“Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday
Seven days a week
Every hour, every minute, every second
You know night after night
I’ll be loving you right”
Jung Kook, Seven (clean version)
Internet is abuzz with everyone talking about this summery solo sung by the Golden Maknae (youngest member) of Korean boy band BTS. The music video of the song shows the singer flirting with his girlfriend in different ways and persuading her “to not to breakup with him yet” throughout the week. Not only the loyal fans of the band called #Army but also the other members of the band; have showered a lot of love and appreciation on the singer. What intrigues me is the situations the young and dashing artist has used to show his conviction and love in the Music Video: from much common settings of candle-light dinner in a restaurant to being around her in a train, the artist also pops up from a coffin in a memorial service the girl attends. Now this is not the first time the Death imagery has been used in a love song. And, especially when we talk about the debuting BTS boys. #Army would remember when Jung Kook’s buddy and other BTS member Taehyung debuted in a K-drama titled HWARANG, his character out of all the Poet Warriors in the Hwarang, dies surprisingly while saving his best mate.
Nothing is a coincidence when it comes to the BTS members. If we want to believe that this is not another coincidence, then what is it? What do we call it? Were these coffin and death scenes included specially to increase their appeal to the #ARMY? Or was it done for making the work a Masterpiece? What is it about Deaths of young sweethearts that makes these Debuting artists an instant Heartthrob? Is there a Relationship Between Love, Youth, Death, and Debut; that makes it a delightful concoction of Fame and Success? And, adding on to the thought, let us try to see if there is a strong desire to turn Death into a NORMAL thing, by faking it and flirting with the thought of Rebirth.
Is this relationship between Love, Youth, Death, and Debut a natural phenomenon which the great artists have tried to portray on screen just as it is in real life? Or is it induced by the literature and music from the reel life into the real life? Let us try to find out. In many earlier works of Literature, we find this combination of Love, Youth and Death; the Shakespearean play Romeo and Juliet is one such example. More contemporary and easy to understand for the Indian #Army are some of the popular Bollywood movies such as Ek duje ke liye, Qayamat se Qayamat Tak, Kaho na pyaar hai, Raanjhanaa, Ishaqzaade. What is common in some of these movies is:
1. The actors were all young like #Jungkook and #Taehyung
2. For most of the actors, it was their debut performance, like #Jungkook and #taehyung
3. Almost all these movies are Romantic Comedies or Tragedies
So, why do actors choose to die in their very first performance on the screen? Is it akin to giving up your old personality and giving in to your alter ego? Is it like coming back to your own life or moving away from your own life? Or does this give them an opportunity to live so many lives one after the other as naturally as a snake drops its skin?
Looking at this aspect of Human behaviour, we can agree with the renowned Psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud when he says all humans are governed by two kinds of instincts or forces that motivate us to behave in a particular manner in a particular situation. Instincts, although related with physical actions such as hunger, thirst, or sex, are not these states but they are the mental states or we can say our wishes, that decide that now we are hungry, thirsty or in need of some bodily comfort. There are two types of instincts: life instincts and death instincts. In Freud’s opinion, it is the life instincts that serve the purpose of growth and development in human life. Seeking pleasure, through different activities at different stages of our life; is the Life Instinct that is a human being’s primary motivation. On the other hand, the death instinct is the root cause of decay, destruction, and aggression.
Now, there is a difference here in what Freud suggests is the result of predominance of death instinct in human life. And the main difference is that humans turn their wish to die against objects other than their own Self. The death wish compels humans to destroy, conquer and kill others: not our own self. But, here in these movies or work of fiction that I mentioned, the death is brought upon the characters by others as a result of their acts of love.
And, interesting enough is the transition towards faking death, playing with the symbols associated with death and thinking of taking it to the Afterlife. Coming back to the recent solo #Seven by #Jungkook, #Army would have noticed how the coming back alive from Coffin scene happening on a Saturday and leading to a happy reunion on Sunday. The innovative way in which #Jungkook goes on to dropping hints about the death, destruction (as in break-up) from the very first line of the song one cannot escape the whole predominance of the Death instincts looming over the lovers’ relationship. At the same time, there is a ray of hope that comes in through the Coffin scene which echoes the feelings of another poet Harry Scott-Holland, who says and I quote:
“Death is nothing at all.
It does not count.
I have only slipped away into the next room.
Nothing has happened.
Everything remains exactly as it was.
I am I, and you are you,
and the old life that we lived so fondly together is untouched, unchanged.
Whatever we were to each other, that we are still.”
So, even if you are not a great fan of BTS or their love songs, do listen to this debut solo and tell me what you think what you think is the Relationship Between Love, Youth, Death, and Debut. Do you feel it is a smart technique that these Entertainment agencies, producers, art-directors, and writers play on the minds of the Audience? Is it some kind of Human Cognitive Bias that they manipulate so well in these songs that it makes these singers “World wide Sensations” overnight?
