The Bangtan Theory: Young Forever Analysis
- Amina Feratovic
- Jun 7, 2018
- 4 min read
All the boys of BTS, at one point, were alive. However Jin dies and ends up sharing all these past memories he has of them from before through these music videos. Eventually they all die because they are unable to move on. BTS portrays death as an event that shouldn’t keep you from living. By showing the effects of depression on youth and allusions to other pieces of literature or forms of art, including greek mythology and the band Nirvana, they show love is not over at death.
Young Forever
Please watch their video.
Disclaimer: This is a story line created by BigHit Entertainment and is completely made up for the sake of other's enjoyment.
Many of the lyrics in this epilogue relate to their real life concerns about how they are doing as artists. These lyrics are also very relatable which makes it easy to fall in love with these boys. Their song states, “Did I make any mistakes today. How did the audience seem?...I want to stay this way forever. I want to stay young forever.” These are personal feelings of the group, outside the characters that they portray in their videos. They are concerned about how they appear and say that they know that this peace and fame won’t be there for them for the rest of their lives. They make it a point that although we may grow up, this youth everyone experiences sticks with them. Essentially, they are young forever.
This video introduces a new motif into the story of the videos; a maze. Mazes are brought up once in a while in other songs and one of their newer songs, Love Maze, talks about them explicitly. This maze is their decision whether or not they want to save themselves; to live or not to live. They are confused because they don’t know what to do. Jin is dead and the birds are a constant symbol for friendship and was seen in Run as well. These birds signal that the boys long to be together as a group again and that they can’t stand not being apart. Run was a music video about their friendship and how it made a lasting impact on their lives as people.
RM is seen walking into smoke, which symbolizes he has decided to join Jin. Although we can see Jin upset with his choice, we know that there is no going back and RM has chosen his fate. Fire is shown in the video when it is Suga’s turn in the song. He is still holding onto the lighter that was shown in I Need U and burns up all the polaroid pictures of the boys. This means that he is letting go. In all parts of the world, when there is a disease such as the plague, they burn bodies to purify the village or town. Therefore, Suga is purifying himself by lighting himself and everything of his past on fire. They are moving onto the next stage of their lives.
The feathers that were brought up in Run and I Need U are shown here too. They represent death and are seen in Jungkook’s hand. Jungkook closes his eyes and lets go of the feather. Another member has decided to join the boys and Jin. Another motif brought up in this video are the pills seen in I Need U. In Run, JHope was in a bed from a hospital, and sick. These pills are spilled over meaning he took another chance at dying after he left the hospital because after stopping he realizes how painful his life really is, especially without the boys. Jimin in this video has wet hair. In previous blog posts the viewers saw Jimin drowning himself in I Need U. This is why his hair is wet in this video. He chose to die a long time ago but he is still lost in which way to go which is why he was stuck in the maze. Exiting the maze would be the decision to leave their lives, to leave the complex nature of living their lives.
The maze represents the obstacles one must face while growing up and because they didn’t want to, they chose to die. A lyric that keeps repeating in the song is, “Under these flower petals, I run, so lost in this maze” which represents how V, the one who is shown in the maze the most confused, is lost in whether he really wants this. But as soon as he sees the others he runs towards them which means that this was his dream all along. The video shows that the boys have chosen to die together. Although they do die together they do try and tell their fans that you can be young forever in your heart and that loving one another doesn’t stop at death. This relates more to Korean culture because Koreans, generally, believe that a family member never really dies but is in some aspect still part of your life and is watching over you. The boys then run into the sunset representing them going into that 'light' people claim to see before their death.
Therefore, love is not over at death but it shouldn't keep you from living your life because later in the series of their videos there are consequences for their actions.
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