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Monsta X Theory:

My dude @chenchilla-lady-killa told me i should post this so why not

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Monsta X: Seven Deadly Sins Theory

As the era comes to an end I want to just put my thoughts out here. I haven’t read any theories with the same labels that I used; if there are some I am unaware of them so I hope this doesn’t appear as a copy of anyone else’s theories!

Now this is by no means confirmed, I’m a college student who is both a stan of Monsta X (and other groups), who is focusing on the Seven Deadly Sins for her FMP on her course. Of course their concept grabbed my attention immediately, and I researched into how I thought each member represents the sins with evidence from my other sources of research for my FMP.

As I stated before. This is by no means correct, it’s just my own interpretation of how I see each member correlating with a sin, and I have no intention of copying others’ theories. There are some incredible theories out there, I’m just basing my own purely on how I think each member represents a sin, using outside research. If this reflects other people’s theories I hope it isn’t too similar, and I’m sorry if I raise the same points, I’ve based it all on my own thoughts with input from other research sources I’ve studied for college.

This gets long, please stick with it!

Wrath: Shownu

I’m basing this theory mostly on what I see in the music videos, talking of Shoot out first.

Obviously, we are shown Shownu with a box of matches with ‘Wrath’ written across them. Matches are a key object to destruction and violence. Wrath is said to be an extreme anger and loss of self control, an individual who opts for rage over love. It is one of the sins that links to a loss of self control, rather than an overawareness in one’s self. Fire itself is something that can quite easily be lost control of, which is a strong visual symbol for wrath.

When Shownu is shown dancing alone at some points in Shoot Out, he is depicted with a shadow of himself cast on the wall behind. This shadow is created in a way that it is a lot larger than Shownu, which makes it both more intimidating and also look more powerful due to the contrast in height with an average human (emphasis on size being equated with power).

Again, in alligator, Shownu is striking a match from another box titled wrath, with a different design of a hand with flames coming from it, shortly after seeing Shownu drop the match leading to an explosion of a building. To me, there is no other sin this could represent other than wrath. No other sin seemingly would cause physical harm or outbursts.

The second GIF showing the heads could also relate to the fragility of those around him in regard to his overwhelming power.

As well as this, Shownu is depicted with the colour red repeatedly. Red has connotations to both love and anger, depending on the hue or how it is used. A lot of how he is depicted in the music videos emphasizes dominance and his movements, created in a manner that would make him look like a more intimidating presence. He is very much showcasing his power. It could also be mentioned that wrath is represented by satan (the Devil), which would make sense with him being the leader (although Lucifer and Beelzebub represent a further two sins and are both also other names for the Devil).

Lust: Wonho

I’ve seen many different interpretations for what Wonho represents, and I can understand all the meanings behind them. Alligator is what ultimately sold me on what he represents.

Now, in Shoot Out it is quite ambiguous what Wonho could represent. Visually, there are strong ties to Wrath, Lust and quite possibly Sloth. He is first depicted within a cage, with smoke in the background and looking at the camera in a somewhat more suggestive manner than other members. The whole use of smoke is what adds to a sultry effect for Wonho, though the act of being imprisoned is what throws me off. Cages are essentially used to keep an animal or person help captive, and in this sense that would match the three sins above, however while Wonho doesn’t look like he’s making an immediate effort to escape, he certainly isn’t sitting back and doing nothing. To me, that eliminated the chance of sloth being his sin, as he would be in a state of self neglect with little care as to whether he left at all.

I feel that I couldn’t eliminate wrath as a possibility for Shoot Out by looking at Wonho alone, but with the addition of Shownu I feel that made me focus on Wonho as lust. As well as this, I feel that if Wonho were representing wrath, in the cage he would be in a greater state of rage, and would be making a physical attempt to escape his confinement.

Alligator is where I gained more speculation, specifically around the apple’s significance (hear me out). Firstly, Wonho is depicted on a bed, which has connotations to both sloth and lust. This immediately eliminated wrath as a possibility to me. Looking at the scene around Wonho, I would most definitely describe it as immaculate. Sloth is notorious for laziness and a lack of care for ones self and surroundings; this room most certainly does not show that.

The apple. This is wild speculation, and a bit far stretched, but it’s what led me to my final decision for lust. Firstly, we look at how Wonho bites the apple - this gesture can be seen as suggestive and seductive to some. The apple itself can hold a greater meaning. In greek mythology, there is a tale in which Aphrodite bestows upon Hippomenes three golden apples. Aphrodite is the goddess of love, so this could vaguely link to the apple being a romantic fruit. In Christianity, there is the clear depiction of the apple as the ‘forbidden fruit’, to which Eve gives into the temptation for. Many scholars would also write of the apple being a mythological fruit, and this idea eventually grew into the perception of the fruit being a symbol of ‘love and sexuality’. (see this article for further reading on apple symbolisms!)

Sloth: Minhyuk

I feel that Minhyuk’s sin is the one that is most difficult to put a label on in the whole concept. My theories for this one are a bit broad and have weak evidence supporting them.

Shoot Out was particularly difficult to derive his sin from. His depictions in it are mostly behind thorns or squinting into the light. If it had just been Minhyuk looking into the light, it would have been easier to analyse, but other members like Shownu and Hyungwon are shown similarly, so I feel the light scenes refer to something else like the forgiveness for sins or holy virtues.

With discussion with friends and my gf, we speculated that the thorns could have connotations with sleeping beauty. I have seen in my other research disney princesses depicted as the sins (Minhyuk our disney princess) and within sleeping beauty is, for obvious reasons, depicted as sloth. In the tale, she pricks her finger on a spindle on a spinning wheel. While this isn’t exactly what Minhyuk is surrounded by, the thorns bear a remarkable resemblance to a spindle, and he is shown to prick his finger on them too. Notice how he also doesn’t go near them other than, rather daintly, pricking his hand on them - he makes no desperate attempt to escape. Rather it seems that he ponders the injury, making no further attempt, or possibly, giving up after one try.

Alligator is more helpful in terms of depicting Minhyuk as sloth. The colours have very powerful connotations in this context. Blues are often associated with sadness or calm; two things that often go hand in hand with laziness. Sadness or depression can lead to sloth, falling into a state of neglect with lack of self care, while calm can actually also link to sloth when people come to terms with giving up any endeavours. As well as this, purple has connotations to grief, as in the Victorian era those in mourning would often wear purple, or black.

Looking at Minhyuk’s surroundings, I say that they would definitely match a state of neglect. Though the roses are beautiful, they are overgrown, as if plant life if reclaiming the area he’s in. There is also the beam that’s obscuring half the room, and the windows appear to not quite fit the frames; now while it doesn’t necessarily look as if it’s fallen down, it most definitely shows a lack of care in the structural aspect of the room. There are also shadows on the windows, supposedly more plant life, suggesting the entire area around him is falling into an almost post-apocalyptic state, which would most definitely show the effects of sloth.

Greed: Kihyun

This one perplexed me for a while, especially in Shoot Out, as I couldn’t place the significance of the mannequins. I also found it hard to place connotations of greed in Alligator in the mannequin scenes.

In Shoot Out, Kihyun is depicted walking among mannequins. I first was focussing on what the mannequins were, rather than what they could have. I feel that the mannequins represent a contrast of what Kihyun has and what they don’t have, essentially showcasing his greed. It could also be said that he robbed from them, leaving them around him with nothing. Greed, or avarice, is known as ‘insufficient generosity’ one of the sins where the individual is actually hyperaware of situations around them, and simply opting to be selfish. Rather than it being a loss of self control alike to a lot of the other sins, greed is being aware of the needs of those around you, but not taking them into consideration and instead simply focusing on your material wants; a lack of charity. This could be shown by how the mannequins have nothing, while Kihyun could be said to have everything.

There is also a point in Shoot Out where Kihyun is stood on stairs in an outfit that could be said to boast riches, in contrast to the other members who seem to be in somewhat minimally designed outfits.

Alligator is more perplexing to me. The returning theme of the mannequins with nothing links back to what I said above, but the solitude in a room of writing didn’t have as clear connotations to me. I feel that it could be linked to the concept of a ‘thirst for knowledge’ where the individual can never get enough and will never be satisfied with what they have, always looking for new things. This is the only way I could link the writing and equations on the wall to a sin; I feel instead that they could link to previous Monsta X concepts instead.

Pride: Hyungwon

I feel that there is no doubt in my mind that Hyungwon depicts pride.This is the sin I feel that has the most evidence supporting it through both Shoot Out and Alligator.

Pride as a sin in the Bible refers to the Vanity aspect of it. Pride, however can also link to the inability to accept when one is wrong, the upkeep of appearances both psychological and physical. They also link pride to agony in alligator: ‘loving yourself is prerequisite to being loved by others’.

Firstly, looking at Shoot Out, Hyungwon is depicted on a throne. Thrones and their connotations to royalty would both link to vanity, as an individual depicting themself as a royal being that should be marvelled upon. He is also depicted wearing a top with an emblem with lions on; lions both live in groups called prides and have strong links to royalty and distinct appearances the animals take pride in themselves. (read Dante’s Inferno for further connotations for lions and the deadly sins)

A lot of people also link pride/vanity to the colour white, as it often symobolises purity and that could be argued to be a manner that a vain individual would want to portray themselves; as a pure, ‘spotless’ person, with no flaws. The colours in the background also help bring focus on Hyungwon; the pinks and blues match those in his makeup and contacts, creating almost a ‘perfect’ image. Yet the black clothing serves as a harsh contrast to the background - drawing all attention to him.

It should also be mentioned the black star he holds in concept images links to those black stars on the card that I.M draws for pride in Shoot Out.

The throne theme continues in Alligator, but he is instead surrounded by clocks (a shout out to previous concepts rather than a link to the sins in my opinion). My main focus for pride in this video is the crown of thorns. This firstly has clear links to Christianity and Jesus’s sacrifice with the crown of thorns on his head. Now, contrasting this we have Hyungwon’s image. When Jesus is depicted, he is sacrificing himself in a selfless act for human’s sins, and he is shown to be bleeding from where the thorns are cutting into his head. Hyungwon, on the other hand, is spotless. Rather than it digging into him, it frames his face and almost looks as if it were to protect his appearance from outside dangers that could taint it.

Gluttony: Jooheon

I feel that the points I’m going to raise for this representation are those that are most obvious and brought up most.

We start with Shoot Out; immediately paying attention to the lyrics where Jooheon refers to himself as a zombie and being half dead. We are all familiar with zombies traits, so that in itself explains his link to gluttony.

Visually, we continue with the idea of him being alike to a zombie. He is muzzled/masked, limiting movement of his mouth, a.k.a. restraining his ability to eat and drink. Gluttony differs from greed in its link directly to eating and drinking, and how it is a loss of self control, giving into self-indulgence without awareness for anything else. This in itself would imply that Jooheon wouldn’t be the one who put himself in the cage, alike to a quarantine, or put the restraint on himself, rather someone had to step in and stop his indulgence (take your pick to which member). However he is also shown to walk free in the same video with handcuffs around one wrist; almost signifiying there is no way to end his over indulgence.

I feel that in Alligator he actually has more of a presence as wrath aside Shownu (also behaving as his second-hand man). Paying attention to the details though; Jooheon is wearing a ‘Thriller’ shirt, which links most probably to Michael Jackson’s song, where the video carries forward the same idea of zombies. If it weren’t for that minor detail, I feel it would be very difficult to link Jooheon back to gluttony. The room he’s in is alike to a trophy room, which has more connotations to greed or pride than gluttony, unless focusing solely on the loss of self control, which neither pride or greed are associated with.

Envy: I.M

I.M is another one I feel has quite clear depictions regarding the sin he represents.

I start by running with the visual evidence of him burning the envy card in Shoot Out. That is the first clear label of what he’s supposed to represent (but why stop there). Green has incredibly strong links to Envy; green with envy, the green eyed monster, and green-eyed jealousy (Shakespeare) as well as the link to snakes (which he’s also shown with in other outfits in this concept).

The first GIF showing him looking through the blinds has a clear link to envy too. It can be interpreted that he is admiring the possessions that other’s have, in a place away from him where they are unattainable. The lighting he creates also brings emphasis to his eyes, a main focus, as stated above, when talking about envy.

Alligator brings more attention to the green connotations to envy, while also showing him to seem somewhat restless.This could be linked to how he is depicted alone surrounded by minimal objects (though there are all in seperate rooms so this is a weak point). In Shoot Out he is chained to the bench (I presume), and while that could be to restrain him, I like to speculate that it links to being tied to a feeling of never being happy. The same way that greed can never get enough, envy will always be falling back to the feeling of wanting when they see possessions or circumstances that are unavailable to them at that point. The monitor in Alligator could also link to a torturous concept of him constantly having to view what he has - ‘nothing’ or rather ‘things he’s no longer satisfied with’ - knowing others who have things that he desires are out there.

He is shown in alligator to look at Hyungwon (pride), who is dressed in a manner that again looks royal. Anaylsing the body language, it appears that I.M is glowering up at Hyungwon, who is in turn looking down on him. With pride being so focused on appearances it would be logical that viewing him would trigger envy.

Aaaaaand here we are at the end. Well done you for making it through this because I certainly got a bit carried away. I really want to thank you for reading. If you have any further ideas based on this please feel free to DM me!! I love speculating these things.

This is mostly for my college visual analysis of the deadly sins but I hope you enjoyed reading either way!