The race against modernization

Compared to Peppermint Candy (2000) by Lee Chang Dong, Friends (2001) by Kwak Kyung-taek portrays the male characters in a completely different perspective. Moving away from the broken and lost man, the four characters in Friends re-establish their masculinity through violence, but also from their values of loyalty and honour.

  

The older generation of men in the movie are providers of shelter and food, but not leaders or figures that the younger ones look up to. One is a mafia boss, another is an undertaker, and the other two are almost inexistent. Although they were able to raise their kids, it feels like the masculine role within this social circle is not fulfilled. Their social identity crisis, mentioned in Choi's article, is the result of a reaction to the national economic crisis. 

The story of the sea turtle and the Olympic gold medalist is the allegory that describes their situations as young individuals living in a fast-paced changing environment. No matter how adapted you are in the environment, like the Olympic swimmer in water, you cannot win a race against others who are naturally born into the environment, the same way the human cannot outswim a sea turtle that has the natural physical ability to swim fast. Considering that they originate from a small town in Pusan, their abilities to survive the urbanization is difficult. They attempt this adaptation by resorting to violence, but in the end, they're simply victims of the omnipresent race against the urban city and modernization, as illustrated by the melodramatic scene of Dong-su's death.