Communication in Miscommunication

In Kim's article, he states a 'typical' pattern of Park Kwang-su's films. Usually, there is a male protagonist who finds that he cannot properly communicate with others and that the lack of communication will usually lead to violence and death. As he says, this is the case for Chilsu and Mansu. They both cannot properly communicate and end up in what could become violence and what did become death. Chilsu has difficulties communicating his true self. He is embarrassed of what has become, and he tries his best to communicate a different, more established person, especially to Jina. He pretends to be in an arts college while he’s actually working with Mansu. He also tries to elevate his status by speaking with random English words, also communicating that he is a person who is educated. Mansu communicates in different accents in an attempt to impress people in hopes of getting more work. Kim states that they “assume different identities because only disadvantage has been offered by society once their real family identities are revealed to others”. In this sentence, the word assume can be changed to communicate.

Some say that the only reason for communication is miscommunication. The final sequence could only be because there was miscommunication between the actions of Mansu and Chilsu and the people watching from below. Being labourers, their actions were interpreted as a part of the labour movement. This is because they are manual labourers yelling at the crowd below. Also at some point Chilsu pretends to throw a bottle that the police officers thought could have been a Molotov cocktail. There was no resolution to this conflict as both sides failed at communicating their intentions and understandings.

If the only reason for communication is miscommunication, then Mansu’s final act of jumping to his death is the greatest moment of all, it’s his final communication. But what could Mansu be communicating? It could be that he is saying that he is not going to live the life that others think that he should lead. He also could be showing that the thing he wants most out of life is freedom, and that through death he is able to be free from the constraints of his poor life. Mansu must also be aware that his actions communicate a message to Chilsu, and Chilsu obviously looks up to Mansu as an older brother. Up until this point, there was not much communication between Chilsu and Mansu, and finally Chilsu confesses all the lies he has told. Mansu knows the truth now, but he also knows that the truth can’t save Chilsu. Mansu’s actions could either be a way to tell Chilsu to follow Mansu, that Chilsu’s life had more value than Mansu’s, or … It could have been a miscommunication in its entirety.