HyunA's "Ice Cream" Music Video: A Freudian Analysis

If you’ve read my analysis of SHINee‘s “Sherlock” music video, then you know that I’m a person who looks past the glitz and glam of K-pop music videos and delves into the dark and gritty meaning behind it all.

Well, 4minute‘s HyunA recently released her new solo MV, entitled “Ice Cream“, and I thought it would be the perfect video to watch with my good friend Sigmund Freud. Boy, was I right! If you haven’t seen it yet, check it out below:

While a cursory viewing of the video may be entertaining, the “Ice Cream” video tells a far more frightening and tragic tale of trauma, sexual repression, and dysfunction than meets the eye.

Confused? Well, that’s what I’m here for!

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A. Psychological trauma related to paternal homosexuality and infidelity.

The root of HyunA’s trauma is portrayed quite clearly in the opening scene of the MV. Psy, who in this case represents a fatherly figure, encounters an attractive ice cream truck, which is a phallic symbol indicating attraction to males. Inside, Psy cannot resist and takes ice cream from a machine labeled “The Very Hungry Caterpillar”, with said caterpillar obviously referring to his penis. Sexual desire is displayed quite clearly by his ravishing of the ice cream cone, depicting a tenacity for fellatio.

Thus we conclude that HyunA’s father suffered from severe bouts of satyriasis, was a latent homosexual, and was an unfaithful husband. Moreover, HyunA became aware of this fact very early on, shown by her childish dress and demeanor in the opening scene. This revelation of a sex-crazed, gay, cheating father causes psychological trauma to the young HyunA and proceeds to evolve into a form of dissociative identity disorder.

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B. HyunA’s dissociative identity disorder.

As previously discussed, the psychological trauma in HyunA’s childhood caused severe fracturing of her psyche, leading to the development of several personalities as a sort of defense mechanism. While there are a number of distinct personalities shown in this video, I’m going to highlight three key personas that exemplify the nature of the trauma: The Inner Child, The Wife, and The Whore.

The Inner Child is a direct attempt at salvaging the innocence that was torn asunder by the early psychological trauma. The Inner Child is shown as wearing a blue jumpsuit or wearing a Mickey Mouse hat. It is a symbol of simplicity, infancy, and sexual repression.

The Good Wife is an ideal, one that HyunA feels must be protected. The Good Wife is faithful, obedient, and placid, and is an overcompensation for the desecration of marriage that HyunA witnessed as a child. It is represented by a very clear symbol: the over-sized diamond ring. HyunA seeks to atone for the sins of her father by offering a polar opposite approach to marriage with a vow to never sully the bond and trust of her spouse.

The Whore is perhaps the most prominent product of the psychological trauma. It is a want, a need, a desire for anything and everything sexual, a direct effect of the events witnessed as a child. In a way, however, The Whore also represents an offshoot of The Good Wife. It is a mechanism of commanding order and obedience in a marriage (hence the military outfit). After all, if it’s all good under one roof, then what reason is there to seek “the goods” elsewhere?

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C. Physical manifestation of repressed thoughts.

Self-explanatory, folks…

Moving on…

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D. Ice Cream Cream Cream Cream

Ah … now it’s time to address the thing you were all thinking about: ice cream. The “ice cream” allegory can be interpreted a number of ways in the video (as it should be), but I find that the most important interpretation of it comes with the repetition of the word “cream”. “Cream, cream, cream, cream” is a prevalent chant in the song, and is, in this case, a request or a command (i.e., “YOU! CREAM! NOW!”).

Due to the conflicting personas present within HyunA’s psyche, she ultimately is sexually dysfunctional and cannot reach orgasm. The entire song is an ode to the experience of sexual completion and her desire to relish this unreachable experience.

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Psychological trauma, loss of innocence, multiple personalities, sexual repression, and sexual dysfunction. Like I said, it’s a frightening and tragic tale…

…although some of you sick fucks are probably even more turned on now.