BTS NORMAL MV REACTION & CRITICAL ANALYSIS- SYMBOLISMS & DOUBLE ENTENDRE

[00:00:02]Hello. I'm sure that you've seen normal music video and I am here to overanalyze it for you. [laughter] It's really the song is one of the most beautiful songs that they've ever written and this music video is one of the best that they have ever shot. Not only because the aesthetics are good and that they all look good, but also because of the depth of the music video.

[00:00:22]I'm I don't want to get ahead of myself.

[00:00:24]So, let's just continue. Let's just start actually. So I do think that there are two emotional states that are constantly present in colliding in this music video. One is the performance um that the party and that represents their performance, their public persona.

[00:00:43]So it's not just the concerts or any kind of public performances that they do but their public persona. I call it the performance of fame itself. So it involves everything that they do in order to continue succeeding and to continue doing what they love doing which is music. And then the morning after the party that is that represents the crash or the emptiness that they feel or just the emptiness per se when they're not doing their job or once the performance is done. Now BTS and many other artists have actually spoken about the postcon crash. the feeling of emptiness or sadness once the light dim and the stadium is empty. There's this sudden sadness that they feel because during the concert everything is high, every everyone's excited and happy and they're doing something that they really love and then everyone goes away and there's this post high crash after the performance or as I've said the broader performance of fame itself. Um, and also there's a constant surveillance and the privacy erosion and all of those things.

[00:01:52]Um, so I think those two things are constantly colliding and constantly present in this music video. The other reason I think this music video is such a genius is the fact that it is titled normal and they're talking about something that 99.9% of us will never really feel and know about. Because how many of us will be able to perform in front of 80,000 people or 100,000 people or how many of us who will get their privacy invaded just because we're famous or people will there's just like that's a strange thing that not many of us will never experience and yet they're calling it normal. I think that in itself is the brilliance. Now I do think that there is an unmistakable connection between the swim music video and this music video, normal music video. They have many elements that appeared in both like the locket. The other one is the boat and then we also have of course the book that is actually titled normal. Now I think the music video, the swim music video is about how music saves people and how BTS themselves make music in order to help other people and help themselves. So this is the purpose. Swim is the about this the the essence of music of what they do. And then normal is about the price that people that make music have to pay in order to make them.

[00:03:22]So, it is a a progression, a very BTS thing to do. It's a beautiful but painful progression. Swim is about how music gives people purpose, both the maker and the ones that are consuming it. And then normal is about the the cost of fulfilling that purpose. Um, so again, beautiful but painful. Now, there is a recurring water imagery in the entire video, which makes me think that they intentionally want people to connect the two. We have Junk Cookook under the shower and then uh J Hope in the bathtub in the garden and holding a hose and then you have the aquarium.

[00:04:06]Um and water I think again symbolizes like music the purpose the journey that people take as they experience music. Um so definitely it is unmistakable. They want the two to for us to connect those two things. Okay. Now we start with the polaroids. So it's a well-dressed woman throwing polaroids photos of the members to the ground. And I think there are two layers here. at least two layers. First layer is that there is so if you actually go back into if you watch the entire music video especially during the first part the camera flashes constantly and I think it hammers home how their lives are constantly documented, commodified. they are stripped of their sanctity even in their like supposedly private or vulnerable moments. It becomes content. It becomes a material for the tabloid.

[00:05:12]The other layer is about how polaroids actually freezes a moment. So supposedly their performances, the things that they do, those are temporary things.

[00:05:24]Supposedly once it's done, it's done.

[00:05:26]Instead, every private second becomes permanent because people are capturing it and they become in the eye of the person. They also get frozen in that moment. So people will continue looking at them or believing that this person that they capture will remain the same forever. So it freezes them even if they shouldn't be.

[00:05:50]And then of course even as I've said even their most private moments become a material for the tabloid. So e every private second becomes a permanent record of themselves. Okay. Now um the other one is the vuor treatment of the music video. If you look at the opening scene, especially, um, the camera seems to always be searching for some for them, searching for for someone to shoot, and it's it feels like it's always hiding, like it's sneaking up on them, the way the camera goes unsteady sometimes, and how it feels like it's taking the shot from behind something. So you have in the opening we can see Jonk um the camera like moving uh it was catching like an empty space a dark place and then it spots Jong cookook through the mirror and then he turns to the left and see Jonk under the shower and then it's the same thing with Jyn. He was there's like a door or a wall maybe or a window and then we he sees Jyn. The camera sees Jyn drinking his uh tea and it decides to shoot Jyn.

[00:07:09]And then there's also Jimn of course on the bed. He's sleeping and then the camera is coming from from the foot of the bed and then sort of sneaks up on Jimn so that it can take a a closer look. So it represents very much represents the paparazzi, the fans, the sassings that are constantly following them even in their private moments. Even when fans are supposed to leave, sassing stay so that they can continue taking a video of them or a picture of them. Now Jong cookook under the showers. I think one of the I've I've gotten several messages asking me like what what what does that mean? Why is he under the shower? Well, he's under the shower and he's still fully clothed. And as we know, there is the um there after a performance, for example, they're supposed to be resetting, cleaning themselves up, um taking off the clothing that they wore for the performance. But here he is trying to clean himself up, trying to reset. But then the clothes are staying like he can never get off the mask or this clothes uh the clothes that he wore for performance. It sticks to their body. He's trying to wash it off.

[00:08:29]But the performance persona wouldn't rinse away. It sticks to him. the fame, the responsibilities of what he of his status, it sticks to him even when he wants to take it off. So there is no resetting. In other words, there is no boundary. The public persona and him in private those are colliding, meshing with each other. Okay. Um now we go to the swan. All right. So, um I some people think that it is a like a call back to black swan. I don't think so. I think it's actually the opposite. A a swan is actually of course it naturally lives in the water. Yet, this swan is actually trapped inside the mansion and there is no water. So, obviously it's out of place. Now, there are two scenes when it the two scenes when it actually appear. The first one is when it's alone in a corner while the party is either it looks like the party is still going on because it's dark. So, it is in the midst of a loud like crowded mansion filled with flashing cameras and people partying. So, this elegant but supposedly solitary creature would stand out. And it feels like a metaphor for the members themselves. They're constantly surrounded by chaos and people even though most sometimes inwardly they feel isolated. And then there's the second scene which I thought was really very powerful because this one actually looked at the camera because it breaks the fourth wall and it kind of mirrors the constant surveillance that they are under. So it feels like yeah the party it's okay to record that the party that represents which symbolizes the performances and all that's okay. You can take a video of that and take a picture of that. But I am here in a corner and this is supposed to be my private moment and you're still there. So when the cam when the swan actually looks at the camera, he sort of confronts it. He confronts the the surveillance. He confronts the gaze of the public. Okay. Next.

[00:10:43]Now, uh, Jim the his scene here lying on the bed, I think is actually one of the most invasive scene in the music video because sleep is really the ultimate escape and the one that is available to everybody. This is the one thing, one time that everyone should have where you can really detach yourself from everything else. And yet, he's still being recorded. He's be still being followed. people are still sneaking up on him so that they can take a video or a picture of him and so I do think it's also important. So later in the music video he actually stood up sort of gave up on sleep and then he saw the boat which also appeared in the music video. I feel like it's a reminder. It's a reminder to him that the performance that he just did and the consequences of that performance, he had to pay that. That's the cost of him doing music. Like he is being reminded that yes, it's difficult. Your privacy is in being invaded. You don't you can't rest. You can't escape. But that's the price that you need to pay for doing what you want to do and that is music.

[00:12:02]Okay. Jyn's scene is a reinforcement again of what I've said earlier that even their most mundane activities the the him having tea in the garden. It's still being converted or reinterpreted so that it can be a material for public consumption. Okay. Now we go to V's nose. Oh th this is another thing another um scene that I like because their privacy is constantly invaded, right? So there's like there's someone there, a stranger obviously cuz he's not talking to the person. So again there there are moments when everyone is supposed to leave and yet they're not they're never alone. There's always someone there invading their privacy.

[00:12:50]Okay, now we go to V's broken nose. Now, during the chaotic party, you can actually see that he doesn't have a broken nose yet. You know, he has some bruises here, or he has a bruise on the on the side of his um lip, but his lips, but the nose is still okay. And then we go to the morning after, and it's just like horrendous. He needs to dress.

[00:13:13][laughter] And I think um this is a like this symbolizes the price that they need to pay again for doing what they need to do. I think that for the most part sometimes they don't really feel the pain. They don't really feel the consequences. They don't really feel the bruises that they get from doing what they do. And it's only after when everything is quiet when everyone goes away that's the only time they will feel the pain when they will notice the the damage that it caused them. So it's only when they when they are sober when and when everything is quiet that's when they will see the real damage that's when they will see and feel the damage that this fame is actually causing them.

[00:14:06]Okay. Next is the um JH Hope. So the as I've said earlier he I think this the water in the entirety of the music video is an intentional element that they used and something that they want us to notice. And I think him because him st in being in the middle of the garden outside and then there's like a bathtub here and he's holding a hose and then there's water coming out of the hose. I think this is him trying to hold on and remind himself that this is because I want to continue making music like I he's trying to center and force it out of him because the aftermath, the crash, the l the loneliness is and emptiness is just too much that he constantly has to remind himself this is why I'm doing it and that's why he needs water. He needs to see water because that is him trying to remind himself that this is there is a reason I'm going through all of this.

[00:15:09]Okay. Next is Sugara. That's him in the approaching the gate. So we see him walk walk towards the gate and he's actually climbing the gate and he almost makes it outside like he he he was on top of the gate already. So he like just one more step and you're out of it. But instead of actually jumping, instead of actually escaping, he doesn't do that. He he ultimately turns back. He returns to the garden and then sits down on the couch that is in the which is a very beautiful scene by the way. And then he wraps normal and special.

[00:15:49]They're just some lines. And I think it's because the gate symbolizes a like a potential escape route, a physical boundary between like the chaotic ma mansion which represents fame and and performance and excess and then the outside world which is supposed to be the ordinary life. And I guess Sugara reaching the edge of freedom but choosing to turn back is him sort of realizing that the trap is not the place. They can move to Antarctica if they want, but the identity and the lifestyle that came with that identity that they've built will never leave them. And so even he if he physically walks out even if he physically leaves a space the fame and everything that comes with it will continue to follow him. So there is no simple exit from who they are.

[00:16:49]There is a simple exit from where they are but not from who they are. And RM actually echoes this this idea in his own scene. So when he approaches the car, obviously he can just drive off, especially now he has a license, he can drive off. So he can leave again, he can physically leave the space, but he can never leave who he is behind. So um just like our just like Suga, he can never drive away from himself. So he stays. He doesn't get in the car. He just lies on the car. He lies down on the car, which is also a beautiful scene because he looks good. Okay. So I guess together if you put those two together those moments would actually reinforce the song's central theme and that is that normal is just some lines like the boundary between the the two things the the two places the and the place of fame and their ordinary selves. It's just it can you can never separate the two that they are trapped not by their true selves are not trapped by the any kind of wall or gate but by the very nature of their existence as BTS. So the freedom that they're trying that they're craving for they will not find it by running away.

[00:18:16]It has to be negotiated from within the life that they have actually chosen.

[00:18:23]Okay. Now there is also the liinal space. If you observe there they go back and forth the morning after and the party. So that's like the entirety of the music video like morning after and then party and then morning after and then party. And I do think it is it represents the the liinal space that they are in the the party high versus the quiet lows. And again when I say party I'm just not talking about like party or not even just the concert but the public performance of their fame.

[00:19:02]Um, it could also be the public facade that they have versus the the private mess [laughter] or or their the fantasy that they that is created around them versus the exhaustion that they feel. So they are in both those two things in both places.

[00:19:27]They are in the the mess and the dream.

[00:19:31]They're in the public eye and the private eye and they can never separate the two. Okay. Now, next is the cinematography I think. Yeah. So, it's always going back and forth.

[00:19:45]Public, private. Okay. The cinematography.

[00:19:49]Um, if you look at the party scenes, the versus the the private scenes, the morning after, the morning after scenes are wide. The shot the shots are always taken from a distance. So, you can see them alone like this in a garden.

[00:20:10]There's a lot of spaces around them. You can see them um even when they're together in a room, there's a lot of space. So it's always wide and then there's depth. So between the camera and the and then him like you know there's space like you can breathe.

[00:20:27]Meanwhile the party scenes are crowded and they are close and the buddies are touching and they are laughing the cameras are flashing. And I think they are not just contrasting day and night.

[00:20:41]Not just the party and the aftermath of the party. I think they're also contrasting connection versus isolation. When the performance exists or during the celebrity moments, everyone is together. Everyone is close to them. So, not just during a performance, but any kind of celebrity moments. Everyone, they're so close together. It's crowded. There's a lot of people around them. But then when it's over, they become emotionally isolated.

[00:21:15]Okay. Now we go to close to the last part, the urinal or the bathroom. Um I there have been a lot of interpretations and I've never claimed to be right. This is just my interpretation. But I do think that the it actually represents tabloid sensationalism. And this was actually reinforced when Big Hit used tabloids to actually tease the music video. So there was like headlines like late night gathering. So I think they are poking fun at how everything gets twisted into a scandal or scrutiny.

[00:21:51]They're saying that normal for them includes peeing in suits. [laughter] For other people it's newsworthy. Like for them we're just trying to pee.

[00:22:01][laughter] But for other people that's newsworthy.

[00:22:04]So I think it's like a yeah like them sort of being sarcastic about it and even them playfully pushing each other to be in frame while someone is actually taking a picture of them or recording them. this.

[00:22:21]They're trying to show the absurdity of trying to look cool even in a very private space because bathroom is supposedly the most private place that you can ever be in the world. Like nobody poses there. You're just trying to relieve yourself of something. So you're supposed to be human. Yet even there the camera is actually following them. So there's literally nowhere in the world that they're not BTS.

[00:22:46]Okay. And then we go to the pictorial and they have the dogs with them. I think I personally think that the dog symbol there are two layers to this and one is that dogs symbolize the unconditional love, loyalty, home, comfort. Um what is really really normal because dogs don't know who they are like that their dogs which we all we all know that they all love dogs and that they had or still have their dogs with them and it's their dogs that are not aware of their fame. The dogs don't know them as celebrities. They just know them as humans. So, I think this is one part in their life when they're actually saying that this guy right here is the one creature in the world who does not know me for being a celebrity just but I'm just they're human to them.

[00:23:43]Um, so that's one layer. The the second layer is that it could also be the contrast. This could be them trying to be the perfect try trying to give people the perfect shot. Um cuz the I think that the backdrop the cloth is the main sail is that what they call it that is in the boat in swim.

[00:24:14]Um so so there some there is some sort of a connection between again there's a connection between that and and this one and so if that is music and this music video is if swim is about music and this music video is about performance I think this is them one option is that this is them trying to play up the perfect persona that people have given them. So this is them trying to be the perfect seven, the perfect guy, the perfect um artist, but then we already know after seeing all of that, we already know what happened before that photograph. There's chaos and there is crash and there is emotional exa exhaustion. So the portrait of course is beautiful, but it's not the entire story. So them sort of playing it up and saying, "Yeah, we d we dress up for the camera and we smile with props and this is what we call normal." Okay, I hope that's clear.

[00:25:21][laughter] All right. So I never I as always I don't claim to be right. This is just my interpretation.

[00:25:29]But the beauty of art is that we can all interpret it the way that will resonate with us based on our experience and all of that. those good stuff. Okay, thank you so much. If you have anything to add, if you have any violent reaction, please leave them in the comment section below. [laughter] Um, but go to our online magazine, Asian entertainment culture.com, asian entertainmentculture.com.

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