Thoughts about Ladies Night PV?

[PickleCookies]

Lame.

[JimmyKoria]

Well the girl in the butterfly room, she’s dressed as someone from the Victorian age, where girls where “girls” and beauty was more I guess heighten? It’s when people learned to be shallow and vein. Also notice the lady has masks on her dress. Which can be the different faces one can hide behind. The room is full of butterflies which tells you the room is about constant change. I guess it’s something like, “you can change your mask often…”

The room with the Maid, clearly fetish. She is riding a horse in the end, a rocker horse. The guy isn’t being “attacked” by her. The room with the lady covered in black is probably reference to “fetish” as well, the mannequins are dressed in vinyl. I guess Hamasaki is trying to give women an more “sexual” outlook. Sort of what Madonna claimed to have been doing at one point in her career. I could be wrong but I’m pretty sure a made whipping someone is kinky.

Also when she’s walking down the hall, she has a key. This is almost to say “This is the key to your future it only opens one door.” But what happens when the key, or maybe “fate” you’re handed doesn’t open the door? She is in a panic and tries to open any door she can. I guess it goes with the insecurities as someone else pointed out.

The end is strangest, I don’t think she’s meant to be a real person in that scene. She’s just a toy for a man?

[Raleigh]

Good points there Jimmy too.

[Sweer]

^ agreed. interesting points you mentioned

[qwerty]

(Credits to the people above me for making really good points)
Well, I think that the main theme of the PV is what a woman can grow up to and how that can affect them greatly. For example, she's in that really tacky (I think it's tacky ), blue/pink outfit, carrying what kinda looks like a toy vacuum cleaner with a toy elephant on it. This appearance represents her purity and her stage before she becomes a lady. The faceless Ayumi also shows a symbol of purity, but not in the good way (the poster who said that it represents her lack of personality, I agree. )

The key, as a poster above talked about, did seem to represent her key to her futures. She couldn't open various doors; I think this represents her not having the personality to become that type of lady. It tells her that this isn't she. As one poster said, the doors represent her different possible futures. The maid (possibly a prostitute? ?_?) and the lady in the wig + elegant dress (Victorian England lady). (Side note: In Victorian England, the proper lady was to be seen but not heard; she should never wear the same dress twice; she never walks alone or unchaperoned if she is unmarried + under the age of 30. So you see, they had a lot of rules to live under. That's what the lady represented. Does Ayumi want to live under some sort of rule/pressure? The whole robotic-looking women ruled by a dictator Ayumi scene also shows this representation, as posted by one above.)

The ending where she's about to be crushed in the elevator and where the creepy guy shows up at her bed probably represents Ayumi's time before her death. It's apparent that something bad is going to happen to her in both "versions" of the ending. Both futures lead to a bad ending; this is probably what Ayumi was trying to say.

The insecurities is also a good point. Can't really elaborate on that, but really good point nonetheless.

My theory is probably totally wrong, but hey, I tried.

P.S. Can anybody explain why those robotic-looking people don't have prominent ears? ?_?

[JimmyKoria]

I didn’t notice the soldiers had no ears. Could these be her fans? Or just the population in general? Sometimes people don’t have to hear things to think they are good, they just blindly follow a trend. The people are all alike [played by one person…but yeah…] which kind of makes you think about the uniformity of Japanese society.

[orenji_jaro]

i think its us.. cos she's the leader right? ^^

[Olw---A]

sorry but I don't understand a thing on this PV... I'm waiting lyrics to do conclusion on it

[bernardation]

that PV is like "alterna" meets "ourselves".
i looooove it !! one of her best pvs.
i love all the hitler scenes !
i definetely don't think this PV is random.

[ImpactBreaker]

I never knew being an "army leader" automatically turns it into a synonym for "Hitler"

[JimmyKoria]

Originally Posted by ImpactBreaker

I never knew being an "army leader" automatically turns it into a synonym for "Hitler"

:[ the whole "hitler" thing is confusing me too. I heard that in the gothic groups in Japan that swazticas are popular and not as the ancient symbol, but as in the hitler use of it. They also went to state that amry uniforms where popular [and they emphasized that it was probably because Japanese are into uniformity]. But I don't think the video portays Hamasaki as even remotley "hitler" I can see her being compared to a communist leader in the video...it reminds me of those marches they do in china or north korea.

I don't know, I'm waiting for more people to put in real input :\ not just "this video is weird."

[SunshineSlayer]

Originally Posted by ImpactBreaker

I never knew being an "army leader" automatically turns it into a synonym for "Hitler"

Also, everyone is saying that the uniform=Germany, but in actuality, that uniform looks much more Soviet. However, with her very fervant speech giving in that scene, it is reminiscent of Hitler. And Hitler was in fact extremely charismatic. He may not of looked good, but his passion, presence, way of speaking, and movements made him so. The way Ayu is acting in that scene, combined with the morse code and the planes seem like reason enough to assume that Ayu was purposefully acting "Hitleresque" in that scene to portray the idea about uniformity that has been brought up before in this thread.

Also, did anyone notice that in the scene with the maid, the bear, and the person being whipped that the person is lying on a hospital bed with their feet in the stirrups - ie childbirth. I can't figure out if the person is a guy, girl, or even Ayumi herself in the bed.

Also, something else to go along with the possible theories - at the begining, military Ayu is sending a morse code message followed up by blue Ayu picking up a phone. Maybe blue Ayu is receiving some kind of message/command from military Ayu?

BTW, This has been an extremely strong year for Ayu in terms of PV quality - I wouldn't say that any PV this year has been subpar in terms of production quality. I was thinking that Rainy Day and Ladies' Night would end up looking cheaper like the ones from the My Story album tracks (Humming 7/4 ETC.) did, but they ended up being very well made.

[minkAYuko]

The telephone represents how women all they do is TALK and TALK and TALK!!! LOL

and the econded messange at beginning represents how fast they can type their nips to get money out of the ATM!

LOL

[norain]

Just wondering...but when I watched the PV..aren't those soldiers...women -_-?

[ImpactBreaker]

Originally Posted by norain

Just wondering...but when I watched the PV..aren't those soldiers...women -_-?

the faces looked pretty much like men to me.

Originally Posted by Demure_Dusk

Well I just thought of Hitler because of some themes and imagery inserted into the video - cloning, the mass who had typical German features, the way she portrayed herself when she was a leader - as a charismatic and powerful person but then yes I suppose it can be linked to communism. I do not know enough about Mao and Lenin to comment enough about them. Of course I do not think it has a political implication.

any army leader commands a mass of soldier and looks powerful and has a distinctive attitude. The leader usually wears distinctive clothes from the army as well. ayu's charismatic, Hitler wasn't LOL The uniforms don't even have any nazi symbol on them.

[Raleigh]

Originally Posted by ImpactBreaker

any army leader commands a mass of soldier and looks powerful and has a distinctive attitude. The leader usually wears distinctive clothes from the army as well. ayu's charismatic, Hitler wasn't LOL The uniforms don't even have any nazi symbol on them.

Yes he was. If he wasn't charismatic he wouldn't have had all those followers. Of course a lot of army leaders are powerful but he's definately a clear example of power, charisma and strenght. Plus the Germans were forerunners in genetic studies and so my mind automatically went there. Also there were direct images which reminded me of the time of the two world wars which might not be specificially German though - the morse code, the plane models. But that's just my interpretation. Doesn't mean you have to agree with what I say. That's the beauty of art that everybody can interpret a piece of work as compared to their background and ideas.

Plus as I said she's not directly referring to Nazi. It's obviously not a political video. I think she is using themes from it and other cultures (Victorian, the blue dress looks retro too) though to portray how people follow trends blindly without asking any questions and how we are actually being manipulated without even knowing.

[ImpactBreaker]

Originally Posted by Demure_Dusk

Yes he was. If he wasn't charismatic he wouldn't have had all those followers. Of course a lot of army leaders are powerful but he's definately a clear example of power, charisma and strenght.

saying that ayu is representing "Hitler" on the video is almost as saying JPOP equals "ayu" - generalizing. The fact a lot of things might make you quickly think of Hitler, doesn't take the fact that ayu was representing nothing more than an army leader, be it Hitler or Mussolini or any other out there.
His ideals and attitudes were charismatic for the situation ppl in Germany were at that time but he was definitely not charismatic in terms of looks, which I believe was the only thing about charisma you could judge in ayu in that part of the video.

She could indeed be talking about how people blindly follow trends as you mentioned though and could actually be referring to nazis or whatever, however I don't think such theme fits the title "Ladies Night". I might be completely wrong though. We have to await for a translation of the lyrics.....

[Raleigh]

Originally Posted by ImpactBreaker

saying that ayu is representing "Hitler" on the video is almost as saying JPOP equals "ayu" or saying that japanese music sounds exactly like old traditional chinese music - stereotypes. The fact a lot of things might make you quickly think of Hitler, doesn't take the fact that ayu was representing nothing more than an army leader, be it Hitler or Mussolini or any other out there.
His ideals and attitudes were charismatic for the situation ppl in Germany were at that time but he was definitely not charismatic in terms of looks, which I believe was the only thing about charisma you could judge on ayu in that part video.

She could indeed be talking about how people blindly follow trends as you mentioned though and could actually be referring to nazis or whatever, however I don't think such theme fits the title "Ladies Night". We have to await for a translation though.

I think it's more like Ayu is representing women in general. Women can be pretty charismatic and can eventually manage to get their way somehow to the point of being a dominating person especially recently when there was the femminist movement.

However yes I do agree that she could have taken the concept from Mussolini, Mao or even Stalin - the last two portray the idea of Communism where everyone was the same. I just associated the idea to Hitler because of how the "people" looked like. They were all the same and had blonde features and even the bone structure looked typically German while Italians typically tend to have a more olive coloured skin and dark hair. Also those kind of features were Hitler's dream race of how everyone should be - well built, blonde and well.. look exactly like a German. Also the cloning/scientist concept led me to think of the Nazi idealogy. And the way she portrayed herself - the movement of her hands and the authority she pulled off made think of someone extremely charismatic. But I must say she does look better in terms of looks

Somehow yes I must say it pretty much doesn't fit the theme of Ladies Night but I've rarely seen Ayu following the rules anyhow so could be she wanted to make something striking by using different themes from various idealogies. Or maybe she was just being random =P

[se7entheaven]

I haven't watch yet...but i was really curious bout the last scene which looked like she's being raped..can anybody give nicer explanation

[ImpactBreaker]

Demure_Dusk, now that you mention about everyone "looking alike", the same race, it does indeed make me think a little more of Hitler than any other of the leaders LOL I hope you don't mind me getting heated up on discussions it's just that I find productive for me to question and discuss about other opinions. Anything by ayu can be interpretted in several ways as she even mentioned on her own interpretation for the (miss)understood title, so it's really interesting to see what people have to talk about. A lot of the interpretations in this thread have been very cool to read.

Originally Posted by Demure_Dusk

Ack sorry double post x.x someone can delete this post please?

You can delete your own posts. Just hit the edit button and you'll see a delete option.