ON Theory analysis, appreciation

BTS ON

#BTSONChallenge

#SotwChallenge

#SotwONChallenge

Good morning, afternoon, evening or night :purple_heart:

Today I present to you, something a bit different.

I have prepared an analysis and appreciation blog for the BTS MV, ON.

Information

"On" is a song recorded by South Korean boy band BTS. It was released on February 21, 2020, as the second single from the band's fourth Korean-language album Map of the Soul: 7. ON was set as the 11th track on the album “Map of the Soul:7”.

There are in fact 2 music videos which are the kinetic Manifesto film and another official music video which was released in the latter.

ON was a record-breaking track and a landmark for BTS' career timeline. Sold out in countless countries.

Awards

MTV VMAs 2020

ON fast featured in the nominations for the 2020 MTV VMAS. This making BTS’ first appearance on the MTV VMAs.

The MTV Video Music Awards is an award show presented by the cable channel MTV to honour the best in the music video medium.

They won in the categories:

Best choreography

Best pop video

Best Kpop

BTS was also titled the first Korean act to win in the Best pop video category.

Analysis and appreciation [It was originally only analysed but I got carried away :sweat_smile: ]

Warning: An overload of me fangirling.

Big hit introoooooooo! I hear this a million times but I always get hyped up with this. The power of BH.

Is it just me or does this look something like the beginning of Save me? I see a connection here with Save me

but here everyone lies dead after what looks like a war. that war signifies disharmony.

JINNNNNNNNN! WWH IN THE HOUUSSSEE!! You see a dove that has been killed with an arrow. In mythology, the dove symbolizes love and purity. This means that purity has been killed. But why does he look so effortlessly handsome???

DASHI RUN RUN RUN! *Insert Korean lyrics cuz idk what they are*

For some reason it looks as if Jungkook is escaping from his something. As you can see he has been cuffed with thorns. These cuffs could symbolise “being trapped in one’s own shadow.” He seems to be really scared of whatever he is running from. Now there is a seen of jungkook entering somewhere in fake love. But now he knows that place is dangerous so he runs from it.

You can sort of see a glimpse for the place he us running from. We will get back to that place later.

Give me a second to breathe!

Jimin is with a boy who seems to have a drum. The boy with the drum symbolises youth. The drums are what people used to alarm others during a war or rather to get the attention of other for something important.

Jimin reaching out for the boy symbolises him reaching out for youth. You will see that it is often jimin reaching out for something even in other music videos. One of those could be youth.

You get a good shot of Taehyung looking over at the blindfolded girl beside him. I have a feeling that this somehow relates to The Bird Box. What I mean is that the girl in this shot has been blindfolded to protect her for something. But this is also holding her back her achieving something. A reminder that this all happening after a war.

Now you can see Jin holding on to a cage which is similar to the glass like cage in fake love.

No theory. But let’s just appreciate his handsome faceu for a sec.

And now you see our president himself. The scene looks like something out of Noah's Ark. So let’s go back a bit and find out a bit about Noah's Ark.

Noah's Ark is the vessel in the Genesis flood narrative through which God spares Noah, his family, and examples of all the world's animals from a world-engulfing flood. The story in Genesis is repeated, with variations, in the Quran, where the Ark appears as Safina Nūḥ.

World-engulfing flood. You see where I’m getting at? They all seem to be in a state of recovering from the war. Or how I would see it, they are escaping from the war inside them.

Jin brings the dead dove to his home in a cage to keep it safe. This could mean that Jin is not going to let go of his purity and peace. Even though it’s broken, he will continue to keep it safe.

JHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOPE! Hoseok is in a open field with dead trees. Its seems as if life itself is slowly disappearing from this place. Then in the back you can see a raven picking at jungkook. The raven is often associated with darkness and temptations in youth through the BTS universe.

Min yoongi Jang Jang man bboong bboong. Yoongi looks like he is in a sort of cult. Darkness overflowing the room. This reminds me of shadow. The song talks about how every light gives birth to a shadow. In this case we can only see one source of light and that is fire. The room is lit dimly by candles.

Taehyung removes the blindfold from the girl setting her free. She looks towards a large wall.

Could this wall maybe be what they are after? Could this be the place that they are running for?

Jungkook steps into a pond with his cuffs on. But as he lifts his hands back up, the cuffs have now turned into a conch shell.

The dove is alive. It flies to the other side of the wall.

The coach shell symbolises awakening. But what is he awakening?

DANCE BREAK KIDS! I have officially been SNATCHED of my wig.

The volcano is on the process of erupting.

After the dance break the are in these robes that are similar to fake love. Jungkook comes out with the conch shell.

And then the volcano erupts setting ablaze the everything.

But now things are growing. Life is coming back. So once again I ask, what was he awakening? He was awakening their inner selves. They had to get rid of the darkness in order for everything to get back. They had to get over their scars. And so the volcano erupted destroying their darkness and giving rise to follow the pride rock.

Note: Pride Rock is the rock structure that is also featured in The Lion King

The all run towards the tip pf pride rock as if they are chasing something unlike earlier when they were running away for something.

No more dream --> dream

They are chasing their dreams.