Closer is OMG’s signature song according to ifandom on twitter and it’s for good reason. I, a Mega Huge Fan and Self Identifying Miracle, love everything they do but Closer is special in that their overhead choreo has still yet to be duplicated like this and it’s where their “fantasy-dol” image started. There’s been articles about it and these two magnificent videos, but we want to take Closer apart a bit further. If there’s one thing we’re good for around here at The Collective, it’s obsessing over girl group videos.
The overhead dance video was posted on naver officially and hasn’t made it over to youtube or vlive in an official capacity, I’m sure lending to the fact that it lacks the volume of praise it deserves. Which to be fair, for Oh My Girl and girl groups of their level it’s a lot, but I consider it a real masterpiece. Deserved a Grammy, when will your faves, etc. But it didn’t get them wins or instant stardom, just a song people name drop when they have vague conversations about girl groups and an album that you can find for an average of $80 online because WM Entertainment hates me and justice and only made so many. Don’t worry miracles, our time is soon.
After starting this I did get the album! Check it out here.
Here we have another mysterious official-but-not-on-youtube video with the girls dancing in a park. From straight on, Closer has no hints to any choreographic secrets. It’s honestly done so masterfully and is so gorgeous. Elegantly, they make beckoning motions, do a little 👌, and a lot of hand and finger based choreography (like in their more recent choreography for Coloring Book, but that’s symbolism for another time), all tying in to the lyrics.
In the performance music video, the skylight (as pictured at the top of the post) is shown, giving us clues we should pay attention to the overhead view. In the music video proper it’s even the very first shot. Through the music video, and in various stages, the imagery continues. But save that for the MV analysis, I mention it here just to show how important the choreography is to the whole art piece that is Closer.
So finally, I’ll give a little context to the stories of the zodiac signs and their constellations in Greek mythology as well as point out where they show up in the dance. Of course as these stories are very old and have been translated into English in different ways, these are just some interpretations/versions. Please look into them if you want to know more. I’m including Wikipedia links too not just as a source but there’s a huge amount of information about the stars themselves and astrology and mythology from all around the world and it’s worth checking out!
TW for gross powerful god stuff like rape and murder.
Aries, the ram, is generally thought to be Chrysomallus, the ram from the Golden Fleece story.
Athamus, a human king, married Nephele, cloud nymph goddess of hospitality and they had two children, Helle and Phrixus. Athamus fell for Ino, who at the time was a human (this stuff is complicated), and rightfully Nephele got mad and left. Ino hated the children and roasted the local crop seeds and convinced Athamus and the townsdudes it was a drought and that killing Phrixus would end it. Nephele send Chrysomallus, the golden winged ram, to save them and carry them away. Chrysomallus was the great grandson of Gaia and Helios, the earth and sun themselves, fathered by Poseidon who did some really gross stuff to get that to happen. They were told to never look down upon the earth as they flew and Helle did so, and she fell and got the Hellespont named after her, poor thing. Chrysomallus carried Phrixus all the way to Colchis where Phrixus then sacrificed him and hung the Golden Fleece on a tree for the war god Ares. He was then made into the constellation Aries.
♉Taurus (Mimi 5/1/95)
Taurus, the bull, has had a few origin possibilities. Zeus took the form of a bull to kidnap demigod related princess Europa. Zeus turned Io, a girl he loved, into a cow to hide his affair from Hera his first and main squeeze. Zeus is so gross and the men that created him are gross. But I’m going with the story of the Cretan Bull.
Minos was a candidate for King in Crete and wanted to be chosen over his brothers so he prayed to Poseidon to send him a white bull as a sign. Poseidon, expecting the bull to be sacrificed to him, did so but Minos thought the bull was so magnificent so he kept it and tried to get one over on Poseidon and sacrificed a different bull instead. Obviously, Poseidon did not fall for it and had Aphrodite, goddess of love, to have Minos’ wife Pasiphaë fall in love with the bull. The craftsman Daedalus built Pasiphaë a wooden cow fursuit so she could do it with the bull. She gave birth then to the famed minotaur of the labyrinth Daedalus also built. Poseidon, still super pissed, had the bull lay waste on the land in his place. Hero Heracles, who you probably know as his Roman and Disney name Hercules, captured the bull, let it loose in Marathon where it became known as the Marathonian bull, and then some time later Theseus, another hero, killed it. Finally, the bull becomes Taurus up in the stars.
♊Gemini (Arin 6.18.99)
Castor and Pollux, the Dioscuri, were twins born from an egg laid by their mother Leda, a mortal princess along with their sisters Helen and Clytemnestra. Sometimes they’re both mortal, sometimes demigods, sometimes one is and one isn’t. Castor was fathered by the king of Sparta, Tyndareus, while Pollux’s father was Zeus through some weird beastiality shit Zeus was so fond of, hence the egg. The Dioscuri were involved in a lot of heroic acts including helping with the Golden Fleece thing, and were pretty brave guys. They fell for the Leucippides, two sisters Phoebe and Hilaeira, who were already betrothed to the Dioscuri’s cousins. The two sets of cousins had a big drama feud that led to Castor being wounded in a fight between the fellas. Pollux killed one of the cousins and as the other was about to take revenge, Zeus killed him saving Pollux. Pollux could choose either to hang out in Olympus full time or share his immortality with his brother. Choosing the latter, the twins became Gemini and could then traverse between Olympus and the underworld at will.
Our buddy Heracles had to fight the Hydra, a many headed serpent beast you may know from Kingdom Hearts and nothing else, as part of his Twelve Labours. He was winning and Hera was mad so she sent a giant crab down to fight for the Hydra. The crab, Carcinus, was crushed under Heracles’ foot BUT!!! Much more entertainingly wikipedia says this; “Hercules quickly dispatched the crab by kicking it with such force that it was propelled into the sky.” Hera made the Hydra into a constellation and made Carcinus into Cancer.
♌Leo (Hyojung 7.28.94)
The Nemean lion was badass. Its fur was golden which apparently could withstand attacks from any mortal’s weapon and its claws were sharper than any armor. It would kidnap women to lure saviors in to kill them. Killing it was Heracles’ first Labour. He had to use fisticuffs to kill it and made its fur into a cape which became his signature look and Zeus put the lion in the sky.
♍Virgo (Yooa 9.17.95, Binnie 9.9.97)
Virgo depicts a maiden, the brightest star Spica being a sheaf of wheat in her hand. SO she could be a few people. First I’ll start with my favorite, Demeter. She is the goddess of harvest and agriculture but also religious law and the cycle of life and death. There isn’t a specific story related to the constellation so again, #CHOICES, I’m going to outline probably her most famous and interesting aspect. Her daughter Persephone was captured by Hades and taken to the underworld. Demeter left her duties as Earth goddess to search for her, causing a planet-wide drought. Hecate, goddess of witchcraft, helped her traverse the underworld and probably became her girlfriend. Hades decided as long as Persephone didn’t eat anything in the underworld he would release her but she gave in and ate a few pomegranate seeds, sealing a contract where she had to live with him a few months out of every year.
TW Suicide
Another potential tale of virgo is that of Erigone, daughter of Icarius. Dionysus, god of Fuckin Partying, thanked Icarius for his kindness with wine which was then shared with Icarius’ shepherd fellows. The shepherds thought they were poisoned and killed Icarius. Erigone and her dog Maera went on their own search to find him and finally located his body under a tree. In despair, Erigone hanged herself on the tree. Dionysus was so mad that he cursed all of Athens so the women would die as Erigone had. She and her family got put in the stars.
LIBRA IS! Less interesting from what I can find. Sry. Another possibility of Virgo is Themis, a titan and goddess of Law & Order. She carries scales and sometimes a sword to cut down the fakes. She was also in charge of oracles and was one herself. Her scales are Libra.
Orion the huntsman was out with Artemis and her mother Leto when he was just like “I’m going to kill every animal on earth to show off how great I am,” and Gaia, the Earth, was like “Fuck You” and sent a giant scorpion to come get him which it did. Zeus was into it from on high and put Orion and Scorpio up in the stars.
Crotus the satyr hung out with the NINE MUSES on Mount Helicon. He is credited mythologically with inventing archery and applause which I kept misreading as applesauce, because NINE MUSES moved him so. 9M were so happy with him they asked Zeus to do his thing and he did, shaping the centaur with a bow design after all Crotus' best traits. Moral: idol/fan relationships are important and full of love.
Wikipedia also says "The arrow of this constellation points towards the star Antares, the "heart of the scorpion", and Sagittarius stands poised to attack should Scorpius ever attack the nearby Hercules, or to avenge Scorpius's slaying of Orion," which is pretty cool.
Cronus the Titan swallowed his children right after birth. Rhea the Titaness, sister/wife of Cronus and mother of Zeus, wanted to save her child, so she gave Cronus a swaddled stone and gave Zeus to Amaltheia, the goat. Amaltheia took Zeus to a cave to raise him away from Cronus. Even as a baby Zeus was Zeus and broke off one of her horns which became the cornucopia and making Amaltheia the first Unicorn.
♒Aquarius (JinE 1.22.95, Seunghee 1.25.96)
Ganymede was a major hottie and gay icon. Zeus, motivated as always by wanting to fuck, kidnapped him via eagle and took him to Olympus to be the cupbearer of the gods. Ganymede's father Tros got over his son's kidnapping because Zeus gave him some horses. Hera was mad because she deserves some fucking respect. But he serves drinks in the stars as Aquarius now.
The gods in Olympia were in some kind of fight with the Titans and giants and so Gaia created another beast to defend her own, Typhos.
Typhon had a hundred dragon’s heads from which black tongues flicked out. Fire blazed from the eyes in each of these heads, and from them came a cacophony of sound: sometimes ethereal voices which only the gods could understand, while at other times Typhon bellowed like a bull, roared like a lion, yelped like puppies, or hissed like a nest of snakes. (Source)Whoa! Pan alerted everyone and turned himself into a goat-fish, another possible Capricorn story, and Aphrodite and her son Eros transformed into fish to escape. Aphrodite tied them together as to not be separated.
☼ Sun
I haven’t been able to find any info saying this symbol is Virgo. I’ve barely been able to find sources saying it’s the sun, usually represented by ☉, but I’ve definitely seen it in my travels. Either way this formation could easily be ☉ so I’m definitely going with sun here. Not sure why they wrote Virgo (처녀자리) that can’t be interpreted as sun like, at all, just a weird mistake like the ones below...
The sun has a big role in Closer being the illumination encouraging us to see this dance and so so much more.
Zeus was seeing this girl Callisto and they were walking in the woods together when Hera, who fully knew what was going on because she would not be played the fool again, came down to see them. Zeus, afraid he'd get caught, turned Callisto into a bear and when Hera arrived she suggested she and Zeus go back to Olympus together. Zeus didn't want to get caught so he left Callisto as a bear. He's a snake. We hate him. That same day Callisto's son Arcas came across her and shot her thinking she was just a regular non-mother bear. As she died she transformed into her human form and he wept. Zeus, knowing Hera could hear his cries too, went to Arcas to beg him to keep quiet. To appease/silence him, Zeus put Callisto and Arcas both in the sky as Ursa Major and Ursa Minor, the constellations the big and little dippers are part of.
I think this isn't a particularly clear representation of the big dipper but I like the story and I like bears. Mimi is a bear so it fits?
The sun has a big role in Closer being the illumination encouraging us to see this dance and so so much more.
Zeus was seeing this girl Callisto and they were walking in the woods together when Hera, who fully knew what was going on because she would not be played the fool again, came down to see them. Zeus, afraid he'd get caught, turned Callisto into a bear and when Hera arrived she suggested she and Zeus go back to Olympus together. Zeus didn't want to get caught so he left Callisto as a bear. He's a snake. We hate him. That same day Callisto's son Arcas came across her and shot her thinking she was just a regular non-mother bear. As she died she transformed into her human form and he wept. Zeus, knowing Hera could hear his cries too, went to Arcas to beg him to keep quiet. To appease/silence him, Zeus put Callisto and Arcas both in the sky as Ursa Major and Ursa Minor, the constellations the big and little dippers are part of.
I think this isn't a particularly clear representation of the big dipper but I like the story and I like bears. Mimi is a bear so it fits?
I Have No Idea
Now these two are listed as Aquarius andCancer but I cannot find any way that these relate to them but I thought I would include them in case someone else recognizes them!
I haven't been able to catch any reference to Ophiuchus ⛎ but don't worry! We've got you covered.
There's a lot going on with Closer, huh? And a lot to think about in terms of the honestly incredible MV analysis post we've got that I'm linking again because it's required reading. How do you, readers, think these stories relate to the greater story of Closer? To the corresponding members? Do they at all? Please share your thoughts, or maybe keep them for next OHMYGIRLPALOOZA!
There's a lot going on with Closer, huh? And a lot to think about in terms of the honestly incredible MV analysis post we've got that I'm linking again because it's required reading. How do you, readers, think these stories relate to the greater story of Closer? To the corresponding members? Do they at all? Please share your thoughts, or maybe keep them for next OHMYGIRLPALOOZA!
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