The World Ep. 1: Movement Part 1

Movement Trailer 1 & 2 and The Timeline

What we know so far: (See full recap in Ateez Storyline: What (I Think) We Know So Far). I am keeping this here but based on what I have learned from this comeback, I will need to do some editing to my storyline theory. Take what is linked with a grain of salt and know it will get an edit at some point soon.

Now that the comeback is over and most of my streaming and voting tasks have slowed down, I can finally dive into the LORE!!! I have been thinking about the order I want to talk about things and I think I have landed on discussing the Movement trailers first, then the album and music video.

Movement Trailer 1:

In Chapter 1: Awakening of Summer, we see the "perfect world" of Strictland along with the students of Prestige Academy being brainwashed by a message, from who we later discover is Z, through the chips in their ears emitting a yellow light. This message describes their perfect world and how errors in that world lead to pain. It is a message to instill faith in the government and ask people to not question or doubt themselves at all times. We then see the members of Ateez work collectively to hack the system and change that message to ask the people to at all times, question themselves.

The main locations in this trailer are the arial shot of the entire city, Prestige Academy, the Strictland Waist Processing Plant, and a place housing the communications hub for the Academy. This arial shot and voiceover "message" from the government made me think of a scene from Equilibrium, a dystopian movie from 2002 where the citizens took medicine to supress their feelings. You will hear some similar phrasing in this speech.

I was also interested in the posters on the wall of the phone booth Yunho was in because the shapes on the posters are a form of art and Strictland has banned all forms of art. Why do their signs have artistic elements? It must mean something.

A quick Google search later and BAMB!

So what is Brutalism and why does it matter? Based on Craig Barry's article, Dystopian Utopias: Brutalism in Popular Culture, "In film and television, brutalist architecture is often associated with and/or set in a dystopian or utopian future, no matter what year the film was made." He quotes Reyner Banham's definition of brutalism, “In order to be brutalist, a building has to meet three criteria, namely the clear exhibition of structure, the valuation of materials ‘as found’ and memorability as image.” So for those of us who do not have an architecture degree, the buildings are normally minimalistic focusing on bare building materials (like concrete) and structural elements that make the building memorable. We see those structures in Equilibrium but also is in the Movement trailers, and the posters Strictland uses have brutalist graphic design elements (e.g., Bauhaus elements) which again tie into dystopian pop culture references. EVERYTHING CONNECTS!!!

Movement Trailer 2:

The first thing that stuck out to me in this trailer were the numbers Yunho pressed on the phone that signaled to Yeosang to crank up the speed on the brainwashing video. He pressed 2 and 7. What could these mean? Is it related to the sound frequencies of 2 and 7? All of my research says most likely not. If that is not it, what then? Well, a twitter friend pointed me to the meaning of the numbers themselves, so Carey, if you are seeing this, thanks!! Sunsigns.org explains, "Angel numbers mixed sequence 2 and 7 show your commitment and the things that you need to focus on in life in order to become successful. Besides, it is your responsibility to fight no matter the circumstance you are facing. Equally, your dreams will come through by being willing to change." So by Yunho pressing those numbers, he was expressing their commitment to the cause, their shared responsibility to fight the central government no matter the circumstances.

We then see the boys in their "bunker" with Left Eye who is explaining to them their task of trying to free the citizens of Strictland from the government's control. He explains they will only open the door and cannot force anyone to accept their freedom or they will be just as bad as the government.

We then see Ateez members doing the work of the resistance but when these images are juxtaposed with their stories in the Dairy film, we see they are continuing the growth they made during that time.

Wooyoung has mastered his stage fright and is now performing in public despite the chance of arrest:

Seonghwa is no longer watching someone else dance because they are free, but he is now the one others are watching:

Yunho is not trapped remembering another but ready to expose others to art:

San is not running towards the members but running with a higher purpose:

Yeosang is not trapped by his music but using his music to free others:

These juxtapositions paint a powerful picture.

Fitting into the Timeline:

I first realized I was wrong about my timeline theory of this comeback being the Halateez origin story/prequel when I saw them perform Sector 1 during their showcase. They paired it with Answer and used the melody in the ending scene of Answer to start Sector 1. This is not the first time we heard this melody. We also heard it during one of the Movement trailers. It could not be a coincidence. In fact, it IS how Sector 1 begins and not just a transition for their showcase!

Ateez often using melodies to tell us where things fit in the timeline. They did it by overlaying notes from Treasure on the final scene of Say My Name to tell us that Say My Name actually comes before Treasure in the timeline, with Crescent to show the Illusion comes before Wave, and with Turbulence to show that Deja Vu comes before Turbulence which means Eternal Sunshine comes before Deja Vu. By doing it here, we know that this comeback is not a prequel after all but a continuation of the story from where Answer ends.

This was further confirmed by Hongjoong himself in Showterview with Sunmi ep. 3:

Take Aways:

• Hongjoong confirmed Fever is a prequel of Treasure and The World is the sequel of Treasure (so my hunch about the melody at the beginning of Sector 1 was right)

• He named the two different universes as Universe A and Universe Z

• What happens in Universe A is included in Fever and Treasure while The World takes place in Universe Z

• The cromer is the vehicle that allows them to travel between the universes

My twitter friend, Carey, also sent me this mindblowing video about how Universe A and Z relate to each other. In fact I had two twitter friends (I didn't forget you Daisie) sending me this video on the same day so it must be important right? This video is long but good. Tiny Bug Ink, I tip my hat to you!

There is a lot here and it is too hard to summarize everything she says so I recommend you just watch it, but I will give you just the main key take aways.

Take Aways:

• Universe A (the old world) and Universe Z (the new world) are on opposite sides of the same circle with the horizon (or flip) in between. If the sun sets in one world, it rises in the other.

• Everything can be placed on this same circle with a flip, like awake and asleep with opening and closing your eyes being what happens at the horizon

• She poses that Ateez and Halateez are the same people, not doppelgängers, that exist in two different points in time with Ateez living in the old world (the past) and Halateez living in the new world (the future). When they go to sleep as Ateez in the old world they wake up as Halateez in the new world and that having one eye open may allow them to see into both worlds

• The reason it seems there are two Ateezes is that when they pass though time, they see themselves

• This circle is a Möbius Strip and represents Ateez in the old and new world and Halateez in the old and new world (I honestly can't explain this part so please go watch from 11:53 on if you are just reading my take aways).

• The cromer is acting like the Möbius Strip!!

Now that my brain hurts, I am ending here for today. It is just way too much information to parse through in one blog post. I will return with part 2 soon where we will be discussing the Diary entries, Guerrilla music video, and the lyrics in the album as a whole.