If you know me personally you know I am absolutely obsessed with music videos and music video production. In fact, it’s something I’d like to pursue as a career. It’s safe to say I’ve seen and researched quite a few MVs. I actually have another blog post coming that’s a top fifteen list of the best MVs I’ve seen, that’s besides the point but look out for that in the coming week. What I’m trying to say is I’ve seen a lot of music videos and I have never been so intensely enthralled by one like I am by 2PM’s My House MV. This video is my toxic trait. I just keep coming back and watching it. I think the thing that draws me in most is the way in which the director tells the main story of the video and how they imply the subtext through metaphors and references to fairy tales. I kept finding something new each time I watched it and I thought I’d share my findings because this video is just really good.
*You need to watch the MV before reading this or nothing will make sense
As the MV begins we are brought into a tale of a beautiful young woman in a blue gown who seems to be at a ball or fancy party which she then has to leave because of the clock striking twelve. Sounds familiar right? That's because it's a direct reference to the story of Cinderella. We follow this ‘Cinderella’ as the protagonist through the entire MV. The use of an actor or model as the video’s protagonist instead of a member of the actual group is very uncommon or at least, not executed very well in the music videos I have seen. It adds something really captivating to the video as each member of 2PM is an added feature to the story of this woman that we are following. It takes what is supposed to be the centerpiece of this video and replaces that with something completely different. This all adds a layer of intrigue and many opportunities for some excellent storytelling.
As Cinderella begins to take her leave something happens which I like to call the ‘wolf strike’. All of the members of 2PM turn their attention to her. This serves as not only an introduction to each member but also an introduction to the characters to come. All of this happens just as the song begins with the line "I'll take you home tonight".
Her first interaction with a member of 2PM is with Wooyoung. The shot where he first draws Cinderella's attention is very well executed and shot. Wooyoung is standing perfectly in the gap of people at the party and comes into focus just as his part begins in the music. Nothing hugely symbolic happens yet but we can take this opening part as a turning point for Cinderella as her plan to escape has now been thwarted by some handsome men. She turns her attention to the stairs only to see another member, Chansung, descending the stairs with an apple in his hand. This apple is a motif of the ‘forbidden fruit’. What popular fairytale contains a shiny red apple? Snow White of course. Not only that but if we look at what the apple in Snow White’s story represents it is a sinful desire. The members of 2PM are presenting a sinful desire in the form of many different fairy tales.
Another strong theme in this video is the relationship between predators and prey. Or in other words, dominance and submission. The first example of this is the wooden Gazelle head behind Chansung while he comes down the stairs.
On the first watch this may seem like nothing and just a simple decoration the prop department picked to fill the empty space on the wall, but when you’ve seen this video an obscene amount of times as I have, the Gazelle becomes something more. Throughout the whole video there is a lot of animal symbolism. Our female protagonist is the ‘innocent rabbit’. The evidence of this is after the first chorus when the video cuts between her running in a blue hallway to a white rabbit on the floor of this hallway with a blue bow tied around its neck. Cinderella is seen as the submissive prey. The rest of 2PM are the more dominant predators represented here by wolves. The most obvious evidence of this is the match cut between the wolf's face and the rapper Taecyeon’s face during his rap verse. His whole section is a reference to the big bad wolf. This animal symbolism continues throughout the video and in the next vocal section we see more wolf evidence.
On the back of Cinderella’s chair is a wolf skin, and on top of the chair is deer antlers. Yet another reference to animal hierarchy. Wooyoung (the member currently singing), approaches Cinderella with an apple in his hand. (WOW another apple?! crazy right.) Here is our forbidden fruit apple motif again but with more evidence to back it up. Wooyoung is offering the apple to her as a temptation. A sinful thing to give into. Something she must bite. Her teeth have almost sunken into the apple but before that can happen the video cuts again to the chorus's dance. This adds to the feeling of sexual tension because of what the apple represents. The apple is sin, it's danger, it's giving into what you really want. Since she hasn't quite given in yet, we as the audience are now more involved in the video. We want to know what is going to happen to precious Cinderella.
Next, she runs down the outside stairs to her carriage in her overarching goal to leave the ball by midnight. However in this instance the carriage is not a carriage but a very expensive green/blue sports car surrounded by roses, and next to it is another member of 2PM, Nichkhun. Here it is, another temptation for our poor princess who is just trying to leave the party. This section is less of a fairy tale reference and more of a jab to the lyrics of the song. The chorus of the song sings "It's alright. Let's go to my house". What's Nichkhun gonna do when the woman gets in the car? Most likely take her to his house. Before this can happen Cinderella is distracted again by Chansung who grabs her wrist and tries to lead her back up the stairs and into the mansion/palace again. She follows him without complaint but as they walk up the stairs the camera cuts to Chansung's hand which is now a wolf hand. He's the big bad wolf who comes to take the innocent bunny to temptation and sin. Not only does this reference the big bad wolf, but it also calls upon Beauty and the Beast. This connection is further solidified when the video cuts to singer Jun K’s section on the balcony. The camera movement here is a simple pan up from beneath the balcony but what the audience focuses on is the red roses that crawl up the side of the stone wall. What does the red rose signify in the story of Beauty and the Beast? TEMPTATION! I write this in all caps because I cannot believe the amount of symbolism and metaphors in this cheesy music video from 2015.
The next part of the video makes no sense continuity wise, but that doesn't matter too much since this is just a music video and not a feature film. Miss Cinderella is back again running down the stairs but this time she is alone and there aren't any temptations in the form of 2PM or apples, or roses, in her way. However before she leaves, she stops and takes off her shoe (in traditional Cinderella fashion). She tosses it behind her and it lands on the stairs. For the first time in this video she actually shows an expression other than pretty innocence. She leaves the shoe and smirks.
Which leaves an attentive audience with a question to what happened in the weird cut between Chansung leading her back into the castle and her leaving alone. Did she give into the temptation? Is her leaving the shoe now more than just a fairy tale misstep? Is the shoe now a calling card or a temptation for the wolves who may have corrupted her? Who knows? After all, in each fairy tale referenced in this video the female protagonist does give into the sinful temptation. Who’s to say our Cinderella didn’t do the same?
Thank you so much for reading! This is a bit different than the other stuff I've posted on here before as I'm analyzing a music video rather than a film or TV show. Nevertheless I hope you enjoyed reading it. You can definitely expect more music video based writings in the future of this lil' blog.
- Hannah Bennett (KIDD)
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