Nation/Home, and Violence Paired with Modernity

The Good, the Bad, and The Weird is a highly fast-paced and entertaining movie about the quest for a treasure map and its subsequent treasure, apparently marking the way to a Manchurian treasure dating back to the Qing Dynasty. In the film, elements of melodrama (close-up shots of faces showing dramatic moments) and Western films (horses, deserted lands, riding alongside trains, hats, wanted ads) intersect with comedy and colonial notions (Japanese as bad guys).

Right off the bat I noticed something very evident: violence is often paired with happy or care-free objects or ideas, like candy and music--for instance, in the opening scene, a candy and rice-cake vendor on the train becomes a bandit in a flash, shooting at innocent victims. In another scene, after the Boss (does he have a name?) stabs his own boss, the victim drags himself across the floor with a knife in his back, while happy ragtime music sounds from a record in the background.

I soon realized that it was not just care-free or happy elements paired with violence, but modern care-free and happy elements. In many scenes, the violent subject is shown chewing gum (definitely a recent commodity); modern music plays in the background. The Boss optimizes this notion of pairing violence with happy modernity. His character in general feels like a total anachronism--first of all, I don't know much about K-Pop but this is how I imagine a lot of K-Pop hair styles (like the lead singer from Big Bang?). I doubt anyone from this era wore his hair style. He's totally modern, from the way he dresses and styles his hair, to the activities he partakes in--laughing to Western films in the theatre (and apparently understanding English).

The notion of the nation gets brought up, too. When Yoon Tae-go discovers that his map is a treasure map (which is expressed in goofy discovery reminiscent of YMCA Baseball Team baseball discovery), he proposes to his Granny that they can escape to America with the treasure. He begins speaking French--and the scene is suddenly interrupted by gunshots shattering the window panes. I can't help but think of this as a sort of punishment, or Karma, for desiring an escape to the west. Later in the movie, Yoon Tae-goo changes his dream as he talks to his "accomplice": once he gets the treasure, he'll go "back home" and get some land, raising animals on his farm. His sidekick is confused; can't he want more than that? Why would you want to buy land that is  part of a stolen country? He adds, "Life is about chasing and being chased, you can't escape." Even in a serious moment, Yoon Tae-goo lightens the atmosphere, telling him to go to bed and not to make him think too much. Yoon Tae-goo never gets to hear his side-kick's dream, because he drifts into sleep before he can finish his sentence.