Demian: The backdrop of BTS’ Wings | Part II
In Part I, Emil Sinclair finally escaped Kromer's whistle and embarked on his quest for independence. However, some solos that Quince covered in Week 16 parallel earlier events in the book. Let's delve deeper.
In the Monday Muster that week, we discussed V's solo Stigma, in which Taehyung expresses deep regret for a past action. RM prefaces the song’s short film with this quote from the book:
[...]It was the first fissure in the columns that had upheld my childhood which every individual must destroy before he can become himself [..] Such fissures and rents grow together again heal and are forgotten but… in the most secret recesses they continue to live and bleed.
Hesse brilliantly explains how mental wounds, just like physical ones, can stick around and cause pain long after they happen. Like V in Stigma, Sinclair feels terrible about the apple theft lie and the difficult situation he has created for himself—becoming an actual thief. When his dad scolds him about his dirty shoes, it makes him feel even worse because he knows he's done something far worse that he's keeping secret.
What does ‘stigma’ mean?
A ‘stigma’ is “a mark of disgrace associated with a particular circumstance, quality, or person”.
In Christianity, stigmata refers to bodily marks, most often on the hands, that resemble the wounds Jesus suffered during his crucifixion. Some believe these marks appear on deeply religious people as a sign of their connection to God. Saints like Saint Francis of Assisi and Saint Theresa of Jesus are said to have experienced this.
In the short film for “Stigma”, V doesn’t bear any physical marks, but the mental and emotional scars seem to act as a beacon—proclaiming his guilt loudly as he is caught by the police anyway, for a smaller issue, unrelated to his larger, perceived crime eating away at his soul.
Scene from V's WINGS short film #3: “Stigma”.
Dreams in Demian & WINGS
Last week, I touched on how dreams play a pivotal role in Demian. They show us what's going on inside Emil Sinclair's head and how he's changing, offering a glimpse into the protagonist's inner world and his psychological journey. During the intense bullying he suffers from Kromer, Emil has a series of dreams and nightmares. In one particularly striking dream, Kromer forces him to kill his father, mirroring Taehyung's actions in the video for “I NEED U”. This dream also seems to foretell further talks Sinclair will have about how murder can be justified in certain instances which I talk about later in this blog.
The lines between dreams and reality blur in both Demian and the WINGS video content, creating an atmosphere of uncertainty about what is real and what is imagined.
Even though Jin’s solo is titled “Awake”, his short film carries a dreamlike, almost nightmarish quality, even more stark than in some of the other member’s short films. In Demian, Hesse uses dreams to delve into Sinclair's subconscious, revealing hidden desires, fears, and aspects of his personality. Through dream analysis, he gains self-knowledge, guiding his personal growth.
Dreams also foreshadow events—filled with symbols that echo in reality. Just like in the WINGS content, these dreams are not random. They symbolize recurring themes and explore the characters' inner struggles within the Bangtan Universe narrative and the overarching WINGS concept.
RM in “Blood Sweat & Tears” M/V
The Symbolism in Chocolate
Chocolate, especially a chocolate bar, is important to Hoseok's mother's story in the BU. In the “Blood Sweat & Tears” M/V, j-hope sits in an ornate chair surrounded by what looks like melted chocolate.
In Demian, Sinclair's mother tries to make him feel better with a piece of chocolate, but he refuses it. To make the connection even stronger, RM's rap in “Blood Sweat & Tears” also talks about chocolate:
Peaches and cream, sweeter than sweet
Chocolate cheeks and chocolate wings
But those wings look like devils
On the other hand, sweet is bitter
As the lyrics reflect, chocolate holds a bittersweet duality. In Hoseok's story, chocolate has both meanings. It can be somewhat comforting, therefore sweet, but it carries a menacing bitterness, a metaphor for the pain and abandonment that Hoseok feels.
The prodigal son
Let’s go back to the point where we left off on Part I. After Demian saves him from Kromer, Emil finally breaks free. But instead of thanking Max, he goes back to his parents. He confesses his mistakes, just like in the parable of the prodigal son, and they forgive him and welcome him back. Even though Demian helped him, Emil feels something dark about him—similar to Kromer, but different. In the middle of the “Blood Sweat & Tears” M/V, RM even quotes a passage from the book:
He too was a tempter; he, too, was a link to the second, the evil world with which I no longer wanted to have anything to do.
Sinclair is back in the world of light, but he still feels indebted to Demian as he tries to keep him away from his life. But for how long?
j-hope in a pool of chocolate in the “Blood Sweat & Tears” M/V.
Confirmation class
It takes some time, but Emil Sinclair and Max Demian reunite in confirmation class, sitting side-by-side. Demian shows off his strong personality, using stories and challenging the teachers with unusual ideas about religion and morality. Sinclair realizes he's not alone in his struggles as all humans have to confront evil somehow at some point in their lives. He starts to think more critically, even if he doesn't always agree with Demian. The confirmation class ends, and after a break, Emil is sent to boarding school.
How does Max Demian look?
While Emil is thinking about his possible lifelong connection to Demian, Hesse describes him physically for the first time. Demian is “ethereal”, with a unique mix of masculine and feminine features. He seems both young and old, but also ageless. He is handsome, but in a way that's hard to describe. He reminds Emil of nature, like trees and animals, making him different from everyday people. Have you ever found yourself using a similar description about other people? I have, about these seven men I know… they often seem quite ethereal as well.
Alone
Absinthe in the "Blood Sweat & Tears" M/V.
Boarding school gives our main character the bitter taste of loneliness. Far away from his family, in a strange place, he is surrounded by classmates who dislike him as much as he dislikes himself. He meets Alfons Beck, an older student who helps him fit in by leading him down a bad path. Sinclair becomes a troublemaker, partying a lot and getting into fights, but he still avoids girls.
In the WINGS short films, we certainly see some of the guys acting like bad boys: SUGA vandalizes and sets a store on fire and Tae even gets arrested. Alcohol also makes an appearance in the “Blood Sweat & Tears” M/V—RM seems to be drinking a glass of absinthe.
Absinthe, also known as the “Green Fairy”, is a highly alcoholic spirit that was fairly famous at the time Demian was written and is typically associated with bohemian culture. Artists, writers, and musicians were seen as habitual consumers of the liquor, which was usually diluted with water. It was also deemed highly addictive and psychoactive, which made it more dangerous than other alcoholic drinks. Recent studies have proved that these claims might have been exaggerated.
In the “Blood Sweat & Tears” M/V we see it served in the “bohemian way”, by placing a sugar cube on a spoon on top of the glass filled with absinthe. The spoon and the sugar cube are soaked in alcohol and set on fire before dropping it into the glass. Finally, a shot of water is added to douse the flames.
Emil's schoolwork suffers, and the partying can't shake his self-hatred and deep loneliness, even making it more acute. Once again, Sinclair needs to be saved, but this time, it will take a different form.
First Love
SUGA’s solo on WINGS, “First Love”, tells the story of his early relationship with music, through the lens of the first piano he ever played on, in his childhood home. This deviates a bit from the narrative of Demian, but the title still title very much relates to Sinclair’s story. As RM quotes at the beginning of WINGS Short Film #5: REFLECTION:
There are numerous ways in which God can make us lonely and lead us back to ourselves. This was the way He dealt with me at that time.
Dante’s Beatrice & “The Divine Comedy”
Beatrice is the name of Dante Alighieri's muse. While potentially inspired by a real person, Dante transformed Beatrice into a character featured in several of his works, most notably in his masterpiece, “The Divine Comedy”.
In this epic narrative poem, Beatrice guides Dante through Paradise, symbolizing divine love. As she ascends through the celestial spheres, her beauty becomes increasingly transcendent and indescribable. This idealization mirrors the impression Sinclair receives of the unknown girl he encounters, as well as the universal human nature within us all to romanticize our first love (this also works with your bias).
The way out of darkness is illuminated by love. Sinclair develops an intense and platonic infatuation for a girl he runs into on one of his walks whom he names Beatrice, like Dante’s muse. In Jungian psychology, Beatrice embodies Sinclair's "anima," a representation of his feminine side. Interestingly, this anima concept resurfaces in BTS's lore, although its physical manifestation doesn't appear until later in their discography (guess where do we SEE the anima of BTS in the comments!).
In SUGA’s solo, Yoongi talks about music as his first love, fulfilling a role similar to Beatrice within this deeply personal song. The lyrics portray music as an integral part of SUGA's identity and a constant source of comfort and salvation.
Portrait
The portrait in WINGS Short Film #1: BEGIN.
Beatrice, as the manifestation of Sinclair’s “anima”, helps him grow into adulthood. Just the thought of being worthy of her makes him want to straighten up, and quit his bad-boy ways. He ditches the partying and picks up a paintbrush instead.
Painting and drawing are recurring themes in the book and the WINGS films. Sinclair tries to capture Beatrice on canvas, but nothing seems right. He finally gives up control and lets his imagination flow. The finished product is surprising—not Beatrice at all—but an ageless, mask-like figure that reminds him of Demian. Yet, when sunlight hits the painting on his window, it transforms. It looks so much like Emil himself.
In WINGS, the portrait appears in WINGS Short Film #1: BEGIN. The painting, that Jungkook made himself, looks a lot like him, while it also somehow resembles SUGA, who some theories say represents Demian. In the short film, several drawings are also hanging from the ceiling, representing the attempts that Sinclair makes to get Beatrice’s portrait right.
Sinclair continues painting and the next drawing uses a recurring symbol in Demian and WINGS, and the book’s plot echoes closely things we see in RM’s short film. But we will get to it in Part III, along with an interesting pattern in the wallpaper in WINGS Short Film #7: Awake, and the novel deep connections with j-hope’s solo song “Mama”. And if you have noticed any other symbols you would like me to discuss in the next installment, leave your comments below!
