Sunday, July 1, 2012

Ain't Afraid to Die - Dir en grey

Overview

Release year: 2001 
Length: 7:49
Type of video: narrative; non-linear
Themes: death, afterlife, forgiveness, restraint of freedom

Plot




The video starts out with five hooded people walking through a forest holding torches. It flashes to show a hand coming from the ground and then flashes back to the torches.



Then, there's an old, dirty room. There is a cross and other religious figures, pictures and a piano. A woman starts to play the piano. She is dressed in white and her right hand is a metal-like claw. She fades.


Four men in black suits (yes, the band members, but they're in role, so let's call them "men") stand around a strange-looking machine. The fifth man is standing nearby, he has no mouth. There is a blonde girl in a white gown inside the machine. She opens her eyes and walks out of the machine.






She walks up to two women, a blonde one that has no eyes and the one we saw earlier playing the piano. We can see the men in more detail now. Their heads have been stitched back by the neck, each has a marking on the forehead.


The guy with no mouth kneels in front of the girl with no eyes. She touches his face and a tear drops down to her chin. A light from above falls on the blind girl's face and her eyes return, but that same light starts a fire that burns them and the room. The men are in a different room, they see the light  too.





One of the women places a picture on a cross, the other one pours a pink liquid on it. Then, the first one sets the cross on fire. The blonde lady from before is with the men and she touches them from the neck down to the chest. Then, she moves to another room, in which she takes the two women through a door of light.


Stitching


The hooded people set fire to the women's house. What we see in the video is the afterlife. The women are ghosts in their former house, but they don't seem to notice they are dead and thus, can't move on.




The hooded men are the same men in suits. They were apparently decapitated which is usually done to someone as  punishment. Even though I can't tell what each of the marking means (if you can, please let me know, I'm very curious!), a marking on the forehead is a sign of mourning and repentance. They regret what they did and are paying for it in the afterlife. Their regret is also shown when "Kyo" kneels before the women. To try and make up for their mistake they create an angel-like woman (the blonde) to help the two women move on.


The women are able to "see the light" which makes them realize what happened. The angel touches the men's necks and chests, releasing their voices and their hearts of guilt. They were in the dark, they were in the wrong, but they saw their mistake and made up for it.

Symbols


Lack of mouth, lack of eyes, lack of hand: Represents a suppression of expression -voice, sight, action

Fire: It destroys and kills, but it also purifies and gives the hope of new life

Light: Truth, knowledge


In Conclusion

"Ain't Afraid to Die" is mainly about forgiveness, the afterlife, and death: not only physical, but also death of the mind, death of the soul, and the metaphorical death of expression and freedom.


This is my view, do you agree or not? Is there anything you'd add? Let me know in the comments!

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