[The Host]

The film The Host (2006) directed Bong Joon-ho, depicts a story about a bizarre creature that resides in the Han River. When reading Ainsfield’s article on the perception Japanese and Americans have toward Godzilla (Ainsfield, 53), it reminded me of other monster-related Korean movies, such as D-War (directed by Shim Hyung Rae in 2007). While The Host able to capture the international audience, D-War failed to do so; many Korean critiques claimed that Korean audience was generous towards D-War simply because it was a Korean movie (advocating the domestic film). I have not watched the film, but I assume that the dragon failed (at least for Americans) in sympathizing with the audience.

On the other hand, The Host was more than some monster that horrified the Koreans in the movie; the film introduces contemporary global political issues as well (Lee, 50). As mentioned in Lee’s article, I also interpreted the creation of host as the result of US government’s tyranny toward South Korea. For example, the movie implies that the toxic chemicals thrown down the sink by US medical official’s order (despite Korean personnel’s objection) created a mutation of a creature (the guaemul). At the same time, the first scene of the movie described South Korea’s obedience toward US – although the Korean staff is reluctant to pour the toxic into Han River, he does so anyways. Furthermore, the intervention of US in trying to figure out the “unknown virus” caused by the monster reminded me of US involvement during the Korean War as well; US approaches South Korea by justifying their interference as “helping the Koreans who do not know what they are dealing with”. To me, this called up the idea of “White man’s burden”, where the White (the Americans) position themselves as a higher being than Koreans – that South Koreans would not be able to solve the problem without their help (even when in fact, there was no virus to begin with).

One of the film techniques surprised me was Bong’s use of long shots without frequent use of cutting and editing. For instance, in the scene when the monster attacks the people for the first time, everything becomes chaotic. In describing this scene, where Kangdo runs alongside the host, the camera films for an extended time of period. As a viewer, this made the scene more realistic, as if the audience was running with Kangdo. This also reminded me of the long shot in Bong’s other film, Memories of Murder (the section which shows the crime scene).