13 VENGEANCE AND REDEMPTION
Train to Busan Yeon Sang-ho (2016) South Korea
The Host Bong Joon-ho (2006) South Korea
Yeon, Sang-Ho. Train to Busan. Well Go USA Entertainment, 2016.
Korea is the most vibrant film market in the world today. Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite won the Palme D’Or at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival and the Oscars for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay.
The Republic of South Korea has 51.4 million residents in 38,000 miles. There are 505 people per square kilometer in Korea, 10 times the global average. Most Koreans live in urban areas. North Korea is the major source of immigrants who cross the border to work. With ten million people, Seoul is the 17th Largest City in the world.
U.S. involvement in the The Korean war began in June 1950 when South Korea was invaded by North Korean Troops. Korea became the battleground between the United States and Communist China. The war lasted three years. In that time, more bombs were dropped on South Korea than on any single country during World War II. South Korea is the most bombed land mass in the world. The border between North and South Korea is still the most heavily guarded border on Earth.
Vengeance is a major theme in South Korean Cinema. Park Chan-wook’s Vengeance Trilogy includes: Old Boy, Lady Vengeance and Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance. The Korean hero is not the Savior, someone who saves an innocent person, in Korean Cinema the hero the Avenger, taking action after the innocent person has been killed. The Host, by director, Bong Joon-ho presents a strong example of this concept in South Korean Cinema.
Train to Busan
The film takes place primarily on the train from Seoul to Busan, which bisects South Korea heading southeast toward the Sea of Japan, as a a zombie apocalypse breaks out. The story is told through the eyes of a little girl who desperately wants her father’s attention.
The film premiered at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival. Yeon Sang-ho made the animated film Seoul Station based on a graphic novel first, then made Train to Busan, the live action version of this story. Like Parasite, Train to Busan addresses class and the desire for democratization in an economy that has grown exponentially in fifty years.
Monsters as Symbols
At the beginning of The Host, American Military stationed in Seoul demand that a Korean man empties toxic waste into the Han River. Shortly thereafter, the Americanized monster emerges from the river to attack Seoul and break up the Park family by grabbing the brave daughter, Hyun-seo.
In Train to Busan and The Host the monster represents something to the main character. For Su-an, the zombies enable her to gain recognition and attention from her father. Often zombies serve this purpose in film. They arrive when a character makes a secret wish to be alone with another character or asks the question, “what would it take to get him to pay attention to me?”
Similarly, the river monster represents Gang-doo’s wife, the mother of Hyun-seo, who deserted their family. In South Korea, the American Military fought with China and the Soviet Union with reckless disregard for Korean life. American soldiers also married Korean women and took them home. American families adopted Korean children. The feminine monster, sometimes called a dentata, could also represent Korean women who left their country to become American wives. When the monster releases the children, they are born from her jaws. Monsters will often represent what the character fears most. In The Host, Gang-doo has been abandoned by a woman. This monster returns to remind him of his humiliation, and his emasculation, and provides an opportunity for him to avenge this cruelty.