Traumatic Nostalgia

          Peppermint Candy is a 1993 film directed by Lee Chang-dong.  It is a film that goes into a reverse chronological order of a suicidal man whose last wish is to go back into time is granted in the way the film is presented to us, the audience.  Magnan-Park mentions that this is the director’s way of putting an effort to “not forget” the recent history of how Korean society was repressed due to the rapid modernization taking place.  But if the film itself is something that serves as a reminder for such history, what does it mean for the characters in the film?  Throughout the early parts of the vignettes, we see that Yong-ho does not want to be reminded of such history, especially since it is what shaped him to be the suicidal man we see at the beginning of the film.  We see him destroy the film from the antique camera he is given from the husband of  his teenage crush.  We also see him “derail” from his prospected career choice of being  a cameraman as the hardships he faced during each historical event implants a violent trauma for every narrative element that carries some sort of nostalgia.  The leg wound Yong-ho receives is such example, as it is a physical reminder of the horror he has inflicted during his service at the army.  So unlike the audience that has the luxury of putting an effort to not forget, for people like Yong-ho, the past haunts them and Yong-ho could not help but remember his past.  So what difference in significance is there for people outside of this history and people who has lived through this history to put an effort in not forgetting such past?
          Secondly, why was the peppermint candy chosen as the title name?  Along with other narrative elements, such as the camera, the candy serves to provide a strong nostalgia to Yong-ho.  But it could also be said that it was a symbol of Yong-ho’s innocence as seen when he was first given one by Sun-im in the 1979 picnic.  Adding to the element of innocence, before the medical visit, there is also a scene where he gives a peppermint candy to Sun-im’s daughter, with children being the perfect symbolism of innocence, who gladly receives it.  This is a contrast to the scene where he spills the candies from the container and is forced to leave it when he was in service.  With his innocence lost, we see that quickly, Yong-ho is implanted painful memories with his leg wound and unintentional murder that happens soon after.  The candy is also something that reminds him of his teenage crush, Sun-im, the only person he is seen to care very much for.  So does the peppermint candy represent the innocence, or the loss of it, along with the element of nostalgia for Yong-ho?  Would things have been different if he had not spilled the candies from its container?

Lenin Amaya