[Note: This series originally started as a project on Reddit. You can find an explanation of what Bible Study is all about here.]
After a wee bit of a hiatus, we're back with a special edition Bible Study. As has become tradition, we follow each diary with a purposeful watching of its associated music videos seeking connections and revelations.
GD: Are we doing deja vu first?
Bobby: I guess? It was released first
GD: Okay then
I have it pulled up
but I suppose we should start with the overall story of the diary
I have had to go look at the start of the diaries again
and I already feel so silly for thinking deja vu had nothing to do with diary, I can't even stand it
Bobby: Okay--I finally finished reading
Yes we should start with diary story as a review
01: what is the overall story of the diary?
GD: Well diary from part 2 had them begin their quest to get find the grimes girl's voice and talk to Left Eye, so this diary picks up with the outcome of those adventures and sets them on the path to finding the cromer with the android guardians.
Bobby: We had a notable character moment with Mingi on the boat
GD: We saw Halateez again for the first time since 1? Is that right? I don't' remember seeing them in 2
Bobby: Right, they were not in 2 at all.
GD: And then notably, we lost Yeosang
Bobby: I remember ages ago when I wrote my Hero's Journey and the Fever Diaries post I said that Yeo was one of the main characters, and I think I stand by that
His actions here propel the narrative forward into the epilogue
GD: Yeosang's character arc/motivation is the one that is the clearest and recevies the most attention in my opinion
We get character moments from all the boys at some point or another, but we get it every time we have a Yeosang perspective
Bobby: I think it was very smart on The Intern's part to sort of focus on each boy one at a time. Yunho also has a clear arc and growth--Mingi as well though less clear--but they each get their resolutions at different times
GD: I agree
Bobby: And since Yeo's already reached the end of his individual story, it makes it okay for him to be completely out of the story for epilogue
GD: I'm sure some Yeosang stans would disagree with you
Bobby: Yeosang stans can bite me
GD: But I like that he becomes.... what's the word
Bobby: It will be fun to discuss when we get to The Real
GD: Like a macguffin, but obviously not a macguffin because he is actually important
Bobby: The connections are clear
GD: Their motivation, I suppose. Perhaps the word was simpler than I thought.
Bobby: He's their Treasure
GD: I swear doing this project has really opened my eyes to the ways in which the music videos track the diaries
I always thought they were almost completely disconnected
but now I see that they're very intertwined.
I guess that's getting ahead of ourselves since we haven't actually watched this
shall we?
Bobby: Oh, I haven't pulled up the thing
Oops got distracted by Not Okay teaser
Okay, am ready
GD: Playing now
GD: We're watching all the way through right?
Bobby: Yes
GD: I'm watching it again
Bobby: Deja Vu really is mostly just vibes
Not to say that it doesn't have substance
GD: It feels like it has more dance break than their most recent videos
Bobby: Well, I have theories
A theory really
But, watching this again--it's been a while--I have to wonder, if they remade this with today's budget, what would it look like
Because this is right after Kingdom and before they've started touring again
GD: Well
I've finished my second watch and I have so many thoughts
Bobby: Let's start with the story
GD: But to your point, yes, I do think this is... almost an end of an era with regards to ateez's growth
The moment right before they began to really make the money they needed to tell their story effectively
Not that they hadn't been doing the most with what they had, but you can tell it steps up
Anyways, the story
02: what is the overall story of the MV?
Bobby: There obviously isn't a typical narrative, but they are clearly hinting at something happening behind all the dancing
GD: When I watched it the first time, and watching it now, it does feel like a heist story. Has a very sort of future vibe that reminds me of the matrix or that one movie that was rebooted that Ryan Rynolds was in
Bobby: Right--you get clues that this is an advanced society with the drone and with the one screen overlay part
GD: But there's obviously some of that.. god what is the genre called?
Like gritty future
My brain isn't braining today
Bobby: Is that a specific genre?
GD: Cyberpunk
Bobby: Ah
GD: That's the genre
Bobby: That felt too easy
GD: it did didn't it
Bobby: The junkyard of cars connects us back to Fireworks/Strictland dump
But now we have an actual city
So it feels like a progression from Fireworks
GD: Right
And they do end up meeting with halateez
Bobby: Which is arguably the only thing that actually happens in the MV
They get in cars, they meet Halateez
GD: There seems to be some... listlessness?
Seonghwa and Yeosang sitting on that gross mattress situation with the monitors? and the butterfly? Is the moment I'm thinking about
Bobby: Yes
GD: Also, in some ways, the way they lift Seonghwa in the junkyard
And I guess I'm wondering if in those moments, they're not ateez, but the rest of society
sort of going through the motions of life without feeling or experiencing it
Bobby: The lifting of Hwa onto the "throne" reminds me a bit of his part in Halazia
In the beginning when he's seated on the thing. . . it has a name
Palanquin?
GD: Yes!
An interesting connection
Bobby: Isn't there a group out there that represents the seven deadly sins? Am I making that up?
GD: I know a lot of people were like "Seonghwa real leader, Seonghwa betrayer" because of that moment.. but that's not really how it reads to me
Like a kpop group?
Bobby: Yes
Okay no.
Although people have created fake groups with that concept
I don't know why people have been so desperate for a member to be a villain
GD: Because they don't understand the lore and people like a sexy villain
Bobby: As do I, but it's all or nothing
Which is why Don't Stop works
Because they're all villains
GD: Do you have any thoughts on the flowers with Wooyoung? It is something that has always stood out to me but never really had any concrete ideas on what it means
I remember people looking up the flower.. and also calling him a villain
Bobby: Because the dahlia can represent betrayal
I covered this in my Sirens post
One of my greatest works
However--and I can't remember if it was in that post or if it was in a bible study back in the fall--but I believe it's meant to represent that there will be a betrayal, not necessarily that a member, or Wooyoung in this case, would be the betrayer
Which is what happens
GD: A side note
I really love Wooyoung next to flowers, and I love this Wooyoung hair. It's my favorite
Sorry
Back to the task
Bobby: I was thinking earlier how wild it is that people don't like this Yunho hair
Like, okay, keep being blind I guess
GD: It's sad
We should feel sad for them
Bobby: Just like I feel sad for that person who doesn't like Mingi Epilogue hair
Silver Mingi?
Really??
It's absolutely insane out there
GD: I feel sad for anyone who feels that any ateez hair is bad enough to actively dislike it
I don't like Hongjoong's mullet but I understand that he still looks great and also don't need to post about how it should never come back
Hongjoong, if you're listening, cut that mullet if that's what you want. I'll keep my mouth closed and say how nice you look.
Bobby: Alright--thematic connections
I assume we're ready to move on to that?
GD: No
Oneteez
I feel like it's the elephant in the room
Or maybe just the elephant in my heart
Or maybe that's for a later portion and I am ready to move on
Because we're just talking about the story right now
Bobby: I do have a setting note
How the first room is reminiscent of SMN
A thing literally every atiny was talking about at the time but given these events occur right before SMN, it feels important to mention
GD: Yes
I'd also say that the junkyard and deserted room are reminiscent of the vibe of some of the place in Fireworks? Though obviously they've used a different color grading on the film
Bobby: The multiple TVs a callback to Fever Diary and maybe Wonderland
And Answer I think?
GD: I think that's right
And, spoiler, not okay
I assume not okay will have been released by then tho
Bobby: Yes
Also Guerrilla
GD: Oh!
The screens in the Fever Part 1 diary
Bobby: Yes
GD: Oh you said that
Are there screens with Jongho on his burning bed?
I was thinking of the ones with Hongjoong
Bobby: Are there?
GD: Ohhhh all of their individual music videos
Bobby: All of them?
GD: Not all
But some
I think matz and it's you
Bobby: Crazy Form
Not multiples but the one
We're touching on theme territory here I think
GD: I need to look for something in a video
I have a very clear image in my head, and I need to see if I can find it
Well I can't find it so I must've made it up in my head
03: what are the thematic connections?
GD: Anyways, yes, I think the idea that there are screens throughout is related to themes and I think there are two themes that one can pull
one is the idea of being watched or monitored, and then I also think there is the idea of feeling like you're living your life somehow seperated from it? Like a disconnect between yourself and the world
I'm thinking specifically of the way Hongjoong looks longingly at the screens in the diary film
Bobby: I thinking like a barrier between you and the thing you think you want
GD: Yes, that's a good way to phrase it
It also reminds me a bit of the feeling of being trapped
I watched the Fahrenheit 451 movie the other day, which I think I told you
And while it's nothing like the book, it does remind me a bit of the vibes of this video and the vibes of Not Okay
Bobby: If you told me, I entirely forgot.
It does have a feeling of general unease
GD: Perhaps I just thought about telling you
Bobby: And also transitoriness
Which reminds me of Fireworks
and actually Turbulence now I think about it
Oh we didn't mention the stinger earlier
The clear depiction of Yeo breaking the cromer
A thing that is becoming very important and perhaps problematic for heading back to A universe
They made the choice for it to rain in Deja Vu, just like Crazy Form
GD: Well when we get to oneteez
Lightning/rain feels like a recurrent theme
And I feel like we've talked a bit about rain before? We've at least talked about water with inception
Bobby: Water & fire; light & darkness--all common motifs
Something specific I noticed, though I'm not sure what meaning it might have is how they never stand out from their environments
Like, there's no color contrast
They purposefully blend in
GD: Like ateez themselves?
Bobby: Yes
GD: Interesting
Bobby: They wear blue with blue backgrounds
Black in the dark outside
GD: I had the passing thought that the blue color grading reminded me of isolation
Bobby: It's cold
"Color this infinitely cold world"
GD: But I'm thinking about a society like this, where the goal is to blend in right.
Oh no I'm thinking about a sci fi story and I don't remember the name of it
But it's like a boy who is too smart--so they kill him? And maybe there's a ballerina dancer?
Bobby: There's a short story called Examination Day where a boy scores too high on an intelligence test, so he is routinely killed
GD: Maybe that's the one I'm thinking about
And the ballerina one is a separate story
I found it
Harrison Bergeron
Bobby: Oh
Yeah
GD: The first lines: THE YEAR WAS 2081, and everybody was finally equal. They weren't only equal before God and the law. They were equal every which way. Nobody was smarter than anybody else. Nobody was better looking than anybody else. Nobody was stronger or quicker than anybody else. All this equality was due to the 211th, 212th, and 213th Amendments to the Constitution, and to the unceasing vigilance of agents of the United States Handicapper General.
Bobby: That's the one where they're all obsessed with TV?
GD: I don't think so?
But maybe?
I was just re-read parts of it
Bobby: I just remember TV being very important. Like everyone watches at the same time
GD: And they put 'handicaps' on others to bring them down to like a common level. A normal. So that everyone can be the same
I think that's true
Bobby: Sameness
GD: That seems to be a common goal in sci fi? and I think the coloring sort of exemplifies that
nothing in the world is designed to stick out or be special
(the story, by the way)
Bobby: Well, not for the common rabble
Ruling classes are always exempt somehow
GD: Right
It's funny because that sort of talk always reminds me of the american revolution and you know, the like ruling upper class that the country was built upon that we always like to pretend wasn't the case
Bobby: Lol, reminds me of certain fandoms intent on making their idols win the struggle olympics but they're from a big company
Like, okay
GD: Yes
I was going to say something petty
But I'll keep it to myself
Everyone at home can just know that my thoughts turned petty
Bobby: [says something petty that shall never be revealed]
GD: I want to talk about the lyrics
When do we get to that portion of the event?
Bobby: Now
GD: Two lyrics stuck out to me
"which place and which time"
and "find you in my heart"
Bobby: I've been looking up what decalcomanie means
GD: I had looked it up a while ago, and isn't it related to like.. a never ending loop?
Oneteez
I'm back on oneteez train
Bobby: Not really? but maybe?
GD: Is what I'm saying
Bobby: It's a decorative technique whereby you can transfer prints and engravings onto pottery
In kpop, it seems to mean copies of something or oneself
So when Mingi says a "decalcomanie on a white sheet" I don't think the sheet he's referring to is a bed sheet which is how I think atinys have always interpreted it bc of course they have
It's more like a copy of himself, a drawing
On a sheet of paper
GD: Interesting
I don't really know what to do with it, but I do think it's... interesting
Bobby: Right--I'm not sure how it fits in the song exactly
Or what it means
GD: I kept coming back to the 'find you in my heart' because it made me think of hearts awakened live alive
Bobby: "Which place which time/ which fate, oh/ attracts me to you" is interesting. Suggests multiple timelines
GD: The 'it feels as if I just had a dream in a dream' stands out to me too
(I've just started reading the lyrics)
Bobby: "Is it an illusion or an illness"
GD: "Reality or illusion" is in there too
Along with "I'm thirsted by desire"
Which sticks out to me for having the title of another song in the lyric
I'm thinking about Halazia
Hongjoong's rap
"Please let me take real breaths"
"Your breath reaches me / will my breath reach to you too / even if it takes my breath away"
Bobby: Yes, I also thought of that other breath line
"hear the sound of love's breath" or something like that
Yes "I want to hear the sound of love's breath"
You'd think I'd have the Halazia translation fully memorized by now
GD: We certainly look it up enough
Bobby: Truly. I'm also on day 25 of daily viewing
GD: You will need to update me on how it's going when we're done here
I am not sure I have many more thoughts
It's unclear to me why I ever try to eat donuts
Bobby: I feel like I'm still trying to connect the diary to the mv
Like, DV is about desire, I think, if I were to sum it up in one word
I think the most obvious surface-level interpretation is it's about sexual desire; but Ateez always builds layers into their lyrics. Like It's You could be about sex, but it could also be about the pursuit of passion. Everything could be about a break up, but it's also about regret
And so I think what in the pt. 3 diary connects me to desire?
GD: I don't know that I think it's about desire
A hot take, I know
To me, it's more about desperation... of which desire can be a part, but it's deeper than desire
Bobby: See, I don't really get desperation. I think that's where we're headed, but we're not there yet
I could argue it's about longing
But there's a heat in the lyrics that pulls me toward desire. Longing is colder to me
GD: Yeah, I don't get longing either. But I do think we've reached desperation stage.. the endless thirst, i go insane, an endless thirst. To me, those all say desperation more so than desire
Like if this was about a relationship, I'd be like ah yeah, that's a toxic relationship, you should get out of it
Bobby: I think it's because the music itself is both playful and subdued. I could imagine that there's unacknowledged desperation under the surface. Like "I go crazy" isn't literal; it's more. . . flirty is not the word I want, but it's the best I can think of
GD: See, I think the music is sort of creepy
It makes it onto all of my creepy playlists
Bobby: I see that. It's why I'm saying there's layers.
It reminds me of how a nursery rhyme is very cutesy and sing-songy
But it's actually creepy when you think about it
GD: Ashes, ashes, we all fall down
Is the one that always comes to mind for me
Bobby: Right. Everyone's always dying in nursery rhymes
I think what I'm thinking here is a disconnect between tone and mood
Like DC's Because. The tone is playful and sweet; the mood is super creepy
GD: I guess I don't really see as much of a disconnect as you do. I think that's going to be very true when we get to Eternal Sunshine though.
Bobby: Not a disconnect entirely but a difference between what they're saying and what they think they're saying
But that does make me think of how at this point in the story they are determined just to go home, that's all.
They definitely are not interested in staying to help these people
Definitely not
GD: Right, and then by the end of this diary, they are missing a member
Was I thinking about the screens with Jongho in not okay?
Bobby: You did mention
GD: Also Jongho in the teaser. It's really good that that came out after I talked to him
Well I went looking for the very clear visual I had in my head of screens around Jongho, and now I'm like, was that the not okay teaser?
Bobby: I def don't remember screens in Diary film
Not with Jongho
Just fire
Not Okay is going to be so good
Which is an understatement
But I don't think we're emotionally prepared for how good it's going to be
GD: I agree
Their Japanese releases are always hits
But this one..
Well.
I'm very excited
Bobby: Have we any other theme thoughts?
GD: I don't think so
04: what are your final thoughts and takeaways?
Bobby: Final thoughts and takeaways then
In all of Ateez's discography, Deja Vu kind of feels like the redheaded stepchild of their title tracks
GD: Deja Vu is the one it feels like GG stans like the most
I know my army friend's favorite ateez song is Deja Vu
My takeaway is that a heist concept for the music video is an accurate form to tell the story of what happens in the diary
Bobby: Are we getting heist concept because they get in cars?
GD: Mmmm, not exactly?
I think it's the opening shot going through the tunnel? And just some of the framing of the shots?
Bobby: Because they never retrieve anything--though Hongjoong does meet Halajoong, so that's it?
If we didn't have the diary, would you still think heist?
GD: Heist is what I thought when I thought it had nothing to do with the diary
It's how I've always envisioned it ever since release
I think it's the opening shot
Bobby: It definitely feels like a mission of some sort
GD: They go like down through a tunnel into an underground area
And an opening shot can really do a lot, so I think that shot has just always make me think 'oh this is a heist MV'
Bobby: We didn't even talk about the drone
Why is it there
What is it doing
GD: Aren't butterflies also drones canonically?
I think the drone adds to the whole 'being watched' vibes
Bobby: I mean sure--but the only drone we know of is Yeosang's
Bobby: I've never understood a sentence less
GD: Maybe it was a dream
I thought the butterflies were drones
Bobby: As in, the butterflies aren't real, they are tiny machines?
GD: Yes, watching them
Did I make it up entirely?
Is it like bobo?
Bobby: I've never heard that before
GD: That's so wild because I thought it was you that told me it was in the most recent diary I can't bring myself to read
I'll assume it was a dream
scary that it felt so real
Bobby: Hold on
One butterfly is a drone
I don't think I ever told you that
GD: Someone must've told me that
Maybe it was Cassandra
I have retroactively applied it every butterfly we've ever seen
Bobby: Yeo is the one piloting the drone though
So Yeo would be spying on himself
GD: Building the drone?
Bobby: Before they've even decided to stay?
GD: It would be weird to me for them to have an overarching thing of random butterflies and then provide a totally unrelated butterfly in a diary book
So perhaps he got the idea, or he used the butter fly here too to help with mission (maybe that's how he knew where the cromer was), or something. it would just be... a really weird thing to do to have all of the random butterflies not be related to the butterfly that we later see in the diary
Bobby: It would be if they'd planned out every single detail in advance
Which we know they haven't
Like, when they released Answer, I don't think they had planned that in the World pt. 2 diary they were going to have a student disciplinary group named Thunder that would actually turn out to be on their side
GD: Idk, I still think it makes more sense for them to want that to have more meaning. Otherwise the drone built later could've been a bird or some other thing that wasn't heavily featured in 2 MVs
Bobby: I think they picked it BC it had been featured
Yeo is using a butterfly because apparently they are common in strictland
Which is interesting bc butterflies tend to symbolize transformation
GD: Is that what it says in the diary?
I suppose I really should read it
Bobby: There's a whole crowd of butterflies and his breaks off from the crowd
GD: Then I will reserve any further butterfly thoughts until I've read it
I don't know that we really reviewed any takeaways, but I think I said most of my takeaways. Including that this music video feels like the end of a an era related to the production values on Ateez's work
It's a strong and good music video, but you can definetely feel a bit of a switch once they get to the real
Bobby: Probably the real divide would be between Eternal Sunshine and Turbulence
GD: I forgot about Turbulence
Somehow
Unlike me
Bobby: Turbulence is pretty simple, but it has real locations which are harder to work with than controlled sound stages
I guess DV also has some real locations as well
But The Real is definitely the first big budget
You can feel the money
GD: Exactly
Turbulence feels like a pre-release, which it was, so perhaps that's why I forgot it when I was thinking about music video eras
Like turbulence doesn't feel like the main event of the comeback
Bobby: Right. Since it wasn't
It was just a gift we did not deserve
GD: But thank god for it
05: closing
GD: Do we have any other thoughts?
I don't remember how we close out a special edition
Bobby: We do a praise, patron saints, and then rosary
GD: I'd like to praise aniteez
And that all the boys had their aniteez keychains at the airport
Because they bring me a lot of joy
Bobby: Oh no I'm thinking about ot8 keychains again
GD: I've already done it so I don't have to think about it
I can rest
Bobby: Will I ever rest?
GD: Once you give in, probably
Bobby: The only way out is through
GD: I think I told Jongho I was going to build a shrine with my pictures and jjongbear
I'm too afraid to go back and listen
Bobby: A totally normal thing to say
My praise is how good Not Okay is going to be
Circling back for just a moment
I feel unsettled because I don't think I got anywhere with DV today
And I'm wondering about making it my next daily visit, should I wish to continue when I'm finished with Halazia
GD: How long are you working on Halazia?
Bobby: I was thinking 30 days
So, March 1 would be my final visit
GD: Well then you're almost done
Perhaps deja vu deserves it
I feel settled with it, and I'm not entirely sure why. If someone asked me, I don't think I could explain it. But in my heart I feel like I get her.
Bobby: So, patron saints?
GD: I was going to pick Jongho just because
But I think the heart wants Yeosang
My heart wants a lot of things
Including a nap
Bobby: I am picking Jongho
Because I need power and confidence
Also I think because of how he just rolls with the parts of his job that he may not love
GD: One can’t help but picture him in that Harry Potter robe
Bobby: It's too late for me to take a nap, but I may take one just the same. Shall we rosary?
GD: 8 makes
Bobby: 1 team
GD: Be the light
Bobby: Halazia
Thank you for joining us for this in depth look at one of ATEEZ's most underrated and quickly forgotten music videos. Stay tuned for Eternal Sunshine.
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