Detachment and Attachment in The Road to Sampo - Movie Review Example

10 March Detachment and Attachment in The Road to Sampo Road trips are done for either deeper or shallow motives. In the short story, The Road to Sampo, by Hwang Seok-young, Youngdal is on the run with no solid direction, middle-age ex-convict Chung simply wants to go home after ten years of imprisonment, and former barmaid Baek-hwa escapes her prostituted life to go back to her hometown. The Road to Sampo has been adapted to film by director Lee Man-Hee, where he made significant literary changes. This essay explores the similarities and differences between these two different media, including the visual and literary aspects of the film and vice versa. There are similarities in Youngdal’s story and what happened between him and Baek-hwa, but there are also differences in how Youngdal and Chung found White Flower, what happened during the journey to the train station, and the ending. As for the visual aspects, the story and the film focused on the environment and how it reflects the diverse forms of attachment and detachment of the three main characters, but the film underlines more the development of friendship and love in its narrative through dialogue and sound. There are similarities in what happened to Youngdal in the story and the film. Both show that he is caught having an affair with a restaurant owner's wife and so he runs away. Youngdal is also suffering from the “nomad complex” in the text and film. He has a hard time finding that special something that can make him permanently stay in one place. It could be because of lack of economic opportunities though, which the story explores more than the film. In the story, Youngdal shares with Chung how he separates with Okja, because he lost his job and Okja needs to work in another place. They promised to be together again, but they know that they are young and poor. Love is not enough to fill hungry stomachs. Furthermore, the story illustrates the detachment or sense of loss that workers feel, because of Korea’s rapid industrialization. In an article, Kwon Yong-min says: “The Road to Sampo sketches Korea in the 1970s well, showing its rapid urbanization and relentless industrialization. It symbolically shows the sense of loss that the “uprooted” laborers experienced…” (Park 90). This sense of loss pervades in all three characters. They may not be wandering aimlessly together, but they share sentiments of uncertainty in their lives. Furthermore, there are differences in how Youngdal and Chung meet Baek-hwa in the story and film. In the film, they meet her at a restaurant in town. In the story, Youngdal and Chung meet her under a pine tree, while she is urinating. It seems that this scene was changed to avoid sexual connotations. Moreover, in the story, Youngdal and Chung did not change their course only to search for Baek-hwa. They are only heading to her direction by chance, because they are trying to catch a train to Gamchun, so that they can take a faster route to Sampo. In the film, they seek out Baek-hwa for the money. The motives are different, but they eventually find Baek-hwa in the story too through coincidence. Furthermore, in the story, Baek-hwa talks a great deal as they walk in the snow. In the film, she and Youngdal converse with each other. Despite not speaking so much in the story, Youngdal and Baek-hwa bonded well, because he had to carry her on his back after Baek-hwa sprained her ankle when she fell in a ditch. The physical actions replace the need for conversation. They do not have to speak to understand that they are similar in many ways, for they are both cold and lonely. In the film, there is much dialogue between Youngdal and Baek-hwa. It seems that they are dating. Dialogue and music play a large role in developing their romantic feelings. Both the film and story employ the environment to describe the characters and their experiences of attachment and detachment. The story often describes the environment in relation to characterization and plot development. For instance, after eating a restaurant, the text says: “The wind coming across the fields increased its fury” (Seok-young 187). It represents foregrounding for the challenges ahead. Somehow, readers get a hint that there will be no completely happy ending; that detachment will win over the feelings of attachment through social relationships. The film also exploits the environment to illustrate the emotions and experiences of the characters. During their journey, the snow gets harder, but the people are “tougher.” It shows the Korean culture that withstands the challenges of their situations. Hence, the environment supports the strength of determination of the characters in finding happiness and their identities. The film focuses more on friendship and love than the story, which are the vital attachments needed to survive in a de-personalized industrialized world. In the story, there is a sense of serenity pervading the characters, but friendship and love flower more discreetly. It seems that the process of going home for Chung and Baek-hwa and going somewhere concrete for Youngdal have pacified their weary and troubled minds and hearts. Their companionship strengthens them, despite the harsh and cold weather. Chung and Youngdal share the same sentiment as they walk in the snow. Youngdal says: “When you look at it snowing, you feel as if there is nothing to worry in the whole world” (Seok-young 187). Chung affirms positive thoughts with the idea of a good harvest next year. He has high hopes for the future. He will be starting as a farmer and a good harvest is a good way of starting a new life as a free man, Seok-young describes snow as a peace symbol: “…snow fell thick and heavy. It did not make the going any harder, however…the snow blanketed them with a soft downy feeling” (Seok-young 187). When Seok-young says that the snow turned Chung and Youngdal into “aged men,” he implicates that the characters are undergoing transformation. They are finding a deeper purpose for their journey, because they believe now that they know what they want, and the strength of their resolutions reflects the strength of their self-identity. Somehow, being together has opened their eyes to what they want to do for the rest of their lives. The film stresses the formation of friendship among Chung, Youngdal and Baek-hwa through dialogue, scenes, and music. This seems to be a necessity for films that are adapting short stories, because the “brevity” of short stories compels directors to expand the plot more to fit the media of filmmaking (Cahir 10).Great humor filled their journey in the film. Chung, Youngdal and Baek-hwa enjoyed the snow, as if they are walking in the park. They have fun being together. They are connecting to each other as human beings. Baek-hwa also wears her heart on her sleeve. She tells her companions: “It’s only prison life that is hard. Life is a sea of suffering, as they say” (Seok-young 196). This sentiment, once more, reflects the sense of loss of many working-class people. They cannot keep up with the material advancements of their culture; their hopes and dreams are nostalgic of the past rural lives they once led. Chung wants nothing more than to go back to his village. When Youngdal tells Chung that Sampo is an out-of-way place, indicating its backwardness, Chung replies: “But that’s my hometown” (Seok-young 179). This statement reveals the need to go back to one’s roots and experience an old attachment, a bond to a solid history and culture that he loses when he is in prison. Baek-hwa also goes home to her family. She knows she will be happier and content with her brothers and farming, even when she has lived a long time in the city. These people are sharing their lives with one another. They are forming attachment bonds of friendship that helps them to become grounded once more to real life. The film also focuses more on the love story than the short story. In the story, Youngdal barely speaks and Baek-hwa monopolizes the conversation. Their attraction is also implied, because of the body language and little dialogue. The act of carrying Baek-hwa arouses feelings of tenderness in Youngdal. He feels in control of his surroundings, which he significantly needed, as a man with no direction or family to depend on. This scene is enough to remark on their feelings for each other. But in the film, Youngdal and Baek-hwa bond through dialogue and actions. They share a connection, because they know the importance of finding someone to depend on in this ever-changing world. The music reinforces the budding romance as they flirt with each other. At first, Youngdal does not notice it, but soon, he feels the same attraction toward Baek-hwa. The music highlights the importance of finding someone to rely on, someone steady and permanent. The ending of the film is, furthermore, different from the story. In the story, an old man tells Chung the significant changes in Sampo. It has been turned from a simple farming and fishing village to a tourist spot. The old man confirms what Chung is also thinking; vast industrial changes are not always good for society, because they take out the soul of a village: “The problem is people, so many people crowded into one small place. Crowds do away with the old ways of heaven” (Seok-young 200). In the film, on the contrary, Chung discovers the changes in Sampo on his own. He is shocked. The white snow around him sharply juxtaposes with the feelings in his heart. He is stripped cold and has lost the motivation for his future. When he sets out this trip, he believes he is coming home. But this is no longer home, and Chung no longer belongs to it. The story and film share the same ending of ultimate detachment. Youngdal does not go with Baek-hwa, although the latter seems to expect it. She feels sad for the separation. They may not be the traditional soul mates, meeting at the perfect place and time, but they bonded in a way that she has had with her former soldier lovers. Still, like other loves lost, she loses this one too. Youngdal dismisses a potential love affair. He is more concerned of finding a new job. The thought of an industrial Sampo thrills him. He is more motivated by economic needs than socially romantic interests. Chung also detaches once more from the real world. He has prepared for a simple and idyllic rural life and not the chaos of urban living. He wants peace and solitude in a small village. But his Sampo has become a crowded and noisy place. Urbanization has crushed the spirit of his homeland. Both the film and story recapture the detachment of human beings from their cultures and societies. The snow is forbidding and cold. It is the same as their environment; it is self-centered and does not care of cultural values and relationships. The environment swirls rapidly around them. They are human beings, but they are pawns of their environment. If they cannot fit it, they cannot survive. Capitalism demands labor, not social attachments. The snow is capitalism, unyielding and demanding. The Road to Sampo, film and story alike, share, more or less, the same plot. Three people have lost their sense of self, because they are swept away in a sea of rapid industrialization, where only money matters. They all want to go somewhere, a home or any place, which will reconnect them to their people and culture. These two media use the environment to explore the sense of loss in an urbanized world, where the winter’s coldness matches the emptiness of everyday labor. The visuals of the film differ from the story, however, because of the focus on love and friendship through more definite images and through music. In the story, the development of social relations is less pronounced, but equally important. The film and story have different endings, but they are essentially the same. Chung, like many other workers, remains displaced from their cultural communities; because the past, including the culture and dreams that go with it, has no place in an industrialized and materialistic present society. Works Cited Cahir, Linda Costanzo. Literature into Film: Theory and Practical Approaches. North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 2006. Google Books. Web 8 Mar. 2011 . Park, Jinim. Narratives of the Vietnam War by Korean and American Writers. New York: Peter Lang Publishing, 2007. Google Books. Web 8 Mar. 2011 < http://books.google.com/books? id=5LnilvUy_1gC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false>. Seok-young, Hwang. The Road to Sampo. Trans. Kim Uchang. Modern Korean Short Stories. Singapore: Heinemann, 1980. 176-201. Print. The Road to Sampo. Dir. Lee Man-Hee. Perf. Baek Il-Seob, Kim Jin-Kyu, Moon Suk,. Kim Ki-Beom, Kim Yong-Hak, and Seok In-Su. Korea. Yun Bang Films Co., Ltd, 1975. Film. Read More