BTS STORYLINE AND THE NOTES EXPLAINED

@drchimchim // ig

You are probably here from my storyline highlight. Please read the actual Storyline from the posts before you read the notes to understand it fully. Thank you.

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I worked really hard on this so I will appreciate constructive criticism. I am not saying I am correct or anything, we will only find out when BigHit releases an explanation, but this storyline is based off of a lot of literature that I have read and Art History which I have studied. I have also worked with a couple of graduate students who specialize in the literature that the storyline is based off of.

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With that said, I hope you enjoy :)

Part 1: The Music Video Storyline

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I Need U

The ‘I Need U’ MV. This is where it all starts. The transition of a young man from youth to adulthood. This storyline is based on the text “Demian”, a novel about a young man looking back to his youth and reflecting on how he became an adult. This analysis of the storyline will be based on the allusions from Demian (it was confirmed by Namjoon that is the book used for the storyline, making this analysis the most accurate- no time travel or death, sorry!).

The mv starts off with Jin holding 6 petals, each petal represents each of the boys, who represent an aspect of Jin’s psyche. Yes, the boys do not exist in real life and are a part of Jin’s psyche, each representing a different part.

Before I get started on each of the boys/ parts of Jin’s psyche (Jin is the main entity), let me explain some recurring symbols. Throughout the series, three main symbols represent adulthood- the black hood, darkness, and water.

After the scene with Jin laying down the 6 petals, we see taehyung get up and put a black hood on. Then it cuts off to Jungkook walking aimlessly in the dark streets, and you can tell he has been walking around aimlessly for hours. He suddenly bumps into someone wearing black hoods (adulthood), they beat him up senseless, but that is not the shocking part. Jungkook never defends himself. Jungkook represents the youthful part of Jin, that because is so naive of the world- is the most eager to grow up. This scene represents how helpless youth is in the face of adulthood, both in the video symbolically and as a stage of life.

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I Need U

Now back to Jin’s room, the petals catch on fire, he lies on the bed in a fetal position. He set his youthful emotions on fire because anything that is burnt is gone for good- he wants to give up all these emotions because of the pressure they bring, but he is not ready- hence the fetal position.

In the next scene, Namjoon and Taehyung are laying on the concrete and Jin’s car (a symbol of adulthood) comes to them. Taehyung represents the rebellious/youthful side of Jin, and in contrast, Namjoon represents the mature side of Jin (he works at a gas station, in literature, these are symbols of maturity because of wage, payment, etc.). Every time Taehyung is in trouble, he calls out to Namjoon- just as in real life when we face an obstacle the first two parts of ourselves to respond are the mature and the immature part- together.

Now Hoseok is on a bridge, the bridge representing a cross in between two stages. As he walks, he falls in the middle and cannot move towards either side. He is literally stuck in the middle of youth and adulthood. In the background you see cars passing, again representing adulthood and the passing of time. In literature, the passing of a vehicle- especially a train represents the passing of time. You see people moving on with their lives, while Hoseok is struggling to find the meaning of his. Taehyung is also on a bridge, thinking about what he will do (confront his father)- he is trying to take control of his life.

At the beginning of the video, Jimin was inside a bathtub, but at this point he is outside the tub, shivering, and the water from the tub is overflowing onto him. Whether he is inside or outside the tub, he can not escape the water, which is the recurring symbol of adulthood. Adulthood is inevitable. Jimin is seen burning a paper- he represents the side of Jin that is in denial of his dying youth.

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I Need U

Right before Taehyung is about to kill his father, Jin gets a call from his messed up emotions (the lily flower on his chest glows as he is in a dark room- darkness=adulthood, remember?). Taehyung puts on his black hood and weighs out his options as if he knows what to expect after his father is dead. He walks over and grabs a bottle to use as a weapon. Right before the scene of him fighting his father, Jungkook (wearing a black hood) crosses the street, unattentive while a car drives towards him at high speed and then it cuts to Taehyung killing his father. Now I want you all to remember that Taehyung is just an aspect of Jin’s psyche, meaning he did not literally kill his father. That just symbolizes him becoming the new man of the house- a step closer to being an adult.

Jimin is now inside the tub, drowning himself in denial. Then there are scenes looking back at the happy times, showing what Jin is losing. They are running out of a dark alley as if they are running away from something- adulthood. Jin opens the curtains and looks out the window (Peter Pan allusion), he is contemplating “going back to Neverland”. In the real world, Jin and Taehyung have symbolically killed their father, by standing up to parental authority, as all boys must do to become men.

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I Need U

In the next scene, the boys are at a campfire, all happy- this is Jin’s “Neverland” state of mind. Scenes of Taehyung killing his father and the campfire cut to each other- juxtaposition. This is a technique in the literature that puts two things close together to emphasize a contrast. Taehyung repeatedly stabs his father, sometimes the hood is on, and sometimes it is off. Indeed, it is the adult side of him that decides to kill the father, but it is the boy that does the stabbing until the damage is done. Again this scene represents the gradual loss of innocence as one becomes an adult- no one literally killed their father in this entire sequence.

At the beginning of the video, Jimin was inside a bathtub, but at this point he is outside the tub, shivering, and the water from the tub is overflowing onto him. Whether he is inside or outside the tub, he can not escape the water, which is the recurring symbol of adulthood. Adulthood is inevitable. Jimin is seen burning a paper- he represents the side of Jin that is in denial of his dying youth.

Right before Taehyung is about to kill his father, Jin gets a call from his messed up emotions (the lily flower on his chest glows as he is in a dark room- darkness=adulthood, remember?). Taehyung puts on his black hood and weighs out his options as if he knows what to expect after his father is dead. He walks over and grabs a bottle to use as a weapon. Right before the scene of him fighting his father, Jungkook (wearing a black hood) crosses the street, unattentive while a car drives towards him at high speed and then it cuts to Taehyung killing his father. Now I want you all to remember that Taehyung is just an aspect of Jin’s psyche, meaning he did not literally kill his father. That just symbolizes him becoming the new man of the house- a step closer to being an adult.

Now Namjoon and Taehyung are together and Namjoon has the black hood on. He touches Jimin’s hand that was reaching out for him- in a way passing the “disease of adulthood” onto him. The car scene actually echoes others from the Prologue and Run (I will make posts for those too).

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I Need U

The Next scene is Yoongi grabbing a gasoline tank and Taehyung dropping his weapon. At the campfire, Jungkook shields himself from the fire, while Yoongi back in his room, is trying to start one. He looks to the side of the bed where evidently someone was sleeping with Yoongi (the other side of the bed was messed up). Taehyung committed a sin, while Yoongi sinned with someone. Yoongi represents the part of Jin that wants to erase all his past mistakes, forget about them, and move on- setting something on fire is ultimately making it gone for good.

Back at the joyful campfire, Hoseok gets rid of his pills in the fire- because remember, the campfire alludes neverland- he no longer has to worry about adulthood. This also indicates that Hoseok is in denial about his condition, that is no longer a young adult.

Back at the gas station, some ungrateful customer throws money at Namjoon right out of the car window (again, a symbol of adulthood), leaving him stunned and upset. He then drops his lollipop, the symbol that ties him to his youth, on the banknotes on the floor like some kind of bravado against adulthood. A lollipop which turned out to actually be a cigarette, a symbol of adulthood, illustrating Namjoon’s denial about what he actually is now (he actually sees the lollipop, not the cigarette).

Yoongi’s room is now on fire as if neither the sinner nor the sin ever existed. This is a metaphor for how the boys, now adults, refuse their new reality. They want to hold on to their youth forever.

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I Need U

Being in denial is a coping mechanism that gives the mind the time to unconsciously absorb shocking events or information, so you’ll eventually be able to deal with those more rationally. Jimin also is burning a paper, he is trapped in a cycle of denial about what happened to him. tae is now crying with his hood off; its the boy that is crying- not the man. hoseok lying down across the bridge, finally open his eyes: he is still midway across the bridge towards adulthood, stuck again in between 2 states. joon looks down at the floor back at the gas station, motionless: he’s all alone and surrounded by darkness.

The boys are by the seashore, facing the ocean. Once again, they are depicted as being in between 2 worlds: on the firm ground but against the wide, deep and unpredictable sea, still in youth but with adulthood on the horizon (the background). Symbolically speaking, dreaming of the sea connects the conscious and unconscious mind: the seashore is a meeting point between land and water, with the ocean being, therefore, a metaphor for the conscious and unconscious mind coming together.

The state of mind of JungKook’s, who are feeling trapped in his child state and wants to grow up, is emphasized here when he steps up onto the shoreline, at the very edge between land and water (this exact same scene with JungKook will be re-enacted by the pool, in the Prologue). It is also a mirroring scene of his wanderings at the very beginning of the MV, when we see him on a bridge (in between 2 worlds).

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I Need U

The boys suddenly appear behind him, running fast past Jungkook (he’s the youngest) with the ocean in the background: they’re all running towards adulthood together. Flashing now to a crying Taehyung, in total despair over what he has done. His hood is off, as this is the grieving boy in denial who is crying. In his bathtub, Jimin is also in serious emotional turmoil, breaking down in tears: he can’t stand the truth that youth has come to an end.

Those scenes work in contrast to the seashore sequence, which really is only a rehash of what’s to come. But the cycle of pain the boys feel over the death of youth cannot and will not be broken until Jin finally accepts he is now an adult (the Run MV will later clarify that he has to let go of youth without necessarily letting go of the emotions of his youth, which prevented him from wanting to grow up all along).

Now at the shore, tae is looking beyond the scaffolds and then jin glares at him in anticipation as if he knows tae will do something. then we see him first on the verge of the diving platform at the pool site; in the last scene by the sea, he will eventually jump for good from the pontoon into the wide ocean (into adulthood).

in the final scene for I NEED U, all the boys stand facing the ocean, joyful, watching birds fly (a symbol of youth, as babies were first born as birds in the world of Neverland, hence why they can fly). Jin is laughing uproariously, watching them. The very last shot is about the wide open ocean. Time is running up for youth!

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Prologue

The prologue starts with Taehyung in the twilight, right after he killed his father. He is in shock and confused. He calls his friend Namjoon. Namjoon is the mature side of Jin’s psyche, and Taehyung, the rebellious part of his psyche calls him in times of need.

The next scene at the pool site is a retake of what happened in I Need U, of what will happen in the end of prologue, and what will happen in Run- the boys will be trapped in a vicious cycle for as long as they won’t accept that the death of their youth is not the end of themselves. When each single one of them will be ready to let go of youth, then only will they be able to put an end to the cycle: it’s a process Jin, as the main entity, has to unconsciously go through to reconcile is old and new self (everything and everyone in the dream sequences are ultimately controlled by Jin’s psyche).

Taehyung goes to Neverland to escape the reality of his severe actions. He falls onto the mattress on the floor. He looks at a polaroid of his dad and crumbles it, as it reminds him of his actions- this way he symbolically kills his father once more. He is lying down on an empty, abandoned pool (absence of water- the absence of adulthood → neverland). This prefigures the wide ocean (Adulthood realm) he will have to dive into at some point, but for now, he saves.

The rest of the boys appear and Jin is further away from watching them, almost as if he is recalling the events and emotions from his youth. Jin serving as the main body is nostalgically watching his childhood emotions. He thought he has to leave them behind to become an adult, so of course, he misses them, as he feels at a loss of his identity without them. For now though, even if it’s all a dream, Jin is reunited with his emotions and he feels happy, hence the “You can smile as long as we are together” quote when he is greeted by his friends: he is a whole once more. When he sees a butterfly, however, he senses that something is off and that this might not be a reality- the butterfly represents something delicate- his youth.

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Prologue

Next, all the boys play like young kids, oblivious of the real world and joyful, while Jin keeps documenting everything. Through the imagery of childlike playfulness and their surroundings (a “Neverlandesque” forest, they are evidently referencing the Lost Boys of Neverland. at the end of the neverland sequence, the boys are now sitting at the edge of the pool, jin is still filming, tae is out in the back diving from the platform, jin is the first one to notice. this is a re-enactment of the jumping scene at the end of the Prologue, only the pool is empty so the boys are still safe in youth for now (but the sun is going down and their time is almost up).

jin offers to take all of them to someplace pictured in the Polaroid which is the shore from inu- a metaphor of the realm of reality. All the boys agree to go though Jimin, who’s the embodiment of denial over the loss of youth, clearly seems uneasy (this is in the next shot that Jungkooks actually blows yoongi's flame off, preventing him from burning down the evidence of youth ending like he did in I NEED U).

The boys have now gathered around a bonfire again, reenacting the I NEED U campfire scene. This time though the mood is quite melancholic and bitter-sweet. yoongi especially seems lost in his tortured mind while playing with a lighter, somehow mirroring the terrible motel scene. he is embodying Jin’s confusion and anguish over what’s to come (acting all gloomy in contrast to how happy he was in I NEED U, when youth was still his). By his side, JungKook tries to appease his mind by blowing his “fire” out, the same way he will try to appease him in Run during their fight (JungKook, as the youngest, is the most limited in his actions in a world of adults. He is consequently the most eager and less scared of them all to actually grow up, as hinted throughout the MVs. He’s, therefore, acting as the “soother” in this pairing).

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Prologue

The following morning, they all go to the beach and spend the day all happy and carefree one last time. The car motif is now central, as a reference to adulthood: Jin takes them to the sea that symbolically connects his conscious and unconscious mind. There, he is physically in between 2 states, 2 worlds: the realm of dreams and the realm of reality (adulthood).

As the main entity, Jin is literally driving his emotions to where he is heading (adulthood), taking them with him, as seen before and as we will see again. The last day together at the beach is actually an alternative take on the scene where they are blocking a tunnel filled with cars in Run, where the boys all rebel one last time against the adult world though they already are on their way to it. at the pool site, namjoon (the most mature) is playing w a toy car- (irony), trying to get rid of it, but accidentally sending it into the water (where it belongs- going into adulthood is inevitable).

The following morning, young JungKook is contemplating the sea and looking over the horizon between his fingers as through a spyglass: he’s wondering and anticipating what’s next, with a look of longing in his eyes (again, a reenactment of scenes from I NEED U and the Prologue, always portraying JungKook as in a hurry to grow up, like children often are). yoongi then appears by his side and slides a hand over his shoulder: the fire is out and he looks serene now, contemplating the sea and looking over the horizon together with JungKook: he’s made peace with the idea of adulthood. This is a very intimate scene between the 2 boys, when they seem to be understanding each other without having to say a word. This sequence works in contrast to Run (Korean and Japanese ver.), where they were at odds and all hope for reconciliation seemed lost. Though happening seemingly before Run, this scene actually looks like the definite conclusion for their storyline (as time isn’t linear in the HYYH cycle).

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Prologue

they all sit down and watch the sunrise- new day/ new life. tae decides its time to enter adulthood and puts on a black hood. he climbs the scaffold as jin watches silently. the rest of the boys are worried and beg him to come down, as tae gives them a reassuring look telling them not to worry. he still looks anxious though, but with courage jumps of into the water and butterfly starts playing in the bg. as the main body, jin does not interfere, but the boys- who are the other components of jin's psyche are not comfortable w the sudden move.

During the end credits, the song “Je ne regrette rien” by Edith Piaf is playing. In the Inception movie, it is played every time as a wake-up song for people involved in a common dream, to tell them the effect of the sedative will soon end and that they will wake up. It is played here at the end of the Prologue with the same intention to wake the boys up from their shared dream. Both in the movie and the Prologue MV, the message behind the song is clear, and hopeful too: “Do not regret anything” (and move on).

After the end credits, we see Jin by himself, in his car (symbol of adulthood), still by the shore (in between 2 states). He then takes a look at a polaroid picture of him and yoongi that joon had taken earlier. Visibly puzzled, he can only see himself: this is because Jin is out of the dream now, and the boys simply don’t exist in this realm.

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Run

We are in reality in Jin’s psyche, who are processing the idea that he is no longer a child in is mind throughout the whole Trilogy — a process he has to go through to reconcile is old and new self. Everyone is, then, ultimately controlled by Jin’s psyche and tae is acting, as every single one of the boys throughout the HYYH cycle, as an alter-ego.

Shots of Taehyung are shown, struggling underwater to symbolize his state of mind from the past videos. By symbolically killing his father in I Need U, Taehyung is becoming an adult, represented by the darkness around him. Struggling with the new reality, a muffled version of Butterfly playing in the background, he falls down back into dark waters (in a reverse scene to the Prologue ending, where he jumped forward to the wide open ocean). Water is here an obvious symbol of internal emotional turmoil, as it was for Jimin in I NEED U: tae is confused, lost and regretful over his youth, just like Jin was in I NEED U and the Prologue (they are all one and the same).

While he enters the water, he remembers the happy moments with the boys as well as the moments of struggle, he is reliving the hardships of growing up, just like jin does in inu and the prologue.

Namjoon is paired with Taehyung in this video as well for the purpose of juxtaposition. Joon is the mature part of Jin’s psyche, while Tae is the complete opposite. Namjoon is seen first at the abandoned train station from I NEED U, set out to follow the path of the train tracks to find youth again: he is going backward instead of moving forward, just like tae, the coffee scene at the beginning actually mirroring tae’s own fall into the realm of dreams.

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Run

He enters a party, and at the party, Taehyung crosses Jin over the chest as to mark him- Jin is already past the youth stage, only he refuses to acknowledge it. Written on the walls it says “Wasted Youth, Enter the Void”, a reference to adulthood. this is the dark place from which tae is “coming back” from right at the beginning of the MV, The dark place surrounding joon at the end of INU at the gas station (pre-seashore sequence), and the dark place we’ll see him surrounded by in the Run Japanese version, at the phone booth. The dark place they all are heading towards at the very end of the MV.

Then, Jin is building a house of cards as they all watch. The child-like dreamer Jin who is building that fragile thing destined to fall. And surely, rebellious tae knocks it over as if telling him that he cannot stay in this world of pretend (youth) forever. He then looks directly at the camera, breaking the fourth wall (an imaginary “wall” that exists between actors on stage and the audience) as if aware that something is off somehow, that what is being presented here is not reality (a similar thing happened to him in the Prologue when seeing the Butterfly/plastic bag).

The boys of our story play hard, drink hard, misbehave and act all chaotic, but a sweeter and more childlike side of youth is also shown with the pillow fight scene. This is a symbol that will be used again in the Forever Young MV to help the boys get through the maze of growing up, telling them youth is just a state of mind.

In I NEED U, JungKook is pushed around by adults (the thugs in black hoodies), thrown against the wall and beaten up badly while powerless to defend himself; in Run, he’s also pushed around and thrown against the wall, this time by Yoongi, though here he rebels and is the one who actually strikes first and hits his opponent — after he attempted to appease the other boy, and even though he still obviously wants to reconcile (Jungkook and Yoongi are an official pairing for the HHYH Trilogy. Yoongi has a dark and fiery nature, while JungKook acts as the “soother” in their relationship).

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Run

They keep fighting and Jungkook is eventually left all battered and bruised on the floor, in a blatant parallel to I NEED U. However, what happens next differs significantly: yoongi throws a chair into a mirror, shattering it in pieces, expressing feelings of confusion over who he is and where he is going by doing so (this will be emphasised especially in the Japanese version of Run, with the mirror motif associated to Suga throughout the MV).

On the contrary, Jungkook in the next shot looks at himself in a non-broken mirror, illustrating a reverse state of mind. He then breaks the fourth wall as if telling us that something inside him has changed. And indeed, in the Japanese version of Run he now looks bitter over yoongi and crushes a blue rose into his fist, a reference to the blue roses reflected in the mirror previously shattered by Yoongi, and symbolising “the unattainable”: he’s basically saying he is breaking free from yoongi and everything that makes him feel controlled over and powerless (feelings that are connected to youth in his mind). In other words: he’s letting go of childhood (the camera then pans out and frames him surrounded by the void that is adulthood).

Jin gives an anxious look to Jungkook too as we flash to another location; Jungkook is now looking straight at the camera with concern (symbolically looking back at Jin, but also breaking the fourth wall again). He’s sitting on top of a big car truck (symbol of adulthood), blocking all traffic in a dark tunnel full of cars now stuck. now the boys rebel but Jin only watches them act up and eventually moves the car around, while the boys run through the dark and seemingly never ending tunnel of adulthood, in hope to escape it. Jin then picks them up as they continue taunting the adults behind them from the back of their truck — only they don’t realise that they are now themselves in a car, and moving towards adulthood.

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Run

Scenes of the boys running and Taehyung struggling under water then get all intertwined. We see Tae thrown into the bathtub as well though, also telling him he can let go; Jin, a train going through in the background (motif of life passing) exchanges a look with Tae similar to scenes from I NEED U and the Prologue, and with similar timing: this is the very last shot of Tae actually under the water, with a look of realisation on his face. He will then indeed let go.

Now in the dark tunnel of adulthood, the boys are walking calmly towards the darkness, there is no light at the end of the path. Jungkook then turns around with a sudden realisation- they are entering adulthood. That scene mirrors exactly the one where he presumably gets hit by a car in I NEED U, where he was being symbolically hit by adulthood.

This is why this time, Jungkook looks back at the car behind him not in stupor but with a look of awareness and deep understanding. Finally, he softly smiles at Jin as if telling him: “Okay, I get it. Don’t worry though, it will be fine”. joon's jacket also reassuringly says that “There is always sunshine in my heart”). It is also a reference again to the “You can smile as long as we are together” quote from the Prologue, as they are not parting ways by entering adulthood, like Jin feared at first: they’ll stay together forever because youth is actually a state of mind

The very last scene after the end credits shows Jimin in the bathtub, alone now, wearing the same clothes as before (we are not back in I NEED U); he actually sets fire to the polaroid picture of them all, minus Jin, by the shore in the Prologue (and mirroring scenes from I NEED U Korean and Japanese versions). By doing that, he is ending the cycle for good: the denying part of Jin’s has come to term with reality and doesn’t feel like drowning in sorrows anymore. All is well. He is also telling us by destroying the picture with fire, a symbol of denial of existence throughout the HYYH cycle, that none of it was actually real.

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Young Forever

So now the boys are in a maze- a maze that once you completes leads you to adulthood and will let you escape the middle way in between youth and adulthood. This symbolizes the journey of accepting the past and accepting that youth is a state of mind that they now need to move on from. Jin, the main entity needs to realize that killing your youth will not end you- it will just put you in another stage of life. Namjoon walks as he lightly grabs the strings- he barely bothers with the past. He is the mature side of Jin’s psyche that has already somewhat accepted the past.

Jin is in distress holding on to the fence.

The feathers from the Run mv pillow fight flow towards Jungkook, representing his delicate, yet free stage. However, Jungkook accepts the past as well, just like Hoseok who realizes his pill addiction (symbol of realization that he was stressed and harming himself mentally). Jimin is dripping wet (HYYH trilogy bathtub reference), holding on to the fence just like Jin- he is the denying part of Jin’s psyche.

One by one, they all escape the maze, Taehyung as expected being the last one to do so- the most immature part of Jin’s psyche took the longest to accept his actions as they were the hardest to accept.

the boys all run together towards the destination before the sun sets (before time runs out) and we see an airplane symbolizing the new opportunities the boys will have now that they are starting to accept adulthood.

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Begin

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At the beginning of each short film, Namjoon narrates the part of Demian by Herman Hesse that each short film references. This book has references of the Bible and tells the life a young boy, between guilt and self-realization. Somehow it illustrates the imperfection of life. Jin represents Sinclair and the other members represent Demian (various aspects of the psyche). They are all essentially the same person.

"The realms of day and night. Two different worlds coming from two opposite poles, mingled during this time"

We hear whistling while seeing Jungkook is bed. He is dreaming/ having visions of a burning piano, which references yoongi’s short film. He looks distressed and has a white bird on his shirt, this is a recurring symbol in Demian for the thirst for independence. Then we see Jungkook painting a portrait and at first it is hard to tell who it is.

In Demian, Sinclair was in love with a girl, and so he decided to paint her. However after he finished the painting he realized- the portrait was Demian. As Sinclair stared at the painting, he realizes, that the painting wasn’t his crush or Demian, but it was himself. "I got the feeling that it (his painting) wasn't Beatrice or Demian, but myself"

These short films are an allusion to Demian, so when Jungkook is done with the painting, we see him stare at it, perhaps in the same realization as Sinclair.

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Lie

"My parent's house made up one realm

This realm was familiar to me in almost every way

Mother and father, love and strictness

Model behaviour, and school"

The first scene is a forest, but we discover it's an illusion. It's not the outside we see, but just a painting. Jimin seems to be in a sort of mental asylum.He is alone, the background is pure white and filled with no expression or emotion. He seems to suffer inside, and might be struggling with depression. A sort of robot is showing him different symbols, which correspond to the others members. At the sight of Jungkook's symbol, Jimin shrugs. The second symbol is his own, and his reaction is laughing. He is fighting with himself, and is desperately looking for a friend, a presence. We see him raising a hand in the direction of an empty bed, searching for someone. At this moment the symbol of Hoseok appears, and so a glass of pills. This reference is very obvious, he is not himself anymore because of his loneliness and pain. Jimin also sees the burning piano of Yoongi and an apple is falling in the water at the same time (this is an oxymoron between fire and water). The symbol of the apple refers to guilt, temptation. It's the image of Adam and Eve who lost their immortality because they eat the forbidden fruit. The apple represents the all the things jimin will have to face once he is an adult. the adult world is tempting to all kids, as the apple is, but that temptation is just caused by an illusion, which if the fall under will make them lose their innocence as adam and eve lost their immortality.

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Stigma

"It was the first fissure in the columns that had upheld my childhood

Which every individual must destroy before he can become himself

Such fissure and rents grow together again, heals and are forgotten

Taehyung is committing vandalism on a shop. He gets arrested by the police, but it seems it's not the first time. This short film is family related, and taehyung suffers from guilt and self-destruction.

His family background is quite dark and complicated. His father is a heavy drinker and became violent, so Taehyung is doing everything he can to protect his sister. But he doesn't have enough power, he is alone and desperate. A mother with child figure is reflected in his eye. He is looking for a mother to support him, he wants a real family. He is connected with hoseok's short film (indeed the two will form a pair in the WINGS album). He also sees a chained up phone cabin - which is connected with Namjoon's story. It symbolizes his need to communicate, to seek for help, but the cabin is locked and seems inaccessible for him. A white dog appears, he is his only friend and his whiteness is related to innocence, kindness that is slowly taken away from Taehyung. Indeed after this he is trapped in a cage, and the dog, which is free, disappears. We see him cutting his hair. I'm not sure but I think in the Asian culture, cutting one's hair is an act of redemption. He is guilty towards his sister and close friends because he was not able to protect and take care of them. "Kromer indicated to me by pressure on my arm that that was the person I had to stab, it was my father"(Stigma/I need U/Taehyung)

The book explores the idea that Cain is noble. Taehyung kills his father symbolically, meaning he is an adult now- Demian reference because demian also talks about how his parents house was a part of his comfort- till he had to step into adulthood.

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First Love

"There are numerous ways in which god can make us lonely and lead us back to ourselves. This was the way it dealt with me at that time"

Yoongi is breaking into a sort of music shop, pushed by his need to play piano. Even though the alarm is ringing with a fast sound, he is submerged by the music and doesn't care. Suddenly he hears a whistling, which is the one of Jungkook and seems absorbed by it. He tries to find the origin of the sound. The bathroom of jimin appears, and is overflowing (the two constitute the second couple of WINGS). Maybe Yoongi doesn't express all his emotions and keeps them locked inside of him. But one day everything falls apart and all this emerges again. After that a car accident occurs and destroy the shop and the piano. Yoongi doesn't know what to do. He just stands there with sadness and despair. We see the love of music of Yoongi being destroyed (his "first love"). Is it the fault of the others ? Of the cruel world ? Or is it just him? The car accident was not his fault, and it seems to be that god had planned it, almost to have him realize what really matters. this is kind of like the "Hero's journey" seen in greek mythology, where a hero is growing up and through a series of bad events realizes what really matters and grows into an adult. an example would be when simba realizes that family matters and then leaves the "boy" mindset behind and returns to his pride with the "man" mindset to take revenge on scar as he realizes that family matters. In demian, sinclair falls in love with this girl who he thinks is the pure definition of beauty. it was his first love. later he draws the girl- only to realize its a picture of demian- who is his mentor into adulthood. in demian, Sinclair is drawn to Pistorius' organ playing. Pistorius is also obsessed with fire.

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Reflection

"The other realm, however, overlapping half our house, was completely different. A large mixture of horrendous, intriguing, frightful, mysterious things, including slaughterhouses and prisons, drunkards and screeching, fishwives, calving cows, horses sinking to their death, tales of robberies, murders and suicides"

Namjoon is quietly looking at a bird picture, a recurring symbol in ‘Demian’. This shows his link to him. He is tattooing it on his arm. in demian, Hesse uses the hawk as a symbol of the mark of Cain. Emil discovered that the bird represents the god Abraxas. The bird represents a desire to break free, to be independent. Symbolically, since the bird appears on Sinclair's childhood house, it shows that this yearning has been with Sinclair from the very beginning. Later, the sparrow appears much brighter, illuminated. This indicates that Sinclair has reached within himself to activate the part of him that longs to be set free. Namjoon demonstrates his mature side, tattoo is indeed very bad seen in Korea and even forbidden in some places. He doesn't care about the rules of the society and the judgement of others. in demian sinclair says about the painting of the bird that, "My painted bird was on its way, finding a friend". then we see joon looking into the mirror as if he recognizes something. in demian, sinclair looks at his reflection but thinks he sees demian, he approaches demian only to realize he was looking at himself. sinclair realized he is an adult. And then, he hears the phone ringing in the telephone booth we saw in "Stigma". But again, it is locked, and Namjoon tries desperately to break in. He knows that Taehyung needs help but he can't do anything. The word "liar" is written on the booth ; Namjoon couldn't protect anyone, he is a coward. He is clearly struggling with self identity. He is condemning himself for not being able to interfere. The society condemns him and forbids him to do what he wants. He is longing for freedom, just like the bird and wants to be able to protect his friends who are suffering too. at the end of demian, sinclair is wounded during war and calls out to demian, who tells sinclair that sinclair has reached his destination (adulthood) and does not need demian anymore as demian now will always be a part of sinclair (joon realizes who he is in the mirror- self reflection).

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Mama

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"With a face that resembles her son,

Timeless, ageless and full of inner strength, the beautiful woman smiled with dignity

Her gaze was fulfilment, her greeting, a homecoming

Silently I stretched my hands out to her"

Hoseok is in a mental asylum, far away from a normal and social environment. A nurse is writing on his hospital sheet his characteristics. We can see he's suffering from anxiety and hallucinations. For the doctors, he is retarded and irrational. All these characteristics refer to the Münchausen syndrome, which is defined as a psychiatric condition where a patient feigns illness to create attention or draw sympathy to themselves. Hoseok is still a baby in his mind and finds comfort in his room, away from the judgement of others. Medication is delivered to him at precise hours. Pills are overflowing and seems like colourful candies in the white room. He is escaping in an world of illusions by taking these drugs. When he is high, he sees Taehyung's vandalism and complete the last pairing of WINGS. in demian, sinclair says "That night I dreamt about Demian and the coat of arms...often it (the bird) was terrifically big and multicolored". The plan of the glass of pills is linked to the short film of Jimin. Hoseok also sees the same forest painting as the other while getting out of his cell. He is looking at the painting while eating a snicker, which symbolizes again childhood. Little by little, the forest transforms into a mother embracing her child, the same image we saw reflected in Taehyung's eye in his film. This mother saved him from his loneliness and thanks to her he managed to get out his "prison". At this moment, we understand he is becoming an adult. This connects to the ‘branching away from parents’ theme in demian, and it is similar to tae’s symbolic killing of his father in terms that to grow up, you literally do not have your parents as a direct life line anymore. You become your own healer, your own teacher, etc. In Demian, Sinclair talked about how his comfort place was his parents home, and then as he stepped off into the real world- he realizes why it was comfort place and asks Demian for help in the transition.

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Awake

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"The bird rights its way out of the egg

The egg is the world

Who would be born must first destroy a world

The bird flies to God

That God's name is Abraxas"

Jin's short film is the last one of the series. Basically it is a synthesis of the previous ones, and as we know he is going to be the main character of the WINGS era. All the symbols of the boys are gathered here : the bird of namjoon, the apple of jimin, the portrait of jk, the piano of Yoongi and the phone booth of taehyung. remember, all the boys are part of jin's psyche. now that all the boys accept adulthood, so will jin. Later on, when he tries to touch a mirror, it causes a ripple, as if he’s touching the surface of water. Jin is in his own mind and thoughts, just as sinclair was when he approached demian only to realize he was looking at himself. At last, the film ends on six polaroids relating to the other members that Jin took, all of which represent his steps of accepting adulthood

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Spring Day

Ok so before I start, I want to give a background on the story “The Ones Who Walked Away from Omelas”. It's a short story about a utopia where everyone's happy all the time, and when they come of age they're shown the source of the city's happiness. It's a child, who lives in solitude and bears the weight of sadness so that the city can remain happy. Once the citizens find this out, they may stay in Omelas or they may leave.

We got to talking about how, if some of the citizens saw suffering through the child's experiences, then it wasn't a true utopia, because suffering shouldn't exist. However, a point I brought up was that couldn't a utopia just be a dystopia in disguise? If you restrict one from suffering and feeling sadness, don't you also restrict them from reaching self-consciousness and becoming more self-aware? Is that not also a form of censorship? We didn't really reach a clear answer here. Another thing that was mentioned was the fact that "utopia" comes from Greek meaning "no place", and "dystopia" is also Greek, meaning "the bad place".

Anyways, how that fits into "Spring Day" is because they all leave Omelas, that much is clear. They all decided to leave the utopia and find what's outside. So, in terms of BTS' common themes of youth and loss of innocence, couldn't we extrapolate this idea to say that we all have our own Omelas? When you're a child, you think the world is amazing and full of happiness (at least, many of us are fortunate to see the world this way). You don't have to work, other people take care of you, etc. But when you get older, you realize that this "utopia" that you've been living in wasn't really real. You always wish you could go back, when times were simpler and you didn't have to stress or worry about anything.

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Spring Day

Namjoon starts off the song with “I miss you/ When I say that, I miss you more/ I am looking at your photo/ But I still miss you/ Time is so cruel”. But you can't go back, because you realize that someone had to suffer to give you that world: your parents. When you were younger you saw them as superheroes, invincible. When you get older, you realize that they're just people too - they feel sadness and pain, and though it was difficult, tried their best to give you a good start to the world. They hid their suffering from you, but you can see it clearly now that you're older. Now, once we leave Omelas, we understand that we leave that innocence behind, and discover the harsh realities of the world. We never really had a choice in leaving our utopia behind as we get older. Of course, I guess you could say there are some people that decide to never really leave Omelas, the adult-child. People who carry their spoiled nature and stubborn ways into adulthood, the people who continually rely on their parents despite being able to live an independent life.

The Snowpiercer is mentioned in this song. A little description is “Set in a future where a failed climate-change experiment kills all life on the planet except for a lucky few who boarded the Snowpiercer, a train that travels around the globe, where a class system emerges." So the train is the “in between” place for the transition of utopia and dystopia. We leave behind a utopia to go into a dystopia. The utopia does not last and we will enter a world of struggle and suffering. You can almost say that the train is the place of transitioning from youth to adulthood.

So why do people leave the utopia? Though we know that we can never get that level of happiness and innocence again, we also know that “ no darkness/ No season/ Can last forever”

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Spring Day

Even though the world outside is worse, we're still clinging onto the hope that we'll find happiness. And when we do, we'll cherish it, because we know that it won't last, but more importantly because it's real. It's isn't a hidden truth or manufactured happiness. More importantly, even though a true utopia may never exist, it doesn't stop us from continuously striving to make our own world a better place, because even if it's not perfect, then maybe it's better than last month or last year.

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BST

At the beginning of the MV the boys enter an art museum. There are lots of statues to examine here. now each maknae has a hyung mentor, just like how sinclair had demian. joon is reading jk a book, which seems to be "demian" itself. Later in this MV joon reads another quote from the book: "He too was a tempter; he, too, was a link to the second [world], the evil world with which I no longer wanted to have anything to do." In 'Demian' this is a quote in which Sinclair thinks about Demian who is a friend and mentor to Sinclair. now jk is with joon, jimin w yoongi, and tae w hobi- jin who is the main body is by himself, as they boys are a part of his mindset.

now tae and hobi are examining a statue which seems to be "four seasons of autumn". Four Seasons statues are a sculpture set of four pieces, one for each of the Seasons. The Autumn sculptures of Four Seasons sets are usually depicted with a goblet in hand and grapes, or another such autumn harvest in the other hand. Autumn is a time of transition during which wine is typically made (grapes mature into wine, which has often been associated with intellect). The statue behind the Autumn sculpture seems to be an extract of 'Marble Statue of a Youth' which is a Roman copy of a Greek sculpture that represents Youth.

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When they first enter the Museum we can see the many statues and to the very left of the room is another famous one. 'Venus de Milo' by Greek sculptor Alexandros of Antioch-on-the-Meander is a statue of Venus. It is thought that originally Venus held the Apple of Discord up in her left arm. The Apple of Discord was a gold apple that gave eternal beauty. Three goddesses fought over this Apple and that started the Trojan war, which is why it's called the Apple of Discord. So we have Youth, beauty and an Apple, which tie in well with everything else. Here we see yoongi and Jimin with a statue and it's not just any statue. The statue represents a crouching Venus, surprised in her bath. There are many versions of this motif. This piece is called 'Vénus Accroupie' by an unknown artist found in the French King Louis XIV's collection. Venus is a Roman goddess often associated with love, fertility, seduction and desire. She is also a mother figure who is said to be the mother of the Roman people. It is precisely desire and motherhood that I see as the important symbols from this considering the other symbols we'll discuss in this MV.

There is one last statue in this room that we need to mention. This is the sculpture 'Perseus With the Head of Medusa' by Benvenuto Cellini. It presents Perseus winning over Medusa who had hair made of snakes that could turn any man into stone. In the context of this MV I would put importance to this as a symbol of overcoming evil and also of exposing that evil doesn't last forever (or rather that evil and good go hand in hand, as one cannot truly exist without the other). Here we have a painting,'The Fall of the Rebel Angels' by Pieter Bruegel the Elder. This introduces the theme of fallen angels which continues throughout the MV. It is interesting to note that the fallen angels in this painting are also partly beastly and half human and half demons or monsters. The classical piece of music that plays in the background here is Bach's 'Mass in B minor'. We might also note that there is a door on either side of the painting. One white and one black. They are assembled in a room and yoongi covers Jimin's eyes. This symbolism is repeated later and I'll treat it then. In the background there is a neon sign with English writing. Only part of it shows, but I believe it says: "The Tempter" which would tie in with the quote from 'Demian' that joon recites in the MV.

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Behind the Neon lights is the painting of 'The lament for Icarus' by H. J. Draper. Icarus was trapped on Crete with his father who made wings out of feathers and wax for them to escape. His father warned Icarus not to fly too low so the humidity from the sea would not ruin the wings and also asked him not to fly too high so the sun would melt the wax that kept his wings together. Icarus ignored his father's warnings and flew too close to the sun. The wax melted his wings off and Icarus fell to his death. This painting is famous for depicting Icarus with his wings intact and beautiful, even though the legend states that the wings were ruined and fell off when the wax melted. Out of all the paintings of Icarus that they could have chosen, I believe there is some significance in the fact that they chose this one.

Here we see Jungkook in the same room as they all were earlier. Here he is on a swing and seems almost like he is flying, and later in the MV he really does fly (or levitate). This refers back to 'Demian' that joon reads to Jungkook. In the book Sinclair says that he is afraid of dreams in which he is able to fly.Pistorius who is a mentor figure to Sinclair and an organ player (like how yoongi plays the organ later) tells Sinclair that this fear Sinclair has of his flying dreams "It is the feeling of being linked with the roots of power, but one soon becomes afraid of this feeling. It's damned dangerous! That is why most people shed their wings and prefer to walk and obey the law. But not you. You go on flying. And look! You discover that you gradually begin to master your flight [...] Lacking that, you would be drawn up to the heights, powerless - which is what happens to madmen." Guys did you see that? Sinclair' organ-playing mentor, Pistorius, indirectly tells him about Icarus! It's all beginning to come together.

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Here we have joon with a green liquid. The liquid is called Absinthe, or the green fairy. It's a hallucinogenic alcohol. It's prepared by putting a spoon over a glass of Absinthe and melting a sugar cube on it (traditionally with a candle like namjoon does). Absinthe was a very popular drug for writers in Paris in the 1900s and when you look at Rap Monster's room it seems to belong in the same era. There are books all around and remember that joon is the one who always reads aloud. He is the writer in this story. Likely he is Herman Hesse, the author of 'Demian' who lived from 1877 to 1962, exactly during the time at which Absinthe was commonly consumed by writers all around Europe. Later in the MV joon (presumably) gives the tempting drug of Absinthe to Jungkook. He tempt Jungkook to the dark side (Boy Meets Evil).

We get an image of a painted bird which ties back into 'Demian' (and the short films). In 'Demian' Sinclair paints a bird..: "I had painted something, a bird struggling out of the globe. I sent him this painting. After a time I found a piece of paper with the following words written on it: 'The bird fights it's way out of the egg. The egg is the world. Who must be born must first destroy a world. The bird flies to God. That God's name is Abraxas.' [..] We may conceive that the name [Abraxas] as that of a godhead whose symbolic task is the uniting of godly and devilish elements." This might sound a little complicated right now, but it's the main theme and by the end it'll make sense. joon and Jungkook's room full of green smoke also comes into yoongi's room, which is directly above joon and Jungkook's room, and the green fairy smoke affects him too.

Now we have hoseok who sits with an arrow. Behind him is Michelangelo's famous sculpture 'Pieta' which depicts Virgin Mary with the dead body of her son Jesus after his crucifixion before he was placed in his tomb. It is worth noting here that the face and upper body of Jesus has not been carved, although it has in the original work. This seems to be symbolism for Jesus still being under construct. The boys are in the process of choosing their path and are hence under construction themselves. hobi later fires off his arrow. This suggests that he is the destroyer of evil. His arrow hits tae and multi coloured blood splashes out (like at the end, and we'll get to that). He sits in a Roman Bath. In Roman culture the bathhouse was a place where one would go to have a conversation. It was more than a simple cleansing, it was a place where decisions were made. This is where hoseok makes the decision to oppose taehyung. Remember that hobi and tae were paired up together at the release of the photos?

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hoseok is the mentor figure to taehyung, but he sees that taehyung goes to far and comes to the Roman Bath to think. Here he takes the decision to end it all. And to act like Perseus and rid the world of tae's evil. They all assemble for a supper. This seems likely to be a reference to The Last Supper, which took place before Jesus' crucifixion. There is nothing to eat on the table apart from one apple on each of their plates. Apples often represent wisdom, as they are entering the stages of adulthood, they are gaining nothing BUT more and more wisdom and some knowledge that they weren’t ready to have (adam and eve). At the supper the boys are all presented with the opportunity to get knowledge of both good and evil, but no one is shown taking a bite. remember those short films..? That's right. Jimin took a bite of an apple in his short film.

In the MV we now see yoongi and Jimin in Suga's room. Jimin, who has eaten an apple and has knowledge of good and evil, holds an apple out to yoongi. But yoongi doesn't want to eat the apple. He has been corrupted by the green smoke from joon and Jungkook's room. yoongi holds out a blindfold. In the next scene we see Jimin blindfolded and tied to the room. yoongi wants to shut Jimin's eyes to the knowledge he has gained through the apples. Remember that 'Demian' quote about flying earlier..? Well it might apply here. Are we to understand that yoongi has tied Jimin up because he is afraid of being linked to the roots of power? He is afraid of flying and realising his true potential, just like Sinclair was.

Next we see taehyung sitting at the edge of his terrace. From this angle we see the scenery he has been looking at it, which is the painting 'Landscape with the Fall of Icarus'. At that sight taehyung jumps and falls down, just like Icarus, because tae too is missing his wings, just like Icarus, because he flew too close to the sun. yoongi plays the organ, taking on the role of Sinclair's mentor, Pistorius. This is a passage from 'Demian' where Sinclair talks about his new mentor the organ player and philosopher Pistorius: "And for our next meeting he had promised to play an exquisite piece of old music, an organ passacaglia by Buxtehude." A-ha, it is precisely this piece that yoongi plays on the organ: Passacaglia in D minor by Buxtehude. Another direct connection to 'Demian'. The boys are running out of the museum, all except for Jin, who lingers behind. tae approaches him and covers Jin's eyes (like yoongi covered Jimin's eyes to the knowledge). When tae removes his hand (Jin's blindfold), Jin sees what's really there.

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Jin sees a large statue with black wings. Meanwhile the veil that has covered tae throughout this MV is lifted and his back is exposed. We see two black marks from where his wings were attached. tae has jumped off the terrace (without his wings), like Icarus, and just like the painting in the room from the beginning (and in which Jungkook flies) the Wings are intact here, on this statue. We should note that the wings are black and this goes nicely with the lyrics which state that the wings were that of evil (or the devil).

Again this might connect with 'Demian'. In the last chapter of the book we witness a kiss as Sinclair parts with his mentor Demian, who we learn is a part of Sinclair himself, and not a real person. In this scene, when Demian reveals that he resides within Sinclair, he tells Sinclair: "'Frau Eva said that if ever you were in a bad way I was to give you a kiss from her that she sends by me...Close your eyes Sinclair!' I closed my eyes in obedience. I felt a light kiss on my lips where there was always a little fresh blood which would never go away." This is Jin, acting as Demian (on behalf of Frau Eva) and kisses the statue. Colours are exploding all around hoseok. He sits and looks defeated because earlier in the MV he shot an arrow at tae to defeat evil, but tae still managed to get to Jin. The statue Jin kissed begins to weep and bleed in different colours, and so does Jimin as his blindfold is removed. Now that the blindfold is removed the knowledge of good and evil is all that remains and this is why the next few things happen, because the fabricated world of paradise can no longer exist with this new knowledge.

Jin approaches a mirror. Above it is a German phrase by philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche that translates to: "You still have to have Chaos inside you in order to be able to give birth to a dancing star." This is when the statue of the weeping Virgin Mary that was behind hoseok falls to pieces. In the lore Virgin Mary is pure and good, but she gave birth to a dancing star (Jesus), and hence she has to have Chaos inside her. When Jin looks into the mirror, his own face is falling apart, just like that of the Virgin Mary statue. This ties into the quote above the mirror. No one is truly pure, there must be chaos in order to achieve greatness (and in order to fly).

Note that in the end the mv ends with jin kissing the statue- this is the same way that demian ended when sinclair realised he is an adult. Throughout the book, as Sinclair is becoming an adult, he calls out to Demian for help. In the end, he is at war, thinking that he is dying he calls out to Demian for help, who reminds Sinclair that he is now an adult and does not need Demian anymore. Then there is a kiss between the two and Demian disappears, within moments, Sinclair realises that Demian was always a part of him, the mature part of him- just as the boys are a part of Jin. Here, jin the main entity is now an adult

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Love Yourself Era

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Now we are at a new era, the love yourself era. Now that the boys are adults, they have made one cycle around the hero’s journey, they faced a problem, solved it, and are reborn- a whole new person. Now they will go through another cycle of the hero’s journey, but this time to find themselves and love themselves.

We start with ‘Love Yourself: Her’, in which the “main idea” is that a person is just a new adult and has no experience with finding who they really are after their journey and no experience with the new, arising feelings of love. Through songs like ‘serendipity’, you feel that this person is in love with the idea of love, so they give it and desperately want it back. The majority of the song is “let me love you” and says in different ways that “we were MEANT to be together”, this person really wants everything to workout and be perfect. It is kind of like when we first enter highschool, and a lot of people “feel” that they are more mature than they really are and get into relationships they are not ready for not knowing the sacrifices, arguments, the other negative sides of making a relationship, all they know is that they have love to give and NEED it back. This desperation is also present in “DNA” and in “best of me”.

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Now we are at “Love Yourself: Tear”. The theme of this album is the person realizing that they can not love anyone else before they love themselves, and if they love themselves, only then can they help others. This idea is most prominent in “The Truth Untold”, it is the story of a man who was unable to save a girl he loved from her death simply because he hated himself and therefore could not find the courage to go talk to her directly. Only is he had accepted himself, would he have been able to save her and even have a future with her. Other tracks that display the theme for need of self love and acceptance before loving others are Anpanman, Magic Shop, 134340, and Fake Love. Anpanman is a hero who is made out of bread and beans and he helps little kids by giving a part of himself to them to make them happy. Magic shop basically is the boys saying, “if you can give our best to us and make us the great people we are and help us achieve so much, you can do the same to yourself. You shouldn't wait for anyone to come and be your strength, you have to be your own strength and motivation. Find your purpose”. And Fake Love is ofcourse the boys saying, the only REAL love is self love, because without self love and self acceptance, it is impossible to love, accept, and help others.

In “Love Yourself: Answer” the songs are put chronologically to give the whole LY storyline. It starts off with Euphoria and Just Dance, the person is a new adult and currently loving life and has great relationships, enjoys what they are doing, etc. Then it goes to Serendipity, DNA, Trivia: love, it is that whole notion of loving someone and giving your whole self to them and wanting to be loved back by them. Then onto singularity, fake love, and truth untold is the realization that you need time to discover yourself, find what you want in life, it is the realization that you need to love yourself before others. Then comes Seesaw, which is about the ups and downs of relationships and that stage of life and Tear which is about heartbreak. In a heartbreak there are three tears, TEAR that makes you cry, the TEAR that makes you feel as though you are falling apart, and the TEAR that makes you want to shred everything to pieces. Then their is epiphany, the realization that you are who you are, with your flaws, your strengths, your physical body, and all you can do is improve from where you are and love yourself and the process because self hate won’t take you anywhere. Then we have I’m Fine which is connected to Save me. In save me, the boys were calling out to someone to help them emotionally and help deal with their problems, but now they realize they are fine. They can fight their own demons and that all the obstacles they went through were there for a reason, to make them who they are and to shape them as a person. And that is the end of the Love Yourself series.

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Euphoria

So Jin is the main entity throughout the series and the boys are a part of his psyche. Now if you recall from the part of the storyline before the ly series, you know that taehyung symbolically killed his father, making him an adult. Hoseok was stuck in the stage in the middle of youth and adulthood, but now Hoseok stops taehyung from killing his father, preventing taehyung’s abrupt entrance into adulthood.

Then we have jungkook, the youthful part of Jin saving yoongi from the fire (which served the purpose of erasing your past “sins”). By doing this the boys are trying to say that the mistakes you make are important for self development and that you can’t run away from them. Mistakes are simply a part of growing up.

Then Jin goes to Namjoon (the mature part of jin) and they interact implying that Jin is finally coming in terms with his emotions, mistakes, etc in a mature manner- its a moment of self realization. Then jin gets jimin out of the mental hospital. Jimin is the part of jin that is in denial about stepping into adulthood and dealing with new obstacles, the mental hospital represents the outside help he is receiving to deal with his problems. By Jin taking jimin out, jin is getting over the denial and preparing to deal with new obstacles as they come, not afraid of making mistakes because it is a part of growing up.

Then we see jin jump off the platform that taehyung was originally on. Since jin is the main entity, it shows that jin finally had a moment of realization and is caught up with all his different emotions. He now controls his emotions, not the other way around. And now jin jumps off the platform, into the water that represents his new stage of life- adulthood.

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Serendipity

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Serendipity is a coincidence that happens and it has a positive thing with it like for example you are studying in a school/collage outside of your home country and while you're studying there, you find your match/mate there. That is what serendipity is like.

Jimin is in a cold looking, blue room, and the only thing not a shade of blue is a yellow blanket. You see a glass of water on the table, still. The room that he is in represents the stage of mind after someone just became an adult (euphoria) and is starting the self love/acceptance and self discovery journey.

He is covered in sheets, except his feet, representing vulnerability and he sticks his feet in, signifying comfort and protection. Those are the feelings you get when you first fall in love, vulnerability, comfort, and protection. Throughout the song he says things like, “we were meant to be” “the universe did this for us” “let me love you”. This is the stage in a person’s life, where they want to BE loved, they want someone to love them because they do not know yet how to love themselves. You can hear the desperation in his voice for the person to love him back. That yellow blanket that once represented turns into a cactus that pricks Jimin and then it turns into a small ball, and then a big ball. This represents how some parts of a relationship will hurt you, but you learn to control things (he flicks the ball), and then you learn to communicate and deal with emotions to the point where they will no longer affect anything (the big ball in the room doesn’t approach him and he just smiles).

Then Jimin wraps himself in the yellow blanket and ends up staring at the stars. He jumps off the plank, representing that out of desperation to be loved, he fully submits himself to the other person, letting himself go into them. The room starts shaking, the cereal falls, the water is shaking, but jimin sitting on the shaking couch isn’t scared- instead he is smiling. He knows things are changing, but he is okay because he is with the person he loves. Jimin is not scared of the barriers preventing you two to love each other. So he starts fighting against the barriers. Now the "providence of the universe" might be a metaphorical phrase. It might symbolize social status, close friends, and/or family that do not approve of you two loving.

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Singularity

The word 'singularity' itself indicates a moment with a turning point. It often suggests a point of divergence in which an alternate course could have produced a number of other outcomes or rather a key moment when a shift occurs and everything, such as the entire course of a life, the lives of others, and potentially the entire world, change for the better or the worse. And all it takes is that moment, just a single moment. The turning point in the ly series as I explained in part 15 is that the person does not yet know how to love themselves and accept their mistakes, so they want someone to love them just so they feel they have a purpose (serendipity). In doing so, they completely lose themselves. In singularity, the person realizes that something is wrong, the love that they have right now is the wrong type of love. They need time to themselves, they need to find who they are and what their purpose is, they realize that they can not use others to define themselves.

In the music video, many art pieces are alluded such as 'Narcissus' (1597-1599) by the Italian Baroque master Caravaggio, which depicts the image of a young man, staring deeply into a pool of water as he leans into it. Narcissus, a figure of the Greek mythology, falls in love with his own reflection. Furthermore, 'Ophelia' (1851-1852) is an artwork by John Everett Millais which portrays the aftermath of a Shakespearean heroine's suicide in Hamlet. The overall impression of the contrast in the painting as a whole is disturbing in a way. Ophelia seems to have not fought her death but rather welcomed it, as her surrendering hands and unrestrained limbs show. The roses link to Ophelia's nickname from her brother 'rose of May', while forsaken love, pain and innocence are illustrated by the willows, nettles and daisies. The pansies demonstrate love in vain, while the chain of violets around her neck refer to faithfulness and chastity, as well as death, a meaning which is additionally tripled by the presence of poppies and forget-me-nots.

In the music video there are 8 masks, eight is very significant for instance it is used seventy-three times in the Bible. It is the symbol of resurrection, regeneration and balance and denotes "a new order or creation, and man's true born again event when he is resurrected from the dead into eternal life." In this situation, the person just completed a hero’s journey of transitioning from youth to adulthood, he is resurrected as an adult, and now will go through another journey of self discovery and self acceptance.

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Epiphany

Ok so in the opening scene, we see that there are multiple Jin’s all repeating the same cycle. The cycle as I have explained in the previous parts is the hero’s journey. He is stuck in a cycle of euphoria, serendipity, and singularity (concept wise, you have to read the past parts). Then, one of the Jins gets up puts a jacket on and checks the mirror, which in literature means self discovery and self acceptance, because by looking in the mirror you are getting the true reflection of yourself and accepting it. Everything is now in colour- the epiphany.

Things to note about the room; one, the window is present and open throughout the exchange of activity between the two Jins. We know this represents Jin's ability to see into his friends' lives, and where his time-changey moments happen.

Both important objects from the highlight reel. Both connected to Jin's "Her;" the notebook he found of hers from the very beginning as she crossed a set of train tracks and dropped it, and the flowers are the ones he bought for her on a date where she is tragically hit by a car and killed while crossing the street.

The rain served two purposes; to symbolize the feelings of emptiness and depression that Jin is experiencing and regrowth. Rain occurs in a storm, it's dark and gloomy, but when the storm ends, life restarts, plants grow again, it brings back the butterflies and animals, etc. It alludes Jin’s regrowth, hence why it seems he goes back in time as the rain reverses. He re enters the room, soaking wet, with another jin on the couch. He walks towards the window, off the frame and disappears. Now the Jin on the couch, who just went through the entire cycle, has his moment of epiphany- accepting himself for his flaws, his strengths, and who he is as a person.

He gets up and closes the window, as he found the answer he is looking for. He again grabs his jacket and the notebook and leaves, onto start another part of the hero’s journey (which will be the last part of bts storyline in the reflection of youth).

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Part 2: The Notes

The way the notes are organized are in their chronological order. They were not released in their chronological order which at the time made them hard to follow, but when you put them all together, they tell a story of the boys growing up. You see how each boy represents one aspect of the psyche of one growing up.

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If you are from my highlight you know I said Jin is the main entity and the boys are a part of his psyche, this is where you see it. Jin uncovers the truth about growing up from his father and starts his journey, which starts from the school trilogy, where all the boys are students in their secret hide out playing games. It then works its way over to the solo videos from wings, the highlight reels, and euphoria. If you read my storyline highlight, it should all make sense. I hope you enjoy.

Hoseok

Year 10, July 23

• he was counting and he was reminded of the time his mom left him with the chocolate, he looks back not wanting to count more, he collapses

Taehyung

Year 10, Dec 29

• He went to hug his father, who in turn beat him up

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Jimin

Year 11, April 6

• "he went to the Flowering Arboretum alone without his parents, it was a school family picnic, mother's friend he was mature, Jimin didn't wait for the teacher after the picnic and went by himself, but he got lost and it rained, he crouched under a tree and went at the back gates, he went to a side door and could see a storage room"

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Yoongi

Year 16, September 19

• "it was autumn, his house was burning, he thought 'ah mom' after he got out, he said there's no one inside when someone asked him
• "even I didn't know what I was saying"
• He is evidently dealing with something that has a mental toll on him

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Seokjin

Year 19, March 2

• His dad is a responsible father, in contrast to Taehyung’s
• He imagines the adults who want the best for him as devils- defying authority “youth”

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Jungkook

Year 19, May 28

• This is where we realize what part of Jin’s psych all the boys represent
• Yoongi= angst, lost
• Jungkook= youthful part of Jin’s psych, innocence
• Hoseok: lost part stuck in between happiness and s\greif
• Jimin: vulnerable, hopeless, in denial
• Namjoon= adult
• Taehyung: the rebellious side, defies authority

Seokjin

Year 19, June 25

• The flower is a smeraldo flower
• The third paragraph basically just describes adolescence
• The mentioning of his father is significant as it shows everyone goes through this journey, usually starting in high school

Jimin

Year 19, August 30

• "Hoseok on the phone takes, 2 hours to walk home, transferred to this school last year after being discharged from hospital (keeps getting hospitalized), tells how he and j-hope became friends, afraid to leave hoseok"
• You can sense the denial as he desperately wants these days to last forever, once he realizes they don’t he will be in denial

Taehyung

Year 2020, March 20

• "Taehyung overheard Seokjin and Namjoon's conversation, seokjin told the principal what yoongi and taehyung had done the last several days (skipping class, climbing over the wall, fighting with other kids), kept it to himself that he overheard "
• As you step into adulthood you will have to make decisions that are hard and you won’t like
• As an adult you also have to accept unfortunate circumstances

Namjoon

Year 20, May 15

• last day of school for him (decision to move was made 2 weeks ago)
• 'you have to keep living'
• 'let's see each other again'
• As an adult you let your personal interests go, you let your friends go, you let yourself go, but at some point you will reunite

Yoongi

Year 20, June 25

• You can visualize his angsty nature now
• Third paragraph describes a common feeling young adults have
• Changing interest and hobbies: also common in teen years

Jungkook

Year 20, June 25

• Piano makes a song
• song= story and emotions
• He is pouring his heart out
• Jungkook= youthful, innocent part of Jin’s psych
• Youth is helpless in the face of adulthood
• "hanging out by the piano, suga absent for 10 days, 2 weeks ago were in the "hideaway classroom," it was "visiting day" but he went to hideaway classroom where yoongi plays, about to cry, teacher slapped jungkook to ground, yoongi protects him, regrets that day"

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Seokjin

Year 20, July 17

• "cicadas in school, start of summer vacay, hoseok and jimin ran into him, he accidentally got yoongi expelled bc the principal made him, he thought the hideout was empty, nobody knew he was complicit, BTS was always tardy"
• The hopeless parts of his psych approach him
• Feelings of hopelessness in the last paragraph

Hoseok

Year 20, Sept 15

• In emergency room with Jimin and mother, Jimin had a seizure at the bus stop, hoseok lived in orphanage for 10 years, collapsed on the floor
• You realize the fragility in their condition of hopelessness, trapped feelings, unhappiness

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Jimin

Year 20, Sept 28

• been in the hospital for about a month, lied for the first time, pretended to be gloomy "I don't remember a thing"
• Before he didn’t want time to pass, know he knows it is, he is in denial about it
• The journal shows that he realized the importance of holding onto events and identity

Jungkook

Year 20, September 30

• "Someone is hitting jungkook with an attendance file not wanting him to hang out with the members and going to the classroom, Jungkook has been going to the hideout everyday even if the other members weren't, he opens the door again but only hoseok was there and he realized that those days were over"
• He went there repeatedly because he had hope- innocence and youth
• You have to let go of your youthful days some day

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Hoseok

Year 21, February 25

• started dancing when he was 12, takes medicine he doesn't need, tells the reason why he dances
• As young adults we have hobbies that define us, and because of the “real world” we are forced to let go to that part of ourselves

Namjoon

Year 21, December 17

• "was in the bus, he's running away? with no plans, mother's tired face, wandering siblings, father's illness, away from poverty, left school? with no messages left behind, cut off contact with all his friends, frost on the windows, wrote 'you have to survive', bus would stop in a few hours"
• He is going through the reality of adulthood, as a child you don’t realize the corruption and flaws in your life, but as adults you have to work through them

Hoseok

Year 22, March 2

• He will find any reason to be happy, even if its fake
• Most of us have to do this at some point of our lives
• All the boys are dealing with their own demons and are entering the void of adulthood.
• Strong feelings of fear, hopelessness, anxiety, and confusion
• Fragile mindset

Taehyung

Year 22, March 29

• He is being reckless and rebellious
• In the third paragraph we realize he is in terms with himself. He realizes that it's not about if he likes how he is feeling or not, it is him
• The graffitti is the embodiment of him
• Mentioning of namjoon contrasts the mature and immature part of Jin’s psyche
• In a touch situation your most dominant sides are mature and immature “angel vs devil”

Yoongi

Year 22, April 7

• "was hearing a familiar piano song while drunk, was by a construction site (oil drum), almost ran by a car and song stopped, Jungkook was playing in the music shop crying, first time to see him since quitting high school"

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Yoongi

Year 22, April 11

• Train tracks passing by mean passing of time in literature
• A sense of unity in all parts of Jin’s psych
• They do not realize that becoming an adult is just another stage in life, it does not change who you are as a person, you just have new struggles and new focus

Seokjin

Year 22, April 11

• The first paragraph is the prologue scene
• In the prologue the platform was facing the sea, which represented adulthood
• Everything resolved= immature becoming adult and slowly so will the rest
• The last sentence- will they enter adulthood soon?

Seokjin

Year 22, April 11

• "Came to the sea, took a picture of it, 2 years & 10 months ago (feb 2020) BTS was together by the sea, drove through tunnel visited school they all attended, passed by gas station where namjoon worked"
• Seokjin knows what to do to end all misfortunes, he drives to Namjoon's gas station
• Remember that namjoon’s character represents the mature side of jin

Namjoon

Year 22, April 11

• Basically describes the routine of an adult
• His encounter with jin

Namjoon

Year 22, April 11

• "in a trailer, taehyung puts on the same shirt as namjoon, tae's back is bruised, hoseok sees, taehyung was doing graffiti, caught by police, pretended to be sorry, yoongi smacked taehyung's shoulder"
• He symbolically kills his father, “man of the house”= adult male

Jungkook

Year 22, April 11

• "Jungkook visited Namjoon's container after he saved suga from the fire, "we promised to go to the beach together," he had a fever, "can i become an adult like you, hyung (Namjoon)?"
• Those hooligans were the black hooded people from INU (in storyline explanation)

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Jungkook

Year 22, April 11

• darkness= adulthood void
• The last paragraph
• Angsty part of jin’s psyche comes in.
• Butterfly effect
• Euphoria video

Namjoon

Year 22, April 28

• He had to grow up too fast
• Even adults deal with hopelessness and anxiety
• Jin is starting to accept adulthood, the angst part of him (Yoongi) will disappear, the youth (jungkook) and innocence will also be gone, and the adult part of himself (namjoon) will be at war with himself

Yoongi

Year 22, May 2

• Yoongi is playing with fire, literally
• Setting things on fire= erasing them from existence
• Second paragraph describes common feelings of young adult life

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Taehyung

Year 22, May 2

• You see the mature side at conflict with the immature side
• He wants someone to fill in the parent role he never had, “scold me like an older brother”

Hoseok

Year 22, May 12

• Both Hoseok and Jimin are in a mental hospital
• Jimin is in denial with the time moving forward and accepting the truth of reality
• Hoseok is still traumatized from his past of his mother abandoning him
• In the last paragraph and sentence you realize that they both are stuck in the middle field of happiness and grief and cannot skew to either side. However at the last sentence, it is evident that he realizes that he cannot change the past or be bound by it, he has to accept it and change his life for the better or he will be stuck in this loop of self doom

Jimin

Year 22, May 15

• Euphoria scene
• Recap from Jimin’s perspective

Jimin

Year 22, May 16

• The reality that he ignored is all displayed in front of him as he reminisces his past
• He cannot be in denial this way
• Realizes he can not run away from things, “I had to go there eventually”

Jimin

Year 22, May 19

• "finalized he has to go to the flowering arboretum and quit telling himself the lie that he didn't remember what happened there, has to stop living in hiding in the hospital and stop having the seizures, was at the bus stop and yoongi came, asked if he wanted to go"
• He wants to stop his cycle of denial, but by bringing yoongi, he is brining a sense of anxiety

Taehyung

Year 22, May 19

• "he was stained with blood, someone caught him, hoseok stood there wordlessly, ""no one where my father had stood,"" he wanted to die at that moment, he wanted to go crazy but he couldn't, he didn't stab his father but he hit the floor with an alcohol bottle, he had bondage over his hand because it got cut, hoseok left, looks at Namjoon's number and wants to tell him he wanted/almost killed his father so much, his father abused him everyday"

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Hoseok

Year 22, May 20

"he fetched Taehyung from the police station, offered him food even though he refused, he saw a plane pass by in the sky, the first time he saw

taehyung's wounds was inside Namjoon's container hideout, he had no memories of a father, mother left him when he was 7,

taehyung turns away - that was his habit, he relates to taehyung that they were both alone and desolate, he looks back and his phone rings"

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Taehyung

Year 22, May 22

"in the pine forest by the ocean, "hyung" picks up phone, "only 1 year younger than me, no, i don't really care. Anyway, I'm not going to take responsibility so just do whatever you think is best" he becomes mad and about to become violent, scared he might be like his father"

Jungkook

Year 22, May 22

Jungkook supposedly gets hit by a car “Living is more painful than dying, but even so, you want to live?”

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Yoongi

Year 22, Jun 8

did not like red shirt with 'dream' on it, got lollipop, got a text message from a person, laughs at self with t-shirt on

Seokjin

Year 22, June 13

"the members broke up, Taehyung and Jin fought one night in a dorm by the beach, there's a picture of them by the sea happy,

"Someday we will smile together just like the photo. The day when I have the courage to face myself entirely will come."

Hoseok called him, "Hyung, Jungkook had a car accident that night."

Once Jin accepts adulthood and himself, all parts of him will be happy- all the boys will smile together again by the sea

Sea= adulthood

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Yoongi

Year 22, June 15

"drunk lost somewhere at night, flashback to the time he went to the hospital and jungkook was there, he was reminded of his burning house,

'this is your fault, if it wasn't for you' a voice said, he cried and left, someone grabbed his arm but didn't know, he just wanted to leave"

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Yoongi

Year 22, June 25 (Sorry no pic, couldn’t find one)

"burned piano key from bag, fire destroyed house, attended funeral, 4 years from fire he visited it again and went into mom's room with the

burnt piano, lacked courage to move, threw piano key away said he would never play the piano again"

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Taehyung

Year 22, Jun 25

met someone at the convenience story for the 3rd time, person follows him from behind after hiding

Namjoon

Year 22, Jun 30

looking for yellow hairband, gaze met with someone in the mirror, avoided his gaze, then person is gone

Jimin

Year 22, Jul 3

practicing choreography and wants to be as good as J-hope, looks at choreography on phone

Rather than accepting himself for his mistakes and wanting and learning to be better he is too focused on being like Hoseok even though they have different dancing styles

Jimin

Year 22 July 4

"was dancing with a noona at the dance club, collided, fell to the floor and bled, remembered what happened at the Flowering Arboretum,

something happened when he was 8 who ran away in the rain, thought he overcame it but no, he tried to wash away the blood,

tried to catch up with hoseok and the girl with an umbrella but it was too late, he was ok"

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Hoseok

Year 22, July 4

"in the hospital, she was receiving first aid in the hospital, she had a migraine, they were wet, she was ok, hoseok found an airplane ticket

in her bag for an overseas dance team, he didn't want her to go"

Another woman is leaving his life

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Namjoon

Year 22 July 13

"was on usual routine from library to gas station and knows the girl with the yellow rubber band gets off 3 stops before him but this time,

she missed her stop and he didn't wake her up, he just left a tie on her backpack"

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Jungkook

Year 22 Jul 16

singing to a song for a week now and almost know the full lyrics, stung his heart

Taehyung

Year 22 July 17

"sides are hurting and cannot see the girl anywhere (convenience store, overpass, bus stop), came to see an X on the wall they had graffitied

together, seems like she had a problem she kept to herself, she drew an X over all those memories like it was fake, he kept walking"

The graffitti was his heart poured out, so when she made the X, she was making him lose himself and abandon his feelings

Namjoon

Year 22, July 20

He is reminiscing old times

Realization that becoming an adult doesn’t mean giving yourself up

Jungkook

Year 22, July 26

"midsummer, he got wildflowers off hospital's wreath and he visited a room but no one was there, when he left the hospital, he remembered

their memories listening to music and drawing on the bench, sharing strawberry milk on the roof"

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Jungkook

Year 22, July 26

He is approaching the thought of adulthood

He realizes his lack of own identity, when you are young you are what your parents tell you and you do what adults tell you, when you grow up you have to create your own identity

Jimin

Year 22, Jul 28

train= passing of time

He is creating his identity, learning about himself, learning that self love and acceptance is a process, with all this he is happier in life

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He has found a passion

Yoongi

Year 22, Jul 29

Just read it, pretty much self explanatory

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The piano embodies him and his passion, and his mother and he wants to hold on to it. It is his identity

Seokjin 30 August YEAR 22

Seokjin

Year 22, August 3

He realizes his father’s mistake and now will learn from it as he almost repeated it. He now knows how to fix everything, he has to reunite with his friends, accept himself, accept their past, and go through it together.

Taeyhung

Year 22, August 11

Accepted his past, realizes his identity- he is not violent just because his dad was, has a goal and will be different, self acceptance

Hoseok

Year 22, Aug 13

He realized that though Jimin is different and might have some flaws, those flaws make it jimin.

They define his dance in another way and give it personality.

Oedipus complex with the girl- no physical attraction, but emotional attraction because she reminds him of his mother (freudian lense in literature approaches this in a lot of texts)

Jin

Year 22, Aug 15

flowershop, store under construction, ordered smeraldo, wanted to make that person happy and want to be a good person

Jin

Aug 30, Year 22

The highlight girl didn’t love the real him, only what he showed her of him

He doesn’t even love his real self, so he never showed it to her and he now realizes that

You cannot love someone before you love yourself

And with that, he leaves

Jin

30 Aug, Year 22

"Why was I given the power to return all of those things?", girl got into car crash in the summer and he had smeraldo flowers

If he just loved himself he would have been able to prevent this

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PREDICTION: he will have to deal with the fact he cannot turn back time, but he needs to change the future now by accepting his past and present

Current Verdict of The Story Line

1. The school trilogy
1. 2 kool 4 skool
2. O!rul8,2?
3. Skool luv affair
1. All show maintaining self identity, mad at adults and real world, transition from boyhood to adulthood
2. HYYH
• The 3 albums
• Trilogy
• Prologue
• All show friendships, loss of innocence, happiness is a process

c) short films- creating your identity

d) wings- temptations, loss of innocence, conflict, self realization

e) YNWA- stepping into adulthood, importance of friendship

f)LY Era (3 albums + euphoria)- understanding love, importance of self acceptance and self love, growth

g) PREDICTION: WAY (who, are, you)- full transition into creating identity as adult

https://aminoapps.com/c/btsarmy/page/blog/the-notes-summarization-theory/d3Rw_o3pSbuEbJ6VeXglkXzWQEBQeVYlmvR

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This is very helpful

Supplement

Supplement- this is missing the “Answer” notes but I already added them to this slide so just read them lol