A new guest
contribution by Oded Aronson. – D.D.
A Werewolf Boy (Jo Sung-hee, 2012)
**** (Masterpiece)
A figure crouches in
darkness. He is scared of his own
shadow. He doesn’t have contact
with anyone or anything. He is
alone.
Meanwhile, a new
family moves into the property where he lives. They have moved to the countryside far away from the city’s
overwhelming smog in order to attempt improving the health of Suni, their
oldest daughter.
Since the lone
figure has stayed to himself for so long, no one knows that he exists. One night, Suni wanders the property’s
grounds on her own, wishing she was anywhere but in that dull place. The meeting between her and the lone
figure is inevitable.
Slowly, the two of
them begin to trust each other, but the fact remains that they might as well
come from different planets. He’s
a werewolf; wild, feral and knows nothing of human mannerisms. He lacks the ability to speak, and
thinks like an animal. Eventually,
the Suni family discover that the most effective way to deal with him is to
train him as though he is a dog.
They also give him a name:
Chul-Soo.
Although progress is
very slow, eventually the Suni family comes to understand that Chul-Soo is
a special man whose physical
strength, ability to adapt to many situations, and extraordinary kindness is
without parallel. Others cannot
see these capabilities in Chul-Soo because in many ways, he is not like
them. He growls at strangers,
chomps his food like a maniac, and does not have the ability to contain his
emotions. Chul-Soo does not have
the capability to smile through tears; when he is happy, he literally bounds
across the room with joy; when he is sad or angry, his growls can be heard
miles away.
One person in
particular who cannot abide Chul-Soo is Ji-Tai, the young man who owns the
property. Ji-Tai is an arrogant
man who believes he is entitled to special treatment because he collects cash
from the people who live in his property.
He openly mocks the dwellers for having less money than he does and
every time he opens his mouth to talk about anything, it has the same
portentous quality that arises when people learn there will be an upcoming
earthquake.
He is also in love
with Suni.
For Chul-Soo, Suni
is more than just an attractive girl; even though she was afraid of him at
first, Suni made the effort to understand and talk to him. Chul-Soo knows deep
down that no one else would have been willing to make the effort to understand
him on a deep emotional, instinctual, and intellectual level simultaneously.
Ji-Tai can see almost immediately that Chul-Soo loves Suni, which makes him a
threat to the relationship between Suni and himself that exists only in his
mind.
Consequently, Ji-Tai
resorts to gradually more desperate measures to attempt to kill Chul-Soo. He tries to make the people around him
see Chul-Soo as nothing more than a beast whose only intent is to harm others.
The fact that some people believe Ji-Tai emphasizes that in some cases, people
will willingly side with people they know are bullies if that is what it takes
to get rid of societal elements that they hate, fear and misunderstand.
Fear of the unknown
is difficult to deal with, and everybody thinks that their own way of dealing
with fear is the most effective because it has allowed them to make peace with
the processes which take place inside their own minds. Some people, like
Ji-Tai, prefer to lash out and destroy anything which makes life inconvenient
for them, while some others (such as Suni) try to talk to others and understand
what is going on in both their own minds and the minds of those around
them.
A Werewolf Boy is a deeply intense, emotional plea for all of
us to try to understand one another in the midst of chaos.
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