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the king and the commoner — a thread on why yoongi plays both roles in the agust d 대취타 mv
first, a summary of the story: there are 2 characters, the king & the commoner. when the commoner is brought in by the king for execution, the king is unaware the commoner has already conspired with the executioners (the meat butchers) to use that opportunity to have him shot.
for a more detailed explanation & close read on the storyline, this thread by @shanxxvi is fantastic: https://twitter.com/shanxxvi/status/1263878874141650944?s=20
the mv shows us these two versions of agust d, the king who sits on the throne and says “off with their heads”, and the bound insurgent who walks through the streets and says “now i want to look down and put my feet on the ground”
as @shanxxvi has pointed out, the commoner represents yoongi’s roots, the fact that he has risen up to this level of domination from humble beginnings, without the privileges many other artists have. the commoner is his connection to where he came from, to the core of who he is.
where things get interesting is parsing out what the king represents. what's key to unpacking this is the fact that *yoongi plays both roles*. here’s why that’s important:
if the king was played by another man, you could interpret him as the music industry, as a system that requires one to assimilate to its power structure in order to be successful. in this scenario, agust d the commoner, representing yoongi the musician, "overthrew" the industry.
but the king *isn’t* played by another man, which adds some nuance to the interpretation. so what does it mean that agust d is also the king? well, first, i think it is still a valid interpretation that the king represents the industry. BUT i think there’s another layer here:
so D-2 in general gives us a glimpse into yoongi's complex ideas of money and capital gain as an indicator of success. in “daechwita”, he talks about the material things he wanted & now has, and in “what do you think”, he talks about how he bought these things with his youth.
so how does this relate to the king? perhaps agust d the king is also a representation of the complicated relationship yoongi feels to his success in general. he wanted the big cars, big house, and big rings, and now he has them. where does this leave him?
looking to the persona of the king, it leaves us with yoongi as a conquerer, with an ego the size of a house. but that's not necessarily a bad thing! he leans into this persona in this song, in other songs from D-2, and in his other work in general—because he has EARNED it.
but the assassination of the king by the commoner, who represents yoongi's roots, shows us that he ALSO values keeping his ego in check—that he doesn't want to lose his connection with where he came from, or forget what he traded to gain his kingdom.
in daechwita and D-2, yoongi is wrestling with these different pieces of himself. he is wrestling with his complicated relationship to his unprecedented level of success within his field.
and though he ultimately he chooses the commoner, i think it's likely that both of these versions of himself live within him always. he is the king, the commoner, the shadow, agust d, suga, and min yoongi, all in one.
