Analysis of Big Bang’s Monster MV

Big Bang’s “Monster” opens into what seems like an abandoned military camp.  The first 30 seconds are jarring and feels like we are looking from the monster’s viewpoint until it is chased back inside the building. Bullets are flying, things are exploding: this is war. 

The monsters know that they are not completely alone; the CCTVs inside are capturing their every move. Notice the caption at the bottom that reads “Project: Monster” with the member’s initials on top.  And then we see each member in their “monstrous” forms: fangs, claws, glow-in-the-dark eyes, shape-shifting faces and the ability to sing and dance like nobody’s business in the middle of an exploding field.  (Hey they’re called Big BANG for a reason!)

“Monster” feels like a modern mash-up of classic horror characters like Frankenstein, Werewolf, or King Kong. They all share similar themes: a hideous looking beast that may pose a threat and wreak havoc on society at large but is actually more human than the people who are trying to kill it.  Obviously, monstrosity is one of the themes that pervades the video and like the predecessors before them, Big Bang’s grotesque appearance is rejected by society:  “Everyone may look at me with judging eyes, but what really hurts is the fact that you have become a part of that everyone.”  Cue Taeyang’s gravity-defying hair: don't they look like chocolate logs?? But I'm not complaining.  That is precisely the shock that "Monster" brings to the audience when the members are revealed.  GD, for example, is initially a blonde who later transforms into a red head with a horn, who at the end reverts back as a blonde. 

In another scene, we see Top standing in a snowy terrain and judging by the scale of things, he is taller than any of the surrounding mountains.  Follow the line of his gaze and you will see a faint silhouette of a woman at his feet; however, she is also dressed in white (more on that later).  GD is another “giant” seen here crouching near the ceiling. It doesn’t look like he is bound by chains but by tentacle-like cables connected to his head.  Mind control perhaps? Regardless of size, they are still larger than life, literal depiction or not.

On a side note, Big Bang members are some well-dressed monsters! I’ve yet to see one in a turtleneck but Top is probably a half Dracula who needs to cover every inch of his skin from direct sunlight; hence, the hat, the cape and the gloves. His raspy rapping in the beginning of the song also sounds like the whispery seductions of a Dracula….aaand I’m sticking with that theory. 

The only thing that would be considered normal in this video is the van that’s parked in the middle of nowhere. If this is a secret experiment gone wrong by the government, I would have at least thought they would use military-grade mobiles at their facility. They have the technology to bomb Big Bang but not the ride to go with it? *scratches head* But in Taeyang’s solo scene, the van appears in one shot, disappears in the next, and reappears again in the following shot.  Conclusion: the van possesses magical stealthiness that can make itself vanish in covert operations but in order to do so, it must look extremely low-tech and ordinary. Moving on.

Other motifs in the video are worth mentioning.  The barren, desert-like setting that encloses the camp at the beginning shows no life or vegetation which suggests that it’s hard to survive. It poses as the difficulties that await our monsters in pursuit of their goals and at the same time, it’s the nothingness and emptiness of the desert that remind them of their isolation from society. 

At the end of the video, we see that the camp is blanketed in snow which I automatically deduct as an imagery of death.  A slow, cruel death.  Contrary to the roaring “I LOVE YOU Baby I’m not a monster” declarations earlier in the song, the ending note is subdued and we see GD clasping his arms in the cold and walking towards what looks like civilization. He is no longer a red-haired, horned creature but he is not exactly man and not exactly animal and the last narration we hear sums up his desolation entirely: ”I’m not a monster.  I think I’m sick.  I think I’m sick.  I think I’m sick.” 

If you’re an optimist, you may say snow represent a blank slate and GD can leave his past behind and blend in with society—if he did not already freeze to death on this way there. Or worse, gunned down by authorities (King Kong anyone?) and the creators who exploited him in the first place (Yup, looking at you Frankenstein). I say creators loosely since I’m assuming from the lyrics that Big Bang were probably humans before they were experimented on. 

BUT since the ending is open-ended, I feel like I can ignore the symbols and stretch my imagination to my inner fangirl 

Suppose “Monster” is the epilogue to “Fantastic Baby” (not in the literal sense of the term) but I can connect a few references between the two.  

Reference 1
GD in both of the videos are prisoners in solitary confinement. Cannot miss the red mane.

Reference 2 & 3
It was snowing in the last scene of “Monster” and then we see Taeyang coming back alive from his frozen state and Top pale like a fair maiden, decked in icy blue hair.

Reference 4
There’s a van in “Fantastic Baby.” Enough said.

Reference 5
Share the thematic ideals of breaking free from the chains that bound them

I'm sure I missed other things in the MV but I really love Big Bang's concept for "Monster." Just when I thought I've seen everything from "Fantastic Baby," you come back and put the WHUT in the heck. 

Screen caps are from BIGBANG@YouTube, translated lyrics by toptopia@tumblr