Forbidden Lover: History of a song 3
III.The PV
While gathering info about music and lyrics of forbidden lover, I was thinking how much the PV is deeply linked to ken’s tune and hyde’s words.
I couldn’t find any reference to the PV in the interviews I’ve read up to now, because it was shot a little bit later (probably around middle September, 1998), so I’ll write down only my own interpretation, this meaning there’s nothing official in what I’m going to say.
History and war
The most evident feature of the PV is the gloomy atmosphere, gained with cold colours and cloudy sky; I think it has to do with the idea of contemporary decadence, caused by human faults like wars.
The machine moving in circular motion into a small room gives me the idea of the inexorable passing of time, so I think it’s connected with history as its repeating movement seems to recall the fact that history often repeats itself. As a matter of facts, on tv screens short clips about human history are repeated steadily.
The ever-beating rhythm of snare drums, played by yukihiro inside the machine, suits this scene perfectly.
The red curtains of that room remind me of the (stage) curtain mentioned in lyrics: they share the same red colour, which recalls, of course, blood.
On the windowsill, there’s a pot filled with flowers, I think to be lavender, even though here I’m not really sure, I’m not really a flower expert. If it’s so, it’s interesting to know that in hanakotoba (Japanese for “language of flowers”) lavender means “doubt”, “distrust”, but also “hope” and “I’m waiting for you”.
On the same windowsill, sometimes appears a frame with a spider, partially covered by curtains. I’m not able to detect precisely its meaning, as there are so many Japanese folktales about spiders. But since it’s often associated with deceit, I think it may symbolize the idea that war is something that suddenly appears and traps people into its web.
On the short clips shown on the screens inside the room, history is associated not only with war, but also with science evolution, both in terms of progress and errors.
I’ve picked up some images:
In the first one Russian president Yeltsin with supreme military commanders is speaking from the tribune of Lenin's mausoleum on May 9, 1996, in order to celebrate Russian victory on Second World War.
I can’t detect precisely when the second was taken, but I can guess, from the landscape, that it was shot during the Gulf War (1990-91); other short clips share similar landscape, this might mean that were taken during the same event.
Third one is of course a reference to spaceflight Apollo 11 which reached the Moon on July 20, 1969 for the first time, while the fourth is a frame from tv broadcast of Space Shuttle Challenger disaster, occurred during its launch on January 28, 1986.
About outdoor scenery, shallow water and some leafless trees are the bare background of a world where war has destroyed almost everything.
The endless water and the burning flame can also be taken as a possible reference to the sea and wartime fire in lyrics.
Doubt about God and Love
On some Japanese sites it’s possible to find out the main model for forbidden lover PV: Nine Inch Nail’s The perfect drug music video. drunk_butterfly-sama made such an interesting and amazing comparison between the two clips that there's no need of repeating it here; I think that the resemblance is quite evident.
The child on the big hand of NIN’s PV is replaced by hyde on a big head of a Greek-style statue, that resembles closely head of Aphrodite, and particularly the one known as “Venus de Milo” (now at Louvre museum).
I think that those scenes are linked to religious theme: hyde’s sitting with the attitude of a believer praying to his god (kneeling, hands joined), looking up to the sky and “shouting God’s name”, waiting for an answer he’ll never get, as the divinity is fallen down to earth and won’t probably answer him. The fact that Aphrodite is known as goddess of love can be taken as a symbol of the end of love, too.
The girl dressed in black reminds me of both a figure in NIN’s music video and the beloved girl of lyrics, killed during war, as her presence between tv screens broadcasting war images can suggest. The skull over the tv is a symbol of death, too.
In the last part of the PV she has a birdcage open, with free doves. This scene has similarities with the last part of lyrics, where the protagonist is releasing his love for the girl. Here it seems that we get the counterpart: she is releasing her love for him, and her love reaches him, since the doves fly near the statue of Goddess of Love. And here we get similar wish for peace, as doves are symbol of peace.
(The end)
***
OMAKE
About the director:
Takeuchi Suguru 竹内スグル
Born 1962 in Kobe, has directed many PVs (for example with GLAY, JUDY AND MARY, hitomi), and CMs (for example Uniqlo, Shiseido, Mercedes-Benz, Fuji and McDonald’s).
In 2002 he directed 10th episode of drama “The private detective Hama Mike”, starring Nagase Masatoshi, then in 2005 the segment “Mars Canal” for the film compilation “Rampo Noir” starring Asano Tadanobu. In 2008 he also directed a clay animation series on Tv Tokyo, “Cakeees”.
Among L'Arc~en~Ciel’s PV, he directed:
- flower
- Lies and Truth
- Niji
- forbidden lover
- Hitomi no juunin
Among HYDE’s PV, he directed:
- EVERGREEN
- ANGEL’S TALE
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Sources:
Album “ark”, July 1999
Clip collection “CHRONICLE”, August 1999
http://matome.naver.jp/odai/2009042711560767269
http://edition.cnn.com/WORLD/9605/09/russia.parades/
http://www.maniacworld.com/space-shuttle-challenger-disaster.htm
http://larchive.blog74.fc2.com/blog-entry-5.html
http://larchive.blog74.fc2.com/blog-entry-83.html
http://www.tokyo-source.com/interview.php?ts=37
http://fujifilm.jp/business/broadcastcinema/mpfilm/interview/takeuchi/index.html
http://www.louvre.fr/llv/oeuvres/detail_notice.jsp?CONTENT%3C%3Ecnt_id=10134198673237785&CURRENT_LLV_NOTICE%3C%3Ecnt_id=10134198673237785&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=9852723696500817&baseIndex=0&bmLocale=en