Korean cinema term paper

Family Comedic Melodrama vs. Political Satire – A Review of the Thriller Film THE HOST

ASIA 356 Korean Cinema Term Paper

Turnitin ID: 217711515

Angela Aini Zhou 19243088 THE HOST released in 2006, was the first film in South Korea that applied a tremendous amount of special effect and CGI art. Director and screenplay co-writer Joon-ho Bong had successfully created a film that is an integration of a typical scientific thriller, a bizarrely touching melodrama, an intriguingly funny family comedy as well as a criticizing political satire. The movie portrays how an ordinary family united together and fought against the genetically modified and extremely hideous-looking amphibious monster which was at the same time the “host” of a suspicious virus. Despite the apparent thriller and family comedy content, the sarcasm and perhaps disappointment toward the South Korean government behind the movie itself is the most important idea that the director wants to convey. He achieved in doing so by incorporating several American characters to demonstrate the controlling power of the U.S. over the South Korean (SK) government and also the inclusion of numerous details from the movie hinting the controversial political issues such as corruption and inequality in human rights th at are present in today’s Korean political system and society.

The four American characters featured in the movie and their individual characters have implied different perspectives that the general public and the director felt toward the U.S. military base in SK and the political interference to SK government from the U.S. First of all, the creation of the monster, as hinted by the movie, was due to an irresponsible command given by the American mortician at the Yongsan U.S. Army base in Seoul. He asked his Korean subordinate to dump litters of the toxical and “dusty” formaldehyde down the sink. He was well-aware of the harmful environmental and health consequences such action may cause as the sink connects directly to the drinking water source of Seoul – the Han River. This part represents the opinion of a fraction of the SK population that demands the withdrawal of the U.S. troops from SK. Their viewpoint was that the U.S. army base has fulfilled its duty in providing protection to

the South Koreans against North Korea since conflicts seem to settle down on the Korean peninsular. Moreover, some share the same standpoint simply because they learnt from the several notorious incidents (incidents like the one portrayed in the film did happen in real during the year 2000) convicted by the U.S. army as they knew the longer the U.S. army stays in SK, more problems might arise. This is expected as after all, the U.S. troops have no obligations to treat SK in the same manner as their own country. On the other hand, the American soldier – Donald, risked his life in fighting against the monster during the mass massacre, because he believed it was his duty to save people. This scene agrees with the SK civilians who are against the withdrawal of the U.S. army argued that SK still needs the military aid from the U.S. in fighting against the always threatening “monster”, i.e. the communists from the North. Since North Korea has a back-up partner China, many South Koreans probably felt insecure for a future without the U.S. troops. With these first pair of roles served to represent the opposite parties in the controversial issue, the director incorporated two more in conducting the core message to the audience. The two American doctors for Donald and the main character Gang-du both knew the reality of the “virus” fraud yet they kept quiet about it for the political interests of the U.S and SK governments. The U.S. government introduced the idea of the presence of the “virus” and kept it as a top secret in order to overpower the SK government in solving this issue, while the Korean government cooperated in this fighting-against-the-unknow-virus type of performance to mislead the public’s attention away from the government’s failure in detecting the monster in time and in the meanwhile creating a propaganda image emphasizing the “efficiency” and “effectiveness” of the two governments. In addition the ironical reason for Donald’s death further illustrated the sarcasm toward the authorities. Thus, through the vital use of the American characters, the director, in overall, used the movie to convey his denial toward the U.S. government’s excessive political interferences in his beloved homeland.

Furthermore, Bong also expressed his disappointment toward SK government via a great number of details to address certain social, political and economical problems. For instances, Gang-d u’s brother Nam-

il’s unemployment condition as a college graduate addressed the problem in the proliferation of unemployed university graduates in today’s SK society due to the economic decline; their father’s bribery to the government officer at the entrance point of the Han River Park addressed the corruption problems existed in SK’s political system. The most important example addressing the social problem of inequality in human rights is demonstrated through the constant ignorance to Gang-du’s request in searching for his daughter, especially when the police officer denied to help in searching of Hyun-seo’s exact location using mobile phone signal claiming the process is too tedious and the Park family is just “nobody” thus having no right in enjoying the privilege.

Many may argue that other perspectives such as the humorous and horror contents, especially the concept about family unity are equally important as the political message the director wants to convey. However, the integration of comedic content occurring around the family, as well as the grand visual impact from the bloody shatter of the monster’s attacks on the shore of the Han River, are in fact applied to add colors to the relativel y “dry”, dull and serious political gist hi dden behind this story. After all, THE HOST is categorized as a commercial film, thus it needs attractive factors such as hilarious gags, spectacular special effects, and unpredictable twists of the story to draw the public’s attention in order to boost the box office.

Therefore, in conclusion, the main messages from the movie in THE HOST are the dark sides of the almost epiphytic relationship of the SK government toward the U.S. Army base and the U.S. government, and the director’s concerns over various social, economical and political iss ues. Director Joon-ho Bong indeed did an excellent job in creating the monster that may have marked as a milestone of the Korean cinema. In addition, the English translation of the title as THE HOST instead of the THE MONSTER which matches more closely to the Korean title??may trigger one to wonder who is the REAL host?