Sister and his Brothers

For me, the most interesting aspect of The Marines Who Never Return was the character of Sister, and the way his identity and relationship to others was depicted. Obviously, in a film so concerned with masculinity and masculine sexuality, the most central insult is to depreciate a man’s ability to fully act as a man. Strangely enough, however, this nickname is given by Yong-hui. All of the nicknames are granted by this little girl, though they end up defining the characters to the very end. Sister, though, spends most of his time on screen trying to redeem himself, to win back the title of man that was only (officially) taken away from him by a child. Of course, it is he that ends up saving Yong-hui from orphanhood, and we assume they at least will have a happy ending.

What is the effect of the power dynamics between Sister and his “siblings”, let along his eventual daughter? He is the one who we know has a woman waiting for him, and he steps into a parental role. Is it emasculating, then, to be a family man? Perhaps it is the simple act of relying on/loving anyone other than oneself that designates femininity. If so, all ‘true men’ are self-loving, self-sufficient, etc. Certainly, this makes it easier for soldiers who out of necessity must forget the humanity of others during combat. However, this type of masculinity would also preclude any future for the society, as an inability to form a relationship and consequently a family unit would mean a lack of procreation and the kind of “living death” we saw in Driscoll’s essay. The women in this film are either prepubescent and asexualized, or hypersexualized and prostituted- both literally and politically- for the sake of the wartime climate. If the brothel women are too feminized to be mothers and the men are too masculine to be fathers, doesn’t that make Sister the only viable survivor, genetically speaking? This suggests a kind of gender teamwork or fluidity that is surprising considering the overall message of the film. It’s all very interesting!