"The Dystopia Era" also known as "Dystopia Trilogy" or "Dystopia Series" is a series of three albums released consecutively by Dreamcatcher.
The series began on February 18, 2020 with the release of "Dystopia: The Tree Of Language", continued on August 17, 2020 with "Dystopia: Lose Myself", and ended on January 26, 2021 with "Dystopia: Road to Utopia".
Plot[]
The plot of the series start with the Tree of Language dying, causing hate speech and malicious comments being spread, creating a dystopia. The members of Dreamcatcher work to fight against the hate to bring back the Tree and create a Utopia, but fail in the end.
Lore[]
This is a theory made by user "SeeTheSeaInUDP" on Reddit. [1]
Scream[]
In the first few seconds of the MV, we see a tree. It's trunk is white, the leaves are light green and the scenery with blue sky and chirping birds is almost fairytale-like.
But then, the words "One day, suddenly, the light didn't come. People forgot how to say good things" appear on screen, and at once the tree turns dark, the leaves turn purple, the light blue sky becomes the dark blue, almost deep purple night sky with the moon shining through the purple clouds. The chirping bird sounds are replaced by a distorted sound of a howling wolf.
Purple is a color that evokes feelings of mystery, and adventure, in a unnerving and dangerous way.
The beginning itself showcases the turn from positive to negative. It goes from idyllic to dangerous in a second, because people forgot how to say good things. Due to the absence of goodness, the tree of life, representing a humans life, now becomes darker and dangerous itself.
We can then go on see the the girls as they sing about being targets for no reason, about being judged by gazes, about stones being thrown at them. They say that are unfazed, but they actually aren't.
One of them starts running from something, the very source of her misery - and another one of them ends up running to this very tree of life, which turns from the aforementioned white to dark in front of her very eyes (See 0:50) She is seeking something from life itself in wake of the hate, the verbal "stones" thrown at her. It's almost like she's helpless. She needs to know what to do next.
Almost as an answer to the transformation from good to not-so-good, a mysterious, purple mist evaporates from the cave in the tree trunk - almost like a magical portal to another world. The member runs towards this purple light, and before entering the trunk, looks back with a confident gaze - she's going in there. There is something this tree wants her to see and experience, which will help her get to know her situation and why she is being targeted. She wants to know, this tree will make her know.
At once, we are falling through a purple lit, Gray lit and red lit roller coaster type of tunnel. The members can all be seen in the next part with either of these three backgrounds either as background or a prop or costumes incorporates this color (1:13 to 1:37). They are on this journey of finding the source of their misery and inner disturbance.
JiU, who had looked back in confidence before entering the tree, can now be seen in a mysterious purple room. From the same mist that beckoned her, we can see a diamond emerge, and she is hesitant to touch it. This is the reason for the "stones" she gets - what she has been looking for by falling into the tree. These are the emotions that make people throw stones at her.
But when she tries to touch it, it explodes into thin air (2:11) - because she cannot touch that thing that is emotion. It is an abstract thing, something that can't be touched and stopped like a dam can stop a flood. She has no influence on it, or even if, the diamond, the emotion, can be influenced, It's not her who has the power to do this.
At once, after the explosion of the diamond, the tree itself, that wanted to give the girl the answer to the hate, but couldn't do so, explodes, and turns red (2:15) itself. Red is like blood, the leaves turn blood red.
One can deduce that the realization, that other people's emotions towards the girl is out of her control and cannot and will not be influenced by her, hurts her tree of life almost mortally. The situation basically tells her: "You are the reason for the emotions because you exist, you cannot change them, you have no other choice than to live with it." As a much quoted saying goes "What cannot be cured, must be endured".
We then have the 6 members stand in front of the bleak, leafless, dark tree (2:29) which still emanates mist. They all make the decision to enter this journey together, but- they need to do it another way, because their tree life isn't giving them the answer. They need to find the answer on another way.
As they walk away from the tree, which has stopped emanating mist, we see "To be continued."
This was the beginning of their journey.
BOCA[]
We are now on the continuation of the journey. The first scene recaps the ending of Boca and introduces us to "Dystopia," which by definition is a community or society that is undesirable and frightening.
We then see SuA at 0:53 in a white gown walking and playing around white blooming tree. White commonly denotes purity, innocence, nativity, and sanctity, and awakens Garden of Eden imagery. How can she be happy, solemn and pure when she's been bombarded with hate?
We are all different and have different mindsets to everything. Some deal with hate differently than others. SuA is the type to not be affected by it yet. The hate hasn't really hit her yet. She's still stuck in her garden of Eden. When it rains, and she and the garden get wet, she enjoys it and plays around instead of idly sitting around. She allows herself some freedom, basically enjoying her perfect world.
But that changes when the members, prominently JiU (who had been disappointed by the tree before in Scream) come in in different colored gowns. She is there to remind her that she is like her, but not white and pure. They are suffering, they will suffer it together. JiU is trying to minimize SuA's innocence.
SuA, in turn, finds her soul-crushing, realizing moment when another member, Yoohyeon, shoots an arrow in the air and it pierces her. She meanwhile is in her garden, but its dark, with only the tree being illuminated. JiU's influence has worked - she is no longer in the idyll, she is in the rain, an outside influence. It took her another member to show her the hate to realize it herself. That's the moment when SuA is disillusioned.
She too, now, has to leave her world, because her innocence in her world has been broken. Her white garden is still white, her dress still is, but her heart isn't pure anymore.
With that, she too, embarks on the journey.
Odd Eye[]
The tree we see here is red from the Boca prologue/Scream epilogue.
We see SuA, still in a dress, looking up to the red tree. She realizes that thus is her actual tree, stained red and hurt, not the idyllic perfect white tree she knew. She also sings about the hope she hoped for being a lie. The white tree isn't the real one. She's been hiding her hurt.
We then see JiU at 1:23, walking away from the red tree. She has seen the danger and vulnerability that her innocence gave her and regrets being so oblivious. She sings "no more Utopia". She can't bear living in a fake world, that pretends everything is perfect even though the tree of very life is hurting, anymore.
We then see, very briefly at 2:37, while the lyrics go "desire fading away little by little," the red tree turning white for a second, in a last attempt to remind us of the times of purity and innocence, while the white dressed JiU is running away from it. With that, she is leaving behind not just her ignorance and reality, but also her tree of life, just like SuA is. In a futile attempt to see beyond the tree that feigns innocence she sees it for what it is - permanently stained red like blood from the hate. A life given by a stained tree is a life of negativity, just like abusing parents cannot raise a child in an ideal manner. At this point, the girls have a choice: they don't want this life anymore.
With that, we find ourselves in the last shot, the epilogue, which binds back to the OG Tree of life. The text says, in a concluding manner, "The Dreamcatchers couldn't find the utopia they dreamt of." The original green tree, which is the utopian state of a tree, stays red, even after the members have dealt with the hate: The fact that the tree couldn't return to it's original state means that through the hate, the tree of life is permanently scarred. With a scarred life, they cannot find ultimate happiness, or Utopia - because they carry around a negative dead weight in their minds that will come to the forefront in their happiest moments and bring them down.
It might be words like "they don't deserve to be in the group" "she is untalented" "she cannot do this choreography" "she is a visual hole for this group" "she shouldn't have debuted." It might be hard facts, like sales, recognition, seeing their peers succeed, leaving them in the background. It might be so many other things.
Content[]
List of content released in this series.
| Title | Type | Release Date |
|---|---|---|
| 'Dystopia: The Tree Of Language' Album Story Spoiler | Album Story | February 12, 2020 |
| 'Dystopia: The Tree Of Language' | Studio Album | February 18, 2020 |
| 'Scream' MV | Music video | |
| 'SAHARA' Special Clip | March 11, 2020 | |
| 'Red Sun' Lyric Video | March 17, 2020 | |
| 'SAHARA' Lyric Video | March 21, 2020 | |
| 'Red Sun' Special Clip | April 3, 2020 | |
| 'Dystopia: Lose Myself' | Mini Album | August 17, 2020 |
| 'BOCA' MV | Music video | |
| 'Break The Wall' Special Clip | September 19, 2020 | |
| 'Dystopia: Road to Utopia' | Mini Album | January 26, 2021 |
| 'Odd Eye' MV | Music video | |
| 'Poison Love' Special Clip | March 12, 2021 |
Events[]
List of events promoting the releases from this era.
Concerts[]
- Global Streaming Into the Night & Dystopia (July 4, 2020)
- Dystopia: Seven Spirits (November 7, 2020)
- CROSSROADS (March 26, 2021 – March 27, 2021)
Videos[]
