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igiveyoumyblood · 1 year ago

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‘FIREWORK’MV First Reactions

It’s here, baby! Werewolf comeback!!!! WOOOOOOOOO!

Please let me preface this with the fact that,a lthough I love &TEAM and their concept and watched a bit of the survival show, I don’t know the members yet... expect for K, who other than the concept was the main reason I was interested in this group. I will do my best, but there might just be some ‘ahh yes this guy is doing this, this other guy is doing something else’ in this post.

My apologies to Lune who know everyone. I would appreciate any tips you can give me.

As with Bite Me, I was deeply disappointed by the lack of vampire content in this release, but I was happy with the amount of werewolf content.

This music video had a bizarre tone, though - it had the obvious serious and carefree moments of youth and werewolfhood, and that girl was back again - something that I appreciate because she links ENHYPEN and &TEAM. But I could not take the MV seriously when there were all of those shots of her just looking down at them dancing and them seriously dancing while looking up at her. I could not stop cackling - but I’ll point those moments out late, iof they didn’t stand out to you.

Alright, let’s get into it!

Lyrics

The song is pretty self-explanatory in name. It’s about those moments of youth where you stay out, late at night, together and watch the stars. I don’t really know if those moments exist often in real life, or if they are a figment of fanfiction and coming-of-age movies, but that’s a good chunk of the content of this song. It also has the nice little moments of falling in love that feel like fireworks... literally.

And there are the mandatory supernatural storyline mentions of magic and stars, and the mandatory werewolf mention of running towards your goal. A suspiscious lack of moon imagery.

They’re relatively plain and cliche lyrics, but this is when I remind you that, not only are cliches cliche for a reason, but also that werewolves as mystical heroes rather than monsters is a relatively new idea, and is only considered cliche and cringey because it became so popular in the Twilight era. So, let’s just say that the lyrics got the job done quite well, if in a boring way.

The MV

I love the room and the grainy filter they’ve put over the top. I hope this room isn’t supposed to contain 9 werewolf boys because that could create several issues.

I’m sure there are lots of references to the previous MV and to the webtoon. I ain’t paying for the webtoon (yet), so I don’t know those references other than the girl who shows up later, but I do know that the photos, calendars, and balloons remind me of the MV for ‘Under the Skin’- which had a Y2K theme and which focused on both time passing and a new chapter of life - literally, since K lost his mentor (?) but gained a group of friends.

And, there is of course the two high schools that the ENHYPEN and &TEAM members go to - I’m unsure how 25 year old K and 21 year old Heeseung (not to mention the other members in their 20s) got into these high schools.`But good on them, I guess.

I also have never really understood the obsession with having idols lying around asleep - the only time it’s made sense is if they’re in some weird dream state - like in TXT or ATEEZ’s storylines. And I’m prettty sure they aren’t in one here.

Anyway....

I love the unsubtle werewolf representation here. It’s also great because it has the running - which is both a werewolf thing and part of the lyrics.

However, with the grain, the fog, and the backlight, it really reminds me of Teen Wolf. And I’m not sure if that’s a good or a bad thing.

Not sure how or why the girl ended up with a gun but good on her.

However, we then end up with her chasing then on a bike, which definitely gives a sinister tone to the rest of the MV and to the previous shot of them running (which I initially assumed was joyful).

It’s also our first hint of the funky nonlinear aspects of this MV.

And the girl is pictured in warm light - like the sun, and like ENHYPEN. Which makes sense, since she, from my viewing of the MVs and related materials, seems to be affiliated with ENHYPEN, or at least with Sunghoon.

We get these flashabacks to happy memories of the boys and this girl, which is depressing in the hindsight of what we’ve just seen.

I love this shot. It’s short and snappy but obvious enough to get the point across. He’s against the red - ENHYPEN’s domain which the girl exists in. The gunshot looks like a firework, which was initially the joy of love and the times they spent together, but which now betrays him.

This kind of cinematography and symbolism is one of the main reasons I follow kpop.

Because yeah, they’re a jpop group but they’re run by a kpop company in the style of a kpop group.

And we get a nice flashback of what I assume is a party on the beach.

And of course boys being boys at the beach.

And teenage shennanagins. Is this flower supposed to be a dandelion? in which case - I looked it up, and a dandelion is apparently a symbol of hope and healing. So, since it’s being dropped we can reasonably assume that those things are now gone.

Here we have the happy fireworks.

And here some not-so-happy fireworks/lights.

Lmao I love how everyone’s just looking cool.

The pyjamas the boys are in also suggest that they are out of their element and have been suddely disturbed from sleep - you know, by something like someone trying to murder you?

Cute memory with the flowers. And related to the &TEAM theme of collecting and preserving memories.

Dang he’s got a lot of memories.

And this is where I let everyone know that this is only the first 30 seconds of the MV.

FRECKLES.

Lune who are better than me, who is this member?

Okay these flowers are different from the one that was dropped, but nonetheless bring us into the world of memories. This makes me think that the vampires have powers like teleportation and flight, while the werewolves have powers like telepathy and literally being able to store and protect memories. A very interesting concept, if it’s what HYBE are going for.

Here we have the hands connecting - the opposite of them coming apart earlier, and a reflection of when K met the boys in ‘Under the Skin.’

Nevermind the werewolves can fly too it seems.

Just wolf things.

And notepad - a way to store memories!

Thy literally have every way possible to store memories - cameras, photos, albums, notes, calendars, balloons and mementos. I love it.

This is the scene I can’t take seriously. I love that she is passively observing them, and that they are showing their passion. I also love that the ground has been turned into mud - presumably by the mist and damp, and by them dancing so much. But I can’t take it seriously that they’re all possibly fighting for the love of this girl, and fighting against vampires, and the way they do this is to dance together in a group while giving her a dramatic stare. I literally had to pause the video and take a break to laugh when I first saw this.

Second-hand embarrassment, I guess.

Anyway I’m glad they had fun.

I like that she smiles while dropping the flower - showing that she destroys their hope and love knowingly - but that whoever it was that dropped it out of the members was limp and without hope - she made him drop it.

Also love the creepy subtlety of her plucking a petal.

I’m not entirely sure what the purpose of this scene is, but I love that they’re in their pretigious high school eating their food and there’s just... a wolf.

Memories!!!!!

And we enter the memories! Which are basically the embodiment of youth.

Epic transition that;

Looks nice

Is more than a little sinister

FIRE

Warm tones aka vampires

Brings us back into the memories

Is done in an easy way to understand despite being so fast

Nice.

I see that your life is a tad tangled, K. That’s unfortunate.

He’s got brithday cake trauma.

Mandatory wolves having fun scene.

Mandatory sports scene since they play sports. And nice imagery of them fighting for the ball (aka the girl).

Wolves being wolves.

Haha you did this to yourselves, what are you so upset about?

I also like the contrast of the happier meadow scene and the darker, grittier fight/sports match. And how, while fighting each other, they managed to lose the girl.

Mandatory &TEAM water scene.

Mandatory being sad and reflecting on the past scene. But why would you bend the memory - you’re supposed to protect it?

Okay first, it’s a beautiful shot.

Second - you know what I said about them preserving memories in many different ways? They literally brought the flowers home!

Okay, that’s creepy. And it’s creepy not only because it defies gravity, but also because, since it defies gravity, it seems like it has been sucked from him - like a piece of his soul. And you know what sucks people’s souls out? Vampires.

I love the transition from the murder fireworks to the happy fireworks.

And now everyone gets to be sad because they were betrayed and are being hunted.

NOOOOO who made freckle boy cry????

And more happy firework foreshadowing... even though the things that it foreshadowed already happened in the MV.

Gosh I love nonlinear narratives.

Honestly still a little bit confused about the sleeping. There are a few possibilities - that they are kind of dead after the events of the actual MV, and that the sleeping is a representation of that, or that the girl has lulled them into this state of vulnerability, which is why she approaches slowly and with her hands behind her back - a show of dishonesty.

I see an exposed neck that would be perfect for a vampire to sink their fangs into.

Wonderful shot, very woolfy. I’m just not sure why the music cut out so suddenly when the video did - I’m sure they did it on purpose but it doesn’t communicate much and seems like a mistake.

Anyway.

Conclusions

It seems to me that the &TEAM storyline is kind of like a K angst-fest.

The MV had a sad lack of vampires, although it did allude to them wonderfully. It did a great job of telling a heart-wrenching nonlinear story, and had lots of great moments. The only thing that I felt was out of place was when they danced while staring at her. Other than that, a top-tier MV with simple but effective storytelling.

And werewolves whose mission is to store a preserve memories of all forms is a unique take on the genre which I hope that HYBE will continue to lean into.

#&team #&team theories #lune #first howling #first howling: we #we #mv analysis #firework

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