Symbolism in Ayu's Career

[DonkeyKongRemix]

Originally Posted by EndOfTheWorld

Actually, if you use the search feature on this site and click show posts and type illuminati, over 100 results come up. It is mentioned all over this forum in a variety of threads.
Lots of people seem to be interested in this MK Ultra..
Mk Ultra or Monarch mind control is a real documented thing. It originated in the U.S during the 1950s and was by the CIA. Here is detailed information for those who are interested: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_MKUltra
The conspiracy theory going on in modern day comes from the idea that although the MK Ultra program was shut down long ago, it is still used to this day. Mostly used on people in the American entertainment industry such as, singers, actors, etc. Famous examples are Britney Spears, Nicki Minaj, Amanda Bynes, and others. We do not know if this is true but we can't say it is impossible. A famous Hollywood insider, Roseanne Barr, as come forward and said that Mk Ultra/mind control is in fact real. Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tB2lUe7fRY
As for Ayu, there does seem to be some evidence that she could be a victim, but there is also evidence that she is not. Usually victims have issues, they have some kind of breakdown, or will commit some kind of strange behavior in public, and just overall have turmoil in their life. Ayu has never really shown any behavior like this. I like to hope that she is not a victim of such a sick and twisted thing.
It is only theory after all.

I think this post is a nice contribution to the thread because it's open-ended to a certain extent.

Yeah, I fully believe MK Ultra is still in practice. I just don't think the government would fully shut down a program they put so much time and resources into just because the public found out. Being a full-fledged conspiracy theorist myself, I think they find ways to hide their actions in plains sight.

Anyway, I hope Ayu isn't mixed up in something like this. I always feel like she's a little on the outside but there are times when I've wondered if Avex wanted her in with the practically occult practices of the world of media.

Now, I have very little doubt in my mind that a lot of celebrities in America are pretty much owned and controlled by the government.

[EndOfTheWorld]

A big reason that I have even been listening to Ayu and other Japanese artists is because it has less of all that occult imagery. Asian celebrities don't have all that drama like American ones do. There is also more class by the female artists, so much sex in American female pop stars.
I like that Ayu is more true to herself and honest and doesn't seem to be part of all that occult business.
I love the themes and symbols that occur throughout Ayu's career. I feel like years from now her career will in a way, tell her life story. Like a memoir or diary. Sometimes I do feel like each Ayu album is a time capsule of that period in her life.
She does seem to attach her own meaning to symbols and uses them to convey her feelings. But i'm sure that sometimes it is the work of the person or group in charge, just for visual effect.
I would say the most recurrent thing is the leoprard print really. I almost expect it to come out again at some point. But I think that it was used the most strongly during the Duty era. It was used most effectively there. I really like what this user said about it:

Originally Posted by Rae Noir

The ideas I've always thought of have been this (and I know I'm going far too into it, but what can I say, I'm a writer with too much imagination to throw around):

Once upon a time...

In the artwork for Duty, Ayumi Hamasaki is little more than a captured animal, but one that has been showered with gifts and riches. I saw this as representing her then-status as a still relatively new artist still finding her way in the music business and fame game, but already trapped by such institutions while at the same time overwhelmed by her success. She's also incredibly sultry and sexual, and this is how her captors have decided to present her as, an image for other people rather than for herself. On the cover the bars of the cage have been bent, but she's neither escaped nor decided to stay. She's on the edge of both worlds, not knowing whether to stay within the confines of her comfortable prison but ultimately stifled by her small surroundings, or go out into the big wide world and risk making her own mistakes that she'll have to take full responsibility for.

When we get to Guilty, we find she did choose to escape after all, but she has found herself lost in a desert-like wilderness, shading her eyes from the light on the cover and searching for a path to follow. Perhaps this could have represented how Ayumi may have felt at that time regarding her life and career. Taking this risk and escaping from her cage has led her to evolve; she's still in leopard / lynx / whatever print, but is now more like a human than an animal.

On Party Queen, the leopard / lynx / whatever print is still there, but has been stripped down (pardon the pun) quite dramatically. It's now limited to certain designs as well as her boots, suggesting she has now become almost entirely human, but one that is little better than her sex kitten stage, reduced to a sexy being in underwear while also looking skinny, gaunt, pale, and certainly the most vulnerable she's ever been, trapped in her new prison of a trashed but once luxurious hotel room. In trying to become her own person in the music industry and in her private relationships, she's simply become a different version of the product she's always been, but one that is more fragile and exposed than ever before.

I told you I have too big an imagination!