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DO THEY OR DON'T THEY (DIE)? // I NEED U, PROLOGUE & RUN

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by XiJeHan2207

by XiJeHan2207

July 28, 2016

DO THEY OR DON’T THEY (DIE)? // I NEED U, PROLOGUE & RUN

Once you realise that the boys are the embodiment of Jin’s soul, you have to wonder if and why any or all symbolicallydie in I NEED U, or if they simply illustrate the emotions that they represent?

EMBODIMENTS OF EMOTIONS

J-Hope represents Jin’s pain going through adolescence, hence why he’s taking medication. But does he really overdose to end the pain, or does he take too many pills to show us that he is in too much pain? He actually spills them around and over the floor, especially in I NEED U Japanese ver. where we don’t see him swallow any. Also, he clearly isn’t dead by the end of the I NEED U MV.

JungKook represents Jin’s youthful, bereft, powerless and aimless self, hence why he seems to be devoid of all drive, of all passion. But does JKook really gets himself incautiously killed, ending his aimless, wandering path, or does he illustrate that he feels his life is meaningless and he is going nowhere? He’s actually the only one we don’t see shots of at the end of I NEED U, suggesting he has indeed died in the car accident.

V is the rebellious part of Jin’s that has to kill the father, symbolically speaking (he is also associated with graffitis, a typically rebellious mean of expression). But does V really kills his father, ending innocence, or does he illustrate rebellion against authority? More importantly, does he really kill himself by the end of the Prologue by jumping into the ocean, of does he illustrates he is now ready to jump into adulthood?

Suga represents Jin’s angst and the impassioned, fiery nature of youth, hence the fire. But does Suga really sets himself on fire to end his restlessness, or does he illustrate the inner fire that consumes him? Also, what does fire mean in the context of the MV and whole HYYH cycle?

Rapmon acts as the mature side of Jin’s, hence the job (need to physicallysurvive by sustaining himself), the lollipop motif (survival of youth side). He doesn’t attempt anything against his own life, though he smokes like adults do. But does he really smoke, letting go of the last symbol of childhood’s innocence, or does he illustrate his mature side?

Jimin represents Jin’s denial and grief over the dying youth, hence why he’s drowning himself in sorrow. But does Jimin really drowns himself to end grief, or does he illustrate his precarious state of mind, his sorrow? At the end of I NEED U, he’s clearly alive.

The correct answer to “do they?/dont’t they?” might just be: both and neither. They all symbolically die one way or another, but not for the same reasons; for some it’s a bit more obvious and grim, for others it is conveyed more subtly.

SYMBOLICAL DEATH

J-Hope does not overdose. He’s “sick” and just tries to ease his pain by taking too many pills, but when he opens his eyes after collapsing on the bridge (trying to get to the other side and where cars, a symbol of the adult world, are shown passing by), he is only showing us that he is still stuck in between 2 states, exactly as before. He’s in denial of what happened to him (he entered adulthood because of V — they all are one and the same as part of Jin’s psyche), hence goes back to his original state.

JungKook gets presumably hit by a car, a motif symbolically connected to adulthood throughout the MVs (Jin’s car, the ungrateful driver at Rapmon’s gas station, the cars blocked in Run, etc.). His wandering path ends there, literally and symbolically. This is right at the same moment V hits his father, and it should therefore be interpreted as a metaphor for what they all go through at once. JunkKook is, with Jin, actually the only one who symbolically dies in I NEED U as a metaphor for growing up (that’s the child who dies, not him).

V doesn’t die but kills the father, like they say all boys must do. He frees himself from parental control over his life, his youth dying in the process. Him jumping off the pontoon into the wide ocean in the Prologue is another allegory for stepping into adulthood and moving on to the next stage of life. And same, of course, with entering “the void” in Run. By the end of I NEED U he is still alive, though in a very emotional state.

Suga sets himself on fire, presumably consumed by the intensity of his own fever. The fire here must be understood as a cleansing force. By setting himself on fire, he’s purifying himself and all the boys of adulthood, making himself and all of them innocent again by destroying all evidence of the existence of the sin (loss of innocence) and the sinner (the adult he has become). He symbolically tries to end his adult self, but he isn’t clearly dead at the end of the MV and for obvious reasons: he’s in denial of reality and cannot go back to what he was once.

Rapmon is in denial of reality. He’s already entered adulthood long before though he was denying it, but he is stuck in is old habits at the end of I NEED U and fights reality with the lollipop motif.

Jimin drowns himself in sorrow as he is grieving over his youth, but he’s still alive at the end of the I NEED U MV. He ‘s actually seen reenacting a scene from before, illustrating that he is also stuck in old patterns, being in total denial over what happened.

Finally, Jin was seen surrounded by white lilies throughout the Korean and Japanese versions of I NEED U, a flower often associated with death. And indeed, by setting 6 lilies petals on fire, he symbolically tries to kill the parts of himself tied to youth and embodied by the boys, and therefore tries to kill himself in his child form (see the symbolic meaning of fire above). We then get a hint that he will be going back to his youth, to his “Neverland” (window motif). Like JungKook, once V has killed his father Jin is not shown anymore.

Appart from JungKook (the youngest) and Jin (the eldest), they are all shown as being alive by the end of I NEED U. Only those 2 have symbolically died in their youth form, in order to be reborn as butterflies (adults).Together they represent both ends of youth, the first and last stage of childhood.

But they all have died symbolically, in their youth form, the moment V had hit his father — only they don’t want to admit it. By the end of Run though, they will all die again symbolically, from their own will this time, in order to be all reborn as butterflies together. This will be the moment Jin, as the main entity, reconciles his old and new self and is being able to move forward.

So, what do you think?