ON: AN ANALYSIS OF VISUAL STORYTELLING (Actual Analysis)

If you haven't figured out who I was talking about in the (Preface) before this post, then you're playing coy. It's pretty obvious if you follow BTS or even consider yourself an "ARMY" because I know everything I said in my last post is true concerning your human reaction to him.

I know he either makes you feel intense insecurity or lust one way or the other for every reason I explained, so I'm not going to clarify who I'm talking about, because I'm not going to insult your intelligence by stating the obvious. For the sake of your evolution.

So, upon his invitation in the making of, I will give my opinion/analysis on the meanings behind the ON music video. I'll try and keep it short, but don't hold out hope for that.


We start off with Jin walking in a field of felled forces. We can see, almost, if not everyone has been killed by flying spear or arrows (ranged weapons) but none of them are soldiers, because they aren't wearing armor. Among them, a hapless dove, who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, is also skewered. Jin, feeling for the poor creature kneels down to collect the bird, wearing a muted palette of the common man, that reflects a past era(Late 1800s, early 1900s). He takes the bird to a shack full of empty cages, and places it within, covering it, only to then see it move as if the bird has come back to life somehow. .

Then we see Jungkook running away, hard and fast looking as if he'd escaped wearing the very simple clothes of a peasant commoner. He said in the making of that he was banished outside of the wall for having special abilities and people labeled him the devil. I assume he's escaped instead of having been banished for two reasons: #1 His hands are bound with thorned cuffs, so if he was simply banished there'd be no reason to bind him. #2 He's running like he's running away for fear of being pursued/caught.

Next, we see Jimin also wearing a muted palette indicative of a past time (maybe the 1930s) which is also reflected in the vehicle that is in the shot with him. There is a little boy sitting on the truck holding a drum, and looking dejected. And to Jimin's left (your right) stands a pile of drums that I think may have been collected and piled there by the same people that felled the forces in the first shot of the video. I also think the little boy is a ghost, who was probably marching with the people who were killed as they advanced on the walled city.

There are a lot of biblical references in the video, among other things, but I'm going over it shot for shot first to tie it all back together, because if I analyze them one by one they won't make sense without referencing the other shots.

Which brings us to V. The shot is from overhead and shows him lying on his back with his arms out in the position referencing Jesus on the cross. As he opens his eyes he sees, seated next to him is a young girl who is blindfolded. This scene is the most difficult to decipher, because it leaves a lot open to interpretation. I also took into account the totem that is placed in the soil right over his head with feathers on it, reminiscent of Native American culture. Again, the muted palette of his clothing and the style of them suggests an era past  (late 1800s early 1900s)

Then, we see Rapmon standing outside of a shipwreck in the middle of the desert, surrounded by a plethora of animals, referencing Noah's Ark.

Now, the visuals are not shot in a linear fashion so, there are things that I just wanted to point out that will lead into my analysis of their meaning up until a certain point to try and keep this commentary from meandering too far off course.

The dove from the first shot, that Jin held onto, can be tied back to Noah's ark. The dove is a symbol for reconciliation and hope, especially in the context of the story of Noah's ark. The dove represented the hope for civilization to rise again after an apocalyptic flood. Hope is important for a very specific reason here, and when Jin finds it, it's lying dead with an arrow through the heart. It seems everybody so far has escaped a scrape with death that only left them a little bit dusty/dirty but no worse for wear which suggests to me that they actually didn't survive; but they don't instantly realize that they are dead, yet.

For Rapmon, the hope is represented in the animals surrounding the broken boat, for Jungkook it's in that he got away from his oppressors. For Jimin, it's that the spirit of that little boy, whether he realizes he's alive or dead, won't leave behind those drums as he led the beat of the war drums that were brave enough to inspire others to march on the citadel. For V the hope is in that he saved a little girl- this is mostly conjectured on my part, though.

For all the others, it's not obvious that they're dead at first, but with V, the feathered totem in the dirt looks to be a grave marker. If that's the case, he was buried by someone who respected him. But, I think V was poisoned. I think he was some sort of witch-doctor or holistic healer, who made potions and medicines, and somehow was poisoned to death by someone he trusted, because of the thorns on the side of his neck (that's a lot of assumptions) but they look like when veins turn black at the site of venoms or otherwise toxic substances. The little girl with him is perhaps someone he tried to protect in life, or ended up being swept up in the circumstances surrounding his death and her blindfold suggests that she was killed wearing it. So I think she was killed to keep the details surrounding his death a secret. (I TOLD YOU CONJECTURE)

Jungkook Runs until the point of exhaustion and finally collapses on the grass where, then, J-Hope  is shown breaking the 4th wall as if he's speaking to us directly. The world surrounding is still sunny, and the grass is green, but in start contrast, as Jungkook has lost consciousness, there are gnarled, dead and diseased looking trees that pepper the landscape. J-hope is the only one who seems to be separated from the scene. It's almost as if the dead trees are an omen that references the world on top of ours: Limbo/Purgatory/or the astral realm. He seems aware of his surroundings and thus represents a death god along with the crow that pecks at JK briefly when he collapses. There's a contrast to be observed with a world that looks beautiful and perfect with sunny blue skies and green rolling hills, but in reality, the gnarled twisted dead trees represent seeds of discontent that pepper the landscape. Almost like Optimism is an ideal, but the grisly reality isn't always perceivable if you blind yourself to the bad. Those trees would be obstacles to avoid in terms of bad luck over the terrain if they could be seen, but if they can't be seen, then how do you know they're there?

Suga is shown in the aisle of a congregation of children holding lit candles, representing hope in religion or faith. The spotlight is bright on him as he walks toward the front of the room, facing the same direction as the congregation and giving the impression that he's 'preaching to the choir' as the audience is seeing him from that vantage point. Again, all of the people seated are young, they don't look particularly savage or trained for combat as if they were soldiers, but they seem dejected and emotionless as if they were simply a long list of innocent casualties in a never-ending war for equal rights and acceptance into society inside the wall.

At a certain point in the song, Jungkook sings, and at this point in the video he is beginning to come to terms with the fact that no one is chasing him, and what that truly means. As soon as he realizes he didn't actually make it out of the Citadel alive, he walks into the water, dips his thorned cuffs into the water in exchange for a conch, which he uses to blow loud and clear to notify all the recently deceased that they are free from the binds of life and that it's safe to go back to the city.

In stark contrast, the LIVING reality, of his blowing that conch is the congregation of a lot of sad and angry spirits that were murdered and it accumulates as dark clouds gathering in the skies and violent reactions manifested in the forces of nature. Here the dance break is shot in a mad max, post-apocalyptic and dystopian setting, that insinuates that real life is harsh and to survive it in the darkness that prevails you must be harsh, go hard and be savage and all your hope must surely be internalized rather than worn on your sleeve.

Then they cut back to the sunny hopeful scene of them all coming together at the entrance gates of the walled civilization that drove them out so vehemently that they all paid with their lives, and it opened up to a lush, blooming wilderness that welcomed them with the focus of the space being centered on a massive rock, resembling pride rock from The Lion King. They enter the walls as an entire flock of doves now fly overhead, and in the final scene, BTS is seen climbing to the top of the rock, embracing the freedom they earned by keeping their faith alive even AFTER it cost them their lives. Jungkook runs ahead, eager to reach the highest point, but in the very last frame you can see they don't run to the highest point of the rock, but stop where the clouds have parted and heaven's beams are shining the brightest upon them ready to rise up next realm where they know they'll float.

Woo! that was a lot to unpack.

In conclusion, they were willing to die for their lives, which is kind of a reductionist way to put it, but I didn't even include the lyrics. "Bring the pain," I'll handle it, "Rain keep pouring, sky keep falling every day"- its dark, but the silver lining is the hope that the suffering will be worth it in the end, for entirely spiritual gain, rather than material.