breaking down the storyline of Agust D's 대취타

- a thread about tyranny, doppelgängers, and overthrowing a authoritarian system

first, we are introduced to the king.

he is all alone on his throne. when he steps out, you see rows of dead bodies covered by mats. clearly this is a king who is not celebrated but extremely feared. the sinister tone is accentuated by the black garb - kings usually wear red.

then we are introduced to his doppelgänger, the commoner.

they both share the same scar (to signal that they are one and the same) but occupy different echelons of society. the commoner is moving through the market in disguise, possibly to hide that he looks like the king.

at the market, the commoner briefly stops by the butchers' shop and they exchange conspiring looks.

it is only later on that we learn that these butchers also work as royal executioners. this foreshadows that the commoner has supporters on the inside of the system.

in the same execution scene where the butchers appear, we see the king - "off with their heads" - collecting and dancing with these boxes of heads as if they're playthings. it is clear that he only cares about his power and status. see how he stands on the backs of his subjects.

in great contrast to the king, the commoner is shown to have a loyal group of supporters who are with him out of choice, not fear or force. it is through this support that he gains a 'jade' key. note that jade is traditionally associated with authority and wealth.

then the two finally meet.

the commoner drives himself to the execution grounds and is brought to his knees by the same butcher he met earlier. and the king steps out to watch with a manic look in his eyes.

but what happens next shows that the conspiracy we imagined earlier might be coming true.

when the commoner begins chanting daechwita, everyone does the same and moves to the rhythm of the song. unlike the king, he has amassed a huge following for himself.

the king however remains clueless to this impending rebellion. he is preoccupied with performing sword play, mimicking the executioner. it is ironic how the king insists on leading by fear but is not competent enough to execute straying subjects himself. his power is but a sham.

instead of being executed, the commoner is freed from his ropes and restraints by the executioner and instead handed a gun.

and with a single bullet, it is the tyrant king who is executed. off with his head.

the power of the story is that 대취타 is a group of traditional instruments that are played during the king's ceremonial processions and yet, here 대취타 itself is turned on its head as a symbol of rebellion against a monarch who has steered off the righteous path.

if we are to read the MV in relation to the lyrics that talk about becoming a king from a slave and about talentless artistes trying to discredit his success, perhaps the tyrant is the industry itself and how it runs on privilege and strict conformity based on fear mongering.

it is also an ode to his own path as the underdog moving through the system as inconspicuously as possible before emerging at the top to "dethrone" those who are not deserving of their status due to unchecked corruption and incompetence.

as for why the doppelgänger concept, one guess is that they did not want to be too on-the-nose and just got yoongi to assume two roles. but the identical scar could mean that people assume that all artistes are the same but in reality they can hold very different intentions.

- the end of my close reading

omg it should be an* authoritarian system

i'm sad now. my perfect thread :(

someone else had a more elaborated interpretation of the doppelgänger concept that i agree with too! we could all become the king if we do not remain honest and humble in our intentions: https://twitter.com/bloodsweat_tae/status/1263943404469313551

also adding one more to the thread from the same OP because yes given the anachronistic appearance of the tyrant (hair and sneakers), it could easily be himself - i.e. it’s easy to stray from a righteous path when you gain that much power

https://twitter.com/bloodsweat_tae/status/1263884309456400384?s=21 https://twitter.com/bloodsweat_tae/status/1263884309456400384

to everyone calling my brain sexy... that’s literally the compliment I love to hear the most in the world you’re making me want to send each of you kisses (with consent)

here: i made a follow-up thread investigating "gwanghae style" and how the storyline for 대취타 borrows from the 2012 film "masquerade" that is about prince gwanghae and a commoner lookalike. https://twitter.com/shanxxvi/status/1264244465620795393