Representation of violence and social criticism in Chan-wook Park's films

Answer

Introduction

The international perception of the contemporary Korean cinema industry has been that the industry combines art and exploitation. Notably, the creation of these perceptions has been significantly contributed to by the works of Park Chan-wook. Park Chan-wook is one of the most successful filmmakers in South Korea that has significantly contributed to the global visibility and the growth of the country’s film industry (Kim, 2010). However, according to ……., Park Chan-wook is one of the most controversial filmmakers in South Korea having drawn praises and criticism on equal measure. For instance, the decision to award the Grand Prix Award to Park’s film, Oldboy, Chan-wook, in 2004, at the Cannes Film Festival was greeted by a considerable amount of criticism. According to Kim (2010), the western audiences had held a perception on Korean cinema by the time of this award thus Park Chan-wook was already a marked man during the release of his next film, Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, in the U.S (Kim, 2010). Indeed, Park Chan-wook is well known for his Vengeance Trilogy; Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, Oldboy, and Sympathy for Lady Vengeance all of which are bound by violence and social criticism. Kim (2010) notes that Park’s Vengeance Trilogy centrally revolves around explicit graphic violence by all standards. This essay seeks to analyze representation of violence and social criticism in Park's films as well as the influence of his films to contemporary South Korean films.

Chan-wook Park's films

As noted above, Park Chan-wook is well known for his Vengeance Trilogy; Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, Oldboy, and Sympathy for Lady Vengeance. The 2002 film, Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, is the first installment in Park's Vengeance Trilogy (Park & Lee, 2004). It presents violent tale of revenge gone wrong. According to Park and Lee (2004), the film presents a story of a deaf-mute man determined to meet medical expenses of his sister's much-needed kidney transplant by kidnapping a young girl who accidentally dies prompting her bereaved father to go on a search for answers and seek vengeance. On the other hand, the 2003 film, Oldboy, was Park's next film in his Vengeance Trilogy (Chape & Chanwook, 2006). This film presents a story of a man who is released after fifteen years imprisonment without any explanation pertaining to his confinement and release. The man is then given five days to discover the true identity of his captors and determine the reason for his imprisonment; otherwise, his new love interest would be killed (Chape & Chanwook, 2006). The 2005 film, Sympathy for Lady Vengeance, was the third and final installment in Park’s Vengeance Trilogy (Park, 2005). The film presents a story of an innocent young woman who, after doing time for a child-killer whose whereabouts is not known, is released from prison. Upon her release, the young woman sets out to seek for not only her long-lost daughter but also vengeance on the child-killer for whom she served time (Park, 2005).

Representation of violence and social criticism in Park's films

It is imperative to note that whereas violence and social criticism remain the recurring motif in Park’s Vengeance Trilogy, the three films do not present violence and social criticism in the same manner through their courses. However, all these films reveal consistent, strong themes built upon different forms of violence (Choe, 2009). Besides, all the films present issues that revolve around gender and class, and by extension, the society and history. The films allegorically present personal struggles for vengeance for social struggles (Choe, 2009). Arguably, the personal struggles for vengeance as presented by the films express anxieties connected to certain periods in the history of South Korea such as the periods of democratization and capitalization in the country.

In Park’s Vengeance Trilogy, violence is represented using a variety of graphic features. In the film Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, for example, the film has both formal and narrative divergences featuring long shot duration, two protagonists, minimal dialogue, as well as a downbeat ending (Shin, 2002). The film, shot in a near monotone, expresses coldness mirrored in the narrative using flat blue and gray tones thereby creating its gloomy atmosphere. The film is characterized by frequent silence that accentuates sound effects thereby representing ultraviolence. Evidently, the film has many instances of violence taking place off-screen while using sound effects as the main way of presenting violence (Shin, 2002). For instance, in one sequence Dong-jin is presented as watching the autopsy of his daughter wherein he remains in focus of the camera as the mortician is heard using an electric saw on her body but not seen.

Additionally, the film Oldboy is characterized with horror scenes and markings of an action film that depicts violence. For instance, the film has a sequence in which Dae-su is fighting gangsters in a hallway and another sequence in which Dae-su is fighting some street thugs. Besides, there is a scene showing a prolonged skirmish in Woo-jin’s penthouse (Brolin et al. 2003). All these scenes serve to clearly demonstrate violence in the film. In fact, the narrative presented by this film poses Dae-su’s quest for revenge through violence as not only acceptable but also justifiable. Violence is also represented in the film Oldboy through the presentation of the film’s social commentary less pointedly as the film tends to be obscured by ultraviolent sequences and elaborate set pieces (Brolin et al. 2003). Notably, the ultraviolence in Oldboy is presented to serve the same functions it had in the earlier film; used as receptacle for social commentary of the film as well as to incite repulsion besides being used in comedic capacities. Importantly, the violence is designed to affect the spectator in all of its functions thereby making ultraviolence a social critique. Moreover, Park’s film Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance is characterized by brutality that connotes violence through its abundant mutilation as a way of representing ultraviolence in the film. Evidently, the susceptibility of the body to graphic mutilation in the film connotes violence. The film has a lack of bodily integrity as demonstrated by the removal of body parts and dismemberment, or release of body fluids (Shin, 2002). For instance, the film presents Ryu as having his kidney stolen prompting him to steal and eat his enemies’ kidney. As a result, Ryu is murdered and cut into pieces by Dong-jin. All these episodes demonstrate violence on the victims. Indeed, the central characters such as Ryu’s sister, Peng, Ryu, Dong-jin, Yeong-mi, and the organ dealers demonstrates the aftermath of violence in their profuse bleeding that result from the cuts and other wounds. In particular, the letting of bodily fluids is exemplified by Yeong-mi as she secrets both blood and urine as a result of her torture(Shin, 2002). According to Kim (2010), the bodies in Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance are commodified through the use of body parts for trade. As a result, the body commodification and mutilation constitute a central social criticism of the film in South Korean history.

Moreover, violence and social is represented in Park’s Vengeance Trilogy in form of class struggle. All the misfortunes befalling the central characters in Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance stem from their class positions (Kim, 2010). For example, Ryu’s class explicitly emphasized as a disempowered handicapped factory laborer of lower-working-class whereas Dong-jin is presented as a successful owner of a factory. Moreover, the film goes a head code the characters by class as well as control them through class (Shin, 2002). Furthermore, the film Oldboy also depicts class struggles as a way of representing violence by signifying Woo-jin’s class status through his wealth including his acquisitions such as buildings as well as employees, and his clothing while, on the other hand, initially presenting Dae-su as a middle class businessman. As a member of the middle-class, the film initially depicts Dae-su as flaccid, undisciplined, and unhappy individual (Brolin et al. 2003). However, after release from prison, Dae-su is presented as hard, strong, stoic, disciplined, and capable of great violence. Evidently, Dae-su leaves prison changed by revenge and the accompanying violence that eventually makes him wealthy. Indeed, he rebrands himself as a “Monster” depicting that he is not the same again. All these scenes serve to present violence through class struggle as a tool for enhancing mobility and virility as well as a means of resisting oppression by the upper class. For instance, violence enhances Monster’s mobility by allowing him to navigate the entire country with ease contrary to the case before his release during which he appeared only in confined spaces such as the telephone booth, the police station, and the prison cell (Kim, 2010). Also, violence is represented in this film as a means of enhances virility as it enables Monster to sleep with attractive, much younger Mi-do. Additionally, the film presents violence as a means to resist against oppression by upper class. Notably, the difference between Dae-su and Monster is underpinned by the capacity for ultraviolence. Indeed, Monster is characterized by sexual virility upper class clothing, and stoic demeanor all of which emanate from his potential for violence (Kim, 2010). Similarly, the film Sympathy for Lady Vengeance presents ultraviolence as a means of attaining social mobility. For example, Geum-ja’s first act of violence precedes her release from the confines of prison into the world and is presented as not only roaming through a wider space but also gaining connections after this act of violence. Indeed, Geum-ja’s act of murder enables her to acquire allies who facilitate more ultraviolence. Moreover, the film presents ultraviolence as a means to social resistance (Park, 2005). For instance, violence enables Geum-ja to resist against the oppressive patriarchal figure. In a similar way, the upper class employs aggression in resisting against the parasitic capitalist.

Influence of Park's films on contemporary South Korean films

Park’s films have significantly influenced South Korean films in their presentation of thrilling sequences. Indeed, the South Korean films present thrilling sequences without employing torture porn approach that classifies thriller and horror films (Nette, 2014). Instead, Park’s films have influenced South Korean films to present moments of intense violence through great sequences of tension rather than torture porn by punctuating slow burn by short spurts of violence (Nette, 2014).

Conclusion

The international perception of the contemporary Korean cinema industry has been that the industry combines art and exploitation. The creation of these perceptions has been significantly contributed to by the works of Park Chan-wook, one of the most successful filmmakers in South Korea that has significantly contributed to the global visibility and the growth of the country’s film industry. Park Chan-wook is well known for his Vengeance Trilogy; Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, Oldboy, and Sympathy for Lady Vengeance all of which are bound by violence and social criticism. The 2002 film, Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, is the first installment in Park's Vengeance Trilogy and presents violent tale of revenge gone wrong in which a deaf-mute man is determined to meet medical expenses of his sister's much-needed kidney transplant so he kidnaps a young girl who accidentally dies prompting her bereaved father to go on a search for answers and seek vengeance. The 2003 film, Oldboy tells a story of a man released after fifteen years imprisonment without any explanation pertaining to his confinement and release and given five days to discover the true identity of his captors and determine the reason for his imprisonment; otherwise, his new love interest would be killed. The 2005 film, Sympathy for Lady Vengeance presents a story of an innocent young woman who, after doing time for a child-killer whose whereabouts is not known, is released from prison and then sets out to seek for not only her long-lost daughter but also vengeance on the child-killer for whom she served time. All these films reveal consistent, strong themes built upon different forms of violence besides presenting issues that revolve around gender and class, and by extension, the society and history. The films allegorically present personal struggles for vengeance for social struggles and employ a variety of graphic features to represent violence.