BTS Theories and Explanations

BTS's Run MV (MV Analysis)

By: Mybiasisquiet (tumblr.) <Credits

The views presented in this analysis are a part of my own individual interpretation of the video, which means they are subject to error. I haven't read any theories yet because I didn't want to be influenced, so some of this might be repetitive, some of it might be radically different. I don't know. This post is based off of the video from the 1thK Youtube channel.

I did an analysis/theory post about the chronology of I NEED YOU and the Prologue and I may refer to it in this post.

Wasted Youth Enter the Void: There's writing on the wall at one point in the video that says this, "Wasted youth enter the void." I NEED U and Run are pretty much totally displays of wasted youth. Though, where I NEED U was melancholy and tragic, Run is chaotic. In I NEED U, they were nearly made out to be victims or martyrs–too good for the fate they were met with. But Run is all chaotic parties and running from the police, tagging walls and blocking traffic. In I NEED U they hurt themselves, in Run they hurt others and each other. In the most beautiful time of their life, they waste their youth with destructive habits. And as promised, wasted youth enter the void.

The Void: Run is the void, the afterlife, a dream-dimension they were sent after their deaths. Though there were aspects in I NEED U and the Prologue that were abstract, like the symbolism of the six lily petals or how Suga is missing from the polaroid, they were primarily straight forward. Run is by far the most dream-like of the three videos. There's a lyric I think applies well: I'm chasing butterflies, so lost in dreams.

The void is a place where elements of their prior lives are recycled, though there are inherent differences. Think of the flash-sideways/purgatory scenes from Lost. Everything is familiar, yet there's an underlying anxiety that tells us something isn't quite right. It's an inversion of reality, one where they could supposedly fulfill their dreams.

This inversion is expressed throughout the video with reflections, like in the surface of water and in mirrors. (Though this doesn't really add any significance to the video, certain parallels can be drawn between the video and Through the Looking Glass, the sequel to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. The first book was set in May and the second was set in November, just as I NEED U Original Ver. was released in May and now Run in November. The playing cards may also reference Alice in Wonderland. Alice was able to reenter Wonderland through a mirror, hence the title, also tying into the inversion/reflection theme within the video)