Journal of Korean Melodrama Peppermint Candy (1999) - Movie Review Example

Number] Peppermint Candy Peppermint Candy was directed by Lee Chang-dong and released in 1999. It is a melodrama which explores the degradation of an individual due to the social system. The main character, Yongho’s life is shown in reverse starting from when he decides to jump in front of a train railway bridge, facing a coming train. As he shouts ‘I’m going back’, the train hits and he has committed suicide. After this event, the movie goes back to 5 years earlier when the viewers are shown a series of painful events and experiences that Yongho went through and that turned him into a brutal policeman from being a young smart man full of ideas.

The movie shows that it was the manipulative and oppressive society that led Yongho to commit suicide out of the sufferings that the social system caused him. The movie opens up to show that Yongho was a young business and then he eventually loses his enterprise and his money due to the bankruptcy. He also goes through a failed marriage with a Honja who is a woman he used. He eventually loses his dreams of marrying Sunim, his true love, and becoming a photographer. The movie explores these events through the psychological exploration of Yongho.

The viewers are clearly shown how these psychological issues are caused because of an oppressive society in which Yongho loved. The society killed his individuality and his innocence to make him a person with no hope and no love. The director also explores how the political, economic, and social crisis of Korea in the 1980s and 1990s affected Yongho. His character was such that the Korean audience could relate to easily as he was a symbol of degradation of the society. Thus the movie clearly showed how the repressive and manipulative social system could absolutely tear an individual apart.

The society was a militarized and patriarchal society which was male oriented. The issues displayed in the film explore the masculine ideology that was present in the Korean society at that time. The most important element which showed the masculine ideology was the militarized society that shaped Yongho’s life. The military control over Korea influenced the masculine ideology which prevailed in the state. The elements that portrayed the masculinity were the organized use of violence and avoidance of the reproductive activities which are culturally feminine.

Another element which clearly showed the masculine ideology in the movie was the marginalization of women. The movie was about a man’s life from a male perspective and it totally failed to portray the feminine ideology even when there were female characters. Women’s lives and their perspectives were not explored in depth and the audience saw women being oppressed in the male dominant society. An example of this is Honja being used and oppressed directly by Yongho but she didn’t express her real feelings.

In the same way, Suni, who was the first love of Yongho did not express herself when he played with her mentally and rejected her. Females are shown as objects that could be loved, used, cheated upon, and ignored. Thus, this movie showed the experiences of an individual and how the social changes led him to a hopeless and failed life. The male-oriented society was the focus of this movie and a male perspective was shown. Work CitedPeppermint Candy. Director: Chang-dong Lee.. Korea: Shindo Films, 1999. Movie.