“Once I pass through this door, the environment will be completely different from the one that has surrounded me. I refuse to think about what’ll happen next. I’ll focus on taking one step at a time. I pushed the door with all my might. Every cell of my body collided with the outside air. There was no oppressive sunlight or fierce wind like I had always imagined. I felt like crying. The sound of my heartbeat reverberated in all directions.”
— JiMin, 15 May Year 22. The Notes 1.
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Euphoria : Theme of Love Yourself 起 Wonder
Epilogue : Young Forever
HYYH On Stage: Prologue
Wings Short Film #2 Lie
Wings Short Film #6 Mama
Wings Short Film #7 Awake
Connecting the HYYH, WINGS, Love Yourself, and Map of the Soul eras (Part 1 of 4)
✱ Long read ahead, so I’ll split this into four parts!
TW // abuse, blood, violence, death, self-harm and suicide
Please know that this isn’t an exhaustive list of possible triggers in The Notes and the MVs. Also, all MVs mentioned are BU content certified, but I didn’t include the Japanese MVs in this thread.
HYYH ERA
This covers the start of young adulthood.
HYYH 1: Experiencing life’s beauty and uncertainties
HYYH 2: Embracing those uncertainties and working through them
HYYH: Young Forever: Cherishing the beautiful moments in life despite the difficulties they came with
I NEED U, HYYH ON STAGE: PROLOGUE, RUN, EPILOGUE: YOUNG FOREVER
These MVs show beauty alongside pain. From The Notes, we know the boys have their own struggles, yet they find solace in each other. Here, we see their most beautiful moments together but also how they fell apart.
HYYH ON STAGE: PROLOGUE
As the name implies, this is the back story. This is like an overview of The Notes as well. The scene where Taehyung calls his hyung is likely referencing the events from the I Need U MV. What follows, the MV itself, is a series of flashbacks.
This also shows Taehyung jumping into the sea, while a similar scene occurs earlier in the MV, when Taehyung is on the roof while the rest of the boys were seated at the empty swimming pool. This is also referenced in later MVs, such as the Euphoria MV!
I NEED U and RUN
These MVs are interesting because they seem to be parallels. I remember watching these as a baby ARMY and thinking how so many scenes seem to be repeated. This could be an indication of the time loop, so we could be seeing two different storylines already.
There are moments when the boys were all happy together, and ones when they’re separated. We also see what happened that led to their fall out like Yoongi and Jungkook fighting, the house of cards falling down, and scenes that seem connected but aren’t exactly the same.
I want to point out that in Run, we see Seokjin building a house of cards. Later when it collapses, he gets a blank look on his face (which he often does in the BU videos!). At this point, Seokjin is already in the time loop, which restarts whenever he fails to save everyone.
In the MVs, we see the boys meeting several unfortunate events - attempting to take their own life by drowning or burning, passing out and not getting medical attention, getting beat up, committing crimes and getting arrested. These events restart the loop for Seokjin.
The house of cards is symbolic because it represents the boys. The act of it collapsing is a representation of Seokjin failing. At one point in the MV, we even see Taehyung causing the house of cards to fall apart. This shows that Seokjin cannot control the other boys.
While Seokjin can go back in time to try to fix everything, he cannot control the every variable. The other boys can act however they wish and other factors also come into play. He has no control over both of these things. He will just have to keep trying until he succeeds.
The lyrics of House of Cards echo this frustration, “even if I knew already, I can’t stop, as time passes, it just becomes more ruined, it’s collapsing again”. As Seokjin tries to change the past, he faces more challenges. He keeps trying since he knows the result if he fails.
EPILOGUE: YOUNG FOREVER
As the name implies, this is the epilogue, the conclusion of the HYYH era. The song lyrics also talk about running towards one’s dreams and holding on to hope, despite falling down, getting hurt, or navigating through what seems like an endless maze.
The HYYH era gave use these pairings:
Namjoon and Taehyung
Yoongi and Jungkook
Hoseok and Jimin
Seokjin is alone
The pairings have like yin-yang dynamic: one complements the other, as if they can complete each other. We even see these pairing during the MOTS era!
As HYYH is about experiences of the youth, we can look at this from a perspective of an adolescent. Like the album titles, these moments when one can be carefree are the most beautiful moments in one's life, and they’re like a dream that one may not want to wake up from.
Unfortunately, one has to grow up. And by growing up, that means waking up from the beautiful dream and coming back to reality. Reality isn’t always beautiful, and life can be unkind to someone just starting to find his way in the world. This brings us to the WINGS era!
“How can something that you want to achieve most in your life and something that is unlikely to come true both be called a dream?” Yoongi said, giggling: "Maybe it means that people are that desperate. They just can't give up on their dreams even though they know they won't come true. Don't ever try to have a dream".
I looked at him in surprise: "How come?"
Yoongi had started biting his nails and, feeling conscious of my glance, he put his hands in his pockets. "Because it's tough having one".
[...]
I could see the sea beyond his shoulders. The countless pebbles crunched under my feet. The rock must've been huge, powerful, and old enough to make people's dreams come true. But now it was no more than a pile of gravel. "Is the world tough for you, too?" I asked. As expected, the earthshaking rumble of the drill swallowed my voice. Yoongi's puzzled look told me he didn't understand. I screamed again: "DO YOU WANT TO GIVE UP ON THIS WORLD, TOO?".
