Murder-Suicide Friday: Brown Eyed Girls ABRACADABRA

[koganbot]

Nothing problematic about this one, at least for me, except to wonder why sullen passion is captivating in this video when I wouldn't find it sexy in real life. Ga-In is gorgeous, of course, with her chiseled, chilled prettiness. Narsha's made up as her twin, and the fierceness between them is stronger than anything they might feel for the guy.

Even though I've watched the thing about twenty times, the ending still holds me: Ga-In with her smirking malevolence, her look saying, "Oh, you're going to kiss me too? Yes. My animal power." And then the focus on Narsha, smooth and blank, way more deadly. I'm assuming Ga-In doesn't realize it's a kiss of death.

Watch on YouTube

Any thoughts regarding:

--The picture on the wall (seems to depict the 18th century, a hat, a parlor? a sitting room? a boudoir?)
--The shiny modern apartment in muted tones (as a place to have sex?)
--The dog? Someone walks a dog down the hallway.

The director, Hwang Su-a, fades her shots in and out at the start, giving us a lot of information but making the scene feel indolent and ominous, despite the fast cuts. Then, as the electrocution device is prepared, the cuts get sharper, and we click into the song.

Rihanna, call your manager.

Comments

[askbask.livejournal.com]

I think at 1:51 we see the person walking the dog -- member Jea. But then there's the case of a member watching it all from a control room. Youtube commenters spin a theory of prostitution, although I'm not so sure about that.

[koganbot]

Well, they show you Jea, then cut directly to the dog being walked but without the walker's face visible, but then to what looks like Narsha in the same hallway, so Narsha could be the one walking the dog... but the crucial question is why is anyone walking a dog?

It's Miryo watching at the end on closed circuit: so she's been observing and maybe even overseeing everything from her control room all along, perhaps plotting with Narsha, perhaps being the one who told Narsha about Ga-In and the guy - though none of this is in the video, and I prefer thinking of her as an observer and commentator.

This seems the most likely scenario, as posted by YouTube commenter LilyAnneVaj:

- Ga-In sleeps with Narsha's man
- Narsha is pissed
- Narsha straps bomb to man, kills him
- Narsha gets poison pills from Jea
- Narsha goes to Ga-In's crib
- Ga-In is chilling, taunts Narsha with a smirk
- Narsha places pills in her mouth for a "kiss of death"
- Narsha pulls Ga-In in for the "kiss" to kill her
- Miryo watches entire event in controlroom

Except I'd say that Ga-In's smirk is an invitation as well as a taunt, the animal-power thing I mentioned in my write-up. I assume that the kiss kills them both. And my sense from what I could make out of Google translate's mangling of the interview with director Hwang Su-a is that the whole thing illustrates what people feel and is not to be taken literally - though since it's fiction anyway the question of "literally" doesn't seem relevant; real or figurative it's a projection of what people feel.

We don't actually see Jea supplying Narsha with the poison; the pills sort of show up at 3:13, shortly after dog and hallway reappear, implying some connection of some sort without actually showing us a connection. I see Jea's fundamental role as the high-pitched singer expressing everyone's emotions (though since I don't know Korean I have no idea of who is singing what). She's the emotions; Miryo's the observation and analysis; Narsha and Ga-In are the protagonists, the guy being the third side of the triangle, motivating the plot.

Alternate interpretation would be that Narsha and Ga-In are the main couple and so it's Ga-In (rather than the guy) cheating on Narsha; but that would actually make everything less potent and provocative (why bother killing the guy in that scenario?). And a third interpretation, making Narsha and Ga-In prostitutes with Miryo the madam, may give Miryo a more active role but would seem to get rid of the cheating angle and would disconnect the "do you love her? do you love her? do you love me? do you love me?" in the lyrics from pertaining to the video; and if Miryo is a madam, why would she connive in destroying her own merchandise? I'm thinking of her less as a mastermind than as a knowing, wised-up observer.

There is someone (Narsha? Jea?) in a cage at one point, for I know not what reason, except that one is often encaged in one's emotions.

I still don't understand the dog, though the dog is fashionable and sleek, rather than being a scottie* or a poodle, so adds to the mood of... whatever the mood is... expensive passion and stylish disintegration?

*When I was in the band Red Dark Sweet I once suggested that if we ever make albums our second album should be called "Poo-poo's moods" and feature a scottie romping on a bright green field of grass. My bandmates said that if we did this the consumer would assume that we'd been on acid when we'd created the cover.

[askbask.livejournal.com]

The choice of dog (http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_rdDW8haQJL0/TJAhfJtnuTI/AAAAAAAAAYc/cArjgzZzsr4/s1600/2NE1CAN%27TNOBODY%5BHD%5DMinzy.jpg) is indeed important. Too bad for the scottie that most of these videos are sleek.

There is a possibility the director was inspired by Miryo's rap

I’ll remove this spell again
I`m like a supervisor
I control you, I am the emperor
You cant get away from me

and put her in that setting, perhaps not fully thinking through what she would add to the love story.

Of course we've got another k-pop video with almost exactly the same ingredients: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmdeKzLlS8w

[koganbot]

I think Miryo - and the dog and the picture - add to the video, even if none are explicable in regard to the plot.

[koganbot]

But it turns out that the dog IS explicable in regard to the plot. Here are the crucial couple of seconds I overlooked, where the dog does play a role in the plot:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofwFr8o8p0Y&t=191s

And I explicate it here (having read comments that explained it for me):
https://koganbot.dreamwidth.org/289700.html