## **General Explanation of the Music Video**

This music video is not meant to be taken literally.  
It uses symbolic characters and surreal imagery to represent trauma, survival, and the different psychological states a person can develop while growing up in a harmful environment. The visuals may look chaotic, but the structure underneath is intentional and metaphorical.

### **Core Concept**
The video depicts trauma as an internal world.  
Every character represents a *part of the self*, and every scene represents an *emotion*, not an actual event. The imagery is designed to express what trauma feels like on the inside rather than portray real-life situations.

### **Symbolic Characters**
- **The Boy** — represents innocence, childhood, and the “version of you” that didn’t escape the traumatic environment.  
- **The General** — represents the hardened survivor self, the part of a person that becomes tough, distant, or emotionally armored to survive.  
- **The Creature** — represents addiction, self-destructive impulses, or the invasive effects of trauma.  
- **The Prisoners** — represent people who didn’t escape their trauma, or the forgotten versions of the self that were lost along the way.  
- **The Soldiers Holding Books Backwards** — represent erased identities and dissociation. The unreadable book symbolizes a past or personal story that can no longer be accessed or understood.

### **Purpose of the Gore and Disturbing Imagery**
The gore is not meant as shock value or literal violence.  
It is used as a metaphor for the internal experience of trauma — invasive, overwhelming, and consuming. For some viewers, intense imagery can actually feel grounding because it is external and predictable, but its meaning here is symbolic rather than literal.

### **Emotional Message**
The chorus reflects the central theme: breaking cycles of trauma.  
It expresses hope that the next generation will not inherit the same pain, and acknowledges the people who grew up in the same environment but never escaped it. The video visualizes this emotional landscape through symbolic characters rather than real events.

### **What the Video Is Not**
- It is not political.  
- It is not a depiction of real violence.  
- It is not meant to be shocking for its own sake.  
- It is not a literal story.  

Everything is metaphorical.

### **Why This Video Can Be Helpful**
The video frames trauma as a system rather than a personal failure.  
It shows the different versions of the self as survival responses, not flaws.  
It portrays the child-self as someone who deserved escape and protection, not someone who was weak.  
Understanding the symbolism can help viewers process their own experiences by seeing them represented in a structured, metaphorical way.