#bc anon is on and i’m always worried people will hate me elohel

[bandsanitizer]

me analyzing the darl+ing mv and face the sun scheduler bc why not

starting with the the painting that’s shown on the wall with jun…

it shows them playing outside followed by them entering the church with the sun motif above the two. then the doors of the church lead into the depiction of them falling in darkness with some glowing thing (the light vernon was holding?) followed by a black vine growing upwards from the bottom of the frame before them on a rock? looking mainly towards the right with one of them with a telescope. the idea of the scene seem to be a search and if we go with the peter pan/wendy darling/lost boys approach, it seems fitting. at the top of the scene, though are some lines stretching from the top corner. it looks to be coming from a cloud, conveying the sun is being covered.

which considering the five photos for the five ep.s, each scene might tie to 1-4 with darl+ing as the ep.0 or prologue, giving the overall story. considering the peter man notion and the “growing pains” book with the clock and the imagination and playing only to take off the blindfold to be alone, I think youth and growing up are prominent aspects which… “control” easily lends into why we want to escape youth but also why we value it. it’s the freedom that youth does and doesn’t provide. the general freedom from certain responsibilities and weights (while it’s not a universally equivalent experience) relative to adulthood, mixed with the control that exist as part of being a child and not yet fully independent.

this is sort of the whole peter pan idea, which with all the playing and running and they gathered in the room conveys. but then they take off the blindfold and realize they don’t have a shadow, only to start growing shadows of their own. this would fit with “shadow” and the second scene of the painting, where they go into the church and are depicted with shadows. and this is where I’d point to the tile word game they were playing.

sort of top to bottom, left to right, would read as “grow a shadow” but the W in shadow is actually an M based on the point placement, and considering the DRE from the D in SHADOW, perhaps this can also be read as “grow a dream”. a little strange with an idea of holding onto youth that peter pan conveys, but the darl+ing mv isn’t that. it’s facing the growing up. it’s facing that you have a shadow.

which brings in the light and the falling scene. you need light to cast a shadow. vernon brings in the light and that’s when the dust seems to lift and the room their in falls and then begin falling into a different world. I would tie the light with “ray” and the picture in the schedule announcement to the idea of them falling into this different world. this world in contrast to the one at the beginning of the mv though is much darker, following the eclipse that’s depicted in the mv. their outfits are also darker, their hair less fluffy and more wet? looking, and the injuries they seem to have. the implication is the sun is covered and now they must climb out (since they fell).

which is where the vine in the painting would come in along with the compass from the mv and the “path” ep.4 with a picture of a map. it also fits the fourth scene in the painting with the idea of looking forward and where to go. that they seemed to be depicted in the midst of travel/a journey.

keeping in mind that they’re seeming to perform in front of each other and an imaginary crowd with the idea of mirrors and reflections that build up and how the darker world aesthetic feel older in some ways… perhaps it’s some reference to their career. to go from predebut with this excitement and notion that many people have at the start of chasing dreams to find it realized in someway (debuting or even just training?) and facing the other realities that aren’t as picturesque as the initial dream may have felt yet still quite rewarding. but then taking into account all the growing you must do in and out of the career. to grow as both an artist and a human.

it’s the control people have over you and the control you take for yourself that comes with growing up. it’s the shadow you cast as you step into the sun and as you (physically) grow. the necessity of light in that, of sun rays, and also in the ways you cast out something as well, in how art reaches other people. then the path it takes to continue growing and creating, to better yourself and do more and find happiness and light.

which brings us to “pioneer” which is someone who ventures somewhere unknown or opens up for new ideas, etc. this easily ties to the arts in wanting to be the first to try something, to create something different new and to explore different concepts, etc. I think while that isn’t necessarily the ultimate goal of every artist, I think it’s within the goals that exist to many artists and the idea of being able to reach people in different ways is a pretty big one. and in the idea of growing up, I think “pioneer” might tie to the venture towards the unknown future and our unknown selves. it’s the discovery of all we were and are and will become.

the idea of a blank page/canvas/slate that the white pioneer album represents seems to fit the idea of creation and realizing. along with black as the opposite in control—that control can exist as limitations which in the concept of creating/art can be quite a barrier. that growing and show takes away some of that darkness. the orange for ray like the sun. and the gold of path which conveys the idea of looking for treasure. it fits well with the mv aesthetics and sends that the journey they’re on has a purpose—that they’re looking for something/there’s a goal in mind, even if they don’t know it. which again winds up at pioneer and white and the idea of the unknown being explored and realized and the new that comes from the blank space.

overall then… to “face the sun” is facing the new day. it’s facing time that passes and thus aging—growing up. it’s recognizing your shadow as you grow and it’s understanding more of yourself—search inside for more of yourself to further who you are and your dreams. that there’s a whole journey to get there. and it’s the notion of not necessarily arriving anywhere in particular but discovering the unknown future by living in it and the unknown parts of ourselves by them coming to light and being realized.

I also would like to think in the context of this coming out as we’re transitioning back to in person concerts and events, that a bit of it is seventeen and carats navigating their ways back to each other, too.