The Knife as a Threat to Childhood Innocence

Kwak Kyung-taek’s 2001 film Friend shows a recurring visual motif of knives. In a basic sense, knives symbolize moral corruption paralleled with the deterioration of childhood innocence in the film. This is demonstrated through 

The first close-up of a knife is shown in the store that the young boys venture into in the beginning of the film. The knife is placed centrally in the frame, and occupies the majority of the frame. This scene demonstrates the first infringement of corruption upon the boys’ childhood. Up to that point, the boys’ childhood has been depicted as innocent and naive through their interactions with each other and with their social surroundings. The first appearance of a knife in the film seems intrusive on the general atmosphere of the film. However, as the film progresses, knives begin to fit more agreeably to the film’s atmosphere than the boys’ interactions do. 

The knife’s appearances in the film after the boys’ initial encounter with it demonstrate the boys’ deteriorating innocence. Joon-sook’s deteriorating innocence is emphasized in particular. When the mobster threatens Joon-sook by pressing a knife into the side of his face, Joon-sook’s integration into the gangster lifestyle is seemingly completed. From that point, Joon-sook begins using knives as personal tools to intimidate his enemies. Eventually, he trains his gang to use knives in order to murder their enemies. Joon-sook’s increasing comfort with knives, and his mastery of them, mirror his the expansion of his moral corruption.