#my cats name is julius caesar lol

[taintedtort]

happy Ides of March🗡️

[citrusreadstoa]

Reading The Dark Prophecy: Chapter 20 (SPOILERS)

"Leg irons are fashionable / Cue the screaming god" What the fudge is the leg iron. What new torture device--

"playing my combat ukulele." Again, what makes it a combat ukulele? I have yet to see it do anything other than play regular ukulele music.

"That night I slept like the dead" Can Brieanna sleep? Can ghosts will themselves to sleep?

"I'll do my best to train your friend Calypso this morning" Complaint: we hardly get to see Leo and Calypso together. Where is my Caleo content?

"You don't have to fly. The idea was to make two ankle bracelets, but I didn't have time." Ten bucks Apollo is going to end up using the flying feature one way or another and he's just gonna get pulled by one foot swerving uncontrollably.

"Commodus blames me for his death" Because you killed him. "Why?" "Probably because I killed him." Yeah.

"Meg made a sound like a cat's sneeze." That's... an astoundingly accurate way to describe a short laugh.

"He's also vainglorious" This one's probably straightforward, but just in case... VAINGLORIOUS (adj.): excessively proud of oneself or one's achievements; overly vain Yep, just what I thought.

"So he's like your competition, then?" Lol Leo's not wrong tho

"Why Commodus? . . . Why not some eviler, more famous guy" That's what I've been wondering, too. I figured the guy who got stabbed 23 times but 60 people actually volunteered (I think the emperor's name was Julius Caesar but idk) would be one of the three. I simply assumed I was ignorant of Roman history (which I am). I looked it up. HE STARTED THE FIRST TRIUMVIRATE. HE WAS EVEN POSTHUMOUSLY DEIFIED. WHY IS THIS GUY NOT ONE OF THE VILLAINS? They're probably going to make a reference and give a good explanation later. Talking meta, it's probably because everyone already knows him and expects to see him. We already have Nero and Caligula, so having a third name that everyone's heard of would get excessive. Or, idk, maybe Rick Riordan just didn't feel like it.

"the third one, the emperor in the west" Oh, so now Meg watches her words. Doesn't care about Nero or Commodus, she just can't say Caligula's name. What's the point at the point? She's already drawn everyone else's attention. "Nero never used his name." Oh, that explains it.

"Nero took him." NERO BETTER NOT BE HURTING PEACHES

"A line of chevrons rippled on the green water" CHEVRON (n.): a line or stripe in the shape of a V or an inverted V

"I think that's another part of the same creature." Sea monster sea monster sea monster

Ooooookayyyyy we need to wait 'til next chapter to see the sea monster.

[tvranny]

tagged my @henantier! thank you

Are you named after anyone?

cassius? gaius cassius longinus; the dude who helped kill caesar, of course. longinus sounds like a fungal infection but we don’t talk about that. great name.

- When was the last time you cried?

Right Now

no just kidding, only a little. it was today, though

- Do you have kids?

human? no. i have julius though. he’s my son i guess albeit a dog. 

- Do you use sarcasm a lot?

with myself, yes. and with those i use IRL given that we’re moderate acquaintances i usually shift over to sarcasm pretty easily (only people in school though which are majorly people i’ve known for years even if we are just acquaintances). online? takes a lot. then again it takes a lot to talk to people as a whole so hahah

- What’s the first thing you notice about people?

i dont think a lot about that. usually too caught up in social anxiety shit to think about it but i suppose i take note of what they’re wearing. not judgmentally. i usually dont take any thoughts i have about what they’re wearing further.

- What’s your eye color?

very dark brown, almost black

- Scary movie or happy endings?

depends

- Any special talents?

no

- Where were you born?

california

- What are your hobbies?

lol

- Do you have any pets?

julius is my collie puppy. i love him so. cookie is my cat, although i dont mention her often bc she’s more so my mother’s.

- How tall are you?

oh, i don’t know. 5′4, about?

- What sports do you play/have you played?

played soccer when i was in... what? third grade? second grade? never again since

- Favorite subject(s) in school?

history. american history in particular

Dream job?

i dont know. something to do with the lincoln assassination is all i got. there’s... really not a lot you can do with history, to be honest, but i suppose i’ll figure it out eventually. 

not tagging anyone but anyone who wishes to do this can, i don’t mind (no reason to after all)

[fearlesslyenchantedinwonderland]

Look What You Made Me Do Music Video First (few) Impressions and Thoughts

Are we out of the woods yet? No.

Are we in the clear yet? No.

She lost him

But she found herself and then everyone on the outside decided to step on her for every little thing and now she’s done with it

(I swear every few listens I am going to get more and more enraged about all the *you know what* they put her through)

The first thing I thought of during the opening was haunted…which is also fitting because people thought similar things about the OOTW mv

The old Taylor is Dead LITERALLY. It’s brilliant. It’s OOTW Taylor, the last mv Taylor we’ve seen and that mv video ended ambiguously, so new Taylor could’ve killed old Taylor. The beginning is also very theatrical which reminds me of pieces of OOTW which is another great tie in.

Nils Stoberg - This Is What You Came For…all the haters you came but girlllll she dominated and there’s nothing that you can deny we’re all dead

2014 met gala Taylor swift is in the grave which seemly transitions us into bathtub Taylor. Met Gala Taylor gave me PLL vibes but I will say it over and over again that she is a genius, this is 2014 Taylor going in the grave. 2014 Taylor is the Taylor who put out an album about how she found herself again and then everyone walked on her (*realized she’ll be underground and ppl would actually walk over her wow*)

Somethings never change, starting with Bathtub Taylor we still have those same red lips. We have the $1 bill from the Trial which is EVERYTHING. What that man did is disgusting and is NEVER OK. I get Blank Space mv vibes from bathtub Taylor. I love how the makeup is very smoky to give reckless feel to it all…or just like you got in a steamy tub

Snake thrown all I can think is… were there any real snakes. I doubt that would be the case *flashback to love story bts video with the spider.* The teapot and cup, while it is being served by snakes it gives me beauty and the beast vibes like I was the beauty now I’m the beast or that new post going around I’m a nightmare dressed like a nightmare.  The pillars say “Et tu, Brute” which according to google is

A Latin sentence meaning “Even you, Brutus?” from the play Julius Caesar, by William Shakespeare. Caesar utters these words as he is being stabbed to death, having recognized his friend Brutus among the assassins. Note : “Et tu, Brute?” is used to express surprise and dismay at the treachery of a supposed friend.

Even friends can’t be trusted. Keep your eye out. (this phrase is also on the arm of the chair - which are shaped as skulls)

I also like that this scene is in conjunction with one of the “I got smarter” lines because I would equate Shakespeare with being intelligent (obv there’s a lot of different types of intelligence..but). Also “list of names and yours is in red underline while her dress is red and the chair she is sitting at has red accents).

I knew that her rings were snakes (obviously) but her shoes, her bracelet, and her necklace are either snakes or snake inspired which again has me like wow at the detailing. And then all the snakes pop up when she’s like ahh (makes me think of the promo video)

Her entire look in the Maserati scene is hideous and I love it. She has a snakeskin dress on with cheetah print and a cheetah wearing a 13 chain in the back seat (they better be fake). A reference to RED the song and album with a Grammy in hand. “love is like driving a new Maserati down a dead end street.” she’s tying all the loose ends lol. And even the fire: “it’s burning red.” And before I end on this section I must mention NO ONE helps her once she crashes they just photograph her (paps give me I know places vibes, but she didn’t get to their (her and her Cheetahs) place.

ORANGE OUT FIT I AM DYING THIS IS MY FAVORITE LOOK. ALSO. CAN WE TALK ABOUT THE TATTOO CAN WE TALK ABOUT THE TATTOO THE THATTOO. The cage gives me Miley Cyrus Can’t be tamed vibes. Also, I love the glitter on the bottom the cage (you still sparkle my dear).

Cat bank robbery. Interesting. Kinda creepy for me. She likes cats. Gives me WANEGBT mv vibes. People think she’s doing all this stuff for the money but she takes her songs off of Spotify so that new up and coming musicians can get fair pay, she asked for $1 from her trial, she has always tried her best to keep tour ticket pricing low so that everyone can come..like don’t tell me she’s in it for the money. MUSIC IS TAYLROS THERAPY. TAYLOR IS A WRITER AND SHE’S BRILLANT it makes her happy and yep.

Ok idky but my mind just went to OITNB and now I feel like the cage scene is, even more, brilliant bc orange jumpsuits in jail while she’s caged away…but there’s still glitter on the floor and she’s having a feast…it’s too late for me to figure out the symbolism in this.

Don’t ask me why but the beginning of the cage scene made me think of the 7th harry potter book/movie when they are at the ministry of magic and they are trying to break into Umbridge’s office and they use one of Fred and Georges stink bombs or something from the shop.Ironically they later do break into a bank and the snake is a very important part of the story.

Her sweatshirt says blind for love, which…do I need to say anything?? We have the motorcycle scene which made me think of 1D’s MM music video (very different and defs their worst mv but that’s what it made me think of)

My favorite part of the squad scene is the fact that her hairline is outlined with GLITTER. I had thoughts about the squad earlier but now I don’t remember but my girl’s boobs look good and like hello latex. (blah blah blah all the bs about her “squad” in the media). What is u squad…what’s the U for? Note her squad is broken and useless at the end and she’s all alone. also, note the room they’re using when looking in the background is really cool.

I need to rewatch the blank space music video because I swear this is the same set. Watching her dancers before they get their walkie talkies out is brilliant. Is he holding a wonderstruck enchanted perfume bottle?

Next is a snippet of Airplane Taylor which is sooo hard to see, but she’s cutting a wing off (Harry?) and she’s got a bandana on which makes me think Kennedy phase

And then we have the star of the show. Old Taylors crawling up like corpses. There’s not much to say except I LOVE THIS PART. I do have a question tho… do we have any Taylor Swift era Taylor’s I mean sparkly guitar could be seen as our song but the dress is fearless. Does that mean that that version of Taylor Swift is still there? or is untouched? That era didn’t have as many staple music video characters .. if she would’ve pulled an outfit though still probs been from our song. I need a side by side comparisons of all the Taylors found. Someone make this please (since it’s taking me 10 years there’s probs already one out).

STOP TELLING ME TAYLOR SWIFT CAN’T DANCE. also half the people saying that probably can’t dance either and WHO CARES. It’s not her profession were all just trying to have some fun. You’re the one missing out.

One of my favorite clips is Taylor walking away from the Maserati scene. No one helped her but now she’s bigger and better and she’s leaving everyone who left her out to burn to save themselves.

THE WINK. HELLO.

Casually picks up 2 motorcycles.

THis doesn’t matter at all but that airplane looks dusty. Anyways I love that airplane Taylor in a tropical shirt is just chilling in the background when all the other Taylors bicker.

The line up is obviously the best part. When initially watching it I didn’t realize it was still going I thought the applause was from the VMA crowd. I love how each Taylor has a different bow.

YBWM Taylor is my Taylor out of the old ones. Me is the VMA Taylor.

Yeah wow. It was amazing. Side note from the sneak preview we had gotten of Taylor I defs thought the taco bell?? commercial was the mv for a second while I was watching the vma’s and then I was like nope. lol.

Love you girl it was amazing.

[wristic]

Okay so, I'm new to the Sister Wives (heyyy!) and I LOVE your writing for Vikings (actually, al of it, but whatever), especially your Ivar series. Which brings me to my little question! I'm looking at doing something where the character comes from a Celtic background and I was wondering if you had any reference suggestions? I don't want to fling anything out there that sounds absolutely, totally ridiculous, lol! 🤦🏻‍♀️😂

Well first off Welcome to the Filthy Pain Train! (should it be chariot? doesn’t have that nice a ring to it tho) And thank you for enjoying my work! 

“I don't want to fling anything out there that sounds absolutely, totally ridiculous”  *coughs uncomfortably* yeah yeah I hear ya, I t-totally didn’t throw things out there myself on occasion...

Thing is about the druids, the Celts, the Picts, is that pagan practice and religion was mostly wiped out by Christianization. It was only recently with neo-paganism that it was brought back and romanticized so when you do research you can get a lot of conflicting guesses and speculations on what could have been. You see, The Romans came up to old England, busted down the door and screamed, “HAVE YOU HEARD OF OUR LORD AND SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST!?” and with that began the destruction and withering away of the druid practice. It was a long process spanning over centuries, and recording didn’t happen until after the arrival so it’s all very shifty ground to stand on.

For instance, amongst the country itself there are many similar gods and heroes with slightly different names, looking at the Wikipedia page alone can be daunting.

A personal favorite for inspiration was bouncing back and forth between The Nexus Druids and The Celtic Connection, then from there jumping to Wikipedia if I needed some more in depth description of the Gods and Goddesses I was writing about. Something to keep in mind is the number three being an important fixed number in many religions around the world, but especially with Druids. They have many triple deities, (multiple gods that...share a same spirit. Often either siblings, gathered heroes, or simply a god that splits from itself.) The Triskelion for instance is all over the place in ancient Ireland yet the truest meaning has been forgotten outside of speculation.

Animal sacrifices were common as blessings and protection of houses and lands (people are still finding dead cats under their estates), but human sacrifice is highly debated. You see, while there are eye witness accounts by Julius Caesar of the practice, I’ve read in a few places (that I frustratingly can’t seem to find) that no one has really found definitive evidence of human sacrifice in pre-Roman England. As this link suggests, Julius Caesar had reason to start propaganda painting the Druids as barbaric compared to him, he was conquering them. Much like the English saying Vikings were dirty nasty and terrible when most weren’t taller than 6 feet due to malnourishment, bathed so often all the English ladies were after them, and took great pride in manicuring themselves. BUT ITS JUST SO MUCH FUN TO WRITE THE DARK AND THE DIRTY SO DO IT ANYWAY IF YOU WANT! 

To help with characterization, the women back then were the shit, and yes, there are accounts of Pict warrior women and Queens. This page is hard to read so I’ll just highlight my favorite passages:

“In some early Celtic tribes the descendence of the mother seems to have been predominate and the women seem to have been free, proud and sexually rather promiscuous. Caesar reports, that in Brittany some women shared several husbands among each other. When rebuked by the Empress Julia Augusta because of her loose morals, the wife of the Caledonic Prince Argentocoxus answered: "We fulfill the necessity of nature much better than Roman women do, for we have intercourse openly with the best, whereas you are abused secretly by the least."

“(After he raped her) He then offered, to assuage his shame, to ransom her back to her people, sending one of her slaves, also a captive, with the message. Her countrymen came to the appointed place with the ransom, The exchange took place on a riverbank in neutral territory. When the centurion was busy picking up his gold, Chiomara assented, with a nod, according to Plutarch, or by speaking to them in their own language, according to Livy - that her kinsmen were to cut off his head. She then took his head in Celtic fashion to her husband, in the folds of her dress.” (yeah fun fact, cutting off heads and presenting them was common and a mark of victorious pride)

"A whole troop of foreigners would not withstand a single Celt if he called his wife to his assistance. The wife is even more formidable. She is usually very strong. She begins to strike blows mingled with kicks as if they were missiles from a catapult...The voices of these women are formidable and threatening, even when they're being friendly."

"The women of the Celtic tribes are bigger and stronger than our Roman women. This is most likely due to their natures as well as their peculiar fondness for all things martial and robust. The flaxen haired maidens of the north are trained in sports and war while our gentle ladies are content to do their womanly duties and thus are less powerful than most young girls from Gaul and the hinterlands."

In hindsight it probably wouldn’t be shocking if your Celtic lady hides a dirk under her skirts.

When writing characters with heavy druidic and Celtic backgrounds you have to acknowledge that by the shows standards Druidism is long gone, pushed out and if it’s surviving, it does so reclusively and in secret. (I read somewhere that some of the folklore myths may have been started by people practicing in secret to keep outsiders away from their sacred woods). That stigma probably would exist between the thriving druidic celt and the christian saxon. 

And you can totally play things loosey goosey when it comes to writing about them. The show itself does so all the time (like the brothers in the show are not at all the brothers in the saga) Ivar could have very well been nicknamed Boneless because he was asexual and had nothing to do with his legs. They aren’t even sure Boneless is the proper translation. So when writing, take ideas, experiment with them, have fun, you are far from the only person whose making things up for a more impressive story!

If anyone wants to add or correct me go right ahead! Things like these are super fun to learn and help give all kinds of inspiration to fellow writers!!

[squipkechi]

Tagged by: @staarbles

Instructions: Tag 10 followers you wanna get to know better

Name: Miles

Gender: Genderqueer (she/they)

Star Sign: Cancer

Height: 5’1

Hogwarts house: Hufflpuff baby!!

Favourite Animal: Seals (whales, frenchies, ferrets, and frogs work too uwu)

Current time: 2:05

Dogs or Cats: Both? Both. Both are good.

Number of blankets: m,,many

Dream trip: I’ve been to Japan many times but honestly it’s so much fun there so might as well just say Japan

Dream job: Comic artist! I wanna publish my own comics one day :)

Number of followers: bro idk 100 something

When I made my blog: 2016

Why I made my blog: uhhhhh,,,i made an account to read a very certain webcomic which i will not mention, but also to dumb my art- which i don’t really do anymore lol

Reason for my url: I played Cassius in my class’ production of Julius Caesar and I have never let it go since

I tag: literally anyone, go ham

Tagged by: @mikeystan3000 and @kikithedeceiver​ (hi kiki im SO SORRY I FORGOT TO DO THIS BEFORE AKJFHSKF) Instructions: Tag 10 followers you want to get to know better Name: starbs/tanya uwu Gender: girl Star Sign: virgo Height: umm 5 something?,, Sexuality: straight:0 Hogwarts House: Hufflepuff!!!! Favorite Animal: oh man I have so many favorites but I do rlly like raccoons!!

Current Time: 1:57 PM Dogs or Cats: I’m ok w both, but I hang out w dogs more:> Number of blankets: I have a bunch that I just rotate/switch with every now and then Dream Trip: aaa lowkey wanna see Norway tbh(i just need,,to survive,,,the cold,,) Dream Job: oohhh man animator/storyboard artist and/or hopefully zoologist;v; When I made my Blog: November 21, 2015 Followers: 650 Why I made a Tumblr: i remember making it because of seeing so many neat art and content and wanted to try to join in:Oc

Reason for my URL: i wanted a different username aside from tinyscribbles so i mashed up random words till i found one that sounded neat hence- staarbles!!

@pb-and-jammie @discountcassius @vaaxuate and anyone else who wants to do this ovo

[maiathebee]

Comprehensive Bibliography Of BTS

This is just a list of material referenced, alluded to or related to BTS’s concepts, music, photobooks, albums and music videos.  This is not a fan theory, or an attempt at one! Anyways here’s the precursor to my scholarly paper, lolllll (I’m not joking though).  I’ll update it as we goooooo....

Also, I know almost nothing about the School trilogy, but it’s my understanding that there’s not a lot of outside source material.  I could be wrong though.  Does it reference mangas and stuff??? send me a msg if you know.

(just a reminder that while BTS is remarkably involved in the creative direction of the group, the formation of a kpop groups’ era/concept is made by a large team of people, and therefore the members probably haven’t even considered or explored upwards of half the material on this list).

(asterisks mean that these works are not directly referenced by BTS in their interviews, lyrics or imagery, etc, but which are still tangentially related)

BTS book club list is as follows:

Shim Cheong - a Korean Panseori tale (Dark and Wild)

Demian by Hermann Hesse (Wings)

Seven Sermons to the Dead by Carl Jung (Wings)*

The Collected Works of CG Jung by Carl Jung (Wings)*

Thus Spoke Zarathustra by F. Nietzsche (Wings)

Beyond Good and Evil by F. Nietzsche (Wings)*

The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas by Ursula K Le Guin  (YNWA) 

The Moral Philosopher and The Moral Life by William James  (YNWA)*

The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky (YNWA)*

Le Transperceneige by Jacques Lob (YNWA)

Then here’s the film club list:

She and Her Cat (dir. Makoto Shinkai)(short film) (HYYH pt.2)(this is according to Bang PD)

Lost River (dir. Ryan Goslin) (Young Forever)

Big Fish (dir. Tim Burton) (reason here)  (YNWA)

The Helpers/No Vacancy (dir. Chris Stokes) (YNWA)* (tbh this seems fairly coincidental to me, which is why it gets an asterisk.

Snowpiercer (dir. Bong Joon Ho) (YNWA)

BTS music playlist:

Wild For The Night by A$AP rocky (Dark & Wild)

Friday Night Lights by J.Cole (Dark & Wild)

2001 by Dr. Dre (Dark & Wild)

花樣的年華 - Zhou Xuan (HYYH pt.1/pt.2)*

Nevermind - Nirvana (HYYH pt.2)

Wasted Youth (HYYH pt.2)

Wish You Were Here - Pink Floyd (Young Forever)

Passacaglia in D minor (BuxWV 161) - Buxtehude (Wings)

You’ll Never Walk Alone - Louis Armstrong (YNWA)* (100% this isn’t a purposeful reference, but it’s a good song, y’all should listen to it)

BTS’s art history class bibliography:

Julius Caesar on Gold by Basquiat (Young Forever)

Tricycle by Basquiat and Warhol (Young Forever)*

Orange Sports Figure by Basquiat (Young Forever)

The Fall of the Rebel Angels - Bruegel the Elder (Wings)

The Landscape with the Fall of Icarus - Bruegel the Elder (Wings)

The Lament for Icarus - Draper (Wings)

La Pieta by Michelangelo (Wings)

Personnes by Christian Boltanski (YNWA)*

Further Analysis (and more fan-theory type stuff) in chronological order,  under this read more~~

I’m not sure there’s meant to be a single “correct” reading of the group’s narrative or story. Even in Wings, which drew its story fully from Demian, the ultimate narrative of the BST M/V is more vague.  While there might be a complete and overarching narrative that Bighit is trying to create with Bangtan’s concepts/mvs, I think it’s more likely that there are a lot of narrative threads running through the story, and some are maintained longterm, some are relevant only to as specific chapter, while others are merely aesthetic/cosmetic.  I have a feeling that even longterm narrative ideas are sometimes allowed to fade away for the benefit of moving the story forward at the pace they want. 

Dark and Wild

Shim Cheong is just a throwaway simile on hip hop lover.  I’m pretty sure it’s a reference to the idea that seeing Shim Cheong again allowed her blind father to gain the ability to see.

References like the one to Wild for the Night on hiphop lover (they also tweeted about the song back in 2013) don’t really do much except show that they genuinely like/listen to American rap and also it explains at least 66% of the dumb mistakes Rap Monster has made, probably, my poor problematic child.  Hip Hop lover references a ton of artists, but I just included the ones that are mentioned by more than just name.

The Most Beautiful Moment In Life (pt.1/pt.2)

Zhou Xuan is the first media reference point for HYYH (花樣年華)(It’s what the Chinese title for In the Mood For Love is based on). The lyrics refer to forgotten dreams.

Wong Kar Wai’s In the Mood For Love (花樣年華) is not listed, as RM mentioned in the interview that this was not associated with their album. 

Notes of a Desolate Man by Tianwen Shu is excerpted in a Taiwanese literary anthology by the name of  花樣年華, and I though think it relates thematically, it’s merely my own personal association~ There’s no indication that BTS or Bighit even knows it exists.  Tianwen Shu is greatly influenced by Lu Xun, who wrote the anti-confucian societal norms novel, A Madman’s Diary. 

Nirvana t-shirts are a go to for BTS’s stylists, probably MOSTLY because they fit their preferred grunge image, but the word “Nirvana” fits well into the ideas of tragedy/death, utopia/dystopia and idealism that BTS plays with, while Nirvana the band is obviously a good reference point for realistic portrayals of youth culture and music which speaks to young people, particularly the crazy popular Nevermind (ahem Yoongi’s intro song) with Smells Like Teen Spirit and Come As You Are.  (further fan theory here)

It’s crazy to me that Bang PD found inspiration in a five minute anime about a cat, but read the wiki summary and you’ll believe him:  “When it's over She cries and becomes depressed. Chobi does not understand what the conversation was about or what happened but concludes that it was not her fault. He stands by her and comforts her. Time goes on and it becomes winter. She continues going to work and moves on with her life. In the end Chobi and She are happy with their life together and say in unison, 'This world, I think we like it.’”

Fire (Young Forever)

Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here” thematically deals with youth/nostalgia (Shine On You Crazy Diamond: "Remember when you were young, you shone like the sun").  It includes critiques of the music industry and the cliches that the group had to deal with.  The narrative of Wish You Were Here is very much in line with Bangtan’s overall group narrative.

Lost River (a phrase you can see on a wall in the Fire M/V) is a film about a poor community, and specifically a mother and her two sons, going through crisis.  The film includes a scene of a party in an abandoned high school and ends with both a house and a car on fire. The film has an open ending which leaves room for an improved future, but the film is primarily about the limited possibilities and opportunities

As far as I can tell, the “Basquiat” paintings in the fire M/V are just imitations rather than references to specific paintings.  They’re probably being used just as an aesthetic choice - Basquiat’s art was a synthesis of street art, outsider art, social commentary and post-expressionism.  However, his life is also relevant narratively: he died young at 27 and he first gained fame as a graffiti artist.

I’m not putting it above because the film is super inappropriate, but the phrase “enter the void” is used in the Run M/V, and could refer to the Gaspar Noe film of the same name.  The title of that film is, in fact, a reference to The Tibetan Book of the Dead.  However, the term “void” (and the images of the void in the M/V) could just be a reference to five elements in Japanese Buddhism (including fire), particularly the Book of Five Rings.  But this is me getting uber fan theory, lol.

Another graffitied phrase in the Run M/V is “wasted youth.”  This could be one of three things; a reference to the hardcore punk band, Wasted Youth, an allusion to Fast Times at Ridgemont High which also includes a scene featuring “wasted youth” graffitied on a wall, or the phrase isn’t an allusion, but merely a description of the M/V concept.

Wings

The relationship to Demian needs its own post, so I won’t even go into it itself, but the tangential references it spawned are as follows:

The paintings in the Wings video are all in reference to Demian but are also all biblical/mythological in nature, based on the book of revelations, Ovid’s The Art of Love,  and the crucifixion.  The religious references, however, are dulled down -- Jesus is not fully sculpted, leaving him to be a vaguely carved form and allowing the image to stand more as an allegory for the relationship between mother and “son” in Demian.  (some further fan analysis of the art here)(and more specifically on the use of icarus).

The Passacaglia is also a piece which is referred to in Demian in the part of the book where the narrator begins to find spiritual fulfillment through music and art, something BTS talks about a lot.

Demian draws lot from Carl Jung, particularly his ideas about symbolism, archetypes and psychoanalysis.  The book specifically alludes to Jung’s Seven Sermons, and the idea that Abraxas is the ultimate being, uniting both god and the devil.  Thematically, through Demian, this deals with themes of forming ones’ own moral code, and ideas of will and strength of character, with good and evil being both at odds but also simultaneously part of everything. This theory/concept in largely influenced by Nietzsche, most especially his Beyond Good and Evil.  Together these are all philosophies which pull away from the ideas of societal norms or strict social structures and place a premium on personal/creative expression.

Thus Spoke Zarathustra (quoted in the Wings photobook and BST M/V) also furthers this idea that good and evil are “a wheel.”  It posits that Truth (not morality) is the highest virtue and that idealists flee from reality (SEE: Icarus).  The novel also introduces the idea of the overman, which is a gross idea and super problematic, but I can it being applied thematically to BTS as the idea of a ‘fully realized self.’  Zarathustra is a figure Nietzsche borrowed from Zoroastrianism.  (this writer has more ideas on some connections to Nietzsche).

You Never Walk Alone

“Omelas” and the theme of walking obviously references the Le Guin story, which is inspired by the William James essay, which in turn borrows ideas from Dostoyevsky.

Namjoon’s reference Snowpiercer plays into the video’s visual narrative (an inescapable cycle, the train, the cyclical nature of seasons, laundry is a cycle [2mjjk theory speaks to all these, lol]) as the story is about a train which circles the globe, in a world stuck in perpetual winter. Unlike the more environmentally-focused graphic novel, Snowpiercer the (korean-directed) film is intensely focused on class inequality, a theme which runs through BTS’s albums (see particularly Baepsae, but it’s a concern relevant to their School series, since most pressures put on students are related to social class) and which is of incredible concern to Korean people, and therefore is a common concern of a lot of Korean art.  Bong Joon Ho’s other film works are all very heavy on social commentary  (the host deals with the american military and politics/activism, sea fog also talks about social inequality... etc...), so referencing one of his films is a pretty clear statement that you are making a critical commentary on something.  Like the Le Guin short story The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas, the film is about a dystopia in which the upper class/middle class/general public is reliant on the continual suffering of another (in this class the lower class or last train) to survive.  Trains provide a very easy metaphor for class given their class divisions into separate carriages.  This was also applied in another Korean blockbuster from the last year, Train to Busan (dir Yeon Sang-ho), which included some pretty transparent commentary on the negative effect that an apathetic, self-serving, lazy (male) middle-aged, middle-class could have on the survival of families and younger generations.

Most fan theories agree that the clothes in the M/V are a reference to the sewol ferry disaster.  Here is the fan explanation for how that connects to Boltanski’s Personnes.