I think we should be careful when talking about what is good
and what is bad because the perception of good and evil varies from
person to person depending on how and where they were brought up. During the
discussions this week about Friends I noticed many people mentioning right off
the bat that because someone is a gangster, this person is bad (or evil). And I
thought that was very unfair because we are bringing in our own personal perception
of what is bad into the analysis of a film. I think if we are to analyze a film
the first thing we should do is let go of anything we think we already know
about the topic or subject of the movie. I personally relate gangsters to bad
because of how I was brought up, I’ve learned that gangsters do bad things and
so it’s completely normal for most of us to think this way. What I am trying to
say is that I don’t think we should bring personal feelings into film analysis
in a way that it blocks off different viewpoints. Humm, if I am French Canadian
and have been brought up in that specific culture with the traditions related
to that culture, that constitute my way of life which also entails what is
right and what is wrong (how I do something/how it should be done). If I am to
travel to South Korea the first thing that will happen is culture shock because
the way of life will be different there, if I don’t try to understand the
Korean culture and simply use my current knowledge of how to do things, then I
will think (in a way) that the Korean culture is doing things “wrong”. This is
just an example to show how gangsterism is a way of life as well and its wrong
for me to think that the gangster way of life is bad just as its wrong for me
to assume the Korean culture and way of life is bad based on my preconceived
idea of right vs wrong. The fact that something is outlawed in a country does
not mean this specific thing is inherently bad, sometimes I think things are
outlawed because of frequent known (bad) consequences related to its activity. I like
gangster movies like Friends and the Godfather because they show the depth of
the gangster way of life and it shows reasoning. There is a foundation behind how
or why they do certain things which exists to be understood, not dismissed as
bad or evil. Also, It was mentioned that Busan was known for its gang related activities so
I would assume that the population of Busan at the time would be more
familiar with gangsterism in general and would probably understand it
better than any of us, I would actually be very curious to talk about
this topic to someone from Busan who is aware of this gang stuff. Anyways I was just thinking about this on my way back home from
school and thought I’d share it on here, feel free to leave a reply, I love discussing this kind of thing.
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