#bangtan boys blood sweat tears theory

[sweeterthanlips]

So you're telling me that the theory of Suga being Jimin's guardian angel in BS&T's jap version might be true cause his...dead?

[simplyselicia]

BTS Analysis Part 4: Fake Love

Hey! I’m so in love with the new album. Heavy rotation 24/7. As you can tell, this is the fourth installment of my analysis series. I’ve stated in the past to keep in mind I’m not much of a theorist, I’m just really talking about things I noticed and what certain symbolism might mean. I will link the Part 3 about Singularity post here since I’ll probably reference back to it: 

BTS Analysis Part 3: Singularity

This is my first comeback as an ARMY, so when I tell you I was so hype that it hurt I am telling the truth. I am so beyond blown away, I’m not sure if any of this is about to make sense. This gif explains what was going on in my mind while watching Fake Love. 

First, I’ll talk about Fake Love Teaser 1. In the teaser we got call backs to Wings and the Love Yourself Highlight Reels. The boys come in to exchange their fears for a positive so to say. If I had to take an educated guess, based on album notes I’d say Yoongi handed in a piano key. That would leave our intertwined characters. We don’t what Jin was given, if anything. We don’t know what V exchanged. Jungkook never gave over anything, but received a key in return.

When I went back to the highlight reels to research part of the narration really stuck out to me: “Looking back, I had known all along that underneath the glittering world before my eyes lay my deception, that everything was to collapse with a breath of wind. I turned away, I’d side stepped, simply closed my eyes. Afraid I was, afraid to be loved for who I am.”

Fake Love opens with our Smeraldo flower being protected. Very Beauty and the Beast. This is the untold truth that Jin has been asked about. Jin is alone in the room with this untold truth, looking through the window. We see him closing the curtain, and this is followed with doors being shut on Jungkook, leaving him in darkness. Could Jin trying to be shut him out of the truth? Is Jungkook sacrificing himself to be like the child of Omelas? I personally don’t think that Jin knows that Jungkook is looking into his window. 

I’m not sure what else we’ll see, but I think it’s safe to say that Jungkook has entered Jin and V’s tangled web. 

I love the background of this scene. It reflects the choreography, it brings me back to BS&T, AND kind of looks like a variant of “hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil”. They consistently cover their eyes, mouth, or ears during the choreography in the music video. It’s a quick and easy way to convey the mental anguish and struggle within the song. There are a couple other choreography cues that I will refer to later. 

I’d like to get the color theory part of my explanation out of the way here. If you look at the scenes, they range from a plain almost sepia look to a psychedelic technicolor adjacent style. I think this is because we are passing the euphoric fated love of DNA and into the breaking point in Fake Love. The vibrant colors evoke a feeling of being in a dreamlike wonderland while the faded pastels/sepia tones give specific points of focus. We are being guided into their inner darkness. There is a lot to say for muted tones reflecting the mental state of the characters in a film. What comes to mind for me are films like: “Girl, Interrupted”, “Taxi Driver”, and “Fight Club”. Please note, all these examples have a plot that revolve around psychological themes.  

Going back to the first teaser, I’ll explain why I don’t think Jin is aware that Jungkook was watching him through one of his windows. When Jungkook got to the magic shop (styled as a confessional if you noticed) it wasn’t by his choice. He is the only member that really seems to be pushed in. He also doesn’t have anything to exchange on him, but he is given a key. Keys are a symbol of of opening and closing things of course. It can be used to lock something away or set something free. Keys also give us a feeling of security. 

However, looking past the keys for a second I wanted to pose the question of if this seems a little like a nod to Pandora’s box to anyone else? Pandora’s box is a Greek myth that essentially has grown to mean getting into a situation that involves big and unexpected troubles. Older more detailed texts explain it as Pandora opening a jar that released sickness, death, and many other evils into the world. Pandora tried to quickly close the jar, but when she did so the only thing she kept in the jar was a flicker of hope. It was meant to be a way to explain why bad things happen in the world.  Jungkook had no idea what troubles he is going to see moving forward. Is the key the last bit of hope to uncovering the truth and setting everyone free? Since he came empty handed will he be the traded object for everyone else to gain peace?

Alright, from here we start diving deeper into the member’s individual fears. We’ve seen Jin trying to change the outcome of member’s story lines in Euphoria by looking through windows. I think this scene reflects Jin’s fear that some of these things might remain out of his control. There is only so much tampering that can be done, and not only is it stressful to not know if what you’ve changed is right, it’s hard to predict if your moves will make everything fall apart. In the center of it all, is the untold truth. Would it have been easier to face this truth if it was going to come to this anyway?

RM’s scene contains rings and a mirror. The mirror comes from his song Reflection and writing “you need to survive” on the glass. The rings clearly resemble the hand grips that you would see passengers holding onto when standing on a bus. He is still caught between his old self, and the attraction to the girl on the bus in the Love Yourself Highlight Reel. It doesn’t matter how much he likes her. If he can’t accept himself, then it won’t last. The cinematography of Fake Love also flips between of nice parallel lines and then “dutch angles”. A dutch angle is a technique of tilting the camera so none of the angles in the scene are parallel with the bottom of the screen and is used to show psychological unrest/heavy tension in a scene. 

J-Hope is locked in a room full of childish carnival themed props. If you go back in his story line you will find that his mother abandoned him as a child, only leaving him with a Snickers bar. As the music video goes on, we see Snickers bars falling coming through around where the key hole would be and eventually filling up most of the room. That is a very traumatic experience and of course it would result in some type of fear of abandonment. I’ve seen most people saying that the fake love for J-Hope is from his mother, and I think that’s very interesting. Side note that doesn’t really have much to do with anything in particular, but we’ve really entered a time where carnival gear like this is really haunting. Part of that for me is because I always relate carnivals to “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe. Although maybe I actually have something there. As with Poe’s short story, there’s no way to know if Jungkook isn’t leading himself to his own doom. Our setting certainly is one of a type of madness after all. Okay, off this tangent, I’m just a Poe fan.

Jungkook has moved on from J-Hope’s scene to Jimin. We can see that he’s in the studio from the Love Yourself Highlight Reel. If you look even closer, the wall he’s in front of is his paradise picture of the trees. I also thought it was interesting that Jimin is interacting with a sink here. I looked up the symbolism for this one, and in dreams it is said that sinks show how our feelings are retained and turned on and off. A bathroom sink in particular signifies a personal desire to be more intimate and revealing of yourself. I spoke about the symbolism of water in Part 3 for Singularity. If we pair those ideas with the sink symbolism, essentially his emotions have been pent up for too long and will come rushing forward in an overwhelming way. I also recognize that this nods back to the time where Jimin was by himself in the bathtub or in the fish tank in the case of the Japanese version of songs. I also talked about in my Part 2 for Euphoria how he’s been left on his own in the hospital. Jimin has no feeling of freedom there, and the person he was closest to (J-Hope) has also left now. 

Jungkook rises from this scene, and once again he and Jin’s movements mirror each other like they did in Euphoria. We also get a glimpse of the object Jin was protecting that held the Smeraldo flower. The flower has turned to sand. Sand is often a symbol meaning the passage of time, but it can also mean eventual destruction or elude to moments that are easily wiped away. Have we already seen the untold truth? Does it mean that everything is already falling apart? Maybe it’s a reference to Jin’s ability to alter things and that this too is just a moment that will be wiped away and changed?

I’d also like to note that the closer Jungkook gets to his destination, the harder it is for him. This is a case of dutch angles being used to build tension in a scene. I also want to take a moment to note the pattern on the floor. This pattern is definitely from the DNA MV just based on the color choices and style. We see it in the hallway Jungkook runs down, and on the floor in Jimin and J-Hope’s sections of Fake Love.    

From there we are brought into V’s scene. He is in this sort of tunnel hallway that is full of phones and empty pictures frames on the walls, but the back wall says “save me”. I saw somewhere that black picture frames symbolize an obsession of being perfect or a fear of not being perfect. I just think that’s an interesting tidbit of info, not sure it really sways the story line in any direction nor gives us much we didn’t already expect. 

V is holding a phone, which calls back (pun intended, please insert a windshield wiper laugh here) to the moment that he was trying to get a hold of RM who couldn’t answer the phone. The hallway is then lit up by the phones twinkling all around him. I’m guessing this is just exaggerating his fear of the call not going through by showing all the phones malfunctioning. 

It might be a reach, but I want to point out that these types of archways remind me of trains, as does the railing to the sides. In Spring Day, V was shown first at the train station.

I want to bring up Jimin a little here as well. Since the boys are exchanging their fears for something positive in the magic shop, I didn’t quite understand why Jimin got the umbrella. I know it shows up in the Highlight Reels, but that didn’t feel to me like a hopeful moment. No matter what Jimin does, he is always getting wet, and the umbrella has never protected him from water/his emotions. I honestly expected him to get a phone because that’s what he used to record J-Hope and the other girl’s practices to recreate the dances. It’s even mentioned in his album notes. Does it mean that no matter the outcome, Jimin is always at a disadvantage? Let me know what you think. 

There is a moment where we cut back to RM, and Jungkook is on the other side of the mirror mimicking his movements. This isn’t the first time Jungkook acted as a mirror, in the choreography he also follows J-Hope’s movements during his segment.  This will eventually bring us to Suga. In his scene, he has a piano and a guitar in the room. The piano dates back through Wings, and the guitar has to do with the girl that gave him the lollipop. There is a lot about piano between Jungkook and Suga’s notes, and of course their story lines are intertwined throughout the music videos. There comes a point where Suga sets fire to his hotel room, but in Euphoria Jin sent Jungkook to save him. 

Fire is often linked to power and passion. Fire has the ability to cause both destruction and transformation. Much like water, it’s symbolism is pretty straight forward. 

Now we’re at the part I wanted to bring up the choreography again. I talked about this for the Singularity analysis, and I see it here as well. The movements they are making are very much like puppetry. The arm movements when they step out side to side with their hands down is certainly like they are being controlled by string. I think it’s interesting that Jin is in the center here and they move according to his hand movements on either side of him as well. 

Jungkook is almost at his destination now, this room is very peaceful despite the events that have been going on. I’ll bring up here that the only members that have had contact/reference with sand in this MV are Jin, V, and Jungkook. I’d like to expand the idea that sand is also a symbol that might mean the foundation you stand on is unstable. The basis of the way you think etc might not be set in reality, and something that you have buried in your subconscious is moving forward. The smeraldo has already turned to sand, but when Jungkook lets it spill from his hand there are remnants of the petals in the shadows on the wall. 

I call this part opening The Chamber of Secrets (I mean he probably knows parseltongue, he is the golden maknae). This is the point where everything begins to come foward: water, fire, snickers (lol). 

He enters the room with the hooded figure, who is standing in front of 6 coat racks (a nod to Singularity I’m sure). From there, we’re left unknowing what decisions will be made.

I think it’s clear enough to see that a tie of some kind has been broken. We’ve certainly gone from the members lacing all of their hands together in DNA to perform a wave to falling apart. I can’t wait to see what comes next. 

BTS Analysis Part 1: Spring Day

BTS Analysis Part 2: Euphoria

BTS Analysis Part 3: Singularity

[arimxxn]

Ok ... but like... was I the only one to think that there are quite a few similarities to blood sweat and tears

[last-of-the-jaded]

Universe Hopping with a Golden Boy

[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…

[btsarmyinfo]

BTS 3rd Japanese Album 「FACE YOURSELF」Tracklist & Theories

Source

[kitsune-umi]

help needed

So I decided to write a really important paper for university about the concept of Blood, Sweat and Tears so if anyone has some references, did something similar or actually read Demian by Hermann Hesse, hmu it would be appreciated! Also thanks to everyone who maybe shares this!

(Here’s some yoongi tax as I learned it from imgur; also that’s me if anyone of you helps me, ty!)

[taegikooktrash]

when hoseok shot taehyung, it's as if he became "high" 🙊

[reilliane]

I SEE YOU KNOW BTS

I SEE

im not sure how familiar you are with the theories and their fictional universe but

the love interests in tyranny be the bangtan boys in blood sweat and tears (with the reader being the temptation they sing about)

are you getting my vibe rn

Yup! I listen to their songs, but not so much now than I did a few years ago. Hm, I think I stopped being a follower of their songs after their english song debut, though I still do listen every now and then.

I mean, they have a lot of good ballads (which means i listen to it for angst HADHASJDHAS)

BUT WAIT A MINUTE, I SEE YOUR POINT ANON DEAR. Yes I am getting the vibe like- ow okay, okay, okaaaay 😳😳

I like this aesthetic so much like gosh, seeing these kinds of stuff just makes me wanna propel a bunch of medieval aus.

[ksjinswifeu]

Just additional infos to those who makes theories. I made a reasearch about it sohope you find it useful lolxD

“Different but same.” Just like Jin’s reflection to the mirror on bst mv. I think the flower at the mirror is purple veronica [sorry, but I’m not really sure w/ the name of the flower] but it says  vēra īconica or veronica means “true image.” Veronica flower has diff colors but why purple? Purple taps into sacred wisdom and a spiritual path. Spiritual path is the purpose of life and an evolution of consciousness. The present cutting edge of your life-stream as perceived in our space-time. The aim of your life-stream at this level is to develop a vehicle that allows the full expression of your soul suitable for travel beyond the human condition. When this is accomplished, no further personalities are needed. As an ascended being the life-stream can now traverse [ travel across] the trans-human conditions of consciousness. And one of the popular symbol is veronica flower is fidelity or fidere.

For more inf about spiritual path -> http://www.health-science-spirit.com/spiritualpath.html 

[tae-gi-kook]

Can you actually believe that BTS has been dropping hints since 2014?

[snowsensation]

Just another theory I just share with all of you.

Cr. Cveti Pashovska

[onmykneesforbangtan]

my Blood Sweat & Tears Japanese version MV theory

they are on drugs

i am on drugs

my dog is on drugs

Obama is on drugs

the world is on drugs

everybody’s on drugs

[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!

[penguin-neckpillow]

FIRE x BST Japanese ver.

“When I wake up in my room, I have nothing”

“So completely drunk, drunk”

“I’m out of my mind, like an insane person”

“It’s all a mess, livin’ like beep”

[wifihit-blog]

Jimin blood sweat & tears japanese ver. mv theory

Jimin leaves yoongi (he is wearing stripes) and runs away as if looking for something and sort of seemed like yoongi was trying to stopping him before that. This links to yoongi's first love short film where he runs after someone. This someone could be Jimin and he is trying to stop him from reaching to someone or something. Jimin with stripes is seen eating an apple, in the bible the apple is seen as the forbidden fruit. When Adam and Eve eat the apple their innocence was gone. Jimin when he is wearing a white shirt then is seen holding an apple. Because jimin wears different clothes, this jimin could be his innocence. I think because he is holding the apple and not eating it like the other jimin, his innocence is not totally gone yet. Also because jimin is alone in the room, I think jimin with stripes is the part of jimin that ate the apple and commited the sin of eating it. Jimin with stripes finally meets with the one wearing the white shirt but when he turns his head around to see him, yoongi covers his eyes. I believe yoongi doesn't want the other jimin, the one that ate the apple to get to him so he is "protecting" his innocence. In Jimin's solo song, Jimin sings the lines "find the me that was innocent, I can't free myself from this lie" Yoongi found the innocent Jimin before the one with the stripes and tried to "free him" from the lie which would be the jimin wearing the stripes. As I mentioned before, Yoongi could be running after someone who could be either jimin's innocence to save him from his suffering or "jimin's lie". Take out with full credits Written by: Tumblr - wifihit Twitter - braveryoongi