Red Velvet’s Russian Roulette MV (Music Video Analysis)
The views presented in this analysis are a part of my own individual interpretation of the video, which means they are subject to error. This post is based off of the video from the official SMTown Youtube channel.
Tom & Jerry: In the V broadcast, Irene said the video was about doing dangerous things for the one you love. All of Red Velvet is in love with the same man and they try to take each other out because of it. They “kill” each other in extreme and unconventional ways, juxtaposed with scenes from a Tom & Jerry-like cartoon. Cartoons like Tom & Jerry have long been criticized for their violent nature, but ultimately these concerns are brushed off because it’s just a cartoon. It’s a child’s thing, not meant to be harmful. And no one ever seems to actually get hurt. There’s no permanent damage. They recover almost immediately. I find there’s a similar attitude concerning love and “girl world.” Doing anything for love is often perceived as a good thing, a sign of commitment. This mindset has led to intense competition between Red Velvet members as they try to eliminate the girls who stand between them and the boy they love. It’s thought of as typical for girls to compete against one another in social circles. It’s expected for girls to rip each other’s reputations apart, to backstab. Because they’re young, it’s dismissed. It’s something they’ll grow out of. There’s no permanent damage. Indeed, although none of the members are ever seen to be properly injured from their deadly games (metaphors for the gossip and backstabbing stereotypically found in female social circles), participating in them has its own consequence.
40-Love: My sister plays tennis. I knew “love” was a term in tennis, so I asked her what it meant. Love means zero. When the game begins, everyone starts with zero points. They start out with love. The more points you score, the farther away you get from love. The more the members sabotage one another, the better they get at “the game of love,” the more harm they do others, they get farther away from love. By participating in such a vicious cycle, you lose sight of the love you’re fighting for.
I saw a few people theorizing about who survived, about who won, but I don’t think it’s about that at all. It’s not about who lasted the longest, but who had love last in their hearts.
The video begins with Wendy pulling the string on Seulgi’s sweater. As the sweat unravels, Wendy lights the end of it on fire. It’s reminiscent of those cartoons when they’d try to blow someone up, an example from Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner.
We don’t see the fire hit Seulgi, only that she notices her sweater is unraveled. Still, we assume the fire got her.
The score stands, Wendy: 1
At several points in the video, the frame is circular, reminiscent of Looney Tunes.
At the beginning of the video, we can see them in a school gym. They wear P.E. uniforms. They’re school girls. At this point (sorry for the blurry screenshot), they all turn to whisper in the others’ ear, like a game of Telephone. As well, this is revealing about the gossipy nature of the social circle.
Joy observes a tennis match. Near the bottom of the screen, you can see a warning sign forbidding skateboarding. Notice that throughout the video, there are signs like this giving safety warnings. A little ironic touch given that the video is about them killing one another.
In the gym, Irene, Joy, Yeri, and Wendy gather for a game of dodgeball, three against Irene. In the basket, there are more than just dodge balls. The three grabs these objects from the basket, we assume, to throw at Irene.
Tennis, dodgeball, the arcade sound of the song, the title “Russian Roulette,” these are all games. It highlights the theme of love as a game, where its players must compete against one another.
Yeri lies with her head in Irene’s lap. Throughout the video we get flashes like this, showing their friendship. While they compete with one another, we still see them interact as friends. Though this is a game of death, they never appear paranoid or untrusting of one another.
Seulgi has a little rig set up, something similar to Mouse Trap. She knocks over dominoes, and the balloon falls on the cactus. It’s a convoluted trap, very cartoonish. This is a smaller model of her later trap for Joy.
There’s a raven, which has obvious symbolism: death. These are deadly games.
On the right side, you can see the locker room safety rules sign. Again, irony–especially as this scene foreshadows one of Seulgi’s “deaths.”
Seulgi and Wendy stand on opposing sides of the tennis court. This is the match Joy is overseeing when she’s startled by the back and forth of the ball. She’s startled by the intensity of the match. This is a mirror for the deadlier games of the video.
Someone stands at the edge of a diving platform. Someone approaches from behind. This foreshadows Yeri’s death.
Wendy first drains the pool.
Here we get our first instance of the parallel animation. The mouse pushes the cat in the pool, a mirror of Wendy pushing Yeri. The cat and mouse are an obvious reference to Tom & Jerry. However, in the cartoons, it was always Tom as the aggressor, with Jerry only responding to what Tom did. Here the mouse is the aggressor, trying to kill the creature that threatens it–just as the girls kill those that threaten their relationship.
The cat flattens out, another cartoon trope.
Yeri, Irene, Wendy, and Joy all stand behind the lockers, waiting for Seulgi. Another surprising instance of friendship. They all target one another, but they’re still united against each other.
Red Velvet at a table once again. Yeri holds a box of cereal (which is a real cereal, by the way). They eat together, another instance of friendship.
Wendy lies in bed, with Seulgi and Irene hiding beneath it. This is what I mean by there’s no paranoia. Seulgi and Irene are very obviously there and Wendy is not alarmed.
The cereal is obviously not cereal.
But they still eat it. Although only Irene is seen holding the spoon to her mouth, I am going to assume that all of the members ate it.
Seulgi does Joy’s makeup. Another instance of friendship. She pretends to be a friend while sabotaging her. Seulgi has propped up refrigerator over Joy’s head. A larger version of the trap from earlier can be seen in the background.
Irene and Seulgi push Wendy out into traffic.
Joy: 1 Yeri: 5 Wendy: 3 Seulgi: 1 Irene: 1
Joy: 1 Yeri: 5 Wendy: 3 Seulgi: 2 Irene: 1
Wendy and Seulgi position the piano at the top of the stairs.
This is probably the least likely death in the video, but I will nevertheless include it.
Joy: 2 Yeri: 6 Wendy: 3 Seulgi: 2 Irene: 1
They push the lockers over on Seulgi.
Joy: 3 Yeri: 7 Wendy: 4 Seulgi: 2 Irene: 2
The cartoon cat gets a lump on its head, just like in Tom & Jerry.
At the base of the stairs, Joy and Irene are playing Cat’s Cradle. Another game.
Wendy and Seulgi push the piano down at Joy and Irene. This reminds me strongly of the episode of Tom & Jerry when Tom was killed after a piano fell down the stairs and hit him, sending him to heaven.
These are the last deaths of the video. The final score for kills is:
Joy: 3 Yeri: 7 Wendy: 6 Seulgi: 4 Irene: 2
Joy: 3 Yeri: 1 Wendy: 2 Seulgi: 3 Irene: 4
Irene not only kills the least, but she dies the most. She is the only member who died more often than she killed. In this deadly game of love, she is by far the biggest loser. And yet, she’s the one who gets shot with the love bullet. She’s the one who stays in love. She was done the most harm, but did the least. It’s not that she survived the most, because she didn’t. It’s because she was the least involved in harming her friends that love has stayed with her.
The raven, which is typically an ominous sign of death, cocks its head, as if watching the events of the video. It’s amused by their cartoonish violence. Death is given a comical turn, just like the cartoons.
At the end of the video, the cat is smushed, eyes boggled, drool coming from its mouth. It’s either dead or unconscious. The game is finally over. There’s no reason to compete any longer. Irene has already won.
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