In the concept trailer for Golden Hour: Part.5, all of us noticed the nearly monochromatic palette, with most of the members dressed in black against a white background. The only color is red, and it's used sparingly:
There's a significance to the color red in the lore, and I'll explore its meanings and possible interpretations.
The dominant theory is that the members in this clip are under the possession or influence of Sopro, showing us the consequences of Wooyoung's impulsive wish:
Wooyoung, returning quietly to the villa where the members slept, headed to the living room. He passed a table covered with empty bottles and leftovers, went to the antique cabinet, and picked up Sopro. Wooyoung: “So if I use this… I can sync my and my members’ emotions?” Sopro’s red light wavered as though in response to Wooyoung’s question. Holding the stone tightly in his fist, Wooyoung brought his hand to his heart and earnestly prayed: “It’s as though they’ve all forgotten what it was like to be happy. Reignite our passion like it was back then, and let us be happy together again. Please.” Red light spilled from the gaps in his fingers, a ruby aurora dancing throughout the dark room.
Most of us associate the color red with lore!Wooyoung, as he's been instrumental to the chaos wrought by Sopro, and is even perhaps responsible for destruction and deception on a much larger scale.
But I'd argue the colors are also telling us to pay attention to Yunho.
Because there's something going on with Yunho.
In Adrenaline, Yunho (not our Yunho, not World A's Yunho, a different world's Yunho) faces off against his members. Bathed in red light.
This isn't the first time we've seen him isolated from the rest of the group during Golden Hour. Recall in Lemon Drop, towards the end, in a series of quick-cuts, we see Yunho physically separated from the members.
In the end credits, Yunho reappears alone, opening the trunk of a car to find the uniforms worn by Halateez.
Is he possessed? Has he turned against his friends? Is he a danger? The use of red might suggest such a thing.
But remember: "Question yourselves"
Yes, Red is the color of surveillance...
..but red is also the color of defiance, of deviance, of non-conformity. In the narrative of the Towards The Light concert, Yunho is exposed by the red light of the panopticon.
Red marks you as other. From the perspective of a militarized government hellbent on stripping the emotions and color from its population (creating a world of black and white) red is the enemy.
I would argue there's another and related meaning of the color red in the lore: awareness. You might even call it sentience.
Recall how Sopro, in its inert, objective state, is depicted as colorless. This can be seen in the Illusion and Dreamers mvs.
I am alive. If anyone were to ask why, I honestly could not answer. For as long as I can remember, I have always been alive. I was not brought into existence by my own will. I had lived without thought until one day, I suddenly became aware - aware of the fact that I had been born. But then, where did I come from? Who am I? What am I?
From then on, the color changed. Sopro is now exclusively depicted as red.
the outlier is Crazy Form, but, depending on which theories you subscribe to, the events shown in the mv may not actually be what happened. In which case the color makes all the more sense.
If red is the color of awareness, then the singling out of Yunho in red could mean that Yunho is aware, that he's broken free of whatever hold was supressing his thoughts and emotions
Perhaps we got a picture of what that process looked like in the Adrenaline mv, with Yunho convulsing, as if his system is rebooting Notice how this moment takes place next to a giant glowing red cube.
The point of showing us a third world (World E) in the Adrenaline mv could have been to draw our attention to a Yunho who has gained awareness, and to teach us to watch carefully when it happens in other worlds. This suggests the variants of each member have a shared fate, that in every life Hongjoong is the caption, or that Wooyoung's choices will spiral out of control, or that Yunho wakes up first.
But when does he wake up?
I'd argue he's been awake for a while. For one thing, he knows he's being watched.
And he wants us to know it too. In the concept trailer, the members evade our gaze. Their eyes slip away, off to the side, whenever the camera focuses on them. Except for Yunho. He's the first to look at us directly.
When we enter the club of In Your Fantasy, he's the first person you encounter, and he lets you in. Same with Ice On My Teeth, Yunho's frank regard in the opening shot suggests an intentional pattern.
I don't think it's unimportant that Yunho's incarnations throughout the lore are associated with death in some way. This has been extensively examined by my fellow meta/lore writers. But death is not always death. It could mean change, transformation, and transition. A passing of one state (objective) to another (subjective). Perhaps Yunho dies to wake.
I also don't think it's a coincidence that the styling for the concept trailer looked so similar to the concept art of Not Okay, which depicts attempts by World Z to assert control over the members by altering their minds (perhaps that music video will end up being the most relevant piece of lore to inform where we're headed to in Golden Hour).
A similar color scheme is used in the styling and cinematography of In Your Fantasy. For me, the red accents of their outfits indicates a semi-awareness, a struggle against control and freedom. In the club of In Your Fantasy, where everyone is watching, we see efforts at rebellion. Yunho may already be awake, but Hongjoong's actions suggest Sopro's influence over him is breaking too.
The way Hongjoong and Yunho are together in the frame implies an affinity.
Even more interesting the way they interact with each other, and how the color red plays a role. Because in the group setting, Yunho is wearing a black coat, obscuring most of the red outfit he's wearing underneath. But then, as Hongjoong looks up at Yunho, the camera (or Hongjoong's mind) cuts to red!Yunho, essentially the manifestation of awareness. Its effect on Hongjoong is immediate: he doubles over in pain. Sentience hurts.
I was also intrigued by the conflict between Yunho and Mingi presented in the trailer. Could it be that Yunho's attempts to wake up the others is being met with resistance, just as it did in World E?
Perhaps Yunho tried at least once before, dangling the key in Mingi's face and daring him to take it - to pursue it. What might that key represent, given its recurrence throughout the lore? When that method didn't work, perhaps Yunho had to take a more confrontational track, triggering a hostile response.
Notice how Hongjoong is framed in the middle, as if caught between the effects of Sopro and his efforts to wake up.
I am probably barely scratching the surface of the use of red in the extensive discography and videography. But it's worth pointing out patterns, and thinking about how the colors are guiding us to the answers we week.
"I'm bad," Yunho spoiled for us earlier today. Question even that. It's all upside down.
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