The Host
Bong Joon-Ho
2006
Korea

A word about names. Typically Asian cultures give the family name first, then the one or two given names (Chinese and Korean tend toward 2 while Japanese tends toward one. Japanese names by and large, but not always are polysyllabic. Chinese and Korean names are monosyllabic so:

CULTURE	FAMILY NAME	GIVEN NAME 1	GIVEN NAME 2
Korean	Bong	Joon	Ho
Chinese	Wong	Kar	Wai
Japanese	Kurosawa	Akira	-

Sometimes the 2 given names may be hyphenated as Bong Joon-Ho or Wong Kar-Wai. Interestingly enough Westerners revert to this order when they are listed on attendance sheets, registration forms and so on

This leads to some problems when an American publication publishes the name and puts it in the order normally given in the West.

Trying to remember names from other cultures is sometimes difficult for movie audiences

Monster movies

Monster movies have a long history going back into the silent era. The early Edison studios Frankenstein was made in 1910 is a good example, if you the Frankenstein creature a “monster”. The word itself comes from the Latin word “monstrum” a sign or portent and “monstrare” meaning “to point out” (also in demonstrate)

Frequently in film the word usually implies something large or huge like a dinosaur or dragon like creature or something like King Kong. In the 1925 film Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s story The Lost World was brought to the screen and contained some dinosaurs - one of which shows up in London. There are a large number of films in which monsters appear and attack major cities. King Kong, Godzilla, The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, Gorgo, and so on. However if the invading organism is small like a virus (Outbreak, (1995) Panic in the Streets,(1950) The Killer that Stalked New York(1950)) it is generally not considered a monster movie despite the amount of damage/danger it can inflict. Of course, as a rule, they don’t appear (except microscopically)

The earliest animal monsters are usually done through “stop animation” or with an actor inside a suit. Later motorized monsters done with animatronics (the first to appear are animatronic birds in Disney’s Mary Poppins (1964) and finally CGI critters appear.

Like ghosts and other non-real things, monsters have an ontology – that is “where do they come from or what is their origin” and an addition question can be raised “What do they mean?” So many films need to give some explanation for the origin of the monster. In the American films of the 50’s many giant forms of animal arise – ants (Them!) grasshoppers (The Beginning of the End) and so on. In many cases in the 50s they are the result of nuclear testing and radiation. The larger monsters seem to have more to do with social problems while the smaller more human ones seem to have more psycho-sexual problems at their root.

More and more the monsters have become CGI. For actors they face problems similar to being on radio where everything visual had to be imagined by both performer and audience. In some cases when the imagined object is large this is not a big problem but with smaller human figures where actors need to keep eye line contact it is more difficult.

Some people are unhappy with the CGI monsters in that their movements seem a bit odd and they seem rather weightless.

From the point of view of the film narrative – when does it appear? In many films the entrance of the monster is delayed quite a bit, Kong appears nearly ˝ the way through the film; The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms appears very early (but is seen only through snow) as does the demon in Curse of the Demon

Structurally monster film narratives can have many shapes and the monster has many different attributes. The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms has something in its blood that causes people to become sick; In Cloverfield there are some kinds of detachable bits that come out of the main monster and can attack; in The Giant Behemoth and Godzilla there is some kind of radiation that comes from them. So the damage they cause is not simply the mess they make by being huge and trampling buildings and people under foot.

Usually the films have some expert character in them who explains everything to the audience somewhere along the line, It is often a scientist (Them!, The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms) either within or outside of the military). (Kong is an exception)

Korea (Chosaan) is located in Asia and speaks Korean, a language possibly related to Japanese. Earlier theories that both might be Altaic have been discarded. One of its writing systems is unique (Hangul) and is remarkable in the way it reflects the position of the tongue in the mouth. It also makes use of Chinese characters.

Since 1948 after the end of WWII the Americans and Russians divided Korea up at the 38th parallel, thereby creating 2 Koreas – North and South with 2 separate governments. Each claimed to be the legitimate one. On June 25 of 1950, North Korea and China invaded S.Korea. The UN Security Council considered it an act of aggression and 21 countries of the UN contributed to the defense of S.Korea with the US (under democratic president Harry Truman) supplying 88% of the forces. The war continues until the 27 of July 1953 and is sometimes seen as an early if not the first of the “proxy” wars between the communist countries and the democratic ones.

S. Korea has had an involvement for many years with the U.S. and has been a major base for the American Army

In 1980 there were student riots over internal matters

Culturally there are many differences between the US and Korea. Like much of Asia there is a stress on family in Korea. There are different customs about almost everything from birth to death. The social and political structures are somewhat different. Problems with illegal activities are often different and are handled differently. All these impact on the film’s narrative structure.

The time in which the film is made is also likely to be reflected in the film. In what ways is this a “recent narrative”?

In this film, all the standard monster questions need to be asked. What is its ontology, what does it represent, how does it behave

How does this narrative work relative to other narratives?

The film is inspired by a real event – the one shown in the first scene of the film which reportedly highly accurate with the scientists far more concerned with dust on the bottle than what was inside. The rest of the film is not based on a real incident

AFTER THE FILM

No scientist to explain things
Beast appears early. Necessary by plot since the film is a “kidnapping film” in which the major part of the film is tracking down where the “kidnapper” and victim have gone. Unlike many monster films the people after the monster fall into 2 categories: those who want to kill the beast and those who want to save the victim.

The film is full of parallel structures: The family hunts the girl, while the government seems more intent on finding the family than the beast. None the less the 2 hunts are parallel. There are parallels in the family members who start off apart, come together and split apart again. Each of the members undergoes their own arc: the father, the 2 brothers, the sister and the grandchild. Two other brothers appear in the film. In all cases of the main characters the weak protect the weaker (and die doing so).

The film focuses on a rather dysfunctional family

Park Gang Doo (the blond), his brother Nam-il, his archery inclined sister, Nam Joo, his father Hie-bong and his kidnapped daughter, Hyun-seo

Once the family comes apart the film follows each of them separately. As the film reaches the climax the cuts between shots is not necessarily shorter, but the amount of time in the sequences with each member of the family decrease. Hence the sequences rather than the shots become shorter and hence accelerate the film.

Notice the sequence with Nam-il (the brother) when he sees the shop which reminds him of his “glory days” in the 80’s when he was involved with student demonstrations. Through most of the film he complains but does nothing. After this scene it is a changing point. The film reflects this in the sort of “hiding in the back streets” atmosphere where he meets his former rebel (now traitor)

Notice the amount of money and bribery in the film. The note picked up by the worker by the river who is killed immediately, the bribes of several people (one to whom is given the change for the daughter’s education) the attempted bribery to get out of the hospital, the “purchase” of the van and maps from the underworld guys, the discussions about the “stealing” of the money by the brothers where that is seen as stealing, not taking the food.

The appearance of the canister carrying the “Agent Yellow” (agent orange?) hanging from the wire resembles the shot of the creature hanging from the bridge – 2 forms of destruction

The film raises questions about lies about the virus (which appears not to exist) but which they ae going to use the deadly Agent Yellow on. Does this parallel other government lies to get their way or get out of trouble? Some have questioned whether the atomic bombing of Japan was necessary or whether it was motivated by other forces. There are parallels with Bush and Powell and the WMD which may not have existed. There are questions about Hillary Clinton and blaming the killing of “just 4 Americans” in Benghazi on a You Tube video which had nothing to do with it.

Cell phones have altered the possibilities for the narrative. This story could not exist without them (or at least would have to be radically altered). It is in that sense a very modern narrative.

The monster’s shape is almost “fish like” which makes sense given its point of origin – The Han River – a very wide river flowing through the middle of Seoul. The film is a good example of story telling in images. It first appears as something “cute” in a cup not long after the emptying of the chemicals - has 2 tails, then is seen in the river below the bridge where the man is committing suicide (not uncommon) Perhaps this is where it develops its taste for humans which it then starts to pursue. At first its hunting skills are not good, as is seen in the first appearance on land where it attacks randomly. Later stalks specific people. Creature develops physically and in terms of behavior which is shown visually.

The film can be seen as an “environmental” film dealing with the problems of pollution in the waters which have been very severe in Asia. This is not the first film to deal with the topic Godzilla in 1954 approached the problem of radiation and the social responsibility of scientist. Much later Troma films would produce The Toxic Avenger (1984) and a series called The Toxic Crusaders (1991) and then a film with them (1997)