suga disini punya semacam kekuatan yang bisa buat dia berkomunikasi sama Jin.

Jungkook bahkan dorong Suga nggak lama kemudian Jungkook ini pingsan karena udah gak tahan sama racunnya.

Scene ini sama kyk di BST sebelumnya. 

Di scene ini, Jimin bawa apel yang sama di MV sebelumnya bahkan di Lie juga dan Suga keliatan ngejagain Jimin disini. 

Tapi ternyata... Jimin udah kena racun yang dibawa sama RM, diliet dari blender yang warna nya hijau. Jimin yang udah makan racun itu, jadi ngejauh dari Suga.

Kejadian di MV ini di awasin terus sama Jin pake kacamatanya.

Dia ngecek, apa bener RM udah coba ngasih tau ke member lainnya tentang apa yang sebelumnya disampein Jin. Menurut gue nih, RM ini ngasih racun ke Jungkook sama Jimin apa udah kena jerat evil dari seseorang?   

Disini nunjukin tangan dari RM yang luka/kotor, mungkin karena dia udah kena pengaruh evil makanya tangannya begitu :v 

Yang pengen dikasih tau Jin ke member lain itu adalah Taehyung itu sebenernya Evil. Disini jadi kepikiran, apa jangan-jangan yang bunuh Jin itu Taehyung? Inget di lirik STIGMA? Dia bilang “I’m sorry my brother” yang menurut gue Brother disini Jin/hyung2nya. Lalu “I’m sorry my sister” itu baru kakaknya karena dia bunuh bapaknya. Tapi di Mv ini yang pertama tau adalah RM kemudian Jungkook.

Ah, kalian inget di Prologue yang si taehyung nya loncat ke laut? Di MV Run dia di air bertahan antara hidup dan mati, di ending MV nya dia muncul lagi ke permukaan. 

Berarti si Tae ini masih hidup. Di BST Korea juga dia lompat dari atas gedung ke bawah, namun buktinya di mv ini dia masih hidup. /nyawa lo berapa dah Tae-__-/

Disini Rapmon udah bilang ke member lainnya kalo Taehyung ini evil. makanya Si Jimin sama Jungkook megangin Taehyung dan biarin Jhope manah si Tae, sebenernya Jhope ini udah tau dari BST sebelumnya, inget kan Jhope disini juga mau manah Tae, tapi nggak kena karna Tae masih terlindung. 

Makanya disini Jhope berusaha ngepanah Tae lagi, tapi ternyata... Tae berhasil kabur. Dia buat yang lainnya NGEFREEZE/Diem jadi patung biar dia bisa kabur. 

Jin yang udah kebunuh ngeliet si Tae lagi dan dia bener-bener gak tenang karna tae masih berhasil kabur. 

Tae yang kabur ini nemuin jalan keluar. /senyum mu mas :" cocok banget jadi psikopat :))/

 Liet dahh jaket nya dia ada tulisan “Lone Wolf” yang artinya “Serigala yang keluar dari gerombolannya”.

Tae keluar dari gedung, yang ternyata jalan buntu. 

Tae berdiri disini dan bisa diliet Jhope dari bawah, Si Jhope ini bisa ngerasain dimana Taehyung, dia ngeliet ada sayap di atas jadi dia ngarahin panahnya ke atas gedung.

Disini ada 2 Jimin, kenapa bisa ada 2 Jimin? Jimin yang lari dari Suga itu Jimin yang udah kena racun

 dia lari dan gak sengaja ketemu sama Jimin yang masih polos(?) ada diruangan dan ketika Jimin yang kabur itu masuk, tiba-tiba Suga muncul dan nutupin mata Jimin yang polos (?) biar gak ikutan jadi evil. 

Di MV BST sebelumnya, Suga main piano disini buat bantu Jin nyari tau siapa sebenernya evil itu,

makanya waktu Jin berbalik matanya ditutup sama Taehyung supaya Jin nggak tau kalo sebenernya Tae itu evilnya

tapi si Jin ini tetep ngelangkah ke patung nya dan dari sini ketauan lahh kalo Taehyung itu evilnya.

Nahh karena ketauan, Taehyung berusaha lompat dari atas gedung sambil nunjukin senyum evilnya./kamvreett lu Tae/

  Ah iya, kenapa Jhope bisa gak kena racun? Karena Jhope udah kebal sama obat. Makanya obat sama dia dibuangin karena gak ngefek juga buat dia minum obat itu dan obat itu berasa racun. Jhope tau kalo Taehyung itu evilnya, diliet dari dia joget “Boys Meet Evil” = dia ketemu sama evilnya.

Nah, di scene akhir si Jin itu pecah/retak kan? Itu Taehyung masih senyum-senyum gitu meski sayanya patah. Jin ini belum tenang selama Taehyung masih berkeliaran dan Jin masih bakal ngamatin member lainya sampe kapanpun. 

Oh iya, inget Taehyung yang di STIGMA? dia ketangkep polisi disini mainan obeng (?) di depan toko. 

Jadi ya : intinya itu diin yang bunuh Jin itu Taehyung. Mungkin ditusuk atau gimana tapi Jin gak meninggal di tempat, jadi kayak ada efek yang bikin Jin kesakitan sampe akhirnya mennggal. Tapi member lain itu nggak ngerti, akirya Jin ngasih tau RM, RM ngasih tau Jungkook sama Jimin, tapi disini RM kayak udh terpengaruh sama Taehyung evilnya jadi RM ngasih racun ke Jimin dan Jungkook. Suga telat buat nyelametin Jungkook dan Jimin yang udah telanjur makan racunnya.

Setelah para member lain tau yang sebenarnya, mereka mau buat Taehyung itu balik/sadar dengan cara Jhope yang memanah Taehyung tapi ternyata Taehyung berhasil kabur lagi. Disini lah Jin asih belum tenang, dia takut Taehyung ngelakuin sesuatu ke member lainnya

Oh Man Holy SHITT !!

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 wait !! jadi ini yang mukulin Jin ya? ahh molla

Sumpah ya, maafin gue kalo absurd :v ini gue beusaha ngubungin dari MV BST yang sebelumnya karena mereka bener-bener berhubungan /njirr emang/ 

 maafin gue yang labil :v gue dulu pernah ngereview MV RUN dan disitu gue jelasin kalo Jin yang bertahan hidup, lahh ini kenapa malah gue percaya kalo Jin yang mati?>

sekali lagi ya, ini pemikiran gue, kalopun ada yang puya pemikiran lain silahkan berbagi di kolom komentar, kita pecahin bareng-bareng wkwk

(sok2 an lu, teori sebelumnya aja agak kelar :v)

Jangan tanya “lah gimana sama mv mv sebelumnya?” gue tabok lu tanya ke gue -__- tanya ke Bang PD sono, tanya ke Rapmon yang pake buku apa dah dia. ngeselin emang, gue kangen nonton MV BTS tanpa peduli teori :v sekarang mah apa.. teaser keluar aja pusyiing mikir teori apa lagi dahh ini T.T

 maaf kalo alur nya maju mundur cantikk (._.)v

[thedramafilesblog-blog]

We’re not a blog that is dedicated to reviewing music (including Kpop), but because we absolutely adore BTS and their music, we decided to do a theory prediction for BTS’ upcoming release.

***Note: If this is your first time browsing the Drama Files, please read The Rules on how our Memo-style reviews work.***

Memo

Dear Reader,

There have been some questions regarding the teasers for BTS’ comeback. You asked these questions:

(1) What is the significance of 起承転結 (Kishōtenketsu) or 起承转合 (qǐ chéng zhuǎn hé) to these teasers?

(2) How does BTS’ “Love Yourself 承 ‘Her'” album fit within 起承转合?

Conclusion

(1) The plots within BTS’ teasers reflect the structure of 起承转合. 

(2) “Love Yourself 承 ‘Her'” is 承 where the focus is on the honeymoon phase of falling in love or being in a relationship.

Background

Please read the first post to understand how the BST MV fits in with the other MVs and the different types of reality in this MV.

Analysis

(1) The plots within BTS’ teasers reflect the structure of 起承转合. 

起承转合 is a structure used for many Chinese, Korean, and Japanese narratives. The origin of 起承转合 comes from Chinese poetry, particularly from 七言絕句 (Qiyan jueju). 

起 represents the introduction. This is where the characters are introduced and the setting of the story is established. In BTS’ 起 teaser, we see all the BTS members being introduced.

July 11th is when Jin meets the girl who dropped her diary. I’ll call her, Jin’s crush for now as we don’t know her name.

June 14th is when we see Jungkook in a wheelchair and he meets a girl at the hospital. They shake hands. I’ll also refer to her as Jungkook’s crush since we don’t know her name.

May 25th is when we see Yoongi working on some music while another girl accompanies him. Yoongi wants to smoke, but the girl takes the lighter away from him. She marks it with two letters “YK”. She then shows him a yellow lollipop, seemingly implying that if he wants to smoke, he can suck on a yellow lollipop instead. We also see that she is a musician because she goes to her guitar. I’m going to refer to her as Yoongi’s girlfriend. (I get the gf vibes from her in this teaser.)

June 5th is when Rapmonster sees this girl handing out flyers and seems intrigued by her. She drops her flyers and so Rapmonster goes to pick them up for her. She thanks him and walks away. Rapmonster stares at her yellow hair tie. She’ll be called Rapmonster’s crush.

June 18th is when we see Taehyung eating some ramen at a convenience store. He sees a girl attempting to steal some things and intercepts. He pays for the items and hands her backpack and items to her; however, she gets really mad at him and storms off. This girl, I’ll refer as Taehyung’s crush. He seems to be quite taken by her at the end.

May 31st is when we see Jimin and J-Hope first in a studio. J-Hope is dancing while Jimin is filming him. Then another girl enters this practice room. She has a birthday cake and hands it to J-Hope who seems to be happy. Jimin starts recording the girl, but gets shy about it.

Later, J-Hope is about to blow the candle, but then closes his eyes to remember a bad memory about the time that he was abandoned by his mother at an amusement park. I think it’s safe to assume that this event happened on his birthday; that’s why he seems to fake being happy about celebrating his birthday. I’ll call her Jimin’s crush.

承 is development. Basic circumstances are still being developed and they are leading to the twist. No major changes have happened. We learn more about the characters’ relationships to each other and how they fit in the world. 

We first see time passing which is symbolized by the clouds changing to rays of sunlight and the subway passing by. Taehyung and his crush are together. Taehyung looks up in the sky and remembers something in the past; we see Rapmonster and a bit of Suga in this memory. This seems to be from the Run/I Need U era (based on their hair and the scene). Rapmonster asks Taehyung what he is doing. Taehyung is doing some graffiti on a wall. Taehyung finishes zoning out because his crush stares at him. He decides to place his cellphone on top of this water bottle and then uses a golf club to whack the water bottle to see how far his cellphone will go.

The next scene features Rapmonster and his crush. He follows her to the bus and doesn’t approach her. He has this hair tie in his hand and he seems to want to give it to her. He only looks at her from afar.

The third scene shows Jungkook drawing something with a yellow pencil. He is hanging out with his crush who sits beside him on a white bench. He has a crutch now, which means that time has passed and his health is recovering. She, on the other hand, is not recovering. He is listening to some music, but she pulls one earbud out. Jungkook focuses on a girl playing a guitar; it’s Yoongi’s girlfriend. We know because of two reasons. First, we get a flashback of Jungkook recalling those happy days when he and Yoongi played the piano together and worked on music together in an abandoned room. Jungkook and his crush walk closer to listen to Yoongi’s girlfriend. Then Jungkook spots the cigarette lighter with the initials Y.K. (My gut says it stands for Yoongi or a combination of his first name with the girl’s first name.)

The fourth scene transports us to J-Hope who opens his eyes. From the first teaser, J-Hope closed his eyes to remember his past, but now he opens them to the present. Notice how the same time of lighting/filming style was used in the beginning of this teaser. J-Hope starts dancing with the girl while Jimin seems to be filming them from behind. In fact, we realize that Jimin is actually only filming the girl. This seems to imply that he might have feelings for her.

The fifth scene brings us back to Taehyung and his crush. He is walking down this railway path and she is trailing behind him.

The sixth scene depicts Jin who has finished reading an entry from the girl’s diary. That page is titled “Mysterious Flower”–that blue flower we have seen in the “I Need U”/”Run” era. We are also given a date, August 30th. Jin then starts trying out his clothes to see what he should wear. It’s likely a date that he’ll go to. He wears this grey sweatshirt and then he looks down to see this toppled over vase with white lilies. After, we see him buttoning up a white shirt and putting on a grey blazer. His hair has changed to a more formal style.

The seventh scene moves to Yoongi who is lying on this couch. The calendar in the room shows that it’s June, meaning that about a month has gone by. He checks his phone and then tosses it aside. He has a cigarette in his mouth and grabs a pack of cigarettes. Though he wants to light a cigarette, he remembers that his girlfriend has taken his lighter and laughs to himself. He sets the cigarettes aside. We also see that there are two yellow lollipops on his table; it’s obvious that he is trying to break his smoking habit. His cellphone vibrates on the ground, causing him to fall off the sofa to check his phone. Then we hear Jin’s narration: “Why is it that the happiest of moments usher in sudden fear?”

转 is twist. Something unexpected happens and it’s usually unrelated to the first two acts. The film colours are much darker here. We hear Jin’s narration about being afraid to love himself and about turning away from what he knew was going to happen.

We see J-Hope in a yellow t-shirt dancing with the girl. Jimin dances in the darkness by himself; he seems to be imitating J-Hope’s moves. We also see Yoongi stumbling up these stairs, seemingly drunk. V is vandalizing something. Jin keeps driving very quickly in his car; he has the photo of the 7 of them hanging in his car. V and the girl are being chased by the police.

We move to the day and I think that implies that these characters haven’t been affected by some twist yet. Namjoon gets the courage to move up a seat to sit in the same row as his crush; however, he still holds onto the black hair tie in his hand. Jungkook, dressed in nearly all white, has some white flowers in his hand and he is heading to give them to his crush. Jin keeps driving in the darkness. Then we see Namjoon put the hair tie on top of the girl’s white backpack when he gets off the bus. V and his crush keep running in the darkness, away from the police. Namjoon gets off on the bus stop that V vandalized, stares at the words, and walks away. Jin keeps driving faster and this time he closes his eyes with a grimace.

We cut back to Jimin who is dancing with the girl. The two fall on the ground painfully. Jungkook is still on his way to give his flowers to his crush. Yoongi is playing his piano in his apartment that has become a mess. Yoongi and his girlfriend fight on the street and he pushes her away. Jimin keeps washing his hands and the water is bloody. J-Hope gives the girl a piggyback and runs in the rain. Jimin is dressed in dark clothes and holds a black umbrella while looking at J-Hope and the girl. Rapmonster throws something away angrily at this crime scene place. V gives himself up to the police. Jungkook sees that the hospital bed is empty, meaning that she has died.

合 is reconciliation. This last act is about the third act’s impact on the first two acts. The fourth act reconciles all of the acts. 

We start off with Jin getting out of his car to talk to this other car in front of him. This reminds me when someone accidentally hits a car from behind; they have to sort things out with the driver in front of them. Nothing big happens as the other driver drives off. Jin has a bouquet filled with those mysterious flowers and he is excited to meet his crush. His crush is rushing to cross the street and he sees her get hit by a truck. The lighting turns a bit neon purple, reminding me of the “Blood, Sweat and Tears” MVs. Jin starts his narration and thinks if we could turn back time, where would they go? There are these flashbacks of what happened in “I Need U” and “Run”. At the end, Jin catches the vase that was about to be toppled over. He is wearing a grey sweatshirt and puts on his black cap. We are back to August 30th and then shown the sea.

What’s interesting about 起承转合 is that there’s no actual conflict, unlike in Western narratives. It’s important to note that the conflict isn’t built into the story as a key trigger. 

Usually, in three acts, you have a conflict that’s introduced in the first act. The second act builds on this conflict and the third is where the conflict is resolved. (See this website for more examples.)

If you think about each character’s scenes in the 3rd act from “Love Yourself”, you’ll notice that the events aren’t really connected to what happened to the characters in the 2nd scene. We go from Jungkook seeing Yoongi’s girlfriend playing a guitar to  being on his way to hand flowers to someone. There’s also Taehyung thinking about the past to running away from the police.

The twists/unexpected events are definitely shown in the 3rd act/teaser. Then, we have the final scene that tries to tie everything together. I see that there could be a few possibilities to explain what has happened.

A popular explanation I’ve seen online – Jin being a time traveller and trying to go back in time to stop things from happening. It’s possible that this has happened given the date we see at the end of the 4th teaser and the fact that he catches the falling vase. I’m not sure whether an element of the supernatural would really give off the message of “Love Yourself”. I don’t see it as being so well-connected with what we’ve seen from the previous MVs’ references to Demian. Simply put, I personally think a time traveller device would be not be that satsifying and would feel more like a cop-out to explain things. Perhaps, the message of loving yourself could still be kept if despite his time travelling to revert things, it doesn’t work out because pouring love to someone still isn’t going to make everyone happy. In the end, one must learn to love oneself.

There could also be two parallel universes going on. We have one universe where all the unexpected events happen and then another universe where Jin is about to experience them happening. This time, he chooses a different path by dressing up casually and wearing a baseball cap. This explanation, however, does have a weak spot; it doesn’t explain Jin’s cynical look very well.

All the events have passed and everyone is just filled with regret. Though the date is August 30th, we are never told the year. Perhaps, it could be the following year and Jin is just thinking about what happens if he could turn back time. I think often, when we experience some sort of failure or drastic event, we keep thinking about the areas where we could change. We’d ask questions like what if we did this instead of that. Then we realize that you can’t keep dwelling on the past and you have to move onto another “storm”.

I think the 3rd explanation makes the most sense due to a few reasons. First, Jin’s narration in the third teaser is telling. He talked about how he was afraid to be loved for he was and how he knew that this glittery world had darkness. This part of his narration reminded me of Sinclair discovering the darker side of the world; I see that parallel there. Jin, along with all the other members, are being forced to grow up. Second, this understanding matches the characters’ lines for their posters. The BTS members are filled with regrets like “Jimin – “I lied, because there is no reason to love someone like me.” and Jin saying “If I could turn back time, I want to be the best man in the world.” Third, Jin’s note/diary is dated “June 13th, year 2012” and he wrote about Jungkook getting into a car accident. In the first teaser, we see June 14th as the point where Jungkook is at the hospital. I think we can assume that the accident likely happened on June 13th based on how the note is translated and that the members end up reacting to Jungkook’s accident in different ways. I get this feeling that they all learn about Jungkook’s accident at different time periods–at least I’m quite certain that’s true for Yoongi and Jin.

It’s safe to say that “Love Yourself” is the continuation of HHYH and BST. I see it picking up right where the Japanese BST MV left off. I also see “Love Yourself” as the point where the BTS members are already deeply immersed in the darker side of the world and are trying to find themselves again. That’s just like Sinclair’s journey in Demian. At the end of the day, the BTS members realize that you have to love yourself first before you can love others. You shouldn’t rely on loving others to determine your self worth.

(2) “Love Yourself: Her” is 承 where the focus is on the honeymoon phase of falling in love or being in a relationship.

As mentioned before, 承 is development and it still is the moment that’s setting up the stage for the twist. (When I refer to BTS here, I don’t mean BTS personally. It’s just BTS in this story setting they’ve set up for the album theme.)

As such, throughout the album, we have a consistent theme of loving “her”. “Intro: Serendipity” starts off by describing that BTS was fated to meet her and all they want to do is love her. The lyrics and the music are very poetic, romantic, and dreamy, which are the feelings you’d expect to get when you feel like you’ve met the fated one. Jimin’s soft, sweet voice matches this song’s feelings very well. He was the perfect match for this intro, I think.

Then, “DNA” takes it further by focusing on how they’re destined to be together and how she has become part of their “DNA”. The song has a far more energetic vibe. The whistling is rather addicting and becomes ingrained your mind just like how someone becomes incorporated into your life/DNA. This verse fits so well for the idea: “You are me and I am you.”

“Best of Me” follows a similar theme of love, but it also does become a bit more obsessive and needy. The lyrics repeat “All I need is you . . . I need you so please don’t leave me. You got the best of me.” and “All I need is that one phrase”. I think the lyrics implicitly show that BTS has become more reliant on love and needs “her” to feel complete.

“Dimple/Illegal” is after “Best of Me”. The love for “her” turns obsessive, in my opinion. A feature of “her” is praised and obsessed over like a fetish that they know can be potentially unhealthy.  The lyrics include:

Was it a mistake from an angel Or was it a deep kiss Those dimples are illegal But I want it anyway anyway anyway      

Dimples are supposed to be innocent, yet they are also considered to be appealing and even sexy. I can see why Rapmonster would use a “mistake from an angel” to contrast with “a deep kiss”. In the song, the beginning also starts with a recognition that an innocent angel could be dangerous.

Don’t lie, you are an angel What are you

But you That smile is so cruel Cruel

Despite all these conflicted feelings, BTS still succumbs to the feelings of temptation/love and go crazy over “her”.

The next song goes from BTS being enchanted to being the enchanter. I can see why some people have commented that this seems like BTS’ song for fans after reading the lyrics.

Let’s stop looking and and start studying for the exams Your parents and boss hate me The video clips you watched, various pictures and tweets Gotta watch V app I know that you like it, what do you do Stop it, you can analyze the movie later You already have plenty of my pictures in your room Not one hour, but a year or two flashes by This song is a reward I give you

I think if one pieces “you” as a BTS fan, then that explanation does work. If that’s the case, it’s interesting to see how BTS sees themselves in relation to their fans:

Follow the sound of the flute, follow this song It may be a little dangerous but I’m very sweet I’m here to save you, I’m here to ruin you

To make it fit into this album’s theme, I think this could also be a song to show that the enchanted becomes the enchantress over time. After being obsessed with “her”, BTS has learned to intrigue and seduce “her” and the relationship becomes sweet yet dangerous. That’s why we have all these contrasting themes like “danger vs sweetness” and “ruin vs save”. We do get the feeling of being led by the Pied Piper, a story that we’re all familiar with. (I’m not talking about sexual seduction, fyi. I’m just talking about pure fascination/obsession/fan culture like how one can be obsessed with watching dramas.)

The skit comes after, which is fitting, as it shows BTS’ appreciation for the fans. After enticing fans like the Pied Piper, they are very thankful for all their fans all over the world. Moreover, to fit with this album’s theme, it seems like BTS has reached a huge accomplishment, getting the “best of me” through love.

“Mic Drop” is to show how far BTS has come and appears to be words for their haters and “Go Go” addresses how the young generation seems to be generally behaving these days with the motifs of “YOLO” and spending away all of their money to put up this image of wealth and luxury. I think these two songs kind of go hand in hand because “Go Go” shows potentially what happens when you let your ego get to yourself. As we see from “Mic Drop” that the boys have tons of trophies and many more accomplishments. This is, of course, not to ever say that the boys are arrogant. They have always been humble and hardworking. That’s why I see “Go Go” as more of a critique of the fast life that we often see on social media or even around us. We also get that little whistling, tropical vibe in “Go Go” that fits very well with their message. The whistling is obsessive and addicting like the Pied Piper, making us feel like this lifestyle also is reflective of those notions.

“Outro: Her” goes back from a neurotic sense of love/life to a more sweet, reflective, yet somewhat desperate feelings of love. Rapmonster, Suga, and J-Hope all have verses that signal that they have changed for “her” and they’d continue putting on a mask for “her”. J-Hope raps: “Like always, mask on/Greeting me with joy, her”. Rapmonster’s verses include: “I can be a fake self as long as you embrace me/You are my beginning and the end itself/Will you finish me.” Finally, Suga’s verses also echo the same sentiments:

I can never take off this mask Because, within this mask, I am not the guy that you know Again today, I make up to wake up And dress up to mask on So that I can become the me that you love So that I can become the guy that you love I quit XX which is used to enjoy very much Just for you

At the end of this album, we see that the boys have reached a point where they see that through loving someone else, they have become someone else. In fact, often when we’re in love, we do want to show our best sides and we want to become who they want us to be. In this sense, we see that happening in this song. “Her” becomes the point of their existence and there’s this sense of desperation throughout the song. There’s this feeling that they seek to be loved back and are also afraid of her leaving them.

I think the laid-back vibe of this song due to some piano chords being repeated paired with a simple drum beat matches the motifs we see in this song. Ironically, there are very faint, soft flute notes being played, which seems to suggest that the fixation is not over.

In fact, we see in the teasers of 承 that they feature the happy moments. The colour yellow is also used throughout as a symbol. Yellow often means happiness, energy, positivity, optimism, joy, honour, and loyalty. Sometimes, yellow can also represent caution, deceit and cowardice. I think it’s a good colour to use for the feelings of love. We do have all of those feelings. (Interestingly, we also see Yoongi giving up smoking in the teaser like he seems to imply through “Outro: Her”.)

We’re left with Jin’s narration at the end of 承: “Why is it that the happiest of moments usher in sudden fear?” Therefore, whatever follows 承 will not be so glowy after all, but in the end, BTS will show that we have to love yourselves in order to even love others. I think this matches what Rapmonster has hinted as well:

[About the meaning of ‘harmony’] Rap Monster: “I think love is an ability. If you can’t love yourself, you can’t love others. I often hear people saying that love is an illusional and vague thing these days. I thought about the method of loving. The time we spend looking into ourselves is getting lesser ad lesser because of smart phones and news media. I consider loving oneself to be the answer to many things. We don’t have the confidence to love ourselves completely, but we want to try and think about that answer. Starting from loving ourselves. That’s how it started. Although we haven’t been able to find that answer yet, we hope we can as we go along with the ‘gi seung jeon gyeol’ series.” (Mydaily, Joynews24; credits for the translation goes to kat)

I’m looking forward to seeing the album that will showcase “loving yourself”. Though I admit that this mini album hasn’t been my favourite out of all the albums they’ve done, I still see this mini album as an interesting take on the honeymoon phase of love. (I do really like “Mic Drop”, “Outro: Her”, and “Go Go”. That whistling in “DNA” . . . I almost feel like I’m hearing that whistling everywhere. @_@)

  Memo: BTS – Love Yourself 承 ‘Her’ Mini Album Review We're not a blog that is dedicated to reviewing music (including Kpop), but because we…

[thedramafilesblog-blog]

We’re not a blog that is dedicated to reviewing music (including Kpop), but because we absolutely adore BTS and their music, we decided to do a memo-style review of the Music Video (MV) for their Japanese Version “Blood, Sweat & Tears” (血、汗、涙 -Japanese Ver.-).

***Note: If this is your first time browsing the Drama Files, please read The Rules on how our Memo-style reviews work.***

***Note: We really wanted to analyze the Blood, Sweat, Tears Korean MV before, but we missed out on the opportunity. We thought this MV was very interesting as well, so we were really eager to share our theories about what they could possibly signify. There are definitely many theories, so we thought we’d propose ours. Our views are simply theories and purely speculative.***

Memo

Dear Reader,

There have been some questions regarding the recent release of BTS’s 血、汗、涙 -Japanese Ver.- (“BST”), particularly:

(1) Who/What does each member represent?

(2) How is the ending clip that is reminiscient of the “I Need U” MV connected to BST?

Conclusion

(1.1) J-Hope acts as a guide. J-Hope is Archangel Michael and Frau Eva from Demian.

(2) This will be answered in a subsequent Memo.

Background

Jubiemon J: I will first start by setting the background that leads to the analysis of the characters. Please bear with me! Through BST, we see two predominant influences: the Bible in particular The Fall of the Rebel Angels by Pieter Bruegel the Elder and Demian. The Fall of the Rebel Angels is based on the passage from the Book of Revelation. This passage highlights the confrontation between Good and Evil, before the Fall of Man. Archangel Michael forces Lucifer to leave heaven based on God’s Orders and as a result, there is the fall of other rebel angels (See here for the actual text).

The main themes in BST, as a result, are adulthood and temptation/sin. (I write it as temptation/sin because I believe they go hand in hand. Each member is tempted by something sinful.) The lyrics of BST highly emphasize temptation; the chorus is: I want more, more, more. Given this context, we can see how each member, except for J-Hope and maybe Suga, face temptation and from these struggles, they are forced to eventually grow up and mature into an adult. I will go through each character from a biblical point of view (POV) and then from the perspective based on Demian.

When the MV has a blend of neon colours, we are safe to assume that this is a time of war/temptation/animus and that we are in the internal reality.

This is after Jungkook drank the green liquid; Look at the neon vibes.

When the MV is in an everyday type of light and the setting is still in a Victorian vibe, this seems to imply that we are looking deeper within ourselves.

Jimin is trapped in this room.

When the MV is filmed with an everyday light but the setting is modern, then that is reality in a distant past.

Jin is hitting V and V is retaliating. Look at the modern kitchen and their clothes.

When the MV is filmed with a slightly brown light that gives a nostalgic vibe, then that is the present reality.

Look at this brownish tint. Mostly only Jin shows up for these type of scenes.

I also think it’s important to establish where BST chronologically fits among BTS’ MVs to understand who each member represents. I rewatched almost all of the MVs and I think the ones that are related to BST are the Korean “BST”, “I Need U”, “Run”, the BTS 화양연화 On Stage Prologue MV, and “EPILOGUE: Young Forever”. (I consider “Spring Day” another story by itself. Feel free to read our analysis of it to understand why that is so.)

The chronology of the story, in my view, is:

1. “I Need U”

2. “Run”/the BTS 화양연화 On Stage Prologue MV/Korean BST

4. “BST”

5. “EPILOGUE: Young Forever”

I think we can divide the MVs into external reality and inner reality (aka psychical reality). “I Need U”, “Run”, and the BTS 화양연화 On Stage Prologue MV focus on the external reality (The BTS 화양연화 On Stage Prologue MV does have psychical reality, but I think it’s more like a memory playback.) The other three MVs represent the psychical reality. The way they are filmed is different from the former three.

The starting point of the boys’ story would be “I Need U”. That is when we are introduced to all of the boys’ problems (eg V struggling with his broken family, J-Hope battling what’s likely a mental health problem, etc). We end this song with V killing his father to save his sister.

Next is “Run” where we see V fall back into the water, meaning that he has succumbed to darkness. He also leads the boys into mishaps and they all play pranks or do some petty crime together.

In the end, we find that Jimin is in a tub, burning a group photo of them. All of them have changed or matured and there’s no turning back now. I placed BTS 화양연화 On Stage Prologue MV with “Run” because I see the BTS 화양연화 On Stage Prologue MV as a time where V is reminiscing about the past.

Then we move into the psychical reality. We see in the Korean BST how the characters are struggling internally. Chronologically speaking, I think the Korean BST happens around the same time as “Run” and the BTS 화양연화 On Stage Prologue MV. As the boys are changing and being led by V for the external reality, the inner reality is also occurring. That’s where the Korean BST fits in. I placed BST after the Korean BST because we see Jin reminiscing about what has happened.

Finally, there is “EPILOGUE: Young Forever” where all of them have all grown up and are wishing to stay “Forever Young”. There’s a really dream-like state with this MV, so I consider it more of a psychical reality.

There is a chance that the boys have all died as a lot of fans have remarked, but in my opinion, the boys have just matured and though they wish to stay a boy, they have to become an adult. Their “youth” has died and not their actual selves. When we go through each boy, we see what they have gone through or left behind.

White ribbons are used in Korean funerals and white ribbons can also mean innocence and pureness in other cultures. At one point, the ribbon in Jungkook’s hand seems to have turned into a white feather–hope and then the white feather is shown by J-Hope’s feet along with the scattered pills.

The members will try to savour this blissful moment for as long as they can. I think this explanation matches the lyrics more like how J-Hope raps that “[he] wants to stay young forever”/”yeongwonhi sonyeonigo sipeo nan Aah”/”영원히 소년이고 싶어 난 Aah” (See credits for translation here). I think the huge irony here is that even though they want to savour youth, getting through youth is a challenge and a maze itself. That’s why they’re in this grey fenced maze that also resembles a cage. At the end of the day, you navigate through this maze and grow up, yet you also still become super nostalgic of those days. Ironic huh?

Look at this scary maze — youth.

(Side note: I quoted the romanized Hangul and Korean lyrics because I prefer to translate the phrase as “I want to stay as a young boy forever”. Though I’m not fluent in Korean, I am certain that “sonyeon” is “少年”. 少年 in Mandarin means a teenage youth or young boy (something like a boy of ages 10-16). To be honest, I feel like when the term is translated into English, it loses its beauty and what it embodies. 少年 embodies that growing up phase.) 

(Just a another note: I am not an expert in Christianity. I only know references based on what I’ve learned in English Literature and Art. I also have not fully read Demian as I have a bit too much on my hands right now. However, I’ve read summaries on Cliff Notes and Coles Notes and read character analyses. Finally, I am not a psychology major, so I apologize if I’m not 100% clear with the psychological concepts. I’ve tried my best to understand them through research.)

Now that we have all the background settled. Let’s go onto who the members represent in BST beginning with J-Hope. I have decided to release this Memo into different parts.

Analysis

(1.1) J-Hope acts as a guide. J-Hope is Archangel Michael and Frau Eva from Demian.

Throughout BST, J-Hope is like a guide. We first see him sitting in front of Michelangelo’s Pieta. Pieta depicts Virgin Mary who holds onto Jesus Christ’s deceased body after his crucifixion. We are past the scene where Jin looks through the painting, The Fall of the Rebel Angels, with some binoculars, so we know that we are in a chaotic stage of war. Notice how when the painting is zoomed in, we only see the images of the monsters and rebel angels and the Archangel in the centre is completely black.

Jin with the binoculars (setting = reality based on how it’s filmed)

No Archangel here. Just monsters and rebel angels.

Reference to the Devil from the Korean BST. 

Then the first time we see J-Hope, nearly everything is pitch black, except for him and Pieta. The neon pink/yellow light symbolizes that he is here to show the light. J-Hope has a sword in his hand; we know from a lot of stories, noble knights or Kings have to fight with a sword (ie King Arthur/Lancelot etc). Similarly, he has to fight off the bad angels.

Neon pink in BST meaning that “there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels,” (Book of Revelations, 12:7)

As Archangel Michael, J-Hope chases V who is likely Lucifer from Heaven and brings about the demise of the Rebel Angels. Jimin and Jungkook are seen restraining V, the Fallen Angel. You’re probably wondering how these two can be helping J-Hope when they too have fallen into despair. I think the only reasonable way to explain it is that each member starts their story at a different time. Jimin and Jungkook were saved first or have matured enough to realize that the Fallen Angel needs to be out of Heaven.

Jimin and Jungkook are restraining V (the Fallen Angel). 

Reminder that J-Hope is the one holding the sword.

I am pretty sure that this is J-Hope shooting at V because in his other outfit, he is wearing the same sweater as the one here.

After all, right after the scene above, we see J-Hope with a bow and arrow. 

We never get to see who exactly is the one that aims at V. However, we see in the subsequent scene that J-Hope is the one shooting his bow and arrow. In the Bible, a bow is the doctrine of truth and good: “Jehovah’s arrows are sharp, and all His bows are bent, the hoofs of His horses are counted as rock, and His wheels as the whirlwind” (Isaiah 5:28) (See this website for more explanation). After he shoots that arrow, the doctrine of truth and good are spread to all of the boys. We see the boys hanging out with J-Hope after there’s a small clip of V being in pain.

Then we notice J-Hope pouring down some pills in a cauldron which lets the truth explode. In a way, I think it could be that J-Hope is foretelling what “may” happen, but I think it is more likely that he is telling us what “has” happened. This is because the next scene is Jin looking around in the present and after that we cut to V and Jin.

(Just a little note: When J-Hope is with the boys or in his lounge room, he is wearing a sweater that is pieced together in many parts. Half of it is black and red and the other is grey, white, and blue. I suddenly got the feeling that the red and black reminded me of Jin’s outfit throughout this whole MV. In a way J-Hope seems to embody both Good and Evil at this stage after fighting the war.)

J-Hope pouring some pills down and revealing fortunes or the past.

Based on the two filming styles, I think the V and Jin scene feels more like the past. Jin keeps hitting V and then mouths a “Sorry”. This somehow makes me feel that Jin is really enraged that V led Jin or all of them down the wrong road. After all, if we take a jog back memory lane, we will notice that V is always the one leading the group to do something. V is the only one that jumps from that high contraption in BTS 화양연화 On Stage Prologue MV.

V being the first to jump and to lead the group to elsewhere

That jumping scene is more likely a memory of the past as we first see V with bloody hands in BTS 화양연화 On Stage Prologue MV, meaning that he has already committed the murder. He keeps trying to wash off the blood but like Lady Macbeth in Macbeth, his hands are stained. Right after this short scene, the lighting in the MV changes to give off a bright yet nostalgic vibe and then there are clips of happiness. Therefore, it’s likely V’s memory of the happier times. I think this theory works because this is also a Prologue MV leading to Butterfly.

In “Run”, V is also the first one that has plunged into the water because he has sunken too deep via the murder. After his plunge, we are shown Rapmonster who dumps some sugar into his cup of coffee. This act symbolises that similarly, all the boys have subsequently fallen into darkness after V’s crime. In “I Need U”, we already know that all the boys suffer from problems. However, V is the only one who commits arguably the biggest crime out of the boys: V has murdered his father. Therefore, these all prove that V is the one that has led the boys astray.

  Also, closer to the end of”I Need U”, J-Hope is the one pouring down pills. In the beginning of “I Need U”, he seems to have to rely heavily on pills as we see him with his pill cabinet. His external reality is likely dealing with a mental health issue which is why he also suffers a lot in his psychical reality. (It could be non mental health related illness as well; we don’t really know that much based on the clips.)

J-Hope pouring pills in this fire in “I Need U”

J-Hope pouring pills in this cauldron in BST

Let’s go back and contrast this “I Need U” pill pouring scene to the BST one. Somehow I keep getting reminded of the Three Witches in Macbeth. I wouldn’t say J-Hope fully embodies the Three Witches because there are three of them and J-Hope doesn’t start any of the MVs. However, I think there is a subtle inference that J-Hope may have been like Three Witches who planted the seed of temptation in Macbeth’s mind to kill King Duncan. Although this pill pouring scene is shown among all of the boys changing towards the end of the MV, there are also clips of the boys’ happy youth where they are playing with fireworks and I’m pretty sure they all gathered around a fire way before V killed his father.

V coming in to rescue his sister and ends up killing his father.

Jimin sinking to despair

Happy Jungkook at the group camp fire

Everyone playing with fireworks (in the past)

Therefore, when he pours the pills in his external reality, he is foreshadowing the darkness that will come and perhaps in a very subtle way, he has influenced V to act. However, unlike the other boys who have succumbed to darkness, J-Hope is able to break free from temptation and is the bearer of truth in the inner reality. He dumps the pills once more in BST, becomes the one that awakens from this chaos, and has to punish V, the Fallen Angel.

  Now that we have established how J-Hope fits as Archangel Michael, we can see how J-Hope can also be Frau Eva who represents the anima. Anima and animus are concepts developed by Carl Jung. Anima is “the woman in men” (See here for more info). The Anima’s archetype is the mother figure. It’s quite fitting that Pieta, which shows the Virgin Mary, is right behind J-Hope. Moreover, in Demian, Demian gives a kiss from Frau Eva to Sinclair. As a result of the kiss, Sinclair who represents the conscious ego is able to combine with Demian (the self) and merge with Frau Eva (the anima). Throughout the novel, Frau Eva’s role is also to help Sinclair grow. As a result, J-Hope has helped all of the other boys mature and the boys are thrown back to the external reality.

Look behind J-Hope!

As for himself? J-Hope is left behind and gazes up to this sky that features an ominous green butterfly/pair of wings. I initially saw this as a butterfly; butterflies generally symbolize great transformation. Think of a caterpillar who changes into a butterfly. Wings gives a different meaning like freedom, independence, and in the Bible, wings are known to be spiritual truths (See here).

  All of the boys have gained some form of truth and returned to the external reality which is in green. Green is associated with nature and the Earth. I’m pretty sure in BST, green here is used to represent when the characters are in the external reality.

Whenever this neon green is used, the scenes are related to the characters being in the inner reality. We first see this neon green when Rapmonster and Jungkook are sitting across from one another and Rapmonster tempts Jungkook. Notice how the neon green is on the exterior of the windows and how the Hotel is outside of this building. Jungkook was in a hotel at the beginning. The last three pictures show the ending scenes of the MV. There is V who has been punished looking up to the green sky (external reality). There is Jungkook who is going through that weird neon green/blue light to get back to the external reality. There’s Jin looking down at the vortex and stepping away from it. The green sky is all around him. He too is getting back to the external reality.

I haven’t figured out which member to analyze for the next post, so please feel free to let me know who you’d like to understand first!

[thedramafilesblog-blog]

We’re not a blog that is dedicated to reviewing music (including Kpop), but because we absolutely adore BTS and their music, we decided to do a memo-style review of the Music Video (MV) for their Japanese Version “Blood, Sweat & Tears” (血、汗、涙 -Japanese Ver.-).

***Note: If this is your first time browsing the Drama Files, please read The Rules on how our Memo-style reviews work.***

***Note: We really wanted to analyze the Blood, Sweat, Tears Korean MV before, but we missed out on the opportunity. We thought this MV was very interesting as well, so we were really eager to share our theories about what they could possibly signify. There are definitely many theories, so we thought we’d propose ours. Our views are simply theories and purely speculative.***

Memo

Dear Reader,

There have been some questions regarding the recent release of BTS’s 血、汗、涙 -Japanese Ver.- (“BST”), particularly:

(1) Who/What does each member represent?

(2) How is the ending clip that is reminiscient of the “I Need U” MV connected to BST?

Conclusion

(1.1) J-Hope acts as a guide. J-Hope is Archangel Michael and Frau Eva from Demian.

(1.2) V is Max Demian (“Demian”) from Demian and the Devil/Lucifer/the Fallen Angel (“the Devil”) .

(1.3) Suga is Pistorius and the Old Wise Man (archetype).

(1.4) Jimin is Sinclair from Demian and Adam from the Bible.

(1.5) Jungkook is Icarus and Sinclair from Demian.

(2) This will be answered in a subsequent Memo.

Background

Please read the first post to understand how this MV fits in with the other MVs and the different types of reality in this MV.

Please read the second post for more information on Demian and other important concepts.

Please read the third post for a detailed analysis of Suga’s role.

Please read the fourth post to understand Jimin’s role.

Analysis

(1.1) J-Hope acts as a guide. J-Hope is Archangel Michael and Frau Eva from Demian.

Please read the first post to see this analysis.

(1.2) V is Max Demian (“Demian”) from Demian and the Devil/Lucifer/the Fallen Angel (“the Devil”) .

Please read the second post to see this analysis.

(1.3) Suga is Pistorius and the Old Wise Man (archetype).

Please read the third post to see this analysis.

(1.4) Jimin is Sinclair from Demian and Adam from the Bible. 

Please see the fourth post for this analysis.

(1.5) Jungkook is Icarus and Sinclair from Demian.

(i) Jungkook is Icarus.

Jungkook swinging on the swing

  We see signs in the Korean “BST” MV that show Jungkook as Icarus. We see the painting behind Jungkook, which is “Lament of Icarus” by Herbert James Derper. To the right is another painting about Icarus, “Landscape with the Fall of Icarus” by Pieter Bruegel the Elder.

Look at Jungkook flying back/falling. Behind him is the painting, “Lament of Icarus” by Herbert James Derper and to his right, you see the painting, “Landscape with the Fall of Icarus” by Pieter Bruegel the Elder.

The myth is that King Minos hired Daedalus to build a palace and a maze (Labyrinth)to imprison Minos’ son, the Minotaur. Minos also imprisoned Daedalus in the Labyrinth because Daedalus gave Minos’ daughter, a clew, to help Minos’ enemy, Theseus, to defeat the Minotaur and beat the Labyrinth. Daedalus’ plan to escape was to build wings out of wax and feathers to fly away. He fashioned wings for both himself and his son, Icarus. He warned Icarus not to fly too close to the sea or the sun and to follow Daedalus’ flight path. However, Icarus did not listen.

Jungkook first starts off swinging on the swings in the Korean “BST” MV and then leaning back like he’s flying. After, he fully falls back and the swing is gone, meaning that he is like Icarus who chose not to listen to his father and flew too close to the sea. There are bits of what seem like white feathers floating in the air to represent the melted wax and feathers from the myth.

The paintings are even clearer and damn that move must have been exhausting for JK!

Remember how in the older BTS MVs like “Run” and “I Need U”, RM is shown with a lollipop in his mouth. Here, we see Jungkook with a blue lollipop in his hand. The lollipop, in a sense, is like our desires that we know aren’t good yet we still consume them. Lollipops can also mean a new adventure starting, which is true in Jungkook’s case as he is going through a transformation.  After we see Jungkook suck on the lollipop, we get a scene of RM showing a dropping sign with his fist and then we get transported down a level of a building to meet Suga and RM.

Look at the blue lollipop!

Eats lollipop then . . . tumbles down . . .

Drop down! (RM is in the same room as JK who was swinging on the swing there)

RM is also going through a big transformation as he drinks the green liquid, which is likely absinthe. I’m going over RM’s part and Suga’s part a bit here because RM and JK are closely connected in both the “BST” MVs. I won’t go into extreme detail with the two other members as this post focuses on Jungkook, but it’s still important to recall how Jungkook is linked with these two members. Here’s a little chart I’ve made, which has been used in a previous post.

RM influences Jungkook (see the black arrow leading from RM to JK) and in turn Jungkook and Suga both influence each other. I’d say Suga is more like Daedalus than RM because Suga in the “BST” MV tries to pull Jungkook away from temptation, whereas RM leads Jungkook to temptation.

In the “BST” MV, we still see signs that prove that Jungkook represents Icarus. In the beginning of the MV, Jungkook is lying on this white plastic sheet. The walls are all painted in bright neon colours, which represents the psychological reality. Then, he gets up from his spot and looks back to see a pair of red wings behind him. Icarus, as mentioned before, flew with wings made of feathers and wax. The red colour likely symbolizes that Jungkook has fallen and has been “tainted”.

(Remember to focus on Jungkook’s clothing in this “BST” MV. Jungkook here is wearing a plaid jacket. He also later wears a hoodie with the writing “Thirteen”.)

(ii) Jungkook is Sinclair from Demian.

I think it’s interesting to note that the whole BST is really a matter of perspective. From one member’s POV, another member is a certain character. However, when you view it from a different member’s POV, then one member can represent another character. Let’s try to apply it in this case.

Jungkook, in the Korean “BST” MV, succumbs to RM’s temptation. Jungkook is Sinclair and RM is Demian in that view. However, from RM’s POV, RM is Sinclair and Jin is Demian (This will be explained further in the next post).

In the external reality, Suga is still Pistorius to Jungkook who is Sinclair. Remember that Suga is the one trying to pull Jungkook away from the toilet like how Pistorius is instilling the standard biblical beliefs to Sinclair.

Also, Jungkook here is wearing a “Thirteen” hoodie. The number “thirteen” is normally seen as an unlucky number like Friday the thirteenth and receives a darker form of symbolism. Often, apartments or hotels will also not have a button for the 13th floor. In Norse mythology, the 12 Norse gods hold a party; however, Loki, the trickster, was an uninvited guest and was the 13th to arrive. Later, we learn that Hoor slayed Baldur, using a magical spear given by Loki. We also see from the Bible that the Last Supper comprised of 13 attendees (12 disciples and the Christ). Thirteen is seen as an omen as Christ suffers from a tragic fate.

Look at his hoodie’s word: “Thirteen”.

However, thirteen can have a brighter interpretation. For example, Christ and Baldur can be considered the enlightened guests. Therefore, the number, thirteen, can be said to be associated with enlightenment, ascension, and resurrection. We also see from an Egyptian tale that Osiris, the Egyptian God of life and death, was killed by Typhon, his brother. Typhon then stole Osiris’ body and chopped it into 14 pieces. Meanwhile, Isis, Osiris’ wife, could only find 13 parts of his body. Therefore, thirteen can be said to be the precursor of completion.  (See here for more info about the number, 13.)

Here, since the word “thirteen” is written in a font that looks like it’s burning, there seems to be more of an interpretation of resurrection. Phoenixes are known to be reborn upon burning in flames. Therefore, Jungkook can be said to be experiencing a rebirth after succumbing to temptation. I wouldn’t say that going to a “dark” side is necessarily bad, as I’ve suggested in my previous posts based on Demian‘s interpretation of events.

Going back to how Demian applies to the relationship between Jungkook and Suga, recall that in Suga’s post, Sinclair eventually says a lot of harsh words to Pistorius and Sinclair’s friendship with Pistorius comes to an end. Similarly, the toilet scene is like Jungkook pushing his “master” away and surpassing his mentor. Jungkook’s relationship with Pistorius ends and rejects the standard biblical ideas.

Jungkook is also tempted by RM, who acts as Demian, once he enters the psychological reality. RM brings the absinthe to Jungkook. Jungkook has taken a seat, which seems to imply that he has accepted RM’s offer. RM then makes Jungkook drink the absinthe and Jungkook goes through an interesting experience. Notice that Jungkook is wearing the “thirteen” hoodie when he’s in the psychological reality world. He gets transported on a truck that Jin has been driving since the older MVs and at the very end of this “BST” MV. Jin, at this stage, is already Demian, so it’s interesting to see that Jungkook, a variant of Sinclair, is being taken away by Demian to experience a different world.

Once Jungkook has experienced this mental change and transformation, he is brought back to the external reality where there is a black cloud hovering around Jungkook with the hoodie. The Jungkook wearing the plaid blazer is transported back to the external reality. At the end, Jungkook is a changed person.

Another evidence that Jungkook is Sinclair from his short clip. We see him lying on this bed, which is similar to his situation in the beginning of the “BST” MV. He is tossing and turning in this bed. Then we see him closing his eyes and there’s a burning piano, which has been mentioned in a previous post as being linked to Suga as Pistorius.

We see a narration of a quotation from Demian and Jungkook, in a white button-up with a sparrow hawk on his heart. This quotation “because it’s darkest at dawn right before the sun rises” is from BTS’ song “Tomorrow” and then the next one is “The fifteen year old me who didn’t have anything” comes from his song, “Begin”. Here, Jungkook is like Sinclair who starts off in a very sheltered, structured family. I think it’s interesting that this quotation was picked because “Tomorrow” is about following your dreams and struggling with these. It makes sense that that particular line of “Begin” was used because it sets the tone that Jungkook was young then.

Then Jungkook has this painting in his hand of a young boy. After, he starts painting this larger portrait of another boy and as he is painting, the scene of a piano burning is seen through his eye. The painting then bursts into flames.  Jungkook becomes very distressed upon viewing the portrait more. The portrait’s young boy seems to change in its appearance.

The changing painting is reflected in Demian as well. At first, Sinclair is inspired by Beatrice, a woman he meets after walking in a park, to paint. He tries to reproduce her face, but fails.  This is like that scene in Jungkook’s short film where he first sees a picture of a person and then proceeds to paint it.

After Sinclair lets his imagination do its work and he paints again. When the painting is complete, it looks half-masculine and half-feminine, ageless, and mask-like.  When he wakes up from another dream, he believes that the face knows him and calls to him. Sinclair notices this weird brightness at the painting’s forehead and its eyes and recognizes it as Demian. However, after placing the painting to his window and letting the light shine through it, he realizes that the painting is actually a reflection of himself, his daemon, and his inner self. This whole scene happens in a dream-like state, so whether he actually puts the painting to the window is up for debate.

This part of the scene in Jungkook’s short film has also been portrayed when he watches the painting burn and turn into another painting. Jungkook is struggling to believe what he is seeing and is crying a bit too. It first looks like Taehyung, who we’ve said is Demian to Jin, but then if you look carefully, it also seems to look like Jungkook. Jungkook realizes that the painting is actually himself, which is just like what we’ve seen in Demian.

In Demian, Sinclair then starts recalling his last meeting with Demian. Demian and Sinclair talk about Sinclair’s rebellious stage. Demian notices that Sinclair has been drinking and frowns upon that habit; however, Demian points out that sometimes a life of hedonism is a precursor to sainthood and refers to St. Augustine as an example of this concept. In his youth, St. Augustine lived a hedonistic lifestyle where he was related to several young men who bragged about their sexual adventures. He also had an affair with a young woman. It wasn’t until he was 31 did he convert to Christianity and wrote extensively in the areas of theology, sociology, and philosophy. He developed many ideas related to Christianity as well. Sinclair identifies with this example that Demian has given and believes that Sinclair’s life is headed in a similar direction as that of St. Augustine.

On the night of this flashback, Sinclair has a nightmare where Demian forces him to swallow this coat of arms above this doorway. He senses that this bird is bursting into life within himself and starts to eat his insides. After this dream, Sinclair begins to paint this bird.

After Sinclair finishes the painting, we see that he has painted a sparrow hawk. The sparrow hawk is trying to break free from this dark globe; it’s like it is hatching from an egg. However, this sparrow hawk is fully grown, and so this means that this painting is about rebirth.

Here, the egg is an archetype, formed through Sinclair’s collective consciousness. The egg has its origins to the Roman times where Bachofen, a late anthropologist, claims that it represents the two poles of the world. Therefore, the sparrow hawk, which is breaking out of the egg to be reborn, is breaking the world of false polarities, unreal, and the arbitrary.

Going back to the short film, we see that Jungkook is holding onto this picture of a sparrow hawk and staring at it. The final scene ends with Jungkook standing in the middle of the room and his shadow has grown wings.  These scenes are similar to those of Sinclair. Though we don’t see Jungkook going through a memory recall of a meeting with Demian, we have seen him waking up from nightmares before. We aren’t sure whether he has actually painted the sparrow hawk, but that sparrow hawk is just like the one described in Demian. Moreover, the fact that Jungkook has grown wings shows that he is going through a rebirth like in Demian.  This also indicates that Jungkook has activated the part of himself that wants to be broken free.

It’s interesting to note that Jungkook is also wearing a “sparrow hawk” button-up shirt. That’s a signal that supports the notion that he wants to be free from his past views. That’s why his eyes show the burning piano–a remnant of the old principles.

      Memo: “Blood, Sweat & Tears” (Japanese Version) Music Video Analysis Part 5 We're not a blog that is dedicated to reviewing music (including Kpop), but because we…

[thedramafilesblog-blog]

We’re not a blog that is dedicated to reviewing music (including Kpop), but because we absolutely adore BTS and their music, we decided to do a memo-style review of the Music Video (MV) for their Japanese Version “Blood, Sweat & Tears” (血、汗、涙 -Japanese Ver.-).

***Note: If this is your first time browsing the Drama Files, please read The Rules on how our Memo-style reviews work.***

***Note: We really wanted to analyze the Blood, Sweat, Tears Korean MV before, but we missed out on the opportunity. We thought this MV was very interesting as well, so we were really eager to share our theories about what they could possibly signify. There are definitely many theories, so we thought we’d propose ours. Our views are simply theories and purely speculative.***

Memo

Dear Reader,

There have been some questions regarding the recent release of BTS’s 血、汗、涙 -Japanese Ver.- (“BST”), particularly:

(1) Who/What does each member represent?

(2) How is the ending clip that is reminiscient of the “I Need U” MV connected to BST?

Conclusion

(1.1) J-Hope acts as a guide. J-Hope is Archangel Michael and Frau Eva from Demian.

(1.2) V is Max Demian (“Demian”) from Demian and the Devil/Lucifer/the Fallen Angel (“the Devil”).

(1.3) Suga is Pistorius and the Old Wise Man (archetype).

(2) This will be answered in a subsequent Memo.

Background

Please read the first post to understand how this MV fits in with the other MVs and the different types of reality in this MV.

Please read the second post for a background on Demian and other important concepts.

Here is some background information about Pistorius. In Demian, Pistorius is an organist whom Sinclair meets after his rebellious phase in boarding school. Sinclair also meets Pistorius after discovering a note in one of his books and the note talks about Abraxas. During one of his walks, he hears some unorthodox organ music and then meets Pistorius. Pistorius is the son of a well-respected clergyman and is a theologian as well. Pistorius sees mythology and religion as being connected, which made him inappropriate to act as a clergyman. Pistorius ends up becoming Sinclair’s mentor and teaches him in his room, before a fireplace. Although Pistorius shares interests in Abraxas and teaches Sinclair many concepts, Pistorius still chooses to accept/stay with the traditional view of Christianity.

Analysis

(1.1) J-Hope acts as a guide. J-Hope is Archangel Michael and Frau Eva from Demian.

Please read the first post to see this analysis.

(1.2) V is Max Demian (“Demian”) from Demian and the Devil/Lucifer/the Fallen Angel (“the Devil”) .

Please read this post for more information on V.

(1.3) Suga is Pistorius and the Wise Old Man (archetype).

Jubiemon J: We will first look at Suga’s character based on an analysis of Pistorius in Demian and then we will see how he fits in with one of the Jungian archetypes.

(i) Suga is Pistorius due to his connection with the piano/organ, his pairings with Jungkook and Jimin, and his short clip “First Love”.

First, in both “BST” MVs, Suga is always associated with a piano or organ. (Side note: I know in the MVs, pianos are used instead, probably because of an ease of transportation. However, in the Korean “BST” MV, we hear Suga playing the organ during one of the MV breaks. That’s why I say “piano or organ”.) Likewise, Pistorius is . . . an organist!

Suga the pianist in the Korean “BST” MV!

Suga in “BST” with the piano behind him!

Secondly, Suga has a mentor/mentee relationship with two of the members, Jimin and Jungkook.

This relationship works because of a couple of assumptions:

(a) A character’s identity based on Demian changes depending on the member’s relationship to another and that at some point, everyone starts out as a Sinclair. The only character that is fixed is J-Hope’s (See Figure 1: Chart of Relationships below.)

Figure 1: Chart of Relationships

(b) For the Korean “BST”, ““I Need U”, “Run”, and BTS 화양연화 On Stage Prologue, there are different timelines going on.

There will be a memo giving a summary of all the relationships. For now, we will just focus on the Suga/Jungkook and Suga/Jimin pairings as this post is about Suga. The arrow means “influences”. The red line means “connects”. J-Hope connects to everyone. Suga influences Jimin. Jungkook influences Suga and Suga also influences Jungkook.

Suga/Jungkook pairing

In the MVs for “BST” and “Run” and the short clip/teaser for Jungkook’s “Begin”, we see Jungkook and Suga being grouped as a duo. Jungkook is Sinclair and Suga is Pistorius.

In Jungkook’s “Begin” clip, Jungkook holds a drawing of Suga and there is also a drawing of Suga on the wall. We then see a painting in front of Jungkook. It’s hard to tell who that painting is of; it could be Suga, V, or Jungkook. (This will be explained in detail in Jungkook’s post.) In the chapter, Jacob’s Fight with an Angel, which is where Pistorius is introduced, Sinclair also looks at a painting that is of a half-male/half-female. The painting then continues to change forms and Sinclair also claims he had burned it. That’s similar to the short clip.

Now that we see that Suga is connected to Jungkook. We will examine their relationship. Suga and Jungkook only interact with each other in the external reality. In “Run”, Suga is the one that seems to want to start something and Jungkook is restraining him. I think that’s more or less symbolic that Jungkook is somewhat resisting change. It’s analogous to the scene in Demian where Pistorius challenges some moral beliefs that Sinclair held. Sinclair believes that murdering someone you hate is still wrong. Pistorius says that if we want to murder someone we hate, it’s because that person possesses something that we hate within ourselves.

Suga is able to dominate Jungkook who is left on the ground, injured. By Suga throwing a chair at the mirror that shows blue roses in a vase, he is breaking what seems to be the “unattainable”/”mystery” and lets Jungkook see more of the truth.

Blue roses don’t exist in nature. Blue flowers are generally rare (See here for more explanation.) Blue roses can mean mystery, the unattainable/impossible, new opportunities, and new possibilities (See here).

Notice how it’s the mirror that’s broken and not the actual vase of roses; that’s an important distinction because mirrors tend to represent identity, self-consciousness, as well as the “oppositional themes of reality and illusion, candor and deception, logic and disorder, narcissism and self-loathing, symmetry and imbalance, and flattery and harsh indifference” (See here). On one hand, we see a better self and the world that we live in, yet we also see our subconscious self. In art, mirrors are associated with self-knowledge and vanity due to the Narcissus myth. Moreover, in Christian art, mirrors mean the purity of the Virgin Mary (Look here). Breaking that mirror is also breaking the traditional sense of “purity” and destroying what we know as ourselves (ie illusion).

      Mirror breaking…not the vase + flowers!

Pistorius also says in the beginning of the chapter to Sinclair: “[Y]ou accuse yourself of taking a road different from most people. You have to unlearn that. Gaze into the fire [. . .] don’t ask whether it’s permitted or would you please your teachers or father, or some god. You will ruin yourself if you do that.” Pistorius is telling Sinclair that Sinclair must break free of what he once believed.

Sinclair eventually says a lot of harsh words to Pistorius like he is antiquated and Sinclair’s friendship with Pistorius comes to an end. Pistorius admits that he still chose to stick with the traditional view of Christianity. Pistorius explains:

I have the desire to become a priest, as you know. I wanted most of all to become the priest of the new religion that we have so many presentiments of. I’ll never be able to–I know that, and I’ve known it for a long time, though I never fully admitted to myself. […] But I must always be surrounded by I feel to be beautiful and holy, organ music and mystery cult, symbol and myth; I need it and I won’t give it up. –That’s my weakness. Because I know at times, Sinclair, I know sometimes that I shouldn’t have such desires, that they represent a luxury and weakness. […] But I can’t (p. 84, Jacob’s Fight with the Angel).

This is like in “BST” where Suga is the one trying to pull Jungkook away from the toilet.

Suga pulling Jungkook away 

Jungkook pushes Suga away.

Jungkook, in the Korean “BST” MV and in “BST”, ends up succumbing to Rapmonster’s temptation, the absinthe drink. This time it is Jungkook who ironically pushes Suga away and surpasses his mentor. Jungkook is Sinclair and Rapmonster is Demian here. Remember that in the external reality, Suga is still Pistorius to Jungkook, who is also Sinclair.

Suga/Jimin pairing

In the Korean “BST” MV, we only see Suga being paired with Jimin. Suga is the one that’s covering Jimin’s eyes or putting a blindfold on him. Suga is Pistorius and Jimin is Sinclair.

Jimin, as Sinclair, starts out having his eyes covered just by Suga’s hands. He is still not exposed to the harsh reality. Later we move from Rapmonster and Jungkook with the green smoke and up to Jimin and Suga, who are kneeling across from each other. Rapmonster, Demian here, and Jungkook, Sinclair here, are on a level lower than the other two. Pistorius never dives deeper and breaks free from traditional views of the world and Jimin, who is acting as Sinclair here, is at a point where he has just met Pistorius.

Also notice how Jimin is holding a red apple, while Suga is grasping a black blindfold.

Apple in Jimin’s hand vs black blindfold in Suga’s hands

Blindfolds are important symbols. In Law, Lady Justice wears a blindfold, meaning that a blindfold symbolizes objectivity and impartiality (See here). They can also represent resistance to clarity and mean the interplay between the conscious and the unconscious. Wearing a blindfold symbolises a lesser state of consciousnesses, while taking it off is like an awakening (Source).

The shade black is related to power, authority, death, mystery, evil, rebellion, and strength (Source). In art, the meaning of black changes throughout the periods: in the early Christian period, black was related to evilness, while in the medieval era, it symbolized royalty (Source).

In this case, I think that the black blindfold works to encompass nearly all of the meanings. Jimin is becoming more aware and objective as he wears the blindfold, meaning that he accepts Suga as his mentor. This is like how Sinclair starts to learn from Pistorius. However, by learning from Suga, Jimin is also in a lesser state of consciousness; like mentioned before, Pistorius is still attached to the traditional views of Christianity. There’s power through learning about oneself. There’s a sense of a rebellion from being different from others. There’s also death of one’s old self and mystery in the process of self-discovery. Others might view this change as being evil; hence, Jimin is holding onto that red apple. We know that red apples symbolize the apple from the Garden of Eden. Apples are temptation. Jimin is struggling with temptation here.

Okay, so the question that’s probably lingering in your mind would be this: How can we have two Sinclairs and two Pistoriuses? Remember that we’ve said that the scenes with Jimin, which are filmed in this blue-ish tint, represents the deeper self which is part of the psychical reality.

Blue tint!

In fact, Jimin represents all the Sinclairs that are searching for one’s shadow, so you can say that Jimin is an extension of Jungkook, Jin, and Rapmonster.

(Side note: There will be detailed posts about these members later, but for clarity’s sake, a shadow is the unconscious part that we don’t identify with and often associate as the “dark side”.)

If the Pistorius – Sinclair relationship is shown by Suga and Jungkook in the external reality, then that relationship in the inner/psychical reality is depicted by Suga and Jimin.

Finally, Suga is Pistorius because of what’s seen in his short clip: “First Love”. Although it seems like he starts out as Sinclair, he ends up being Pistorius due to his return to his burnt piano. Suga’s MV is positioned at #4 out of the 7 clips. Rapmonster first narrates these lines from the chapter, Beatrice, in Demian.

There are numerous ways in which God can make us lonely and lead us back to ourselves. This is the way he dealt with me at the time.

Beatrice is the chapter that comes before Sinclair meets Pistorius; this is important because it shows that at this point, Suga is kind of like Sinclair. In many ways, Pistorius and Sinclair are quite similar: they are both eccentric and alone and share different views from others. That’s why Rapmonster says those sentences from that chapter where Sinclair has his rebellious stage during boarding school. He goes to bars and gets drunk often.

In the short clip, we see Suga breaking into a store to play the piano until he suddenly stops.

He hears this whistling that attracts him away to the streets that are filled with darkness. A car comes towards him, nearly hitting him. Instead, the car crashes right into the store with the piano. The piano ends up burning. Suga is seen going back to the burning store after he thinks to himself: “Would I have changed? If I had chosen a different path?” (See here. To be honest, I can’t read Korean, so I just have to assume that this translation is accurate. Translation, to me, is an art and you have to be careful about the word you choose to use. In some languages, some words just don’t have the exact meaning in the other language.) Then, Suga watches the burnt piano and stays there.

This whole scene proves that Suga ends up being Pistorius because although he is also attracted to Abraxas like how he follows the whistling and ends up being on that dark street, Suga goes back to the burning piano. We know that the piano/organ is connected to Pistorius. We also know that Pistorius admits that he is not “capable of standing so alone and naked” (Demian). He can’t let go of the past. Suga is running back to what he’s familiar with and what he can’t let go. However, he has already been introduced to the other side and so his piano is burning. He realizes that what he is familiar with isn’t exactly everything that’s meant out to be and that the “New had to be truly new and different”. He recognizes too that he is better served to lead people to self-discovery. The questions too that Suga asks reflect his curiosity about change.

A last point is that in the BTS MVs, Jin is often seen driving a truck, Jungkook is also supposedly hit by a truck in one of the MVs, or the truck carries another member elsewhere. The truck is like a symbol for transporting the members off to somewhere else, to the deeper end. In dreams, a truck is a journey towards one’s goal and is seen as a positive sign (See here). In this case, Suga avoids getting hit by the truck and he also doesn’t fall into a pool of water. The bathtub of water is overflowing, but Suga isn’t in it. Suga is still stuck where he was.

(Side note: In Demian, there’s a lot of symbolism with fire. Pistorius teaches Sinclair concepts in front of a fireplace. Sinclair burns his painting and more. Likewise in the BTS MVs, we will see a lot of symbols related to fire like the cigarette lighter and burning piano.) 

(ii) Suga is the Wise Old Man (Archetype).

Jubiemon J: Suga embodies the “knowledge, reflection, insight, wisdom, cleverness and intuition” of the Wise Old Man (Source). When Jimin meets Suga, Jimin learns more about himself. Moreover, Jimin seems to have come to Suga for help in the first place.

Think of the Wise Old Man like Merlin from the legends about King Arthur. In “the phenomenology of the spirit in fairytales”  by Carl G Jung, he clarifies that “[t]he figure of the wise old man is observed to appear where insight is needed that the conscious is unable to supply. He continues to explain that in fairytales, the Wise Old Man shows up when the hero is desperate for help and often ask questions to the Hero. Suga also challenges Jungkook in “Run”; we see them fighting with one another. Suga is there when Jungkook is struggling from throwing up in the washroom as seen in “BST”.

    (Side Note: The Wise Old Man and Pistorius are thoroughly connected, so this is why this section is shorter.)

(Side Note: I’ve been really enjoying how the short clips have tried their best to integrate not only the meaning of each member’s songs with Demian. Suga’s song, “First Love”, is all about his love for his piano. He raps about how he fell for his piano and then gave it up. Later he returned to loving his piano. I wouldn’t say that Pistorius’ situation is exactly the same as Suga with Pistorius’ feelings towards religion; however, their circumstances are similar.)

As always, feel free to suggest which member you’d like to be analyzed next or to leave comments about your thoughts! Personally, I’m leaning towards analyzing Jimin next as he has been connected to Suga.

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