The Coming-out of Oldboys?

The film is a highly entertaining cinematic work that has experienced tremendous success in Korea. It is popularly recognized as one of three pieces by the director Chan-wook Park that deals with the topic of revenge; as the story unfolds a layer at a time, viewers are taken on a wild ride of emotions (composed primarily of hate) produced by two crossing paths of revenge. In all, the story is a superbly packaged collection of mystery and thrill which, combined with outstanding cinematic techniques, successfully leaves the viewers in shock and disbelief rarely found in other media.

While it is tempting to leave it at that – a well made, highly entertaining film – taking a stance on popular culture as a reflection of modern society produces some interesting insights on Korea. The first point to be carefully scrutinized is the interaction between old and new. Oh Dae-soo, the roaring revenger, is essentially a well-preserved specimen of the previous generation dropped in the modern, cosmopolitan Korea. His stiff articulation of Korean hits the viewers (who are familiar with the modern popular interpretation of the language, of course) as awkward and out-of-place. In the earlier moments of the film, a series of his sore monologues are juxtaposed with familiar flow of the urban landscape, producing an eerie sense of tension between the past and present. This tension may be seen as representative of the tension that exists today in Korea between the younger, more independent and globalized generation rising up to power and the older, more homogeneously traditional generation currently in power. The current political scene reflects well this tension: President Roh and his generally younger supporters are perceived to be establishing a new order replacing the economic and political developments of the previous era, who are met with similarly widespread opposition from the more conservative groups faithful to the illustrious economic and political developments made possible by the predecessors. Perhaps this is what defines the current generation in Korea: ill-defined individuals stuck between the older, conservative generation and the rising, liberal youngsters, ‘old boys’ in many ways. The film does not just end at presenting us with this conflict; it also gives a suggested solution represented by love, unknowingly forbidden, between Oh Dae-soo and Mido. Its message is rather clear – in the past, such coexistence and transition from the old to the new was impossible (as in the case of Lee Woo-jin and his sister, and the eventual death of both) but now, albeit painful, it is not only possible but should be enforced (self-hypnosis?) for a happier ending.

The context of this message is quite interesting as well. If this is representative of a natural manifestation of Korean society, why is it presented in such a shocking and horrifying manner? Is it suggesting (as many would claim to have begun already) that there is much turmoil in the path to full union between the two generations? Also, from a cultural standpoint, if the past two or three decades were characterized by mass intake of foreign popular cultures against the society’s paternal enforcement of traditional values, the current state may be characterized as appropriately mixing the ingredients absorbed in the earlier years and defining a distinct and presentable product that is the Korean popular culture. By taking the original story from an identically titled Japanese manga, imposing it onto the matrix of Korean variables and widely spreading it in Korea, throughout East Asia and even the Western world, is the film not just making a passive observatory statement regarding the current fragile but resilient Korean social framework but rather loudly and proudly defining and declaring the new cultural, political, and economic identity? Why such a violent show of transgression of traditional values such as family and brotherhood previously so highly respected in Korean society?

(DSL)