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Interesting to note in The Stray Bullet is the present of western influence, as shown by the female character who plays the role of an actress; she is dressed in western clothing and has a job that is coveted by those around her. In analyzing this film, the first thing that is present is the level of realism that is depicted throughout the movie; as a viewer, one can readily see the harsh difficulties of supporting loved ones. Also interesting to note is the presence of fast cuts (while characters are walking to their destinations) and the different vantage points where each scene is shot (there was one instance where the scene was shot from above, looking down onto the characters). However, what was surprising was the presence of foreshadowing as the mother of the accountant repeatedly screams, “Let’s get out of here.” The accountant at the end of the film also yells out the same exact phrase, the mother who became a tool for foreshadowing the future. For a film produced in 1961, it seems ahead of its time for its use of foreshadowing techniques.
ReplyDeleteThe film Stray Bullet ultimately depicts the hardships of post-war Korea. Immediately, the audience is able to get a sense of the devastation of war as the first scene shows a veteran using forearm crutches due to a severe injury in war. Furthermore, the difficulty of finding a job and making ends meet also gives the audience a sense of the poor economic state (not being able to buy his daughter shoes-the fact that the daughter calls her father a liar shows that he has made many promises before but was never able to keep them) due to the aftermath of the war. Evidently, the accountant seems to be the glue that holds the family together as he is hardworking (the only one with a stable job), the caretaker of the family (provides income, bails sister out of jail) and sacrifices his own needs (refusing to pull out his tooth to save money for his family) to support his family. However, nobody is happy. The source of each of the characters unhappiness seems to always trace back to the war. Although the grandma seems crazy as she randomly screams "let's get out of here," her statement ultimately describes everybody's desires to escape from their troubles. However, the household ignores her and continues to face their individual struggles. These lines also serves to foreshadow what is to come. Ironically, the last lines of the film is the accountant repeating the same exact lines ("lets get out of here"). This is a critical point in the movie as the accountant who was the most "successful" and responsible one in the family ultimate gives up. After struggling to make ends meet for so long the accountant is finally defeated and no longer has the will to go on.
ReplyDelete1961 South Korea has been implementing reformation policy in order to catch up with Japanese or competitive economic power. The movie Stray Bullet, shows the moment in which the Korean society gradually proceeds into modernization and recovery from the 6.25 Korean War. Perhaps Yu Hyon Mok used soldiers or veterans to illustrate the recovering process from the War. In my opinion this movie seems to demonstrate the hardship of democratization of US influence after the war, or perhaps capitalism. Capitalism has brought heavy burden to the family. Although the big brother is a public accountant (a job that is very profitable now a days) could not earn enough to live a satisfying life. The younger brother could not get a job even though he served as captain in the military, and the sister is indirectly forced into prostitution to support her family. Towards the end of the movie the "big brother" narrates how all of the hardship could have been prevented if he was rich, and interestingly the camera track shot shops filled with western goods. The crazy mother kept saying "let's go!" and the movie finished with the word "let's go!" This is a symbolism of the how people of 1960s wanted to escape from poverty and devastation after the war and its recovery. Perhaps the fact that Yu Hyon Mok started the movie with the setting of a Bar and western music to illustrate corrupted Korea. The movie also showed the existence of inequality like the family and the actress who lived happy life.
ReplyDeleteThe Stray Bullet used the historic realism of the time to produce a vivid description of the life struggle Korean War veterans had to endure in terms of family, romance, employment, and basic survival. Furthermore, I sensed the movie slightly looking down upon the capability of men and rather bestowing the responsibilities of security and income on the women of the film. This switch in gender roles is made obvious when Myong-Sook decides to drop her domestic ways to become a “working woman” as a prostitute in order to earn money for her impoverished family; Myong-Sook’s job transition was further enhanced by her change in fashion from wearing a 한복 to western clothing/jewelry. Something that caught most of my attention during the film was the physical act of breaking objects; throughout the film, several items were broken and some even multiple times--- such as windows, cups, and bowls. I digested this to imply the idea of breaking free from the burdens of the Korean War and escaping from the lingering reality of the physical and mental damages the war left behind. Going along with this idea, I found the grandmother to be a crucial element to the film, along with the physical, rundown home in the Liberty Village. I viewed the home to be a representation of the destructed and defeated lifestyle of a war veteran and the grandma who cannot physically leave the house to signify the recurring longing of all soldiers to want to move forward but can’t; thus the grandma’s repetitive line “Let’s get out of here” remained to be a lingering thought throughout the film but something that was left unaccomplished.
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ReplyDeleteThis film frankly shows the cruel poverty and the devastated state of Korea after the Korean war through one specific family. It is not only the able-bodied men in the family who are the victims of the war, but also all the family members and furthermore, all the people who are in this film. It clearly shows how it is like to be ended up at a blind alley. Chul-ho, who strives to be the best father, husband, brother, son...loses track of where and how to work things out, where to go and how to live to become the patriarch of his family. And this is where i assume the director's motif comes into the play. What does ethical life mean at times of violence? Is trying to live conscientiously possible when everything is going insane? It seems that trying to live honestly at times where people are fluttering their feet to survive is like a suicidal act. The director also tries to show the audience the extreme social situation during the postwar days and the conditions of gloomy life through Chul-ho's powerless breakdown. There is scene where Chul-ho is chased by the cops below Chunggaechun and comes across a lady, who has hung herself, holding a crying baby on her back. No other Korean movies have shown this extreme and radical scene situation till the present day.
ReplyDeleteThe grandmother springs up from her sleep screaming, “Let’s get out of here.” This is something we have seen her do repeatedly throughout the film. However, her last cry for help towards the end of the film is one that is confrontational with the audience as well as the realm in which her story exists. We’ve never been so close to her face until now—the distance seems violating and I feel like she’s grabbing me by the collar. Swaying back and forth screaming, she looks directly into the camera with a glare that seems hopeless and detached. Suddenly we are not merely watching a story unfold on screen but
ReplyDeletea story that exists in our own reality. Somehow by a simple cinematic device Yu Hyon-mok has broken the fourth wall and has allowed the ghosts of Korea’s past free into our present.
The film focuses on a family, but it also shows story of each sibling. Unlike the other movies before, the setting of the story is much more like recent Korean dramas, different stories that have a connection somehow, in this case, the family. However, the movie is a bit rough compare to the recent Krorean dramas. For example, the huge stage setting and many actors and actresses are introduced radomly in a short time that viewers have to take time to organize the characters and their connections. Although, the story is a bit confusing, the movie shows how people want to get away from their laking life throught the crazy grandmother which may be the reality of our world. On the other hand, edditing technology is much more better than before in this movie; between two scenes, they dissolve each other so that the next scene is shown smoothly. Also taking risk of going outer wolrd, not just focusing on one setting of background, and edditing of the movie, how the scenes are cut and added, show the development of technology in Korean movies.
ReplyDeleteThe beginning of "Stray Bullet" clearly shows how difficult life was in post-war Korea. The war veterans are repeatedly shown expressing disbelief that a person as qualified as the Captain is still unable to find a job and how they desire to go back into the army. A clearer portrayal of this feeling of helplessness is when the disabled veteran admits that he wants Myong Sook to leave him because he feels that he is incompetent and only "half of his body is alive." Myong Sook resorts to prostitution in order to provide for her family and the main character, Chul Ho, chooses to live in pain in order to save money for his family. One of his daughters constantly calls her uncle Yong-ho a liar because he is unable to fulfill her wishes during such a difficult time. Throughout the film, the audience can see that due to the difficult times, people are being forced to sacrifice their pride, their physical bodies, and even their relationships with loved ones in order to get by. Also, the grandmother's exclamations to get out seem to reflect each of the characters' feelings of despair, and often occur right when they are feeling most unhappy (the scene where Chul ho is at home before going to visit his wife in the hospital and he exclaims the phrase after her). Her exclamations mirror how not only the characters in the film but a lot of other people in Korea wanted to break out of their difficult lives in poverty at the time.
ReplyDeleteThroughout the film "Stray Bullet" the use of stylized dissolves to cut between sequences was a poor attempt at adding flair to a movie about suffering in Korea. The lighting was also quite poor except in the beginning to light one of the women when she throws herself at one of the war veterans. I did think it was interesting that most of the film was free of non-diegetic music to imply the simplicity of the lives of the characters and the lack of resources that are available to them after the war. I also liked the way the characters were sometimes distanced when walking together especially after Chul Ho is rescued from the police department.
ReplyDelete-James Seiling
The opening shot was of the well-known statue called the Thinker, which is a sculptural peice of a man with powerful internal struggles. This foreshadows that this film will be based on the struggles of a man's life. The film focuses on the post-war time period full of hardships. The war veterans all seem to have a hard time reintegrating themselves with the citizens, but all battle with internal struggles. One veteran feels inadequate because of his injury and use of crutches, which makes him feel pitiful and push away the one person that loves him. Another veteran struggles with earning money and gets sick of living in poverty and decides to rob a bank. On the way to rob a bank, there is a shot taken of him smiling at a bird in a cage. The cage is everything holding him back like his poverty and the bird represents himself. Because he has endured through so much hardship like the war and unemployment he sees robbing a bank his only option to escape. The internal turmoil pushed this veteran to break away from living morally because it was not working. Thus, this film is full of stories of people who were effected by the war, which lingered and created hardships in there lives.
ReplyDeleteThe film “Stray Bullet (1960)” opened its curtain with an interesting symbolism which grasped my attention: a statue of “thinking man.” The movie introduces a family living under a tragic condition- a man living with a shell-shocked mother, pregnant wife, two children, unemployed brother and a sister who offers her body to men for a living. As the film constructs the story towards the end, I pitied the father. His toothache seemed to visit him at the times of struggle; the struggle to become the entire “good father, a good son, a good husband and a good brother”, as he speaks with despair with the curtains closing. Like the statue of a thinking man, he constantly distresses to find out whom to be. Why the toothache? I thought. As I researched, I found out that all the Korean old sayings about “toothache” related with emotions such as: worry, burdensome, hopelessness, failure and tragedy.” Though, finally, he gets his tooth removed, he did not seem to feel better- in fact, worse. Perhaps the pain remains like his guilt that he could not become any of the “a good father, a good son, a good husband and a good brother.”
ReplyDeleteStray Bullet focuses on the devastating life style of post-war Korea. People are seperated, injured physically and mentally, and have some type of concern. The accountant has a toothache from the beginning which he gets rid of. It was ironic that he finally takes care of his own problem after everything he has sacrafised for is lost. The film also uses the railroad as the place for the main events and many major events occur either at the railroad.
ReplyDeleteCompared to previous movies we watched for last week, it seems more advanced cinematic technologies. By focusing on people’s face, the director might try to emphasize their facial expression and he might want audiences to understand the emotion of the people at the situation more easily. Not only this, when Mr. Song had conflicts with his younger brother, by showing all of 3 people, older / younger brothers and old mother in one angle, the conflict between the sibling seemed more serious and miserable, as they were shown that they were fighting in front of the old, weak mother. In the movie, there were many factors symbolizing something special. For example, old mother were out of her mind and thus, she always mumbled like “Let’s get out of here.” At first, even though it sounded like just insane words, when Mr. Song cried this sentence at the last part of the movie, I found that he might have wanted to escape his poor situation inherently. Eventually, his justice and conscience were of no use to make him live better. With many bad situations being overlapped, his feeling went to the extreme extent and he tried to overcome the emotional agony with physical pain by pulling off the wisdom tooth.
ReplyDeleteThe movie, Stray Bullet, encompasses a variety of elements that portray life after the Korean war. In this movie, we examine the life of a family desperately holding on to life in any possible way. Furthermore,it appears that Yu Hyon-mok also implemented symbolism to compare the pain and struggles of post-war life. In one scene, the older brother was seen behind several bird cages with birds inside of them. By shooting it in that particular angle, it appeared as if he was in a cage trapped. I believe Yu Hyon-mok used this specific shot to portray the significance of a bird in a cage. Towards the end of the movie when the older brother was aimlessly riding the taxi, he had reached his moment of hopelessness and felt trapped by the tortuous struggles and hardships that he couldnt overcome for his family or himself. Yu Hyun-mok uses birds unable to get out of its cage as a representation of the older brother's cage of endless pain and hardship. Therefore, the phrase "Let's get out of here" is reiterated to escape from his dreadful cage.
ReplyDeleteThe movie stray bullet shows the struggles of soldiers after the war ends. Some are in crutches and others are scared to be in the real world. For them, the army was their family and home so they are frightened to start a new living. The main characters mother screams "lets get out of here" it doesn't make any sense, but at the end it shows that people cannot support their families and life is too hard to live, so at the end he says, "lets get out of here" also. That's when I realized that the grandma wasn't totally insane.
ReplyDeleteThis film is a stark, brutal look at the state of post-war Korea. The characters in the film are "stray bullets", all looking for a target (social and economic advancement) but finding nothing. Each of the characters struggles to go somewhere, to make something of themselves in their own way. Song is an honest and hardworking accountant, but is so underpaid he cannot afford a trip to the dentist. His brother, a broken-down war veteran, cannot find a job, and so he unsuccessfully attempts a bank robbery, resulting in his imprisonment. His sister, rejected by the man she loves, resorts to prostitution to help support the family. Each member of the family, their desperation and the futility of their labor is underscored by their mother's constant wailing of "Let's get out of here!" Their work is no more effective than their mother's.
ReplyDeleteThis film portrays the misery and hardships that people struggled through following the Korean War. What struck me the most in this film was the way the unconscious grandmother would repeatedly cry out “Let’s get out of here!” It symbolizes how the people of Korea felt during that time period. They wanted to run away and escape from their daily lives to a place of no more pain or suffering, but felt hopeless in doing so. No matter what they do, how hard they work, or how much they try, they never seem to be able to pull themselves out of their depressed state. What makes this movie unique is that there is no happiness, which is used to effectively depict the problems, sorrow, and agony that the Korean people faced and longed to escape during the post-war period, but with no prevail.
ReplyDeleteStray Bullet was such a realistic movie showing the life of a family after the war. The main character who wants to support family, but it's hard because everyone seems to have problems like his mom, who has mental issues, and his wife who is pregnant. It just gets worse financially when he has a toothache, but he is unable to see the doctor. I believe that this movie was an excellent movie at the time when Korea had a lot of struggles and the movie was able to connect to the people and there "realistic issues". I liked how the movie was very dark and depressing. It connects to the story. Also, the director uses the lighting to display a depressing setting. Lastly, when the grandmother yells, "Let's get out of here" it shows how bad people wanted to have a better life.
ReplyDeleteIn the film, Stray Bullet, Director Yu Huon-mok portrays the reality of the postwar life for Korean soldiers. Wartime was most definitely hard for these soldiers. However, what can be more difficult is readjusting to the "normal" civilian life. Coming home to their loved ones and trying to find jobs is perhaps just as challenging as war. In fact, one of the characters in the movie shares this sentiment when he says, "Army man are more scared now than when they were in the army." the psychological and mental effects of war have not only affected the soldiers themselves; it has also infused their relationships with family and friends as demonstrated in the broken relationship between the crippled Captain Kyong Sik and his lover, Myong Sook. Many assume that once war is over problems are solved and all will be well. Yet for the homecoming, war scarred soldiers it is really just the beginning of a long road back to normality. Yu Hyon-mok excellently directs Stray Bullet so that audiences can see the reality of a soldier's homecoming. Life is simply not the same as it once was prior to the war. The deep emotions portrayed by the actors and actresses set the mood of the film illustrating the hardships of life after the Korean War.
ReplyDeleteThe state of hopelessness, misery, confusion are words that describes the heavy/dark atmosphere through out the movie “Stray Bullet”.
ReplyDeleteThe movie begins with the symbolic image of “The Thinker,” the image of the distressed/suffering man, placed on the top of the “Gate of Hell,” successfully depicts the chaotic Korean Society and the intense confusion among its people during the post-war era. The heavy and depressing background music also adds much to set the feeling of the movie.
Through this movie we can understand and observe the agonies that Korean men had to go through after the Korean War. These men in the movie, including Mr. Song the main character, who have just came back from the combat are having incredibly hard time adapting to the normal society partially because of their psychological and physical scars from the war and mostly because of the poor condition that the country itself had fallen in. Most of them have the strong desire to run away from the whole situation. For example, the mentally ill grandmother shouts many times in angry and frightened voice, “Let’s get out of here!” Others try hard to live through this miserable life but most of them fail to do so. For instance, Kyung-Sik, the lover of Myung Sook, is crippled and falls into thinking that he is useless and can no longer accept the love that Myung-Sook is trying to give to him which eventually leads Myung-Sook to become the mistress of the U.S soldiers. Young-ho, the little brother of Mr.Song tries to lead an honest life but can not bare the poverty and captured by the police while trying to rob the bank in desperation. The main character Mr. Song also try hard to cope with the situation. He fights with his terrible toothache whole through the movie, while trying to get a job, bare his young daughter’s cry for new shoes, and support his ill mother.
However, at the end of the movie he finally give up and goes to the dentist and take out the rotten teeth. Then comes the most significant scene of the movie when Mr.Song catches and rides a taxi. The driver asks him where to go but lost and deeply confused he cannot answer.
As a melodrama, “Stray Bullet” fittingly deals with the concept of memory as a source of both deep emotion and trauma. Softly lighted persons and looming shadows follow behind characters throughout the film, creating a sense of an unrelenting past that lingers in their minds. Interestingly, the film self-reflexively refers to the reliving of experiences through filmmaking; the theory of “art following life” brings up the question of what function this type of melodrama serves for the viewer during that time period. The last portion of the film, however, in which the main male character finally confronts the pain of his toothache, offers a blurred, nightmarish vision of revisiting the origin of trauma. It could be that the intense pathos created by the film is meant to encourage the viewer to actively work to change the country’s problems.
ReplyDeleteAll the characters in The Stray Bullet have confused identities and are weighed down with burdens and inner struggles. The fact that nobody is happy evidences the conflicted political state of post-war South Korea. This conflict is further represented by the characters’ conversation about being a crow and attacking the scarecrow, an exchange which I took to be a metaphorical attack against President Rhee, who was, similar to a scarecrow, just a powerless puppet figure. Stylistically, I found it interesting that the camera would often focus on a broken object or on the floor, away from the action, serving to obscure facial expression and emotion from the audience. Also, at certain crucial moments, faces weren’t shown, however the audience is still able to gauge the emotion of the scene through other signs – for example, the teardrop running down the hand; I found this technique to be unique, powerful, and exemplary of the director’s artistic and storytelling ability and skill. Towards the end, it became clearer that there was a connection in the characters’ minds between morality and misery, namely that bending morality would evoke a certain happiness. As a whole, the movie was very cohesive in portraying the broken, conflicted identity of South Korea at this time, utilizing every detail to highlight the pitifulness, need to escape, and aimlessness of many people at this time.
ReplyDeleteIn Stray Bullet, the women's varying outward appearances depict both the differences in class and also the westernization of the time period. The actress we first see at the beginning of the film wears modern dresses throughout the film, "dazzling" jewelry, and even wears here hair back slickly pulled together in a bun, marking her confidence and also symbolizing woman's rising propriety in the professional world. Another taste of westernization we see are the phrases used such as "Good-bye" and "I love you." As for the technical making of the film, I found the director's method of focusing on the main character's feet towards the end of film, after he is left feeling defeated, extremely well-done and powerful. Even though it is done momentarily as to almost be missed, the focus on the slow, steady, and almost dragging of the feet was effective in giving the audience a sense of the hopelessness he must have been feeling.
ReplyDeleteI get the impression that "Stray Bullet" is a euphemism for individuals who have fallen out of sync with life (particularly the War veterans), as well as individuals who have moved on, or more specifically, the modern women. In post-war Korea the veterans come home to no jobs and their humiliation comes from not being able to support himself or his family since men were expected to "bring home the bacon." The men in the movie are morose and hopeless individuals because the War has crippled them physically and, or emotionally. On the contrary, some women have reinvented themselves through being able to work outside of the household. One such modern woman is Miri, the actress. Her enthusiasm for show business comes from her potential and the opportunies the industry has to offer. Call girls who service the America GI's have also reinvented themselves through the currency of their sexuality. In a sense, these men and women are all bullets that have been led astray from the life they had envisioned because they ended up in a place that they did not expect or could have predicted and for the veterans they ended up in a desperate place, whereas for the women the world holds for them more potential.
ReplyDeleteFrom the beginning, the pondering statue foreshadowed that the film would be somber. The grandmother’s pleas also foreshadowed the difficult ordeals of life that the family would go through. The title of the film also reveals how life for these characters is uncontrollable like a stray bullet. The clerk/big brother/father’s positionality in the ending scene puts him in the rear seat of a taxi. However, he is unable to control where he is going because of all the pain and hardships he is suffering. Thus he is reduced to desperation for escape and going anywhere but his current position. Bullets have to be carefully aimed in order to get the correct target. This example illustrates how many (but not all) Koreans had difficulty adjusting to post-war Korea due to extenuating circumstances. The frustration due to this is pervasive, but they can only keep soldiering on. This film documents how “liberation” did not liberate everyone from adversity.
ReplyDeleteIt is necessary to view "The Stray Bullet" with the historical context of the time period. When looking at Korea in 1960 we find the "culture of despair" marked by severe pessimism and nihilism. This attitude towards life is evident throughout the film, seen with the grandma's consistent moaning of "가자!" which is generally ignored by the other characters. This is due to the fact that while most feel it is a dismal lifestyle, there is no escape. We see a majority of characters succumb to this realization of hopelessness with Yong Ho resorting to having to rob a bank then wishing to die after being caught, and the gradual breakdown of Chul Ho into a confused, zombie-like state. However, perhaps more important is the theme of gender roles. With the state of the economy, many of the men were stripped of their role as "breadwinner" for their family and were unemployed. We find that many of the male characters seem to lose their identity and purpose in life once stepping out of their typical role. This is evident with consistent references to better days in the army, and with the disappearance of the man who lost his leg (him feeling a strong feeling of worthlessness and incapable).
ReplyDeleteA taste of westernization in Korea can be seen in this film, Stray Bullet, which is based on the life style of post war Korea. Scenes such as the gunfight and the kissing scene are scenes that can be easily seen in Hollywood. The man with a gun running away from the police seemed like one of the scenes from western film. Different from previous films we watched in class, this film’s camera work was mostly on track, where camera moves instead of lens moving. Also, in the beginning of the film the lighting was very poor, which it gave a sense of gloomy and depressing atmosphere, but it seemed like a poor technology.
ReplyDeleteThe characters of the film are all caught up in a catch-22 situation, in which they really can't do anything to get out of their miserable lives. As the grandmother keeps shouting "가자", the other characters simply sigh and ignore her because they know that it is impossible to escape their dreadful lifestyle. The ruined lives of the characters in the film show that war has destructed the lives of the soldiers as well as the civilians. The aftermath of the war is almost as dreadful as the war itself, for the happiness that once prevailed could not be restored due to the devastation caused by war. The suffocating lives of the characters are well-delivered to the audience due to the fact that this fictional story might as well be real, in that during the post-war period, many people actually were devastated due to poverty, lack of will, and broken hearts.
ReplyDeleteI found the grandmother to be an interesting addition to the movie. I counted her saying the words "Let's get out of here," 10 times before I stopped tallying. At first, the words seemed to come at intermitent periods, but I eventually I noticed a pattern. The words seemed to come more frequently at times of distress and when there seemed to be little hope of getting out of the poor lifestyle the family was living in. For example, when there was mention of how little money the family had, the grandmother said those words. And when Mr. Song was arrested, the grandmother said those words. Ultimately, it led up to the son saying, "Let's get out of here," at the end of the movie. I guess it kind of was a message saying that life doesn't always result in a happy ending; somtimes you just can't get out of a lifestyle of poverty no matter how much you try.
ReplyDeleteYu Hyon-mok's "Stray Bullet", depicts a family that fails to transition back to a normal life style after the Korean War. After the war, the family is confused and lost with not much money. Everybody is unhappy with their own set of problems they are dealing with. The constant yelling of "Let's get out of here!" would normally make the old lady look crazy but as the movie goes on, it seems like it is a cry everybody in the family is shouting inside them. Young-ho uses his 'courage' in order to rob a bnak. Even though he is caught by the police after a ten minute chase, he still views himself as heroic. Things are not working out for Myung-sook as she is looking for a job and her love. Chul-ho has a toothache that has been bothering him for a long time. On top of that, his wife dies after giving birth to their second child. Ironically, Chul-ho uses the hospital fee his sister gives to him to pull out all the teeth he needs to pull out. He has the most burden as he is the eldest male in the family. When given a choice between Liberty Village, University Hospital and Police Station, which really is a choice between his mother, his dead wife, and his brother. he is confused and doesn't know where to go. The fact that the movie is black and white adds to the depression the film carries. The reason the movie is so depressing may be that the film is so realistic in the sense that it portrays a part of the society in those times quite accurately.
ReplyDeleteThe film "Stray Bullet" begins with the scene of Kyongsik, a disabled war veteran, breaking the glass of a pub. The pieces of broken glass on the ground symbolize the kyongsik’s family members as well as the majority of South Koreans living in frustration, during the post war period. Like the broken glasses, they feel useless and meaningless. Throughout the film, various symbols are used, and add greater sense of depression and restraint. After Sulhee die, the old man living next door drops a bowl and it breaks. This signifies the moment of shock and woe. The caged bird, which appears a number of times, also symbolizes those people whose lives are constrained with no freedom of money, responsibility, and duty. Another symbol that is very significant in this film is Chul Ho’s wisdom tooth. Although he suffers from the toothache from the beginning of the film to the end, he does not go to the dentist until the very end. This symbolizes his struggling to keep on going and to resolve the problems. Symbols are used effectively to show the characters’sufferings and frustration.
ReplyDeleteFrom the beginning to the end, "Stray Bullet" harshly reflects the reality of post-war Korean everyday life. The main character, Yong Ho's family struggles to earn money to support each other. However, Myung-sook becoming "Western Princess" and incompetent brother clearly portray the era of desperation when nothing can make them get out of the poverty. The lunatic mother who constantly yells out "Let's get out of here!" mirrors what Koreans kept inside of their hearts. The sick mother, being the oldest and the mother of all children, is suppoesed to be respected and cared by the children; but even her grand daughter would just stare at her and only talks about what she wants (shoes) as if the girl doesn't care about how elderly went through the hardship of war but only her material benefits. The mother is always in the background of the scenes inside of their house with great pain. Right after Korean War, Koreans desperately wanted to be helped to stop suffering from the post-war trauma, but like the grandmother in this movie, no country was willing to grab the hand thus the nation was lost and devastated. Therefore, the priority of life changed to making money from family or morality. At the end, surprisingly Yong Ho also yells out "Let's get out of here!" in the taxi. It clearly depicts the tragedy of confused young generations who's got all the pressure on their shoulders to reestablish the economy. Symbolized characters and the strong storyline help the audience see the nation's undeniably tormenting past, striking the dark reality instead of covering it up with happy ending.
ReplyDeleteThis movie is a realistic depiction of postwar period in Korea. Sadly, there were not that many options that war veterans could make to support a family. Among many characters, I would like to discuss Song's mother who stands out the most even if she doesn't say much other than "Let's get out of here." Since the beginning of the movie, she continuously says "Let's get out of here." She is almost like a ghost obsessed with someting (with the past before the war i assume). It can mean physically and economically getting out of such conditions. However, I believe her saying represents all Koreans' hope to "get out of" harsh life as even Song yells at the end of the movie "Let's get out of here" as well.
ReplyDeleteThe movie, Stray Bullet, is a representation of post-war era for Koreans. It demonstrates their everyday struggles and agonies, especially for veterans. There exist numerous symbols in this movie, and they're used explicitly to relate to Koreans' lifestyles during 1960s. Stray Bullets starts off with a huge symbolism- the statue of a thinking man. His internal emotions and struggles simply mean despair and hoplessness Koreans felt during the era. Another symbolism is the grandma's words: let's go. She repeats this phrase quite often during the movie, and in fact, the movie ends with her staring back into the camera as if she's looking towards us, supposedly the audience in 1960s. She's trying to give us hope through a motivating command: 'let's get out' [of poverty and hardships]. Moreover, characters represent the era as well. For example, one of the main characters has to go through prostitution to make money. Another example is when Mr.Song couldn't get his teeth fixded simply because of scarcity of money. In addition, Mr.Song's nephew keeps asking his uncle to buy her shoes and take her out to mall. He complies to her requests, but she repeats saying that he's a liar. This conveys the people's rejection and disbelief in reailty. Last but not least, there are numerous scenes in which objects break- windows and dishes. For example, when Yong Ho breaks the glass, the camera focuses on the broken glass for more than 10 seconds. This refers to Koreans' broken minds; no matter how hard they tried, life was rather discouraging for them, breaking their hopes, dreams, and will to go on.
ReplyDeleteStray Bullet, compared to the previous films that we've seen in class, was rather dry and complex. The film toyed a lot more with realism, not only through its realistic plot, but also through the various camera angles, especially the point of view shots. Some technical areas that I noticed was that the lighting and the soundtrack was a lot poorer than the previous films, even though Stray Bullet was released later. However, the mystery behind the grandmother's repetitive cries of getting out ("let's get out of here") and the uncle's toothache take the audience on a journey to decode their meaning, leading us to the conclusion that it is when he is heading to "Liberty Village" that life's pain finally subsides.
ReplyDeleteEven though my weakness lies in the interpretation of the arts, I will make an attempt today. First, I point to the relative prevalence of handicapped people in the movie. Sure, they serve to set the stage, to act as reminders (to the audience) of the physical damages the war left on the Korean people -- but they also serve to represent the Korean populace in general. (This may be an obvious point, but please read on.) The one example that stands out the most in my mind (though of course there are many others) is the blind man seen briefly as Yong Ho (the unemployed brother) visits Sul Hee. The blind man uses a whistle and a cane to try to determine his surroundings, and his place within it, but in essence, he is lost and blind in a world that refuses to accommodate him, and thus he must use what few inadequate sources he has to try to survive. Isn't this the precise sentiment of most, if not all, of the characters in this movie? To move on to another point, I would like to briefly point at the appearance of caged animals in both "The Stray Bullet" and "The Housemaid." The former had caged birds, and the latter a caged squirrel (though it was obviously a chipmunk). Obviously, both animals represent the Korean people at the time, and their bleak, trapped reality. What I found more interesting is the simple fact that caged animals appear in both films, demonstrating that the people -- or the directors, at the very least -- were acutely aware of the desolation of their situation. There is one more subtle -- perhaps unintended -- imagery of the "caged animal": after learning of Sul Hee's death, Yong Ho briefly stands behind -- and in close proximity to -- two vertical bars, and for a moment, it looks as though he is behind bars, a caged human being. Not only does this shot serve as a foreshadowing of his future crime and punishment (robbing a bank, and then being sent to jail), it is another reminder of his trapped situation. As a matter of fact, Yong Ho himself refers to a "cage of conscience" during the movie. He and his brother are stuck in desolate poverty, he argues, because they lack the courage to break free of this "cage of conscience" (i.e. obtain money through illegal means, or at least break free of socially enforced ethics to pursue success, wealth, etc.). However, as he himself demonstrates, even this is an illusion; there really is no hope for them, as his attempt to rob a bank to secure a happier future for his family is easily thwarted. "Let's get out of here," Mr. Song's mother begs, to which Mr. Song replies, "Only if we could." (Or something like that.) That brief exchange was the thesis statement, so to speak, of the entire movie.
ReplyDeleteI thought that the film showed how the father is always trying to provide the best for his family. No matter what he does, he always has the best interest of his family at heart, even if it doesn't appear that way. This film shows war in a way that many of us do not often get to see, in it's true form and how it can affect and man and his daily life. I thought the film was very eye opening in the fact that it didn't choose to sugar coat the reality of war.It also amazes me at the fact that the main character in the film tries as hard as he can to have a normal life, but nothing works. He strives to acheive the norm of the "nuclear family" but it doesn't work. He is forced to live a marginalized life that society does not approve of. His sister becomes a prostitute, one of many things that doesn't go the way he wants it. The man in the movie wants to be accpeted into society so badly so that he can fit in. This makes me question why the norm is what everybody wants to be apart of.
ReplyDeleteThe movie portrays the hopelessness of the post war era very well. Sadness was portrayed in every characters' story. From the single brother and his murdered lover to the sister becoming a prostitute. One of the camera angles that was very interesting and effective was the birds eye view. Showing the character from a higher angle makes the audience feel like we are looking down upon the person, we see their desolation just by watching the way they walk. An interesting line that the older brother said was, "If only i had broken the cage of conscience then i would have been richer." But the interesting part was this was what the younger brother did; rob a bank, and it got him nowhere.
ReplyDeleteSomething simple that I noticed in this film but I am noticing in all the korean films we have been watching is their frequent use of symbols. In this movie the thinker is used to symbolized the internal struggle. But in other movies similar things are used. I wonder why many western things are used and not classical Korean art/other objects. Maybe I am just not well informed enough about the Korean culture to pick up on them. Either way it is a very nice way to foreshadow events and tie things together.
ReplyDeleteThe film implies the sorrow of the Post-Korean War Period. The director discribed delicately and realistically that the war left not only the grief but also the emptiness of life. Even the soldiers discharged after the war, their life was miserable. They couldn't find a job to support their family. They drowned their cares in drink. They were purposeless. Finally, Young-ho got "the courage" to live a better life, but he ended to rob a bank and his attempt even ended in failure. When Chul-ho, his brother, saw Young-ho at police station, he was tormented by his doubts about his life. He had a good conscience all the time and he tried to be a good father, husband, brother, son and clerk. He even endured toothache for long. Chul-ho couldn't help to be blank such as a "stray bullet." In this film, the stray bullet is more likely to say that a bullet just lost its way to head to a target. At last, Chul-ho took a taxi without knowing where to go. The film didn't tell where his destination was. And the last scene was filled with lots of cars. In my opinion, the last scene implies that the cars may just proceed without thinking the destination, just like him.
ReplyDeleteAlthough the film The Stray Bullet has not been fully restored i felt that it was hard to follow. The story line consisted of to many characters which did not allow the audience to fully connect with them and understand their point of view. I felt that the camera angles in the movie made it hard to understand how poor the family really was, the director showed the husband/step brother walking toward the slums but if the camera was more elevated and showed that the whole neighborhood was slums then i believe that the audience would have understood just how his family was. However in some other scenes such as when the brother/war veteran stop running was shot well because it showed just how futile it was for him to continue.
ReplyDelete“In those days, a gun solved everything.” Regardless of its veracity, this line signifies the unbearably painful and complicated state of affairs in post-Korean War South Korea that both soldiers and civilians must face – a harsh, impoverished reality. Broken glass, broken porcelain, broken dish, broken legs, broken heart – even a broken tooth – aptly symbolize the agony of everyday life, broken to pieces. Against a setting of loneliness and decay, the film poignantly tells of a man (accountant) who strives to prevail conscientiously, honestly, despite knowing that the tides are against him. It seems to be life’s joke that this accountant who is so clever at counting money cannot make enough money. The film also follows the story of his brother, amongst many other finely interconnected stories, who realizes that the choice is between a good conscience and a good life, and attempts to steal money. The tragedy is that both characters fail at their endeavors; although life only allows one to choose between conscience and a chance at life, either way leads to defeat and madness. The film’s title, “the Stray bullet” is referred to by the taxi drivers, who believe that they are unlucky for getting the accountant, who has finally lost his mind, as they believe him to be the odd, lost customer. Sadly enough, he is not a stray bullet at all. Too many of them are all walking the streets of Korea, and no one knows the right direction to take, no matter how much The Thinker may continue to Think. Most interesting are the shots taken from mad grandmother’s room’s perspective; each time, the other characters can only be seen from waist up – as though they are all broken too. Pessimism is stark – but it is reality.
ReplyDelete“Stray Bullet” briefly shows the difficult life during post-war in Korea that how people were live in so tragic and miserable life.
ReplyDeleteIn this movie, inward and outward seeming is different. The view of streets and people are receiving western culture and so busy about their life. But the characters explain how each people are living in hopeless life. The characters want to be rich but the society does not let them to fulfill their desire. Grandmother is going crazy and she always mumbled like “Let’s get out of here” because she wants to go back to North Korea. Wife died without any hopes, daughter is obsessive compulsive about poor, and the two brothers, Yong-ho and Chul-ho, also are repugnance about being poor. Chul-ho has an image of best father, husband, brother, and son but he does not have his own life. He lives his life for giving money to the family. Throughout the movie, I do not see any fortunate scene. Everyone looks hopeless, pitiful, and aimless and death seems to be a fastest way to be escape from life.
The “Stray Bullet” reflects the gloomy side of South Korea with realism. This film describes how the individual characters tried to survive from the poverty for instance, the main character does not go to a dentist, his brother robs the bank, his sister becomes a prostitute, and his son delivers newspaper. After all the sad events occur at once, he criticizes responsibilities of himself as a husband, father, brother, and son. Finally, he takes out his wisdom teeth to feel free from pressure, but like the title of the film, he strays his way and confuses more within himself. Further, viewers can observe how Korean society is becoming westernized during the post-war era which we can clearly see through his sister. The film improved technically and got smoother between scenes.
ReplyDeleteThis film is successful in its attempt to give the audience a despressing view of the harsh living styles of soldiers in the post war era after the armistice agreement. Some soldiers even go to certain extremes as to say that they wish they were still in the army. This is ironic because life in the army is generally viewed as being the harsh and constrained life compared to life outside the army. Director Yu Hyun Mok does a great job of portraying the depression and hardships that the soldiers and thier loved ones must undergo such as living through pain, forcing themselves out of relationships, selling their bodys, and through unethical means to make money. The most significant quote in the film was the line "let's get out of here" which the grandma constantly yells. This line signifies everyones despair and desire to escape this life of poverty in the post war era. One thing I found interesting about this was that the grandma would wake up and say this line, then go back to sleep. This to me symbolized everyones desire to escape the real world and the harsh lifestyle it brings as the grandma does when she sleeps.
ReplyDeleteWhat the film conveyed was a sense of disillusionment with trying to live a ideal lifestyle in the aftermath of the Korean War. The characters all were affected somehow, because of the war. Even as the story progressed, things just got worse for the characters. The title of the film itself "The Stray Bullet" implies how wayward the path to a destined goal or target is. The film was essentially an existential film. Even the way the film ends, there are not too many happy beats. The war torn relationships, between friends, loved ones, and even family. The two brothers had very different lifestyles, but at the core of their minds, they tried to keep the family together, and would work hard or do whatever it took to try to make ends meet. Each character ad some sort of burden, and even death was not tragic enough. When Miri was killed, even Yong Ho did not react with a grief stricken heart. He went straight for the weapon, but not only was it Yong Ho who could not easily bring front his inner emotions, his friends, like the cripple caption, were the same way as well. When his brother, the accountant (Chul Ho Song) bailed his sister, he did not even acknowledge anger, nor did he do the same when he went to go see his brother at the station. Even after the death of his wife, and the unborn child, he had many emotions bottled inside himself, that finally at the end of the movie, when he is in the cab, he cried to go anywhere in desperation. The movie has a footprint of existentialism, and maybe the audience of that time could relate better during the era the film was made.
ReplyDeleteThe title "Stray Bullet" is applicable to not only the main character Chul-ho but also the other supporting characters. Chul-ho's life strayed off because he was so upright, which made him to live in poverty; Yong-ho can be viewed as one of the many stray bullets left behind the war; Kyung-sik and Myung-sook's love strayed off by the scars of the war; and Sul-hee's heart, shown in her letter to yong-ho, became a stray bullet by the young poet's distorted love. The taxi-driver's words in the last scene, "where did this person like a stray bullet come from?" puts all the symbols together and gives a certain image and atmosphere of this movie. "가자"--which the grandmother always shouted and Chul-ho mumbles at the end of the movie--surely means "to get out of here," but the Korean word originally can also mean to go forward. However, all the characters know that is all in vain: nobody paying attention to grandmother's cry and taxi-driver regarding Chul-ho's mumbling as a drunken man's idle words shows that. All these symbols both directly and indirectly show the ordinary people's strayed lives, originated by the suffering and injury such as poverty after the Korean War, which most of the people do not even dare to change.
ReplyDeleteThe movie "Stray Bullet" depicts the miserable and hopeless situations of the post war. Chul-ho lives with his family who are living hopeless lives. Characters around Chul-ho are Crazy Grandmother kept saying 'to get out of here', his wife who is a beautiful woman but forget the fact that she is beautiful and live hopelessly, the rubber brother 'Young ho' and the prostitute sister, and Chul-ho tries to live his life conscientiously in the miserable situation. However real word does not allow Chul-ho to live happy life.
ReplyDeleteThe scene that Chul-ho took a taxi is showing why the movie titled "Stray Bullet". In taxi, he does not know where to go but say 'to get out of here' like a aimless bullet.
The interesting thing is that the movie ends with the miserable conclusion and do not solve the problem. Doing this, the director lets the viewer think about it.
Frankly speaking, I had hard time to understand what the characters were saying with their different accent. Until I caught the sign “남대문시장 지점,” I thought the set was North Korea. To compare to American (Western) movies, Korean movies have lots of family-elements in general. Stray Bullet also starts from family to individual. Chul-ho’s family represents the aftereffect of the war. The poverty makes the whole family members in trouble. Even Chul-ho, who tries to live honestly, lost his destination at the end. The war and its aftereffect lead the characters to be stray bullets.
ReplyDeleteStray Bullet was showing us the traditional role and burden of Korean male. Chul-ho's mother repeatly said " Let's get out of here". This symbolizes the whole theme of this film. Chul-ho started to get tired of everything around him. The most effective scene for me was that Chulho took a taxi and couldn't tell exact destination. And he said that "I've tired of good son, good husban and good man... Let's get out of here" That seems to represent the whole aimless life of Chulho.
ReplyDeleteStray Bullet shows much more advanced camera techniques and cinematic technologies. Various camera techniques are used to dramatize each situation. Although the film can be a little distracting since there are transitions too often, the story is overall interesting and engaging. As for the quality of actors, the actors in the film usually do a good job expressing emotions sutiable for the situation, there are still some awkward moments where their acting is too exagerrated or just not good enough.
ReplyDeleteThe movie Stray Bullet illustrates the disillusionment and unhappiness following the post war era. Every scene throughout the movie symbolizes a specific event or moment of the times during the after math of war. The characters Chul-ho and the grandmother parallel one another, where they helplessly seek for some kind of hope through their sufferings, but are consequently trapped in another form of situation. Rather than having to act the reality of war out, the characters instead repeated certain acts or phrases to instill in the audience the great sufferings and consequences that has happened during the post war time. For example, the character Chul-ho continues to have a major tooth-ache, and is relentlessly seeking for help until the end of the movie. In comparison, the grandmother mysteriously repeats the phrase “Get out of here” which may suggest the escape of the war due to the lack of hope everyone had at this time period. All of the characters emotions play a vital role in alluding the depressing age of the aftermath war. Chul-ho’s family and the other characters persistently preserved a vacant countenance throughout the movie which infers to the audience the lack of faith and hope the people during the aftermath of war possessed. Camera angles would occasionally focused only on the top frame of the characters, making their emotions explain the miserable time frame of war to the audience.
ReplyDeleteStray Bullet was a very good representation of the Korean "melodrama as realism" type of genre. Chul-Ho, the accountant, is his family's only breadwinner and even when using all of his paycheck can barely afford to sustain them. His brother is a returned war veteran and throughout the whole film, is looking to find his place in the society he has returned to. As the primary family's plight is not already pitiable, the grandmother's constant chanting of "Come on children, let's get out of here!" implies that this family had endured a prior traumatic experience. Chul-Ho's sister Myung-Sook takes it upon herself to earn some money after her fiancee/boyfriend refuses to marry her after his injuries sustained from the war. She ends up turning to prostitution and though Yong-Sik (that may not be the right name, sorry) left her so that she could have a better life, he runs into her during one of her nights "working" and realizes that his refusal to marry her due to his wretched life has also ruined hers. Yong-Ho, the returned war veteran is looking for his place in his society throughout the whole movie. He does not find it, but is given the hope that he may a number of times. He found hope and love after running into the nurse that had helped him in the war, but that hope was crushed by her death. He robbed a bank so that his family could finally have money, but was caught and sentenced to jail/execution.
ReplyDeleteAs the title of this film "Stray Bullet", evrey main character is like the stray bullet. They meet a lot of difficulties and lost thier hopes and dreams after the war. The difficulty of Chul-ho's life become worse when others around him happen to die or sell her body to the us army, or get arrested by rubbing a bank. All the bad things going around him torture his life as his wisdom teeth that bothers him all the time. The action of pulling out all the wisdom teeth at the same day represents his struggle to get out of his gloomy life, even though the dentist said it is too dangerous to pull all wisdom teeth at once.
ReplyDelete“The Stray Bullet”, one of the most well-known Korean historical films, was Hyun-mok Yu’s revolutionary work of the postwar era. While other movie directors focused on the turning point of our society to Westernized and material-oriented life style, Yu was brave enough to point out the negative sides of the postwar era: depression and poverty. The main character Chul-ho is so financially insufficient that he cannot remove two wisdom teeth and suffers from severe pain. Also his family members are either mentally or physically ill, becoming additional burden for him. These daily aspects of Chul-ho’s life symbolically portray the ugly side of the reality. The psychological disturbances become effectively alive through Yu’s unique use of sound as well as visual background. For example, the frame-by-frame technique is often used to show the busyness or complexity of the situation, and high contrast is given to the scenes that require high level of psychological tension such as action or bed scenes. In the scene towards the ending, the taxi driver calls Chul-ho “a passenger like a stray bullet”, because he is unable to decide his destination while his mouth is full of blood. At the same time, Chul-ho’s family members symbolically become the stray bullets of the postwar society. In other words, the reason for lives of most ordinary people back then was rather lost and unclear. Just as you cannot bring back the bullet that has already been fired, the people’s lives without hope or objective did not have a way out and therefore were meaningless.
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