[Note: This series originally started as a project on Reddit. You can find an explanation of what Bible Study is all about here.]
Today we are backtracking slightly and returning to Fever Pt.1 in order to take a closer look at Inception. Next week, we will tackle THANXX before we return to the diary books and begin our look at Fever Pt.3.
01: what is the overall story of the diary?
GD: It's sort of a hard question because the connected thread of the story almost feels like a location: it all centers around the warehouse.
But at a narrative level, we meet 8 boys who felt alone in the world and come to find a space where they can be together and chase after a shared dream. They find some happiness together, but the happiness doesn't last as they all drift apart, the dream not quite strong enough to tie them to each other permanently. Or at least that's how I interpret it? I'm not sure that is what the facts on the page give me.
BobbyJ: 8 boys gather together to chase a dream but then break up is the most bare bones explanation I suppose. Each boy also has his own individual narrative as well
GD: I'm very interested in setting as a story element--like how the setting affects the story--and I think that's why I feel so much like the warehouse is its own character.
BobbyJ: I agree to a certain extent. But at the end of the day, the warehouse doesn't actually matter. It's like the boys themselves made the warehouse a thing so that they had an excuse when things fell apart
I feel like that bleeds a bit into theme, so let's move on to what's happening at a narrative level in Inception
GD: We will have to agree to disagree here
02: what is the overall story of the MV?
GD: Should I be watching Inception now?
BobbyJ: I already watched once. I will watch again
GD: I once again find it hard to stick to the straight narrative facts without supplementing it with my interpretation. But, we meet 8 guys who are alone. I'd say something about them being haunted... or like... mention the sleeping thing, but I think all of that is metaphorical?
So I don't really know how to talk about it in a narrative way.
BobbyJ: I think we're meant to question whether they are awake or dreaming the whole time
GD: Yes, that's my problem with discussing the music video at a narrative level--it's like a poem, it's requiring me to infer what's going on. What do they want me to take away? Instead of what is happening
BobbyJ: Right. But I think it's important to attempt to view it literally at first. If I were doing this with students, I'd ask them "what are they doing?" To which they could reply, they're sleeping/dreaming (if we ignore the dancing).
GD: But, I don't think that's what they're doing.
BobbyJ: It is on the surface
GD: Well, they're sleeping, but they're also sitting in rooms alone perfectly awake. So moving between being awake and sleeping, always alone
BobbyJ: So, sleeping, sometimes sitting on a bed, Wooyoung dances, etc.
GD: Jongho is on a basketball court, Seonghwa is in front of some papers with a video playing in the background. Hongjoong watches some televisions
BobbyJ: Taking note of setting is a good thought. Yunho is in some type of studio with musical instruments. Hwa is also outside of a convenience store
GD: Yeosang is in a study/school environment. He has a violin and a bird cage. I think. I may need to watch it again
BobbyJ: I don't know if he has the violin here but he is in a music/orchestra room. There are feathers. Mingi is in a hallway. Which I have thoughts on but that's for later
GD: At the end, Hongjoong jumps into a thing
BobbyJ: A void of some sort. San is surrounded by moving boxes
GD: I suppose more accurately, he jumps through a thing into a void
BobbyJ: He jumps through himself on a bed (San's bed to be precise) into a void
Wooyoung is in a parking garage. And Hongjoong is in the warehouse at the end when the objects start floating. San is also in a classroom. Where the dance scenes also take place
Wait--is he in the classroom in the mv or am I just thinking diary film
GD: Hongjoong is the only one whose story really progresses? The rest move between states and change location, but it doesn't feel as though anything changes for them, which is perhaps why I'm struggling to identify any narrative thing to say other than just a string of events
BobbyJ: That matches with the diary though
GD: On a large scale, there is a narrative to the first diary though. They come together, and they break apart. Things end differently than they begin over the course of the large scale structure even if individual boys don't have a change of story
BobbyJ: I guess I'm thinking how it begins and ends with Hongjoong. And the other boys have their own things going on
GD: Maybe this is why, in my head, I read the warehouse as the main character.
Damn, I turned this music video back on to check on San and forgot to watch it
BobbyJ: Well, let's go through literal story comparisons and then get into themes where you can argue your point that the warehouse is a character. It's very difficult to separate from the diary film--which I'm not certain that we necessarily need to
GD: Yes, I think I was thinking of the picture of Yeosang standing with his violin in the diaries
San doesn't really have a lot of solo moments in this music video. He's in the room with the bed where Hongjoong later ends up.
BobbyJ: The only setting that is established in the diary (the text, not the pictures) is the warehouse which we see a glimpse of in the mv. Narratively speaking, San is moving in the diary, and we see his bed is surrounded by boxes in the mv. We know Wooyoung is auditioning or preparing to perform in the diary, and we see him perform a bit in the mv.
GD: Seonghwa has two distinct locations in the music video: the convenience store and the room with all the papers. In the diary, we're not told where he is, but the moment described in the diary with the Be Free girl does happen in the music video.
When Jongho’s standing on the fire basketball court or maybe sitting on the bed? There's a crutch in frame. Did I make this up?
BobbyJ: He doesn't have crutches on the basketball court. Where's his bed scene?
GD: It's the diary picture again... I think I just keep overlaying it. But I am going to watch this again
BobbyJ: It's interesting that Hongjoong's bed is the only one in the warehouse
Yeo's violin does make an appearance. You were right
GD: So does the crutch
BobbyJ: Yes, there it is
GD: It’s also right before this, you can see him standing with it but it flashes so quickly it was hard to see even at .25 speed
It's good I'm not crazy
BobbyJ: So, the things that they are experiencing in their individual stories are represented and given concrete locations that don't necessarily exist in the text of the diaries
GD: Yes
BobbyJ: I want to talk about Mingi's hallway
GD: Oh good because I have no thoughts on it
BobbyJ: Which is more thematic, so let's move on to themes
03: what are the thematic connections?
BobbyJ: Mingi's story is about not feeling like he can really belong anywhere? Like, he's with these friends already knowing that it's temporary because he's too poor to afford to dream the same dreams the rest do. Similar to San, he doesn't have a place to stay, if that makes sense. And I think the hallway, which is like a liminal space–it's somewhere you pass through but you don't stay.
GD: Mmm that makes a lot of sense
It also reminds me a bit of roads? Like a hallway is to lead you somewhere. And so the idea of choosing the room you want to go into isn't that metaphorically different than choosing the path you want to take
BobbyJ: Right. But for Mingi all the doors are closed. If there even are doors
GD: Because there is no place for him to go--he doesn't fit
BobbyJ: Yes.
It reminds me of a BTS video. I think it was Suga? One of the interludes? There's a scene in a hallway where the doors get like infected or something
GD: I am unsure
BobbyJ: I want to say it was Shadow?
GD: If it had been a jhope video, I might have known it
BobbyJ: Oh wow I was right. can't believe I pulled that memory out of my brain
GD: Watching
BobbyJ: Basically, it's just the hallway and the doors are closed--that's the only connection lol
GD: Well, interestingly for our purposes, this album was based on the work of Jung
BobbyJ: Katharine wake up, it's your boy
GD: I like this whole album
Anyways, back to hallways, got distracted, sorry. I think the hallway sort of looks... maze like? Like it's not just a straight hallway. It has turns and angles. So I guess I'm seeing that as like a metaphor for confusion and uncertainty related to where he belongs/is going
BobbyJ: It also reminds me of the hallways in SMN. And thematically, reminds me of Jongho's MC Escher scenes in Wonderland
GD: Mmm yes
BobbyJ: Except Jongho seems pretty confident. Which makes sense with Wonderland, but I won't let myself get distracted
GD: For me, the most prevailing theme in both the music video and the diary is a sense of isolation but also, several of them seem to be looking for something/someone in both visual and verbal medium
BobbyJ: Right. It's pretty typical in Ateez MVs for members to have lots of solo scenes, but it's particularly prevalent here. Outside of the dance scenes, they never appear with one another
GD: And they're all framed in a way so that they look... small? in the scene. Like, it's showing the largeness and emptiness of the area they're in
BobbyJ: Their postures are pretty defeated. They're being framed in positions of weakness
GD: I said emptiness, but that's not exactly true. Empty of people. But I'd argue the stimuli in Hwa, Yunho, and Jongho's space is pretty frenetic and overwhelming.
BobbyJ: There's no indication of connection to other people. On the surface, I think you could interpret Inception as a love song. Or you could interpret it as longing for a dream. Is it about these boys really wanting to pursue a passion? And this is what I've typically interpreted it as. But I think there's also an interpretation that it's about longing to be together. Which makes the loneliness of the visuals make a lot of sense
Which brings me to why I don't view the warehouse as important in the first diary
GD: Even a more broad longing for connection works to me. It's what Hongjoong wanted from his first page--this connection
BobbyJ: I think they think it's about finding safety and connection in the warehouse. And when they no longer have that, they think they've lost everything. But to me, it's not the warehouse that was the real utopia. It was their connection with each other. And so, the warehouse isn't the point. Which is why we leave it behind immediately in ZFP2 and never return
Ateez songs always have layers upon layers
GD: Idk how to explain it properly, but I feel like the warehouse is the thing. It represents the whole story. It's not important as a building, but it's important as a character/theme. It's isolation matches their own isolation, and as they come together, the warehouse becomes a Utopia. The warehouse is nothing without the boys, but that's the point? It's the boys coming together that makes the members their whole, connected selves. So the journey of the warehouse matches the character arcs that we will eventually see Ateez take.
For me, the story doesn't work if you take the warehouse and make it like... a room at their school with other people walking past it.
It has to be the warehouse. It has to be this isolated place that they make whole.
BobbyJ: But, could it be any isolated, abandoned location?
GD: I mean sure, but to me that's like saying it could be any character who moves a lot instead of San. Sure, it could be something different, but it's not. It's this place, which makes it special.
Like we could have any different boys be the characters in this story, but we don't because these are the characters of this story. I think if you made the warehouse some other place, you change the story.
Like it could be an isolated forest, but it's still different. Then it's magical from the start, and not a cold impersonal space that is alone.
BobbyJ: I see what you're saying, but I still disagree. I don't know how to explain. But like, San--he's still a character with or without this particular story. Whereas the warehouse is just a warehouse without the life the boys bring to it. I guess I just see it more as a symbol than a character. And I find it distressing to view it as a character that gets abandoned in the end when the boys leave for Strictland.
GD: I don't know that I think the story of the warehouse is over though? Even if they don't come back to it, it continues to exist and could bring others together in the future.
BobbyJ: I could see them returning in the end. But if they do come back, I feel they will still move on
GD: But I very much view it as a character, and I do think if you change the setting, you change the story. But I also think that's the mark of a good story. Any story that could happen regardless of the location isn't that good of a story to me.
Because our locations and environments affect us so deeply and in such unexpected ways
So for a whole picture, I think the setting has to be an integral part of the story. But this is really just like... story philosophy. I see the warehouse has a main character of the first diary, and whether or not they come back to it doesn't really change that for me?
And when you say you see it as a symbol, we're probably basically talking about the same thing and just using a different word for it. If this story is a parable (which I think it is), then everything, including the characters are symbols for something else, and it's all just metaphor.
BobbyJ: I guess the way I see it is that it's very important to the story but isn't entirely irreplaceable as, say, the TARDIS is irreplaceable. Except the TARDIS is both a thing and a place, like most modes of transportations, so it's probably slightly different.
Either way, it gets very little screen time in the mv. I suppose because the warehouse is meant to represent togetherness which is the opposite of what the mv is going for
GD: Right; I think it would be weird to see them in the warehouse. It's basically just Hongjoong at the end who is there, right? Which matches the end of the first diary
BobbyJ: So, timeline-wise, we could say Inception seems to take place just before the outro of the first diary
Well, wait--I'm not sure
GD: It's hard to say
BobbyJ: It could be both?
GD: I do think Seonghwa's convenience store part in particular looks as if it's shot like a memory, and I think Hongjoong's tv screens also looks like a memory
BobbyJ: Well, what if Inception and Thanxx are meant to be taken together? As in, Inception portrays the boys separated and Thanxx shows us them together. So Inception would represent both the before AND the after. Thanxx is the middle
GD: If you interpret Jongho's scene as being just before the outro, the music stuff on the flaming basketball court makes a lot of sense. Two dreams he's lost.
I like Thanxx being the middle
BobbyJ: Because Thanxx also portrays a hideout of sorts
GD: We should hold a space to fully explore that when we talk about Thanxx
I think you could, on the surface, make a compelling arguement that Inception is either before the warehouse and then before the outro OR that it is the moment right before the outro only. Because I do think some of the shots could be explained as "flashbacks" to other moments of isolation, which.. maybe that's the same thing as before the warehouse and right before the outro but it feels slightly different
I feel like I lost the plot somewhere in there
BobbyJ: It's the same argument I once made for Answer, so I follow
But I also think, in spite of my inclination towards chronology, when it falls on the timeline isn't really important. What's important is the feelings it portrays. When they felt lonely isn't as important as the fact that they did feel lonely
GD: Right, and I do actually think we will be able to contrast that with the shots we see in Thanxx eventually. But where exactly Thanxx fits with this isn't as important--the diary book tells us there are times of great isolation, and we see that represented in the music video
We've talked about how their concepts are sometimes meant to be a metaphorical representation of what's happening in the actual story instead of a 1 to 1 now everyone is outlaws. I think a school is a good concept to represent both sides of the isolation/connectedness spectrum. I know they are also literally students at this part of the story
BobbyJ: I was just thinking about that--why they chose a school room for the dance scenes
GD: But, I think the concept is good metaphorically because adolescence is often a time of real isolation for many people as they struggle with changes and trying to fit in and peer pressure and bullies, but it's also a time in our lives where we are forced to be around people of similar ages and must interact with others basically every day
BobbyJ: Right, exactly. Also, it's very universal, something we can all connect with on some level
GD: I'm thinking about the shots of them alone at the school or other places are very different than the shots of Thanxx where like, Hongjoong is in a classroom surrounding by classmates or Mingi is in a hallway with a bunch of classmates
It's hard not to compare the two now that I've walked a little bit down the path
BobbyJ: Both schools being pretty shabby I think is not only an atmospheric choice but also kind of shows the discontent? Is that the word I want? Or more like showing the true nature of the institution? Not that it's a critique of education, but of society in general. And very much contrasts with what little we've seen of Prestige
So, overall, Inception portrays the loneliness and isolation of the first diary--the times when the members are separated. It also gives physical locations to reflect their emotional states and struggles
GD: Do you think the physical locations are real or metaphorical?
BobbyJ: You know how when you dream of real locations, they are distorted in some way?
GD: I could be persuaded, for example, that Yunho "talks" to his brother in this studio room he's in, or I could be persuaded that the studio is a metaphorical representation of his desire to find the connection he had with his brother (if that makes sense)
BobbyJ: I would agree with the latter. Putting Yunho alone in a room with controlled lighting and closed in walls gives us more of a sense of isolation. Like with Hwa, they didn't film on location. They built a store in a void. Or they put him in a small room with all of his thoughts
GD: I like the scraps of paper representing his thoughts
BobbyJ: I think my point is they all represent real locations that have been distorted in some way. Like maybe that is Hwa's room where he does all his homework, but in reality it's not that covered in notes. Or on fire
And I do want to talk about fire
GD: I was sort of connecting the fire to their plans? Like the boys who had these big plans for their future see those plans go up in flames?
I know we see other places too. But it does seem to me like Hwa and Jongho, the two who had some sort of real dreams/plans before the warehouse, are both surrounded by fire in their solo shots.
BobbyJ: And Hongjoong. The fire on screens Which if his dream is to be an idol on tv. . .
GD: Right, yes. Though Wooyoung also had some big plans, and I don't think he has a notable amount of fire. Arguably though, he's still following his plan at this point
BobbyJ: Well, Woo is the only one who carries on
GD: Right
BobbyJ: The only true clownery I've done on the database is on the fire symbolism, particularly as it's used in Fireworks
GD: Have I ever mentioned how great Jongho is?
BobbyJ: Once or twice I think
GD: Wonderland came on, and now I feel I'll cry because of how great he is.
BobbyJ: Wonderland Jongho is extra great
And it's interesting to me that it's meaning, to me, is completely different from what we see in Inception where it is purely destructive
GD: Gosh. Let me try to pull myself back together
A thought about fire:
We see it destroy Seonghwa's plans here... but depending on the timeline, maybe that's good?
I think we've talked about how fire is both life saving and destructive. I do think Ateez likes to use both sides of the same coin.
Just like how a school can represent isolation and connection
BobbyJ: Right. Isn't it kind of good for all of them in a way? If Jongho hadn't been injured, would he have ever befriended the rest of them? Hard to say with Hongjoong though
GD: Well, Hongjoong's goal doesn't match what he needs, so perhaps this is a start of getting those more in line
BobbyJ: Right. So, in the moment it is destructive--the boys are struggling with the loss caused by the fire. But in the long run, it will prove to have been a cleansing flame (like Fireworks)
GD: As we often say, change is painful, but not necessarily bad
04: closing thoughts
GD: Should we break here? I need a snack
BobbyJ: Yes. Let's share our patron saints to close?
GD: Am I choosing a new one to get me to Sunday? or my one for next week after finishing the week with Hongjoong?
BobbyJ: No, you're sharing the one you picked on Sunday since we didn't bible study this weekend. And you can give a mid-week report
GD: Oh right.
I chose Hongjoong this week because I've been very tired and unable to do anything due to this medicine I was taking, and I hoped he would give me creative energy this week so that I could accomplish literally anything.
Mid-week, I am happy to report that the spirit of Hongjoong has gifted me much energy.
jewelry is being made, projects are being undertaken, a general spirit of movement has entered my soul
BobbyJ: Excellent. Hongjoong is very good
So I picked San for no other reason than vibes. And I have found myself to be a bit unfocused this week. Yesterday, as you know, I was grouchy because my post-comeback depression finally hit. Or it had been hitting, but I finally acknowledged it.
I finished two bookbinding projects yesterday that were both failures. And I had originally thought that maybe San wasn't doing much for me this week. But now I'm realizing that I was very nice to myself about my failures yesterday where normally I would have been frustrated. I found myself just sort of shrugging it off and coming up with a new plan
And I'm going to claim that as the spirit of San
GD: I think it's okay for some weeks to be unfocused, you know? I feel like San would call that self care. If San uses the term self care--I have no idea if he does. But I feel like San would think it's a nice thing to be gentle and not force yourself to do anything
BobbyJ: Okay. I have an easy rosary to play us out. I'm pulling it from Inception lyrics. Are you ready? I believe in us
GD: I'm going to try
BobbyJ: I'm dream
GD: In a dream
BobbyJ: Be the light
GD: Halazia
BobbyJ: Alright. snack time
Did you gain any new insights on Inception? What are your thoughts on the use of fire and water? Let us know!
And we will see you back next week for our discussion of THANXX.
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