The Manifest Song of Faerie: February 2020

I watched a KPop music video that was released last week (2/18/2020) and liked it so much that I did a very stupid thing: I then watched every reaction video that was released for it.

(I am lying: I loaded every reaction video that searching "dreamcatcher scream reaction" in the YouTube search bar would cough up. There were a handful of videos that I stopped watching when the sound of the MV was too low in the mix or there was too much noise to hear the song. And, of course, the YouTube search algorithm does not deliver all the videos that meet the criteria. Safe to say I have seen all the reactions that have at least a few hundred views to date and most of the ones who have fewer.)

Here is the text we shall be considering today:

It's A Good Video

I am not a fan of KPop..

More accurately, I am not a fan of pop music in general.

I do have a bit of that cloying hipster gene that wants to frame myself as floating above the tastes of the hoi palloi. The truth is I graze widely and very occasionally go deep into very specific bands or genres. I am old and so that means I've encountered a bunch of stuff, and rarely I add a group to my bag of precious gems.

Dreamcatcher and particularly this video is a precious gem. For me.

The MV for "Scream' is a strikingly beautiful visual art work presenting a powerful song. It uses a lot of CG to present a fantasy setting for a solid EDM bop, and both the video and the song seem to be about something. As we shall see from the reactions, the result is that a wide variety of people find it intriguing and a genuinely enjoyable experience to watch. It evokes a lot of goosebumps and surprised smiles and lots of yelps of delight (though, ironically, few actual screams) and only occasional tears (from the longtime stans),

I do not believe there is an objective "good" in art. There is technical proficiency, of course. "Scream" is slathered in technical proficiency. From the construction of the song, to the art direction, to the editing, to the costuming, to the choreography, to the performance and skills of the women in Dreamcatcher it's all highly professional, and most of the creative decisions are in consonance with the themes of the material.

But that's not why "Scream" is a good video.

"Scream" is good because it's a kinetic expression of human power in opposition to social network systems that dehumanize and hurt people.

We shall dive deep.

A Lot Of People Think It's A Good Video

Broadly, the reaction videos for "Scream" can be grouped into three categories:

People who have never seen a Dreamcatcher video and were unaware of the group prior to being recorded.
Fans of Dreamcatcher
People who routinely react to KPop videos.

The uninitiated are the rarest and most precious of the reactions. They are uniformly positive for this video. Lots of puzzlement leading to surprised grimaces of "this is not what I expected from a KPop group" leading in turn to head-bopping grins at the drop, gasps at the rap breaks, breath-holding at the bridge and giving over to the jam at the end. The TBC leaves them confused and wondering about what they just saw.

The fans have a bit more range in their reactions. Their expectations based upon prior videos and songs sets them up as fragile at the beginning. Can this song live up to their expectations? Most of this group say yes, and rationalize any shift of genre from rock to EDM as well within the purview of Dreamcatcher's ouvre. The only disappointment in any of the reaction videos, however, come from a few fans who only want metal guitars and vocals in the chorus, and want an even darker visual style with greater contrasting flashes. However, the majority of fans beam at this video throughout and declare it the best one yet, not only because of the obviously larger budget, but because they recognize that this is a song that they love and will become a happy, welcome part of their lives.

The reactions of the semi-pro KPop reaction video community who react to most KPop videos as they are released (besuretolikeandsubscribeandhitthatnotificationbell, thank you) are uniformly positive as well ranging from good to great. The common theme among this crowd is that Dreamcatcher is slept on. Dreamcatcher is acknowledged as having an unusual concept but still well-within the fold of KPop girl-groups and most are astonished at the fact that this group checks all of normal tick-boxes of KPop success (stable vocals, sharp intricate synchronized group choreography and women visually at the very center of the narrow band of what is considered beautiful by KPop standards) but have yet to amass a large, rabid fan-base within South Korea itself. The semi-pro video reactors enjoy this video as a change of pace, and the fact that the group is maintaining their concept despite the fact that doing so inhibits the amount of success they should be seeing compared to equally talented groups.

Getting Into It Is Good

The theme is RIGHT THERE in the opening shot

I didn't tally this metric, but I believe that most reactors read these lines before unpausing the video. A few do not manage to read the entire thing before it disappears. Those who do read it generally agree with the sentiment and then forget about it.

Most people find the video intriguing and do want to figure out what it is saying, but I think only one of the initial English-speaking reactors actually parsed from the first viewing that the theme of the video is that personal attacks on the internet and social media in particular are bad.

Part of the issue is that the lyrics are saying something that is close to that theme but not exactly the same thing. And the video visually ignores the denotation of the lyrics to support instead the connotation of the theme. That disjoint is exacerbated in the reaction videos by the fact that translations were not yet available for most of the reactors, and even when they were available and subtitles turned on, the cuts and transitions are far too fast for much attention to be left for the first-time viewers. Now's the time to review the lyrics (via Genius):

[Verse 1]
My covered eyes
Are stained with blood
Tell me why
I don’t lie

Cold wind blows
I can feel the stare
Flowing through the vein All Pain

[Refrain]
The feeling of the tied two hands going to sleep
Even when everyone throws rocks at me
I can’t escape

[Pre-Chorus]
Nothing entertains me
Who is this for
Someone please tell me Tell me
On the blazing up fire Now

[Chorus]
Please I don’t want to scream
(Devil eyes come, open my eyes, open my eyes)
Please I don’t want to scream
(Scream scream scream scream)
Spread in the darkness Scream

[Verse 2]
Trick behind the mask, ridiculous Freak
A random Target born from growing animosity
Even if I drink away the burning parchedness, they blame the hypocrisy on me
At the end of the chasing lies the cliff
The choice that only remains regrets

[Refrain]
The sharp words akin to a sharp knife
Even if they dig into me as wounds
I can’t end this breath

[Pre-Chorus]
I don’t know anything
Who is this for
Someone please tell me Tell me
In the rising smoke now

[Chorus]
Please I don’t want to scream
(Devil eyes come, open my eyes, open my eyes)

[Bridge]
After everyone leaves
I open my eyes again
All traces are gone
Can’t believe me
Don’t be sad
No more No more No more
For me No more No more No more
Uh uh, Forget everything you saw
Believe that nothing happened
Like that, one by one, everyone get crazy

[Chorus]
I just wanna make you scream
(Devil Eyes Come)
Everyone look at me and Scream
(Scream scream scream scream)
I just wanna make you scream

The imagery of verse 1 through the first refrain is that of a witch being tied up and persecuted. The video however ignores that specific imagery, and instead presents the women on a witchy wasteland set and wearing fashions from the Stevie Nicks school of occult toggery.

Jui is singing about blood covering her eyes with no blood covering her eyes

An extremely common reaction here is shear adoration of that purple hair.

The previous promotions have set the expectation that there will be a serial narrative conveyed through a series of MVs starting with this video. And so it's perfectly reasonable to guess that the women of Dreamcatcher will be given distinguishing roles or powers in this set of videos and so I do think the visual of Siyeon at the end of verse 1 ends up being a bit of a red herring and a thematic misstep:

No, really, Siyeon is singing about pain running through her VEINS

Despite the fact that she is singing about being in intense pain, Siyeon looks calm and sultry.

Similarly, our first glimpse of the dance choreography is to the refrain about being bound and unable to escape:

This is not a dance about Gahyeon being tied up and constrained

Are the mismatches between the lyrics and visuals intentional? And if so, what is the director trying to convey by doing that? I believe the answer lays in the sense of motion that the director wishes to build. The video begins to hurtle towards something inside that tree:

Oooh, Shiny. Must runs towards that. Nothing scary there at all.

Several fans who kept themselves spoiler free even of the name of album that this video is promoting guess that this is the Tree of Life. The name of the album is "Dystopia: The Tree of Language". That is, in Christian iconography we are not talking the Garden of Eden but, instead, the Tower of Babel in sense of the video being about speech but more aptly about not casting stones and punishing people.

There is a strong visual distinction between the outside of the tree and the inside of the tree. At the drop we have fully entered the tree:

Note the masked Handong memorial dancer

The biggest laugh I had all week was the fan who reacted: "Oh, My, God: They're wearing pants!" No problem with nebulous pink arm auras, drifting volcanic ash or glowing tree portals. No, the biggest shock here is that the women are wearing pants.

We have reached the chorus which is all about fear. "Please, I don't want to scream." and "Open my eyes" are pretty strong indicators that the speaker is trying to awaken from something awful.

But the chorus also introduces the devil into the discourse in an ambiguous way. Does "Devil Eyes Come" mean devil eyes do come? Or is it imperative: I command the eyes of the devil to come here and witness this? The writer probably means both. I think there is a metaphorical interpretation of the line as well based on the ensuing verse and refrain. There is an implication of unwanted social attention - the witch is burned by her community, the adulteress is stoned by her village. The witch trial has begun.

You won't believe this, but the mask is a metaphor

The visual clues to this video being about the internet in particular begin with the lightning effects in the tunnel as we enter the tree, but we see another here in the black and white setting used for Gahyeon and later Dami: the stars are connected with faint lines indicating a network in the mathematical sense. The mask, therefore, is readily interpreted as being about the anonymity that people can put on and take off online, and the way in which doing so enables people to criticize and verbally attack others without consequence via social network comments.

The verbal text points out there is no real way to defend yourself from online pile-ons as Dami spits her first set of fire.

The fan reactions to Gahyeon and Dami are interesting. One gets the impression that they must only rarely let Gahyeon do anything at all in their videos (which I'm not sure is true in my cursory review of the previous videos). Nevertheless, many reactors are surprised and pleased to see her fully take the stage at this moment. Virtually everyone reacts thereafter to Dami, however, and it's immediately clear that she's many people's bias.

The one moment of near literal interpretation comes with the next refrain:

Sua sings about BEING stabbed, not doing the stabbing

The fans immediately think of the previous MV, "Deja Vu", but, indeed, it's not remotely the same kind of sword.

Interestingly, the shot is outside the tree which confuses things even more. She's not being stabbed, and she is not within the Tree of Language as she sings about being stabbed by sharp words.

Oooh, shiny floating gem in the middle of the spooky tree. What could possibly go wrong?

The visuals more than the song text suggest that there is something about the tree than pulls us in. We seek approval, adoration or even fame, but the whole thing can blow up in our faces at a whim.

I believe that the visuals give a hint that this video is more than about the social dynamics that lead to online attacks and mobbing, but the evidence is far flimsier here. Back in the first pre-chorus we have this brief shot:

Who? What?

It takes place outside the tree. One small question:

How many days since the last KPop suicide?

Things inside the Tree of Language can and do have real-world consequences. This video, I assert on this flimsiest of support, is not only about the adverse socialization that can wound all of us as individuals, but also a response to the parasocial dynamics that focus hatred (like some sort of lenticular gem or something) onto certain individuals like entertainers or celebrities.

Devil Eyes Come

And so we reach the devil horn gesture. In the making of video, Gahyeon seems to think the up-raised fingers represent the devil's eyes, and who are we to doubt her - it turns that the use in music and as a symbol of devilishness in the music industry really only goes back to the Sixties at the earliest, and so the interpretation as horns is hardly fixed.

And then the goddess Siyeon sings the bridge:

The calm at the center of the hurricane

But that antipathetic parasocial attention being criticized in this MV does tend to evaporate. The mob is fickle. What do they care if they left you in the alley bleeding to death?

And so Dami (of course) with the lightning and fire of her voice reaches the conclusion:

The big gun

"Like that, one by one, everyone gets crazy" The victims become the victemizers. The internet is a breeding reactor of hatred. "I just wanna make you scream."

Boom

The Reaction Rabbit Hole Is Good

So why watch all those reaction videos?

Well, for one, it was a good way to hear a song I like repeatedly. It is a tune that stands up to repeat listening. But more than that, it's a particularly good song for people to react to. There are a wide variety of things to catch people's attention from the fashion to the vocals to the fantasy setting (you would not be surprised by the number of Harry Potter books captured in the background of the reactor's rooms) to the unexpected EDM chorus. Most KPop videos have rap breaks, but everyone knows Dami is strong but then is surprised that Gahyeon steps in and steps up as well.

I think the very first reaction I saw was this one:

We shall come back to it because, man, that leads to an entire roller coaster of related videos.

A good solid video on the music is

My personal favorite is this video, but then, I'm a cat person:

The overwhelming conclusion after having watched all these reaction videos is that this is Earth. I believe I saw reactions from every continent except Africa and Antarctica in over a dozen languages. It's a hugely diverse fandom: we have hijabs, we have piercings, we have cat-ears, we have the ancient uniforms of the metal head. And they are all saying good things. In contrast to the MV itself, the reaction videos are almost entirely about how people do remember to say good things.

Sera Also Says Good Things

Almost exactly two months prior to the release of "Scream" that early reactor up there posted the following video:

She's a bilingual YouTuber (Korean and English). It seems she just wanted to introduce herself to a group she'd heard about like she had done many times before But then .... OMG, YOU CAN SEE THE VERY MOMENT SHE BECAME A STAN.

But the thing is, this bit of the story goes even deeper. You see, she's not just another YouTuber. She's a former member of the KPop girl group Nine Muses. And, conveniently, THE BBC DID A DOCUMENTARY ABOUT THEIR DEBUT:

Yes, that's her at the end singing,"You lift me up." I DARE you not to cry.

She rode out the debut and worked in the group for several years. Given what we see of the hellishly bad management in the documentary, it's no surprise she was graduated. But she seems neither bitter nor angry at her time in the industry. She even did a reaction video to her own group's videos including the one that hurt her the most:

And so here's this beautiful former idol, sensitive, artistic, and now, oh boy is she a FAN GIRL. What could be better? How about if she gets to meet and interview Dreamcatcher?