[DipeGo] The Story of BTS and Demian

BTS’s Blood, Sweat, and Tears are a reflection of Hermann Hesse’s famous novel, “Demian.” The protagonist of the novel, Sinclair, has opened his eyes to the different realms or colors of the world. He sees for the first time, the bright and the darkness that clouds our world. After reaching an epiphany, he goes on a quest to become the idealistic, model person..

BTS mirrored a similar approach for their “Wings” album. It illustrates a story in which young men are met with temptation and obstacles, then turning that experience into growth. The album uses the theme as a frame and has taken the inspiration to their music video.

The Demian resembles wings. The values of conflicts, growth, and one’s identity are all depicted in the album. This was apparently intentional and the idea behind their recent comeback. The recent album’s motives were as clear as day.

If you watch the music video, you’ll see a striking resemblance to the plot of ‘Demian.’ We drew inspiration from the story to mark parts in the music video. Our story of growth and pain is similar to the idea of pain depicted in the story of “Demian.”(RM)

“Blood, Sweat, and Tears.” 6 What’s the hidden message behind the six-minute video? What’s the idea behind the “Demian” featured in the video “10 key points.”

▶ 1st scenario. The first forty-two seconds feature Jin. He stares, absorbed at the painting on the wall. What is it exactly that he’s looking at? He closely watches Pieter Bruege’s “The Fall of the Rebel Angels” painting.

☞ The “darkness” depicted in “Demian” isn’t something to be afraid of. Rather, it shows a portrayal of the consciousness of the dark side and an awakening, (an acknowledgement) of the realm.

▶ Scene 2. Fifty-five seconds into the video, Jimin appears, sitting. Suga covers the eyes of Jimin and later ties a black cloth over his eyes at three minutes and fifty seconds. At five minutes and twenty-five seconds, in an odd turn of events, Jin is seen kissing the lips of a statue. The statue also happens to be bearing black colored wings.

In the last scenario of the popular novel, the protagonist, Sinclair, faces his guardian, Demian. Sinclair, who bleeds from his lips as he faces Demian, is told to close his eyes. Demian plants a kiss on Sinclair’s lips. This was meant to paint the collision of both the bright and the darkness of the world. When he sat, with his eyes open, that symbolized the brightness. Then as he sat, eyes closed, that was meant to describe the darkness. The kiss, was the collision of both worlds.

▶ Scene 3. At a minute and forty seconds into the music video, RM lights a sugar cube on fire, and then continues with a portrait of black wings on a white canvas. He then proceeds to take a sip out of an alcoholic beverage in the color of green. The drink makes another appearance at the two minutes and seventeen seconds mark. A drop of the drink appears to fall on Jungkook’s finger and Jungkook, calmly brings the tip of his finger to his mouth. And at 2 minutes and fifty-nine seconds, a candy is consumed.

☞ The source of the alcohol is absinthe. The notoriously potent, green drink that originated in France in the 19th century. It’s infamous for allegedly causing hallucinations if consumed. It’s been widely associated with classic, well-acclaimed artists such as Vincent Van Gogh and has been distributed to the artistic side.

We ponder of the meaning behind the new painting. One can gather hints through Sinclair’s nightmares illustrated in the book. In a wild turn of events, Sinclair dreams of Demian forcefully feeding himself a new painting. Ultimately, the Absinthe, bird, and the consumption of candy are all a symbol of the dark side. These details mean to tell the story of temptation of the dark side.

▶ Scene 4. Stop at approximately one minute and ten seconds into the video. You see Jungkook hanging on a swing, situated in the middle of the room. Pay close attention to the painting in the back. It’s one of Herbert James Draper’s paintings, The Lament for Icarus.

☞ Icarus appears in the world of Greek mythology. The story of Icarus unfolds as he flees from Crete with his father, with wings made from birds’ feathers and wax. Despite his father’s warnings, Icarus makes the mistake of traveling too high up, causing the wings to melt from the extreme heat of the sun. Icarus unfortunately falls and drowns to his demise.

▶ Scene 5. Now move onto two minutes and forty-four seconds of the music video. J-Hope is seen throwing an arrow with bits of black feathers on it. The arrow then falls onto V. At five minutes and twenty-one seconds, V is seen sitting with his back bared, with noticeable wounds on his back. The scene is eerily similar to the story of the “Fall of Icarus” and V’s scene with wounds on his back is telling of the loss of his wings.

☞ This can be interpreted, although ironically, that J-Hope granted V with the gift of pain. J-Hope intentionally left a wound on V’s back and in turn, this can be turned back to the story of “Demian.” J-Hope’s bow and arrow and the loss of V’s “wings” are symbolic to the meaning of one becoming aware of the dark realm of the world.

The lyrics “Blood, Sweat, and Tears” are followed by the lyrics “It’s okay to be hurt.” The intentions behind the placement of these lyrics are meant to give the impression that there is growth after pain.

The wound on V’s back is where the wings would’ve been. If wings were intact, it would mean that an awakening of one’s self identity has occurred. Below are actual readings of the book in Hermann Hesse’s (Demian)

▶ Scene 6. Three minutes and twenty seconds in, V smirks and willingly jumps off a terrace. In front of him, is an artwork by Pieter Bruegel. The painting is the “Landscape with the Fall of Icarus.”

☞ Like mentioned above, Icarus is a challenge of the way of a god. In short, it symbolizes the dark realm. The audience behind the video is yet once again reminded of the bright and dark side as V jumps off the terrace, signifying a plunge into the dark world.

This scene implies the death of a once, well perceived childhood.

▶ Scene 7. Suga arrives in the music video at four minutes and twenty seconds. He’s seen sitting for a while, playing piano.

☞ In the story of Demian, exists a character named Pistorius. The character is a high school friend of Sinclair, and similar to Demian, also guides Sinclair. Pistorius is also an organist at a church. His values are prominent and acts as a crucial character to the novel. Suga’s scene pays homage to Pistorius. The scene is a symbol of growth and the awakening to one’s self identity in the form of organ playing.

▶ Scene 8 .Jin is seen looking at the mirror, five minutes and fifty-seven seconds into the music video. Next to him, sits two types of flowers. The flowers are Elsholtzia splendens and Callas.

☞ The placement of the Calla flowers is meant to signify chastity. The innocence and nostalgia of one’s childhood was meant to be amplified through the shot of the plants. Elsholtzia splendens were put as a means of maturity. These flowers hold a significance, though easy to miss at first, as a sign of Sinclair’s growth. They are symbolic of Sinclair’s journey to the revelation of his self-identity.

▶ Scene 9. At a minute and forty-four seconds, a mix of vibrant colors come into view. On the five minutes and thirty-five seconds mark, the colors of red and green appear again. Then at five minutes and forty-one, Jimin cries tears in the color of the vibrant green, seen similar to the ones mentioned above.

☞ The colors mix, creating what resembled a howl of colorful wind. Jungkook, RM, and J-Hope constantly appeared for bits of the music video. The inspiration from famous artistic pieces and “Demian” is evident throughout the video. The messages behind the video all point to a few key points of these pieces and the story of “Demian”- Youth, growth, self-identity, epiphany, and etc.

The emptiness and monotone of the background before the sudden burst of colors signifies the world before there was darkness. It symbolizes a world filled with brightness in which parents are one’s everything. The collision of colors signifies the mix of both realms- bright and dark. The meaning is supposedly the “growth through an epiphany, and the journey (wings) to a ‘colorful’ world.”

▶ Scene 10. Alas the final scene for the video. The statue, J-Hope was seen dancing in front of before, had started to crack. Soon after, Jin stares at himself in the mirror until there’s a noticeable crack on his face as well, much like the statue.

☞ There’s a part of the song with the lyrics “Kill me gently.” This is meant to imply the death of childhood. The reasoning behind the cracks on Michelangelo’s “Pietà” and Jin’s face stand as the same depiction. It is the death of the past (childhood) and the start of a new one. As if cracks form when birds are hatching and fly away to a start a life, anew. This too, is a reference to the epiphany of self-identity.

Friedrich Nietzsche mentions in his book “Thus Spoke Zarathustra: A Book for All and None” something of significance.

“You must have chaos within you to give birth to a dancing star." (Man muss noch Chaos in sich haben, um einen tanzenden Stern gebaren zu konnen)

At five minutes and forty-five seconds, this phrase is written above the mirror Jin is staring at, before his face starts to crack. This may be the crucial message that BTS attempted to hint at, in the video.

Ultimately, through Demian, Sinclair is able to grow through darkness and brightness. Through BTS’s “wings”, they’re able to flourish despite conflicts and temptations. The key components to describe the messages behind “Blood, Sweat, and Tears” are chaos that one experiences from within, darkness, temptations, and one’s consciousness.

Chaos is essential for growth.

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