Vol. 2 No. 1 (2025)

Research Articles

The Scars of Memory, the Trap of Desire, and the Mirror of Class: An Interpretation of Social Allegories in Bong Joon-ho's Films

Published 2025-01-27

  • Ying Ma

Ying Ma
Anhui University, Hefei 230039, China

Abstract

Bong Joon-ho's films are renowned for their profound revelation and critique of South Korean social realities. This paper interprets the social allegories in Bong Joon-ho's films, such as Parasite, Memories of Murder, Snowpiercer, The Host, and Mother, through the lens of the scars of memory, the trap of desire, and the mirror of class. The films touch upon the collective "scars of memory" of the Korean people, demonstrating the historical causes and social impact of the "Han" cultural psychology through metaphors and representations of historical traumatic events. Employing Lacan's psychoanalytic theory, this paper analyzes the "trap of desire" – the alienation of characters in the context of capitalism, revealing the anxiety and loss of the lower class in the pursuit of the "ideal self." Furthermore, these films construct a "mirror of class" that reflects the solidification of social hierarchy and the disparity between the rich and the poor in South Korean society by depicting the living conditions of different classes. Bong Joon-ho's cinematic allegories are not only artistic representations of social issues in South Korea but also provide profound insights into understanding the universal problems of class conflict, human alienation, and historical memory in contemporary society.

Keywords

Bong Joon-ho, Class Allegory, Desire Narrative, Scars of Memory, Korean Cinema, Social Critique

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