#bts primeval

[morse-perez-and-davenport]

Douglas henshall and Andrew Lee pots on the set of primeval

[irrolyphant]

You guys, I’ve been thinking! Like, what if Raylan dies??

No, but, listen. What if, the story’s all about focussing on Raylan being worried about losing Willa, and then throws a fucking punch to the guts by having Willa lose Raylan in the end??

And what if that’s what brings back folk from the first show?? Like a family coming together for a funeral??

What if, guys!???!

Is it just that I’m functioning on just about 1 hour of sleep over 5 days that my mind’s being a dick, or???

[boydholbrook-fan]

Boyd Holbrook as Clement Mansell in Justified: City Primeval - BTS/Make-Up photos

I love these! These are some wonderful photos of our Boyd! Boyd is incredible, wonderful and such a cutie! Love him! He’s the best! ❤️🌟🔥😍🥰❤️‍🔥

Thank you so much, justine1stofhername via Instagram and all the other make-up artists, who worked on JCP, for sharing these wonderful photos!

I love Clement’s tattoos, especially the chest tattoo! And also this tattoo, Sandy’s tattoo!

Full photo:

Also these are wonderful photos! Shame it’s in poor quality. But better than nothing. Thank you so much, Taxman, Pollock, Murray & Bekkerman, LLC via Linkedin, for sharing these photos! And also huge thanks to @justifiedsource for sharing this in the first place! Great find indeed!

I also bet there are even much more BTS photos or even videos (bloopers/gag reel and stuff) from Justified: City Primeval. Wish we could have them.

[vintage1981]

Full Moon Announces David Allen's Lost Epic: The Primevals!

IT'S FINALLY HERE!

Full Moon's THE PRIMEVALS is arriving on Blu-ray in a massive limited edition box set, filled with extras, two cuts of the film and a few awesome items! The ultimate THE PRIMEVALS release!

Only 100 box sets are available for PRE-SALE, and each of those 100 will be signed by producer Charles Band. At a later date, more units will become available. 

Deep in the Himalayas, a group of Sherpas subdue and kill a towering humanoid creature, one that Dr. Claire Collier believes to be the legendary Yeti. Soon, Dr. Collier and her colleagues lead an expedition into the mountains to find other beasts like it, only to uncover a race of beings even more fantastical!

Stop motion FX wizard David Allen's long-planned passion project was shelved in the 1990's after Allen passed away from cancer. Finally completed in 2023 by Full Moon and former Allen associate Chris Endicott, THE PRIMEVALS is the ultimate retro-fantasy adventure, employing a wild array of arresting, 100% hand-rendered, stop-motion special effects and a rich orchestral score from composer Richard Band. Prepare yourself for the ultimate fantasy adventure, an epic over 30 years in the making!

Full Moon presents THE PRIMEVALS in a gorgeous leather collector's case, with three Blu-rays inside featuring the theatrical cut, a new documentary on the making of the film, tons of never before seen special features and vintage BTS footage and the never before seen "David Allen Cut", an extended version that contains storyboards and other footage assembled to even more accurately reflect Allen's vision! You'll also get postcards and a pair of incredible enamel pins of the monstrous Yeti and one of the evil lizard men!

Only 100 box sets are available for PRE-SALE, and each of those 100 will be signed by producer Charles Band. At a later date, more units will become available. 

COLLECTOR’S FEATURES:

Leather and Metal Case

Postcards (6)

Enamel Pins (2)

Theatrical Cut of the Film (Blu-ray)

David Allen Cut of the Film (Blu-ray)

Lost To Time - Making of Documentary w/ Bonus Features (Blu-ray)

DISC BONUS FEATURES:

A Celebration of Tenacity: Q/A at Industrial Light and Magic

Charles Band and David Allen on The Primevals

Randall William Cook visits The Primevals

The Primevals - 1984 promo reel

The Primevals - 1997 promo reel

Raiders of the Stone Ring - promo reel

The Primevals - Time-lapse animation

The Beginning and the End

David Allen at the Moviola

Primevals - A False Start

[rebelgodking]

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐎𝐰𝐥 & 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐊𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ; verse: The heir of primeval

*giving Emilie an Owl & Knight verse, will be updated. Also I'm just adding any info that differs from her main bt.vs verse

BACKGROUND

Ĥ̶͎̗̥̐̍̀̂̈̎͌̏t̸̤̪̫͆̉͋͐̇̃̄̾̃͝i̸̳̼͒̓̔̑̔̀̅͝͝m̴̧̟͙͓̟͍͔̞̲̄͒̉̽͑̍͠s̴͖͓̏͆̿̽̂̾'̸̧̗͍͉̹͚̝̔̈́͑̓̏͋̀̂̎̚E̷̞̅͘i̴̦̰̤̋͆̃͂̾͗͘͠ľ̴̡͓̩̼̺̯̝͂̐͝͝i̸̢̤̹͎͙̞̤̘̹͙͆̂̌̒̐m̴̱̘̿͜ḝ̸̨̡̢̹̻̠̦̦̰̃͛͋͐̈́̀̃̍͝ ̸͕̩̳̒ͅT̶̨͉͗ḩ̵̙͚̦̹̔̅͛̀̾͜͝e̵̖̝͎̥̩̬̮̘̬͆ ̷̨̢̖̯̺͙̝̝̮̹̋̔́͆̇̓̅͐͠Ḑ̵̛̩͇̹̹̉̄͑͐̐̊͐̽͝r̶̨̧͙͖͔̤̺̱͂͒̀̇̽͝ͅẹ̶͔̈̇a̴͇̯̟̲̩͓̤̽̓̋͛̓̆̿̈́̅̓d̵̨̧̡̼̰̱̯̮̫̍̏͒́ņ̷͎̫͉̻͉̖̬̮̤̋͌͒o̸̡̢̭͔̻̖̿̇̂̈́͐̽͝ǘ̶͇͕͚̝͓̤͠g̶̛͈̱͓͈̜̱͈̪̃̔̔̅͂̄̈̾̓͜ͅḧ̶̙̺̘̭̩t̶̤̥̖̦͕͖͛̈̉̈́̚͘̚

• • • Emilie Smith ,as she is known amongst the mortals, it is very rare for any mortal, supernatural being to know her primordial name. Born at the height of the primordial war, and sealed into a pocket dimension to grow slowly. With the few other ,old one offspring. Later a cult tried to bring them out ,and raise them to adults in another dimension. But something went wrong. And only 6 survived. Emilie being the only surviving heir to the throne of the 'godking' ,old one known as Ariy'lli. After avoiding ,getting snatched by The Order of the Dark, and trying to navigate ,new Earth. Though one of their own turned on them, resulting in one of them to die ,permanently. After that event Emile left, and somehow ended up in a town called Dusk , (its basically like Sunnydale). Running into a relative ,Agent Mckoy, Emilie pondered a future , where she fought the forces of 'darkness' by joining The Council. It took a while but she finally became an agent, though mostly she splits her time in the field, and in the lab.

CONNECTIONS

NAME :: CONNECTION TYPE :: NOTES

Mr.Night :: great-great grandfather :: alive // old primordial demon/elemental eldritch thing

Ariy'lli the endless :: great-great grandmother :: unknown // primordial old one/pure demon p.s.a. Ariy'lli is that universes Illyria ,

Miranda Mckoy :: distant cousin on Mr.Night's side :: alive // demon, agent for the council/hollow

DEMON BIOLOGY

• • • Not much is different, though she does have more hidden power from Mr.Night's bloodline. Also she does not have that shell like she does in bt/vs verse. Though she is really hard to kill, you can injure her but it won't kill

Differences from Owl/Knight & BT.VS: there isn't a chosen one/slayer, watchers council, etc. Though vampires are different but can be killed in the same fashion. Honestly there only the whole primordial beings that is canon to owl/knight that is not to bt.vs

[tarontherocketman]

OK IF YOU WERE ON THE INTERNET IN THE 2011-2012 ERA OR JUST WANT W LAUGH, READ THIS ISTG I JUST FOUND MY OLD FANFICTION.NET BIO

HAHAHA OK so I just managed to sniff out my old fanfiction.net account with a bit of trial and error searching and I am WHEEZING. It's so chaotic but also so fitting for the 2011 "random xD :L" vibe, I would have been 13 in 2011 btw

1. I love that for my "5 traits" thing I literally picked 5 traits straight from the sims 3 create a sim, like??? Neat, virtuoso, good sense of humour, absent minded, athletic PAH ok Natt

2. I wasn't the "world's biggest Charlie Wheeler fan" I didnt even watch so you think you can dance, Charlie came to my secondary school a few times to do stuff with the dance students and I thought he was hot, picture of me and him below ew I used to treasure this photo

3. WHY DID I INCLUDE "MY CAT HAS AN OVERACTIVE THYROID AND HALF OF HIS FACE IS PARALYSED SO BASICALLY HES A BIT OF A SPAC" HAHAHAH I have no words

4. ALSO, "I USED TO HAVE A GINGER KITTEN CALLED GEORGE BUT HE DIED AT THE AGE OF 2 WHICH IS UNFORTUNATE, SAD FACE" WHAT!!!

honestly this whole bio just screamed 2011 and its sENDING ME bc look how different life is 9 years on! It's not how I expected it because when I was 13 I thought 22 was really old and I'd be married with children PAHA but nope I'm still a fan girl writing fics for my fandom but never in a million years did I think my fandom would be Elton John related considering back then I just thought he was weird and didnt really care who he was, now HERE WE ARE. Plus, back then these were my fandoms:

Very soon after this I was heavily in the one direction fandom and posted my fanfiction for them on wattpad, then when I was 16 until the age of 19 it was kpop on asianfanfics.com, then I didnt have a fandom for 2 years bc I was busy moving out of my parents with my ex, then May last year I'd just got broken up with so my parents invited me to tag along with them to the cinema because they wanted to see rocketman, I wasnt really interested but I lived alone so I went because of boredom, now here we are! It's been a wild ride😏

If anyone else has an old cringey fanfiction.net bio PLEASE show me I LOVE IT

[namjoonxorg]

BTS as Greek Deities

Seokjin as Eros

wields incredible power

no one could resist his spells of enchantment

the Greek god of love (passionate and physical desire) 

represented as a carefree and beautiful youth, crowned with roses

one of the primeval gods who was responsible for the Creation

represented universal love at this stage

regarded as the winged assistant of Aphrodite

protector of homosexual love (throwback to jin’s roses from all boys)

Yoongi as Hecate

capable of both good and evil

especially associated with witchcraft, magic, the Moon, doorways, and creatures of the night

often depicted carrying a torch 

a guardian of crossroads

frequently associated with Demeter

the island of Aegina was known to worship Hecate when it came to curing mental illness

seen as a protective goddess of the home

guided Persephone to the underworld each year

Hoseok  as Astraea

goddess of justice, innocence, purity and precision

known as the “Star Maiden” or “Star Goddess”

best known for being the last immortal to live among the humans

left in disgust of humanity’s brutality and wickedness

ascended to heaven to become the constellation Virgo

the scales of justice she carried became the nearby constellation Libra

associated with the general spirit of renewal of culture

Namjoon as Prometheus

a Titan, culture hero, and trickster figure 

credited with the creation of man from clay

defied the gods by stealing fire and giving it to humanity as civilization

taught man how to use their gift, creating the skill of metalwork 

also came to be associated with science and culture

known for his intelligence

a champion of humankind

worshiped heavily in Athens with other deities of skill and wit

representative of human ambitions

Jimin as Persephone

goddess of the spring and underworld

upon her return each year new plants grow, trees get back their leaves and create fruit, and animals come out of hibernation and find a mate

a symbol of rebirth

a protector in the after-life

presence was especially strong in Sicily and southern Italy

she carries into effect the curses of men upon the souls of the dead

a central figure in the promise of an enjoyable afterlife; the Eleusinian Mysteries

Taehyung as Demeter

goddess of the harvest and presides over grains and the fertility of the earth

also goddess of sacred law and the cycle of life and death

closely linked to Persephone

commonly worshiped in rural communities

created a great drought to convince the other gods to release her daughter

the winter season and its manifestations were a reflection of Demeter’s emotional state during Persephone’s absence

a great goddess of the earth, she taught man how to grow crops

Kook as Harmonia

goddess of harmony and concord

presided over both marital harmony, soothing strife and discord, and harmonious action of soldiers in war

sometimes portrayed as harmony in a more abstract sense–a deity who presided over cosmic balance

one of the children of Aphrodite, the goddess of love, and Ares, the god of war

notorious for owning a ‘cursed’ necklace

the necklace supposedly held her powers inside making it cursed

was turned into a snake following her husband’s death

Masterlist || Request or Ask

[kimnamjoonismypresident]

I just had to say it on here.... as fans, yeah we give idols gifts and presents and attention and time and money and energy and that we expect a certain extent of the same from them. But do we really have to waste years of human evolution, years of natural perfection of complex emotions such as humility, compassion and basic respect in order to fulfill a very base, very primeval, very short-lived sense of personal satisfaction and possessiveness over other humans? I was watching Her Private Life and i just felt an intense surge of discomfort (an understatement) and disapproval of how fans act towards idols or at least how it's depicted in the drama. I just dont understand how one could call themselves a fan by allowing themselves to be consumed with this illusion consumerism has forced idols to be in. Im not one to talk, i love namjoon and the rest of BTS. Theyve given me so much strength and hope in my time of struggles but like i could never put all of my life into an illusion that will never come true. Itd be irresponsible of me to not face my life headon and project all of my aspirations, hopes, dreams and even strengths into an illusion.

[depressedgingersnaps]

map of the soul: shadow theories that others have probably beaten me to already

As you all hopefully know by now, Bighit just tweeted the track listing for the next album in the MOTS series - Shadow.

(sorry if the quality is shit oof)

Now, does anything about this list strike you? Cause I'll tell you what I picked up on...

In MOTS, there clearly appears to be a Greek mythology inspired theme going on, hence Dionysus in Persona. ((vietnam flashbacks, ugh namjoon can step all over me in that god clothing lordy lordy😩👌))

Now what do we have in Shadow? "Tartarus"...

Dionysus used to be a god of fertility of nature, then went onto being a god of wine in later tradition. He was known to make his followers dance whenever he entered a room because his music and drink had the power to loosen a person's inhibitions.

On the other hand, Tartarus was a primeval god and the offspring of Chaos. I looked it up and it turns out it's also the name of a hellish realm where the wicked were banished to and had to suffer for their misdeeds.

If BTS haters weren't roasted enough in Dionysus, then if I'm on the right track here - they are going to get fucking grilled in this song... because they are pretty wicked little things.

Some more things to note...

"Stygian" - of or relating to the Styx River (def).

In Greek mythology, the Styx was a river in the underworld where a man called Charon took the souls of the dead through to reach Hades. Since the album is called Shadow, this could put a spotlight on the shadow of doubts and insecurities lingering in your head, like how Persona focused on self-discovery.

And finally we have "Tenebrous". This doesn't have any mythological undertone, at least I don't think so. But I can give you the definition...

"Tenebrous" - dark, shadowy or obscure.

so to make a long fucking story short

BTS are going for a darker, grittier approach and are going to explore it with metaphors of the underworld and the undead anD EVERY FUCKING ARMY'S WIG WILL BE OUT OF THIS PLANET I SAY

not to mention the one and only Agust D will be in charge of the intro 🔥🔥

[fangirladdictiondisorder]

Yoongles

Three hours, THREE HOURS, he'd been sitting there, behind his computer. He had promised to take you out after he was done with his work, but it was slowly nearing 3 pm, and neither of you had eaten lunch yet. You had kept yourself busy at first, doing housework, cleaning up, surfing the web, but now you lay sprawled on the floor, bored. It was rare for Yoongi and you to have your schedules match and spend time together due to the nature of his job, but you totally understood that and wouldn't want that to change, of course. It was just annoying when he would often, not exactly back out, but delay his promises.

Hmm, what to do, what to do... Looking around, you notice you could catch a good glimpse of Yoongi working at the angle you were laying. Hmm, he looks so focused there, typing furiously, often stopping to listen to something with his headphones, followed by him moving his mouse. You wondered what he was doing... writing lyrics, producing a song, a song for BTS, or a song for himself.. someone else perhaps? But damn, he looked hot like that.

Unknowingly your eyes began to sparkle, and you started to smile sweetly, while looking at the love of your life. The way his mouth would occasionally pout when he'd get stuck. Scowling, his little eyebrows would furrow, creasing his forehead. Oh, how you wished you could smooth that frown out with your fingers that instant, tell him that everything would turn out okay and he needn't get upset. You noticed how he often bit his nails while working, a habit you had previously helped him to try to break, to no avail unfortunately. He'd often lick his lips, reminding you of the empty lip balm you had found on the counter. You made a mental reminder to buy some more next time you went shopping. You then noticed his adorable little nose, oh so boopable; you just wanted to boop it with endless kisses it was so adorable. His hand also did the cute hand gesture he always unconsciously did, the way his soft chin rested in the palm of his hand, and his cheek laid on his fingers, with his pinky arching cutely. God he's so endearing. How can anyone stay annoyed hmm…

And look at his beautiful dark dark brown eyes, and the way he, oh. Suddenly, you realized he had noticed your staring and was staring back, for how long who knows! Startled and embarrassed, you wanted to look away, so it was less awkward but for some reason your dumb brain didn’t want to comply.

"What are you doing?"

"N-nothing!"

"Were you staring at me?" He had an amused smile on his face, his eyes crinkling into that eye-smile of his. "I'm sorry. I didn’t mean to take this long. And wow, it's 3:30. You prolly haven't eaten, have you? I'm sorry."

"No, I haven't, but it's ok. If I was hungry, I would have, but I want to eat with you. And no need to apologize; I completely understand." You slowly sat up and walked over. You gently started to nuzzle his neck from the behind as your arms encircled his torso, tenderly leaving a trail of small kisses while doing so.

"!"

"Hmm?"

"What? I mean why...?"

"You're so cute, it puts my heart in a flutter! You're absolutely the cutest being on this earth! You're soooooo cute, it brings out the primeval urge in me to squeeze you to death, but I love you so much, so I'm giving you kisses instead, my dear little Yoongles."

He giggled. "So, you were staring at me?"

"Maybe, and what about it, hmph."

"Hmm," he smiled sweetly, bringing your hands up to cradle his cheeks, intimately kissing the palm of your hands. "I love you..."

Although, Yoongi was an affectionate loving little fellow, he tended to show his affections through actions rather than words, so he rarely ever verbally told you he loved you, but to hear those words. OH, TO HEAR THOSE WORDS! Shivers ran down your spine, shaking your core into a million butterflies! Your heart loved him so much, it hurt. It's not even possible for someone to love someone as much as you already love him, and to think your love for him is somehow able to grow even more! You felt as if you'd combust you were so happy!

"Now, if you give me 10 more minutes, I'll be done, and..."

"YOONGI!! NO! IT CAN WAIT! YOU NEED TO EAT FIRST!!"

"Alright! Alright! No need to get worked up. Okay, we'll go out and eat first," he chuckled defeatedly.

"Hmph, good! Honestly, if I weren't around, who'd take care of you."

"Well, I've been surviving so far, although barely." He kissed you briefly before standing up and stretching. "Now, give me a minute to get ready. God, do all my joints ache sitting in this chair for so long..."

You shook your head, giggling at his antics. True, he could be annoying sometimes, his workaholism frustrating, but he truly was such an adorable human being. How could you NOT forgive him!

[behind-the-screen-of-bangtan]

Words to make you think

This post is part of the TSU. It belongs to the third part: Socio-political reflection.

There will be several parts in this post:

Citations in the videos

In the lyrics

Concepts based on philosophy/psychology

BTS’ discography through a Jungian perspective

Citations in the videos

We’ll start with what’s mainly a list of the quotes then we’ll interpret their purpose. Some citations may not feel that philosophical but as they can be interpreted the same way, they were included here nonetheless.

BTS introduced us to philosophy, and then to psychology, quite progressively. As it started in the background, it’s hard to be sure whether I caught them all or not but the earliest occurrence I have is in “Boy In Luv” Japanese version MV:

“One original thought is worth a thousand mindless quotings, Diogenes”

Despite the signature, it seems this quote is not from Diogenes himself but was rather attributed to him by William Safire in a New York Times article from the 7 April 1996 and titled “ON LANGUAGE; Worth a Thousand Words” -  the article itself is explaining the real origin of some expressions. It was later used by Banksy for one of his works - and it’s probably this one that inspired Big Hit’s artistic directors.

It’s funny to start a post about philosophical references with a fake quote. Let’s say it’s a reminder to be careful with what you say and to not blindly believe what you read.

The sentence was written on the blackboard. You can also find a verse from the Bible’s proverbs not too far away:

“Those who guard their lips preserve their lives, but those who speak rashly will come to ruin.”

Now let’s be honest, it’s impossible to read these in the MV (I found them thanks to a making-of video). As for their link with “Boy In Luv” (lyrics of the Japanese version here), it seems hard to establish. “Boy In Luv” tells the story of a boy struggling to confess his love for a girl and waiting eagerly for an answer. An overinterpretation of the quotes could be that the boy needs to find how to confess by himself (in opposition to the “Dad how did you confess your love to mom?” from the lyrics) and that a gesture would mean more than a verbal confession, or that he must choose his words wisely to not lose his chance with the girl.

The next ones are more known in the fandom since they appeared during The Most Beautiful Moment in Life. It’s words related to the concept of the series, namely the brevity of life, the death of innocence and childhood, and the cruelty of the world:

“Paradise is where I am” - Voltaire in “Le Mondain”

“Dedicated to all the boys who have lived in this painful world”

“Too fast to live too young to die”

“Without soul goal and **** We are nothin but a mannequin”

"You must live on"

“YOLO” / “you only live once”

“Youth is never coming back”

“Pain past is pleasure”

There’s also a series of Latin citations that appeared in “RUN” Japanese version:

“Carpe Diem”           (Seize the day) “Dum Spiro Spero”   (While I breath I hope) “Memento mori”        (Remember that you have to die) “Pro Memoria”          (For memory) “res, non verba”        (Facts instead of words) “Viva”                        (Alive/Living or Long live…!)

Some of those expressions made their comeback during the WINGS series, along with new ones:

“Man muss noch Chaos in sich haben, um einen tanzenden Stern gebären zu können” (One must still have chaos in oneself to be able to give birth to a dancing star.)

A citation from Nietzsche’s Thus Spoke Zarathustra. And:

“You oldest fears are the worst ones”

“Expiring for love is beautiful but stupid”

“Fear is the most elegant weapon Your hands are never messy Threatning bodily is rude” (original typo)

Different sentences from Jenny Holzer.

These citations are once again fitting with the concepts for WINGS and The Wings Tour, that is to say, temptation and the fear of becoming an adult.

For details about where all those can be found in BTS’ works and their origins, I’ll let you refer to the glossary. Most of them don’t have a real author and some may even have been created by the artistic direction team.

Agust D’s album cover had citations over Suga’s face:

“You need people like me. You need people like me so you can point your fuckin’ fingers and say. ‘That’s the bad guy’.” said by Tony Montana (Robert de Niro), the main character in Brian de Palma’s movie Scarface.

“Life is a daily oscillation between revolt and submission” by Henri Frederic Amiel, a Swiss philosopher.

“Life is ecstasy”

“Every man dies, but not every man lives.” pronounced by William Wallace (Mel Gibson) in the movie Braveheart.

Again they go with the theme of the mixtape.

We even got a surprise during the 2017/2018 ceremonies. A citation from Gilles Deleuze could be seen in the background during the “Mic Drop” performance at the 2018 Seoul Music Awards. There was also a lobster during the Golden Disc that connects with it. I’ll let you refer to the glossary for details but here’s the quote, from A Thousand Plateaus:

“Nor can the status of social formations be analyzed by throwing some signifier into the base, or vice versa, or a bit of phallus or castration into political economy, or a bit of economics or politics into psychoanalysis. There is a third problem. It is difficult to elucidate the system of the strata without seeming to introduce a kind of cosmic or even spiritual evolution from one to the other, as if they were arranged in stages and ascended degrees of perfection.”

I won’t pretend I understand everything but I still feel it’s the less pertinent quote until now. It’s an analysis of the world on a binary base which doesn’t really connect with the boys’ success that’s celebrated in “Mic Drop”. 

The last quotes up to this day are in Persona’s comeback trailer. They’re from Carl Jung, the psychologist who inspired the series:

I am not what happened to me, I am what I choose to become.

The dream is the small hidden door in the deepest and most intimate sanctum of the soul, which opens up to that primeval cosmic night that was the soul long before there was the conscious ego.

As expected, they relate to the lyrics of “Intro: Persona” that wonder about one’s own identity and the dream theme linked to the album.

Even though they are mostly related to the concept of the series, we can wonder whether these words are intended to be seen by fans or just serve as a Lorem Ipsum to fill the background. Indeed, you’ll need to pause the videos to read most of them and sometimes even more effort will be needed - for example, Holzer’s quotes are written backward when they appear behind Jungkook. 

(This also applies to most of the literature references, they’re relevant for the concept but quite hard to catch.)

It’s like background noise. But a background noise that you can take the time to listen to in order to understand the whole concept even better. There’s one thing however that seems recurrent between those quotes and it’s their negativity. Of course, most of BTS’ concepts are dark so it’s fitting but they also usually have their bit of hope: youth is painful but it’s the most beautiful moment in life. Or then again, we can overinterpret and consider that while the world is dark, it’s the boys themselves who bring hopefulness.

In the lyrics

Obviously, all of BTS’ lyrics are quite philosophical, be it when they question their feelings, the meaning of life or the way society works. And I’m not even talking about the puns.

One notable line though is in RM’s “God Rap” when he explicitly talks about Buddhism, as explained by Muish here:

Foolish believers, you can become a god as well

It references the fact anyone reaching enlightenment can become a godly being.

The next ones appear in the Love Yourself series. First, we have “Magic Shop” (Muish’s rambling), a song dedicated to ARMY and written by Jungkook. The concept of the magic shop is detailed below. Here, it’s like an IRL version. The fear they exchanged is the hate they received before and the positive attitude they gained is ARMY. And they wish us the same:

You gave me the best of me So you’ll give you the best of you

Since the magic shop is a mental exercise, you’ll find it in your heart.

There’s also something in “134340” and “Answer: Love Myself”. Their lyrics can be connected to what Jung defined as a complex: a constellation of elements that when they’re activated can influence our will (more details can be found here). Those elements are usually past trauma or similar events.

So when they say in “Answer: Love Myself”:

Under your mask When even the scars left from my mistakes Are all my constellations

The constellations that emerged from mistakes can be seen as a complex.

As for “134340″ (lyrics), the whole song can be interpreted as a rejected complex. “134340″ is initially about Pluto not being considered as a planet anymore and thus feeling lonely. It’s similar to what happens to complexes. Normally they’re in the unconscious but once they’re activated, they can reach the consciousness, like the sun in the lyrics:

At one time, belonging to the sun’s world

But once the ego has dealt with the complex, it is sent back into the unconscious, where it just float around aimlessly like Pluto:

All I’m doing is circling around (Beyond the fog, I watch over the you who is still smiling Without you and without meaning, the reality of my irregular orbit) All I’m doing is spinning around aimlessly (Pluto in the darkness with a number that’s difficult for you to remember But even then, I’d continue to circle around your surroundings, damn)

To relate to the concept of Tear, let’s add the fact that complexes have personalities. They’re usually weaker than the personality of the ego (which is our personality; in the case they’re as strong, we observe multiple personalities disorders).

The whole concept of Tear is faking yourself to the point it’s unbearably painful. It’s like the boy rejected his own personality to the point it became a complex instead of his own ego and now it’s exiled in his subconscious. Luckily, he will accept it in Love Yourself 結 Answer. Concerning the reason why such a thing would happen, we have to remember the ego is directly under the influence of the persona (so how we behave in society). So to fit in the world, the ego changed itself.

Concepts based on philosophy/psychology

Until now, it’s safe to assume all the quotes in the videos were decisions from the artistic team only. It all changed with the Love Yourself series.

Not only its main reference is The Art of Loving by Erich Fromm, but the whole series is constructed as a reflection based on the 起承轉結 structure and it also references the magic shop technique. Philosophy is central in this concept and not only the artistic directors but also Bang PD and the boys are participating in developing it.

The Art of Loving explains love is like an art and you must work on it to develop it. Love has several forms, including self-love, but true love is rare nowadays. People tend to compensate for the lack of love with consumerism.

The Chinese structure has an introduction, two parts considering the subject from two different points of view and a conclusion.

The magic shop refers to a psychodramatic scene performed during therapy by the patients and the therapist. In the magic shop, it’s possible to exchange whatever you want against a certain price. However, the real strength of this technique is in the bargain preceding the exchange. The shopkeeper (either the therapist or another patient) will question the reasons motivating the exchange and through their answers, the patient often realizes their initial wish was hiding another desire they hadn’t identified. You can refer to this paper by Professor Earl Koile for examples.

In Love Yourself, Euphoria shows that the introduction is actually The Most Beautiful Moment in Life. It’s the initial situation. As we saw in The universal coming-of-age story, the boys struggled with accepting the outside world and still had to find how to be happy.

The two development parts of the reasoning are the bargain inside the magic shop - note that all the what-if considered during this bargain also exist in the BU thanks to the time travel.

The exchange the boys want to make is revealed in ”FAKE LOVE” first teaser:

'Magic Shop' is a psychodramatic technique that exchanges fear for a positive attitude.

We also see in the video that what they understand by fear is their traumatic past and that “a positive attitude” is being with a girl (several interpretations can be made as to what the girls represent).

The bargain begins in Her and the boys explain how being with a girl will bring them happiness because it’s destiny (see notably “Serendipity”’s and “DNA”’s lyrics).

The teaser revealed during the 2017 KBS Gayo Daechukje can be considered as the shopkeeper’ answer:

“The magical time is coming. Come to the Magic Shop. Now, take off your mask and open your eyes.”

The boys are asked to take off the mask “destiny” had put on them, the one that makes them smile because they’re with a girl.

We see the result in Tear. They’ve been denaturing themselves to the point they literally ask “who are you?” in “FAKE LOVE”. Being with a girl actually doesn’t bring them happiness and they’re just forcing themselves to fit the situation “because it’s destiny”.

The conclusion happens when the boys realize what they really want is not “a positive attitude” as decided by some abstract authority but to be happy by themselves and for themselves. Thus “Answer: Love Myself”. This whole reflection proves the ideas developed in The Art of Loving: the boys had to do a lot of mental work to reach true love, they all had different relationships with the girls and with themselves, and they had to work on it themselves and not just wait for someone else to bring them joy.

As the 起承轉結 structure is for a written work and the magic shop technique is a purely mental exercise, we can assume no one was really hurt in the process - no girls were involved and the boys didn’t denature themselves. Again this idea is made possible in the BU through time travel - but since it’s the BU, there are still people who are hurt, sadly.

However, the VCRs shown during the performances at the 2018 year-end ceremonies imply there was someone who helped them and that they want to help back:

“Fake Love Take off the mask and face yourself I can be your hero”

(2018 MMA)

“I didn't know what power/love is but you taught me how to use power/love”

(2018 MAMA in Japan)

“You gave me power. You gave me love So now I'm a hero So now I'm a boy with love I'll show you the map of the soul I'll show you the dream”

(2018 MAMA in Hong-Kong)

It’s hard to tell who is that “you”. It can be the girl from the Love Yourself reflection but it can also be ARMY since we’re the subject of the next album, Map of the Soul Persona. Something that should be considered here too is that these VCRs were shown with songs from Tear (”FAKE LOVE”, “Airplane Pt.2″, and “Anpanman”) so rather than a teaser for Persona, they could be a development of Tear’s concept - except the last one of course. The masks and the doll concept were also most likely a complement to Tear - obviously the doll concept references the E version of Answer, but it’s a repackage including songs from Tear.

The series following Love Yourself is this time based on psychology, and more specifically on Jung’s works through references to Dr. Murray Stein’s Jung’s Map of the Soul.

At the moment it’s hard to know where they’re heading with this one as we only have one album. However, based on the graffitis in Persona’s Comeback trailer, we can assume the Map of the Soul series will be a trilogy made of Persona, Shadow, and Ego. These three parts of the psyche are tightly connected. The ego is the conscious and controllable part of our mind, the persona is the mask we wear to adapt to society and be able to live as a community, and the shadow is all the traits that were rejected from the persona. I detailed more ideas from the book in this summary.

If we go with such a trilogy, it means we won’t go deep in the psyche (to the self) and rather explore the surface (consciousness and personal unconscious).

Persona is the first part of this series. RM explained in his Vlive about the album that BTS’ persona is ARMY - and we do often represent them where we are. Most songs are about happiness and love: thanks to their persona, the boys could fit in the world and enjoy it at best. We can also mention “소우주” (Mikrokosmos) and its lyrics about everyone being a galaxy made of stars - the galaxy is also one of the metaphors used to represent the map of the soul.

BTS’ discography through a Jungian perspective

Before we start this part, please keep in mind it is an interpretation following the different releases so I’ll obviously make sure it makes sense. This, however, doesn’t imply Big Hit planned it, I’m just adapting to what we have. Also, had the last series been about another psychologist’s works, I would’ve made this interpretation based on this psychologist’s theories.

According to Jung, the psyche is something that grows along with the body. At first, there’s an undefined mass that’s both the self and the rest of the world. Progressively, through experiences and trauma, an ego develops - accompanied by a persona and a shadow. These allow the individual to differentiate themselves from the outside world. However, it creates a conflict within the being between the different parts that all have different goals: the persona wants to fit in the world, the ego wants to be an independent individual. An ultimate stage would thus be for all those part to become one again while remaining differentiated. But most people don’t reach it. Jung conceived this development as 5 different stages of consciousness. As the details get quite complicated I’ll let you refer to the book if you want to know more.

In BTS’s discography, we can link the development of the ego with the school trilogy. Through encountering the three main themes of life (dream, happiness, and love) the boys gain morals: you don’t need a dream, don’t be late to be happy, love is complicated. As for their social behavior, it is at first shaped by society (the teacher in “N.O”, the director and the other teacher in BTS Begins): they’re told to obey authority, to aim for a stable job and to create a family.

In the first stage, the consciousness tries to connect with the outside world to begin its existence. And indeed, the boys obey at first...

Before quickly revolting in the second stage, as they realize they’re different from the outside world

On the third stage, the perception of the world changes, the individual focuses more on concepts than objects. Which fits quite well with the YOLO and oniric philosophy behind The Most Beautiful Moment in Life.

Since WINGS is based on Demian and Demian is based on Jung’s works, there’s obviously a lot of connections. WINGS references the whole book but especially the end, with the idea of the bird flying to the god Abraxas. This image is most likely the ego getting inflated in the fourth stage and identifying with god. It’s also a stage of realism where we realize everything is a social construct.

In BTS’ concept, the bird is the young being accepting adulthood. However, rather than identifying with gods, it seems the boys rather related to angels/Icarus and thus to the whole notion of falling from the sky/sinning/succumbing to temptation. An interesting take we find in the WINGS Concept Book is that the fall of the angels and their rebellion against God is a step to grow up - possibly to grow into god themselves then, considering the stage of consciousness.

In the Love Yourself series, a lot of people have associated the girls with the anima of the boys. In Jung’s works, the anima is like your other half, the one who completes you and who exists in your subconscious. This interpretation has flaws but it’s still possible. It also fits with the fifth stage since it’s the one where all the different parts of the psyche reunite. Considering the concept of the series, we can interpret the different parts reuniting as the being finding inner peace and thus being able to love themselves.

Hypothetically, the 5 stages of consciousness stop here but Jung considered supplementary ones. It’s just that only a very small number of people reach it so it can’t be studied well.

But it doesn’t look like Map of the Soul will head here. As I said above, it seems they will rather explore the surface. Interestingly, the surface of the psyche is central in the first stages of consciousness. And the first stages of consciousness have been explored in the school trilogy. And Map of the Soul just happens to revisit the themes of the school trilogy.

And just like that, we connected the whole Reflection of Youth to Jungian ideas~

Now just for fun, here’s another one:

At first, the world population is just a mass

Out of it emerges the BTS self

Through a trauma of hate, they develop their ARMY ego

ARMY grows a persona of being a kind and generous fandom and a shadow made of hate, memes, and overreactions

Just like the map of the soul can be compared to a galaxy, BTS and ARMY reunite as one beautiful galaxy in concerts💜

Conclusion

Philosophy, psychology, proverbs, and just any idea intended to lead to a reflection have been in BTS works for a while now. It remains unsure if we’re supposed to know about them or not as they’re really not highlighted - The Art of Loving and Jung’s Map of the Soul being the exceptions. They remain pertinent to the concept they’re linked to though.

In such a context, it’s clear that only the fans will know about it. So just like hidden tracks on albums, it could be that those quotes are only intended for ARMY because only ARMY can understand them in the context of BTS’ works and their whole message.

And indeed, see how half-fans and journalists hurried to label the magic shop technique as a reference to Into the Magic Shop. Rather than the whole reflection connected to the 起承轉結 writing structure and explaining how they reached self-love, people just went with “OMG a child discovering the mysteries of the world!!”. Which is a theme Bangtan already explored and not with one but with eight references (see here) so I promise you, they really don’t need that trope anymore.

In the same idea, while Jung’s Map of the Soul and The Art of Loving are relatively easy to read, only a very dedicated fan will go through A Thousand Plateaus (before you ask, I didn’t, I only read the chapter of the quote).

To complete my thought on those quotes being background noise, they’re indeed something that’s hard to pick but also something that needs to be decoded.

As for the two books referenced that have been made very public and very explicit since you can buy them on Big Hit’s shop, as I said, first they’re easier to understand and second, BTS has gained a lot more casual fans who won’t necessarily take the time to search for all those details. So there’s a possibility they made it easier to find them so everyone could join in the fun. Lastly, BTS are more invested in those concepts and since their part of the works is mainly the lyrics and not at all the videos, it’s only logical for the ideas to be presented differently.

[12eightnine]

I like to think the Persona teaser is a representation of the inner psyche of RMs past and current self.

I’ve been meaning to type this earlier, but I’ve been so lazy this past month. Yeah I know it’s already April, but I don’t care. I can’t write for my life so bear with me.

In this scene I believe that the classroom would be his unconsciousness and RM himself is his Shadow.

Carl Jung explains that:

1. The unconsciousness is where we store psychic content that we, for lack of a better word, don’t want to focus/analyze at the time. To some it can be kind of chaotic or disorganized place.

2. Ones shadow would be located in our unconsciousness

3. Shadow holds one truest desires and is often seen as selfishness

4. Shadow is not necessarily evil/bad, despite its name

The reason I think that the classroom would be RMs unconsciousness is just simply because of the way it looks. It’s dark, chaotic, and a damn mess to begin with. It also helps that the words Persona, Shadow and Ego is literally everywhere in the room. It’s on the written on the chalkboard and spray painted all around the walls. I’ll talk about the persona and ego later.

In this scene you’ll see Shadow RM wearing a colorful striped hoodie. On that hoodie there three large patches, two on his chest and one on his right arm sleeve. On his chest both patches states, ‘Pay No Attention To The Man Behind the Curtain,’ and on his sleeve it states, ‘No One Knows What’s Going To Happen Next.’

Jung has explained in his book ‘The Map Of The Soul’ that :

1. Everyone hides their shadow, intentional or not

2. Ones shadow elements are only revealed by accident, in dreams, or when they’re pushed to extremes.

Most people don’t intentionally reveal our shadow, but when they don’t they normally don’t know what to do. Especially since they didn’t know they had it in them. This is one of the reasons that this is Shadow RM.

Another reason is the fact that the print on Shadow RMs hoodie is tiger stripes. The second time I watched the vid I thought about two kind of older idioms when I saw the striped hoodie.

1. “One must earn their stripes,” This basically means that a person must prove to be worth of their position within their profession. Here Shadow RM raps about what antis are saying about him, past and present. “Someone like me ain’t good for a calling,” “someone like me ain’t good enough for music,” and yeah you know the rest.

2. “Show ones true stripes.” This means to reveal what one truly believes, thinks, or wants in life.

But this got me thinking. What does RM desire?

If you look around the room you see that the words dream, love and happiness is everywhere. It’s on the walls and chalkboard. When you look at the board there’s even a drawn picture of an eye and a few arrows that go from it to the words.

There’s also a little drawing on the wall to the bottom right of the chalkboard.

As you can see it’s of what looks like a cat person to me along with the words dream, love and happiness in what seems like a comment bubble. The cat person is Shadow RM saying dream, love and happiness.

I thought okay he wants to follow his dream, be in love and wants to be happy. It’s simple, but it didn’t really fit into the BTS universe. Well at least to me it doesn’t.

If you look at the chalkboard below the eye you’ll see a large arrow that points to one of Jung’s quotes, “A dream is a small hidden door in the deepest and most intimate sanctum of the soul, which opens to that primeval cosmic night that was soul long before there was conscious ego.”

I mentioned earlier that Jung believe one is able to see pieces of ones shadow through their dreams. He even incorporated this belief into his practice. He would have his patients keep a dream journal. They would write down what they dreamt and they would work it out together. This helped him find solutions with his patients problems.

So what if the words dream, love and happiness didn’t actually mean what I originally thought. What if it means that he dreams of love and happiness? Like in the BTS Universe all the boys are reminiscing the past and how they felt loved and happy with one another. They’re constantly dreaming of it, especially Jin who is doing his best trying to save everyone from their fates.

[eidetictelekinetic]

I blame Primeval because every time the M25 scene goes down, I just hear Jenny Lewis saying "Mammoth on the M25!"

OK ngl what happens to the telemarketers is the second most disturbing scene, and also Lisa looks familiar but I have no idea where from

I'm noticing a pattern of Hastur being responsible for the Most Disturbing Moments

Except for when Adam seals the Them's mouths, that was also fucked up

Wait, do vampires and werewolves exist in the world of GO?

Also I'd love to know the bts of Miranda Richardson and Michael Sheen working out the Tracy-Aziraphale bits.

[televinita]

I really wanted to hold out unspoiled, but of course I have gone ahead and watched all the sneak peeks for Zoo, so here are my First Impressions of season 3.

I can’t wait for more context to enjoy this new lady Jackson's working with, because as a cold open intro, my heart feels like a dead black lump of Chloe-missing coal where his love life is concerned. Which is the worst, because all I've been saying for like a year is that I want someone to hug him. Please turn on your ship radar, brain.

(It might be because she somewhat reminds me of Emily Blunt. Who is a perfectly lovely woman whom I should by all rights adore, but somehow she got overexposed and I now I can barely stand anything she's in. This feeling is also The Worst)

BT-dubs Competent Rugged Action Hero Jackson has reached a whole new plane of Hot

Those shots of Mitch in the tank (his eyes) are the stuff of horror film nightmare; I need this part to be over quickly (and hopefully not be recycled in every "previously on" from here to forever)

Part of me is disappointed this show appears to have caved and gone with bad CGI instead of real animals most of the time

The rest of me is like "OH OKAY THEN" if you wanna just go ahead and Primeval-monster this joint up, that is cool w/ me