An interpretration of You&Me: A treatment of the Divine Comedy

[Idealist]

To begin with, interpreting You & Me easily lends itself to simple explanation as a "relationship" video--however, I see a much deeper side to it.

Necessary for this interpretation is a momentary familiarity with the 14th century Italian poet Dante Alighieri's "Divine Comedy", an epic poem in three parts, describing his descent into Hell in The Inferno, his escape into Purgatory--he is guided through these by the Roman poet Virgil--and finally his ascent into Heaven in Paradise, where he is reunited with and guided by the love of his life, his muse and inspiration, Beatrice Portinari, who died never having requited his love.

You & Me consists of essentially three different phases, interwoven, corresponding each to Inferno (Past), Purgartory (Present), and Paradise (idealized future), however they are presented almost in reverse, ending with the depiction of the entry into The Inferno.

Essentially there are three seperate Ayus in this video, and at least as many Maros--while the simplest explanation is that the video is representative of her relationship with Manny, I feel unsatisfied by that explanation, and it may be a more general treatment of romantic relationships, perhaps combining elements of her own experience with what she feels others have experienced in the drama that makes up the elements of two people falling for each other.

The video begins with the presentation of a fragment of Paradise, which she has not yet reached, before moving on to a depiction of her alone within her hotel room, which is representative of Purgatory, and within the video this should be understood as the location from which she is singing the song.



I take the above line, followed by, "Always, when I remember them, being with you is great," as an indication that first scene and set of scenes are in fact taking place within her mind, as a hopeful and imagined portion of the relationship in the future--thus, Paradise.

We follow several scenes on this isolated idyllic island with the first view of Purgatory, where her voice is coming from.



Here, Ayu begins to relate the course of this relationship, directly noting past events and times.

We're given a view into this past she is describing, which could correspond to something like the very beginning of Inferno, before the actual descent into Hell. In You & Me, this is a joyful time:



The reality of the happiness is both explained and depicted here, it is carefree and innocent.

Complicating the overall interpretation in this manner is that it becomes more difficult to separate out Paradise from the "Inferno", but hair style and location seem to be a part of the puzzle; on the island or beach it is certainly a part of Paradise. I would argue that the scenes within the truck, for instance, or with the two of them in the hotel, are part of Inferno, such as the following:



As well as the trip to the grocery store, where we see even such trivial things as choosing peanut butter as being a cause for smiles and happiness; and moreover, a part of an overall narrative that it is a love that was meant to be.



Then she transitions into relating the events of the relationship again, making a transition from talking about the shyness in the initial stage, to how cute her love seemed, to the sorrow of a sunset where perhaps they are parted.



And as for midnight--the feeling is left unspoken.

Now, an important point occurs when she is brushing her teeth. Most people seem to assume she is flinging the water at Maro, but that is not at all what is actually occurring here--she is flinging the water past the curtain, which is then closed, thus perhaps representing others attempting to pry within the private moments of a relationship, which should be a sacred space for a couple.




She proceeds, in a return to our view on her Purgatory, to relate how despite the pain, the memories are positive in and of themselves, and she seems to offer up almost a supplication.



Then she implores: "Let's try to slowly forget some things this summer, And then, let's slowly look forward to something new." Important to note is how this is overlaid on a happy scene within the Inferno; perhaps the point is to emphasize that these past happy memories, though they are special, must be allowed to pass with time to allow the creation of new ones. It can also relate to leaving behind the negative and painful memories.

Then, the fight, which essentially marks the transition from pre-Inferno into Inferno proper--it is something like a loss of innocence.




The reason for the fight is completely uncertain, but she seems extraordinarily traumatized by it, and desperate to get back into the cab of the truck.



She is utterly despondent and expresses the strength of the emotion--but moreover, "Even if we screamed or cried, we just wanted to reach each other." Perhaps this song is a reference to some other more meaningful relationship than her relationship with Manny? They didn't even get a Summer together.

And finally, we end with one last image of Ayu alone, in her Purgatory, with her thoughts.



For Ayu's trip through the Divine Comedy, she has no guide, unlike Dante--except perhaps her belief in a better tomorrow.

[Delicious n Bold]

That's quite a deep interpretation of the song. I never thought a song like could be analyzed so deeply.... But thank you for sharing your thoughts!
I suppose, based on your interpretation, we could call the song a "ballad" based on the old meaning of the word. That is a HUGE stretch. But, nah.

[ImpactBreaker]

To me the whole video just looked like the whole thing started as a happy perfect couple but things ended quite bad. To be honest, ayu was quite *****y and started all the arguments so I understand how the guy would just get sick and throw her away for being such a demanding *****y *****. He was quite patient too. I'd have taken my hands off of the supermarket car on the top of a hill and let her roll down to crash at the bottom, so annoyed I already was at her at that part.

She looks quite histrionic in this video. As if she's calling too much attention to herself. The guy finally got sick of all the annoying attention seeking and dumped that crazy banana out of the car.

The parts where ayu appear alone make me severely sick and disgusted, in a way only Sunrise Sunset covers uniquely managed to artistically dig such emotions from me. She's making a lot of disgusting fish lip smacking in order to say those horrible engrish sentences "ooon furaday naitu", in an attempt to show how hideously she can mock the audience in a video. (I mean, listening to those on audio is already thrilling enough, seeeing her actually perform it is diabolical).

This whole video surprised me in the way that I'd never expect ayu doing a video in which you're supposed to get angry at her instead of feeling pity. A self punishment video? It worked for me that way.

Hopefully, this is truly not about Manny as you mentioned. Otherwise, I'd pity him.

[susiowong]

Originally Posted by ImpactBreaker

To me the whole video just looked like the whole thing started as a happy perfect couple but things ended quite bad. To be honest, ayu was quite *****y and started all the arguments so I understand how the guy would just get sick and throw her away for being such a demanding *****y *****. He was quite patient too. I'd have taken my hands off the supermarket car on the top of a hill and let her roll down the hill to crash at the bottom, so annoyed I already was at her at that part.

I agree she was annoying, but I don't see any parts where she seemed to be demanding or *****y, or where she explicitly started any arguments, except near the end and when she threw the water. But by then, who knows who started it. I think we just assume it was Ayu. But him throwing her out of the car was uncalled for too, so I think they're both at fault for being *******s and *****es.

[ImpactBreaker]

Originally Posted by susiowong

I agree she was annoying, but I don't see any parts where she seemed to be demanding or *****y, or where she explicitly started any arguments, except near the end and when she threw the water.

But those are the parts in which arguments started. The guy was just standing there like a zombie, while she was the one starting personal agression throwing water full of saliva, rests of her dinner and spat toothpaste into him And then in the car he was just a zombie and she started agressively pushing him. He had to throw her away otherwise once he started driving she could do that and he'd accidently hit and kill someone in the streets because of her stubborn behavior.

[susiowong]

Originally Posted by ImpactBreaker

But those are the parts in which arguments started. The guy was just standing there like a zombie, while she was the one starting personal agression throwing water full of saliva, rests of her dinner and spat toothpaste into him And then in the car he was just a zombie and she started agressively pushing him. He had to throw her away otherwise once he started driving she could do that and he'd accidently hit and kill someone in the streets because of her stubborn behavior.

Nah, he threw her out in an aggressive way, not in a calm way. So the intent behind it wasn't just to get her out so he could safely drive, it was anger-driven and aggressive. Same for Ayu when she threw he claws at him, though.

I agree she made the arguments - whatever they were arguing about - blow up out of proportion when she overreacted, but the guy didn't react in a good way either.

Though what I find to be oddest of all, is that the song sings about a 3 day romance, and the video depicts it ending aggressively, like their problems had been brewing for a while. Frankly, they must both be psychos if a romance ends that quickly in such an aggressive way.

[jang-kun]

Deep thinking. How long did you analyze it?

[*+Dark.Night.Angel.+*]

I, for one, don't think it has anything to do with the Divine Comedy. I don't think they would channel Alighieri like this for a summer love video. I think if we were to ask the director or even Ayumi herself she would say: It's a summer video about a couple showing their love for each other but finding they have troubles like everyone else. Not everything has to be pink.

Not everything has to be THAT deep too. I think IMO this is overthought and overanalyzed but it's great to know that there are still people who take time to relate things to a higher meaning.