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tothisemptiness · 1 month ago

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Golden Hour: Part 2 Analysis Series Part II: "Ice On My Teeth" MV

Hey everyone! Welcome to the second part of my analysis series of this comeback. In this post I will be analizing the Ice On My Teeth MV step by step. Please watch it before you read this post so that you can follow along easier. If you would like to see the other parts of this series you can find them below:

Part I: Golden Hour: Part 2 Diaries

Part III: The Chess Piece Theory

Bonus Part: Character Studies

Meet Counter-TEEZ

Author's Note: This must be what Atiny felt like when "Say My Name" MV first came out because dude I understand nothing and I have nothing at my hands. I only know that ATEEZ MVs have a pattern of representing future events especially when they are filmed at the early stages of their respective story arcs, like "Say My Name" and "Answer". Therefore, I think this MV takes place during a plot point that will be revealed to us in a future diary and we will be able to make perfect sense of it then.

First off we see the towel turn from white to black. I am hitting you so hard with a theory right off the bat. Now, let's settle that the ATEEZ we see in this MV is represented by the color black. They wear all black except for some scenes of HJ and San and according to the members are chess pieces theory, the ATEEZ in this MV are the black pieces. Who is the white one? Z's regime is characterized by white uniforms, sure. Who else wears all white though?

These guys.

Also these guys. We can basically conclude that the ATEEZ we've known from the start are characterized by white, which symbolizes purity and ingenuity. It is very fitting considering their youth and noble goals.

Then who is this ATEEZ, why are they black and why are they against our ATEEZ? I genuinely don't know. For now I will be calling them Counter-TEEZ which will make more sense as I proceed with this analysis.

The ring kissing move is usually part of patriarchal establishments, or at least groups with heavy hierarchy. When compared to Black Pirates, this isn't very anarchist of them.

Snow. Keep this in mind, it will come up later. I also want to point out how, except for group shots and a single shot that is immediately followed by a group shot at the same setting, Hongjoong is always alone in this MV, he doesn't interact with his groupmates at all.

A broken mirror. We know this is an important symbol because it also shows up on the D-Day poster. Mirrors are symbols of self-perception and identity, this was the main reason why in Z's regime people were impeded from seeing their reflection in any way. Here, the mirror is broken. This may indicate ATEEZ's own identities are somehow distorted in this MV, further supporting my Counter-TEEZ theory. Notice how a chandelier appears in the background, which is also in the poster? Also keep that in mind.

We said that Counter-TEEZ are the black pieces. I imagine the tennis player army and the ballerinas to be their pawns because otherwise what would the tennis players' presence even mean. Interestingly, they are dressed in all white with just a black ski mask. I don't exactly know what this means, but it means something.

More chandeliers! San is pulling himself up using the chandelier but it barely budges. Gravity seems to be fucked since normal weight doesn't apply here. Another instance of weaker gravity in the MV is when Hongjoong floats in front of a neo-classical painting. Tumblr won't let me add more photos, just look at my icon. Usually we think stuff like this happen in the dream sequences, so this must be a dream sequence. Except we don't have the bright colors or extra-absurd imagery. Do you remember where else we see mention of fucked gravity?

"Halazia". The MV very likely takes place around the time of "Halazia" or at least after the event that caused the world to lose its gravity.

Excuse the shitty GIF, I did my best putting it up here, just focus on the move. The footwork is a Charleston move, which was a dance very popular during the Roaring 20s. Also HJ's flapper-esque styling belongs to the same era. The Roaring 20s was a period in the US characterized by the American Dream and extravagancy that showed off your wealth. Does the theme sound similar? "IOMT" in itself also shows us extravagant displays of wealth: a giant mansion, way too many chandeliers, diamond covered jewellery everywhere, a classical car on the dinner table... Is this dance move or HJ's clothes plot relevant? Not really, but it is fun to notice and draw parallels from! They also subtly reinforce the themes very well while keeping the artistic touches.

Especially in this part of the MV Yunho looks more in control even over other members and fills in HJ's absence in the leadership. Yunho taking on the role of the leader and HJ being isolated from the rest is also something we see in "Halazia". I usually don't like relating songs directly to the lore but ATEEZ have established that they actually tell the story through their music, so I will consider some lyrics. Yunho basically stops the puppet show Yeosang puts on for the press saying "How do we look?". What was Yeosang about to disclose that Yunho worried about their image? And why through a puppet<*

Yeosang is once again likened to a little bird. Let's draw some parallels between the MV, lyrics and the established lore. Other than this, we hear "Halazia" mention a little bird that is silenced:

"Mm, the little blue bird that lost its voice

I can hear the whispers

The beginnings of a deep echo

The voice that will overturn the world"

In the diary analysis post, we had established that thinking of YS as the blue bird seems like a reasonable idea now. When do we see YS being disregarded when he speaks? When he speaks to his father about his dreams. When he asks members about Sopro again and again. When he goes against WY's idea of starting again. We are so focused on WY but nobody verbally supports YS then, WY at least has Jongho support the idea even a bit. I doubt the theme of disregarding YS's words will end here. Furthermore, we see that he is becoming more and more central to the lore than he's ever been. I will come back to this point.

I need someone to help me understand if he is saying something clever or if he is just saying "WE ATE!!!".

There is a tied tic-tac-toe game between a white and a black player. I will start stretching this out to symbolize something. I think the white player (both in chess and in tic-tac-toe) is the original ATEEZ that lives on passion and dreams while the black player is Counter-TEEZ that live with the desire for money and other materialistic stuff. The reason they are in a tie is without money, they can't do their art but to make money they must compromise from their dreams, however what would the money they earn this way mean if they can't use it for progressing towards their dream? There is a blackish gray cat walking around the game. Wooyoung's symbolic animal is a black cat, so I think it symbolizes him trying to find a way out of this game. Both in this game and in chess whites start first and it also applies to this theory: before they ever thought of money they were already chasing their dreams, the need and desire for money came later on.

Jongho seems to stand in the middle of what looks like a medieval chandelier, with two fallen chandeliers beside him. I know I talk a lot about the chandeliers but they just keep appearing and falling down out of nowhere. I swear I am going somewhere with this topic, I just want to leave it for the end where I can talk about it more comprehensively. For now, I have 2 small theories that explain them:

They represent Counter-TEEZ's greed for extreme wealth falling apart

In "Halazia" not only do we see gravity weaken, we also see it coming back (the floating metal ball San pulls falls down). For all we know the gravity may also get stronger in this case. Then the chandeliers that hang from the ceiling may get unnaturally heavier and fall off from the ceiling since they hang from there with a support system fit for a lighter weight.

Return of bouncing yellow cars. Why though? Why put a recurring image like this? It doesn't even fit the aesthetic or the mood of this MV. Also we see that there are also full black pawns, so the white ones with black masks aren't the only ones. However, these ones aren't dressed up like artists or sports players but more like businessmen or a mob.

The song isn't even about this bro.

Yuh. I have no idea what kind of scheme requires this. I can only trust it will be revealed in the upcoming diaries

Yunho is showing the doctor something like an X-Ray scan of... the mansion? How do mansions have X-Ray scans? Who is the doctor? Why is he so scared of this and why does Yunho look like he is threatening him? Stuff that I hope we will find out in (checks old MV and diary dates) 2 years... fuck.

Is this a generic antique lighter or is it specifically made for this MV with a special meaning to the logo on the lighter? Someone help.

Arson and homicide all at once. 4 questions come to mind:

Why were all those furniture outside?

Why did Jongho pull them all in from a small window on the top floor?

Why did they burn them all outside after taking them in?

Why burn the doctor too?

The destruction of art, something normal ATEEZ covets and puts effort and money in keeping alive, is a theme previously explored in "MATZ", generally considered as a Halazia-related content. Too early to say anything, but I believe Counter-TEEZ may be walking along the same line as MATZ there. Speaking of fire and "Halazia", they prefer to destroy the images of Halateez using fire there.

I don't know if anyone else noticed but they don't put cookies at the end of MVs anymore :(

Loose threads to tie

There are a few elements I left to discuss here so that I won't be tied to a singular part of the MV or the song to discuss them.

I mentioned the chandeliers so much but pianos are also a recurring element in the MV. I believe it is the only musical instrument to show up (despite violins being the focal part of the song).

As I point out the chandeliers fall an abnormal amount of times. When San hangs from one, when Seonghwa claps his hands during his rap, two-three are already fallen while Jongho sings the second pre-chorus. Where else in ATEEZ's videography do chandeliers (fallen or not) and pianos come up? "Halazia".

There are 3 fallen chandeliers and one still standing just in this room. This is an absurd amount of chandeliers for a room of this size btw. In the back we also notice a piano. Not a grand piano like in here, but the pattern is still here.

Where else?

"Answer", which coincidentially (?) starts with a piano melody that has nothing to do with the song itself. Other elements that parallel "Answer" are the presence of snow and the images on the D-Day poster: glasses, a table ornate with candles, chandelier (again), and a mirror. In "Answer" we see an overwhelming amount of mirrors, both full size and as shards. The room HJ is in looks similar enough to that of "Answer" but smaller and not exactly the same. The theme of glasses also come up in "IOMT"s lyrics like "How many glasses? Woo, eight total", even though in "Answer" we see twice the amount. While I am so sure "IOMT" relates directly to "Halazia", I'm not sure how it links to "Answer", but the parallels are there, and out of all the images in the music video they chose the ones that were previously seen a lot in "Answer".

Yeosang Interlude

Another topic is the mansion itself. It feels like an exaggerated version of Yeosang's villa. Below are all the descriptions of the villa:

An antique villa, far removed from the city center and hidden by lush trees

A large table in the dining room

“The dining room let out into a short hallway that connected to the living room.”

Large windows framed by curtains

An antique cabinet is next to the window with a familiar frame and a broken glass object

The location, the hallway we see Seonghwa in that is narrow but seemingly endless in length, the absurdly large dining table that can fit a car on top of it, and the room where we see the Cromer and Sopro is likely the study where we see Jongho (with the large window and antique furniture). The mansion has a lot of artwork in it. Yeosang is an investor who also invests in art, taking on the historical "patron" role. Especially in the previous centuries, patrons would commission artists for artwork that they would exhibit in their own houses, so Yeosang having many artworks in his villa is a very fitting thing for his character. However, as I said, the mansion isn't directly YS's villa, it is an exaggerated image of it. Speaking of the parallels between the villa and the MV, the line "How many glasses? Woo, eight total" may also refer to the dinner scene in the diaries.

The backtrack of this song has violins as its focus. As we mentioned before, ATEEZ uses music to link their stories together. Violins don't come up in the songs, but they come up in "Halazia"s prologue, right after the blue bird flies away. Violins are also representative of Yeosang. "IOMT" basically combines all of Yeosang's imagery in one MV and gives us a good reason to think that he will be central to the story from now on.

Aside from not being able to speak, the little blue bird is also seen guiding Seonghwa to the white-clothed people in "Halazia"s prologue and epilogue. I will theorize a little on Yeosang's role here. He was the only member who explicitly went against Wooyoung in the diaries, saying their lives aren't failures just because they aren't chasing their first dream now. After Wooyoung uses Sopro, I think Yeosang will be the first member to break out of its effect (because he is much less tied down to this old dream than any of the other members, shown by only him being able to refuse the idea immediately) and will try to wake others up but he will, again, either be disregarded or downright shut down by the members who are caught up in its effect, mimicking the silenced blue bird. In this process, he will take on a guiding role for the group and his success will start a series of events that will change ATEEZ's universe completely. In this arc if Wooyoung is the voice of the heart Yeosang will be that of reason. Finally, I think Yeosang will first be able to wake Seonghwa up, leading him to the "Be Free" bracelet will trigger this as seen in the Epilogue, and moving from there will wake the others up with a similar method.

I hope I didn't miss anything but it is currently 3 AM so I very likely did. This has been a very detailed analysis and I couldn't even talk about some details I would like to because I can't really make sense of them. If I remember anything else I will come back and edit this post. If you took the time to read until here thank you very much and see you soon with the remaining parts of the analysis since I still have some themes in this comeback that I would like to discuss <3

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tothisemptiness · 1 month ago

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Golden Hour: Part 2 Analysis Series Part I: The Diaries

Hello everyone! I am here with the full analysis I had promised here. As I kept analizing and writing, I realized the post was becoming too long and it would be too tedious to read in one post so I decided to split it in various parts in which I would talk about one aspect of my analysis in each. If you want to read the other parts of this analysis you can find them below:

Part II: "Ice On My Teeth" MV

Part III: The Chess Piece Theory

Bonus Part: Character Studies

I want to start off with a personal note. I feel we are being stalled. A good half of the diaries this time only restate what was already told in GH:1 diaries. Honestly, the two albums' diaries could have been a single diary or GH:2 could have started the action off a bit more. If we go with this pace but tell a story as big as the first one I fear this thing is going to take something like 10 years (anticipating we won't get anything for a good 2 years at one point since they will do their military service) since right now they are going at half the pace of first arc.

I won't explain the diaries in detail here, I will just discuss the important parts so I strongly urge you to read them here. You can also find Golden Hour: Part 1 diaries here.

I feel it is important to understand their ages for measuring their level of maturity here. I believe they are around the same age as their real ages now. The only time indication we are given is that it has been 3 years since the end of Will diaries and the last time we could clearly hold track of time was the Fever series when events happened one after the another. I take their age in the first Fever entry, add around 2 years for the time they spent in World Z (the necessary time for establishing a big anarchist group) and add 3 years on top of that.

Not a plot point but I found the "Please. I call all handsome men oppa." line hilarious, she is so real for that.

In San's part there is an emphasis on "cleaning up your own mess". It is a big part of growing up, and our story here is about growing up. This makes me think that the guys have either caused a mess in the first part unkowingly and have to clean it up in this arc, or they will cause a mess in the near future and will have to clean up that.

The "Z backed into a corner, broke the Cromer in his attempt to flee, and, as a result, Woo Young and the members were thrown back into this world before they could see the climax of their movement." line in these diaries suggests they didn't come back on their own accord. In GH:1 diaries it is simply stated that Z was defeated and ATEEZ returned home, entrusting World Z to Black Pirates and Thunder. We just assumed they went back because they wanted to. This is a crucial part of the story that we never got to see, so will we ever see it?

"I know. I fell for him and nearly asked for his number." MINGI CANONICALLY GAY ICON??

The question of more artifacts comes back up, I believe this will be important in the upcoming comebacks. So far we have seen only one artifact that teleports you to the same place around the same time each time you use it for interdimensional transportation. A different artifact, however, may potentially teleport you to another universe or a far away time in the universes that we know. This would be a good way of connecting Halazia-related content to the main story.

I can't believe they actually referenced Britney Spears and said Wooyoung performs like her. These men are never beating the gay allegations.

"I saw so many ads with Min Gi on my way here today. He's everywhere! Do you know what it made me think of? (...) It's so over the top, it almost reminds me of Z." This may just be a fun jab, talking and reminiscing about the old times, but it is still a very interesting parallel between the characters in this arc and Z.

After Z breaks it, Yeosang picked Cromer up. He also picked up a red ruby named Sopro from Left Eye when they were getting out of the Disposal Sites in Fever Part 3 diaries. Now, we already didn't see the second Cromer break due to a huge timeskip, but nowhere in the diaries did they ever mention the red ruby, even though apparently Yeosang asked the group who should take care of it again and again and, surprisingly, nobody cared. It is a very interesting point, considering this object looks important since it looks like a gemstone and is said to be important and powerful by Left Eye. How nobody but Yeosang cared about it is currently beyond me. And even after acknowledging its presence, the group still moves on from it rather quickly and diverts the subject just like they had done before. The first and only appearance of the ruby is at the end of the "Crazy Form" MV, carried by the blue bird we had previously seen and heard of in "Halazia", its prologue and epilogue. In the "Crazy Form" MV reaction video, HJ shushes everyone up and indicates the cookie is important, and when asked who broke the Cromer he responds "the blue bird". The blue bird breaking a Cromer (not "the Cromer" because so far ATEEZ has used 2 Cromers and we don't exactly know which one this is) and carrying a red ruby away parallels Yeosang, who is often associated with the image of a bird, perfectly well. I think at this point it isn't too crazy to assume the blue bird directly represents Yeosang.

"I wonder what happened after we left. (...) Do they still remember ATEEZ? Or, do you think we've already been forgotten?" As part of the story, Yunho of course wonders this. We, as the viewer, know a bit more than what he does. Yes, they remember them, but not in the way they would like.

As the evening proceeds we see more and more reminiscing, becoming gradually more bitter than sweet. Even before that we see members questioning whether their current situation is what they really wanted their lives to be, hanging on the edge of dissatisfaction. It is clear that "Golden Hour" is not a term used to describe the current situation of our characters, it is for describing what they hang onto. They are hurt upon realizing that they have left their golden hours behind. Another theme of this series will be moving on from the past and recognizing golden hours as they happen, which I think will be even more evident in the later entries. The bitterness reaches its peak when Wooyoung suggests trying again and meets Yeosang's criticism, resulting in him leaving the party.

Another meaning of the term "golden hour" is "the first 60 minutes from the time of injury or appearance of symptoms in which an injured or sick person must receive definitive treatment". It is often related to trauma. Story-wise, their "golden hour" was the time from when they returned to World A to the point they ran out of money. If they were to make it big as artists, they must have done it right then but now that they are way past that time period their chances are near zero. Now they have to lead imperfectly put together lives, like a broken leg that heals a bit wrong due to insufficient first aid.

"Sopro is a sort of magical spirit that synchronizes the feelings of those who hold it with those who draw breath around them. According to legend, one of the four priest guardians of Halazia gathered the breaths of all of Halazia to create it." A simple paragraph that reveals so much. Let's pick it apart. Finally we have an idea about what Halazia really is: a sacred place according to a religion that was founded in the past in World Z. Maybe a temple with a considerable population or a sacred city (like Jerusalem for example). Combining this info with the knowledge that "Halazia" takes place after ATEEZ leaves World Z (judging by the prologue), we can say that in the future people turn back to religion, which was not present during the rule of Z. But, as it happens with all religions that have been around for a significant amount of time, the new version of this religion is somewhat changed in respect to its original version and we can say that by looking at the religious imagery that combines with the Halateez symbols.

"Sopro is a sort of magical spirit that synchronizes the feelings of those who hold it with those who draw breath around them." The desire to make everyone feel the same way. Stripping people of their free will. Doesn't it feel a bit too similar to Z's rule? It also doesn't say that those who are around the wielder will feel the same as the wielder, it just says their feelings will be synchronized. So instead Wooyoung may end up feeling the same as the others rather than the others feeling the same as him. There is a small grammar trick there (that I don't know if is the same in Korean) that changes everything.

Left Eye says that using Sopro may be dangerous. In fact, we don't know anything about its functioning and right usage except for the fact that it makes everyone breathing the same air as its wielder and the wielder themself feel the same. And who uses it? A drunk, hurt, and judging by the hour, likely sleep deprived Wooyoung. Amazing idea. Surely nothing will go wrong.

"Reignite our passion like it was back then," Now if I have watched enough films and have prayed enough to whatever god was listening to me, I should know that you must always be very specific in your wishes and prayers or else they come true in the literal meaning, which isn't always exactly what you actually meant. And here Wooyoung doesn't specify what the passion is for. Rookie mistake honestly.

A remark: There is this ongoing discussion on whether Wooyoung is a hidden villain or not in the fandom which was disputed by HJ saying that there are no members with hidden intentions. With his last action, WY arguably started an arc by the end of which the members will be changed irreversibly, very probably by going through horrible things in the process. He didn't have any hidden intentions: he messed everything up all while wearing his heart on his sleeve and had no bad intentions. He just made the error of thinking everyone truly wanted the same thing as him and acted selfishly while thinking he was doing them a favor. Now why does this action affect our old storyline? The indications are mostly given in videos like "Hala Hala". I believe the answer to this question relates to another theory of mine that isn't exactly related to this era, so I will focus more on it later on.

Where Do I We Go?

If you have already read my Golden Hour: Part 1 analysis, you know that I take the diary entries as the main things that further the lore and the MVs as things that expand the themes and mini-stories of the lore set up by them. Because of that I find this to be the right moment to establish where we are in the lore and hypothesize about where we will go next. Let's look at the 4 act story structure we had restarted with GH:1.

This is the latest point we are in.

The hook was the entirety of GH:1 diaries which set up the scene.

The inciting event was WY and YS's fight.

The key event is WY using Sopro.

What will happen next? First of all, a crisis will happen and we will meet our new antagonists in the next diary.

I doubt we will be introduced to an entirely new universe like World Z given that the end of its story arc is still not revealed to us clearly and we still have a very obscure story arc that is so far represented by the Halazia-related content. However, I don't think we are going back to anywhere near the point ATEEZ left World Z because even though it has been 3 years in the lore, we've gotten out of it just last comeback. It is also the thing our protagonists want and you can't give the protagonist what they want right at the beginning of your story. Therefore, I think we will be thrown into a time in World Z's future that is more connected to the Halazia arc so that we can start detangling it and exploring it more in depth.

I believe we will see a somewhat failed attempt at returning to World Z following this story that I completely made up because it is fun: By not being very specific in his prayer, WY ignited the wrong kind of passion. They have been secretly yearning to go back to World Z to their glorious lives more than just performing so they look for ways to go back there. In the desperation and haste, they do manage to go back to World Z but get the time wrong and end up too far into the future.

Furthermore, I think a big part of the struggle in this arc will come from the inside of our protagonists and inner conflicts in the group may cause big problems since now they don't share the same worldviews and dreams anymore and have a life outside of each other.

I think the theme of this new arc will be focused on finding the balance between dreams and real life, passion and responsibility and becoming your own person while keeping in touch with your roots.

If you read until here thank you so much and I hope you enjoyed it! If you have anything about this post that you would like to discuss I always welcome it <3

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