Exo Theory Pt. 13 - Obsession
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Obsession is an MV that tells the story of the fight between EXO and X-EXO (a group of clones of the EXO members that are actively working against them for the benefit of the Red Forces). Throughout the MV we see six of the nine remaining guardians of the Tree of Life confront their counterparts and ultimately lose the fight.
Three of the members are absent from this story, due to irl reasons obvs, but it can also fit into the overarching theme of the EXO storyline. Lay has been away for a good while in the story, and we can theorise that perhaps he has been able to escape the clutches of the Red Forces - at least recently - and therefore they could not get enough data from him to create a stable clone. Xiumin I have spoken about many times as being an active archive for both the Red Forces and the EXO members in storing information and, even at times, acting in a way that builds up this dream state the members have been in since around MiD and as such, perhaps has been ignored by the Red Forces as they don’t need his power or to create an evil Xiu.
D.O is an interesting one, I’ve spoken about so many times in previous parts (x) (x) as to why he’s free from the grips of the RF, but to sum it up - he’s omiscient and aware of what’s happening at all times, and therefore is very good at escaping them. We can see a glimpse of this in Tempo:
All the members glitch except D.O, suggesting he’s not a simulation but instead still wholly himself, and at full power.
Anyway, let’s move on to members that are in the MV. Firstly, Suho. Suho I’ve said before is the member who is the most trapped by the RF, and this MV just strengthens this argument. Suho’s power is water, and his power is probably one of the strongest, and this hinders him when he’s at mercy of the RF as they can easily overwhelm him with it. We’ve seen this most clearly in his Pathcode -
The other members use their power at will in their respective Pathcodes but Suho seems to have his used against him, and there’s nothing he is seen doing about it. And the same sort of concept seems to resonate in Obsession.
We most commonly see EXO Suho in this room with the paintings of waves and water, seemingly suspended in the air. However, in one scene we get a small glimpse into what the reality of his situation actually is.
In this underwater wreckage we can just make out the image of a body floating in the same position as Suho as above - it’s safe to assume that this is EXO Suho, trapped underwater and incapable of escaping - but not incapable of still fighting against his counterpart.
In another scene with X-EXO Suho we see him standing in water with arms reaching out to grab him, and then later another image of him seemingly trapped underwater as well.
My interpretation of this is that EXO Suho has used his power to pull down the X-EXO Suho down into the depths with him, and as such trapped him with him. In the second gif the X-EXO Suho looks as though he’s been drowning under water for quite some time, with the way he’s gripping his throat and the distortion of his skin - quite harrowing. Honestly, out of all the members, despite being the most vulnerable to the Red Forces, I think Suho is the only one who actually seemingly won the battle between him and his counterpart.
However, one other clearly lost his fight. My personal favourite scene in the music video is the one where Chanyeol is fighting his counterpart - it’s honestly so awesome to watch! Similarly to Suho, Chanyeol (I’ve surmised anyway) is quite at risk to being manipulated by the RF. I’ve written a whole post on it (x), but basically Chanyeol I think has been deceived by the RF for quite some time and this is why we see so much reoccurring imagery of Chanyeol with one eye covered or a different colour -
And to be honest, even the lyrics in this song speak of some of the tribulations Chanyeol has been facing all this time, deceived by dreams, hiding the truth, etc.
You cover my eyes (I don’t think so)
You cover up the truths (I don’t think so)
Let go of the empty dreams (I don’t think so)
Don’t make me spit out the poison (I don’t think so)
And we can even see some evidence of this in the Obsession music video. As I said, Chanyeol has an awesome fight with his counterpart, but ultimately I don’t think he wins.
Because in the end, we can see an image of EXO Chanyeol on the red side and X-EXO Chanyeol on the black side, opposite of how it should be:
And we also see a corrupted EXO Chanyeol, in the likeness of how we see the X-EXO members.
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