Fusion or Conflict: Intriguing or Lacking?

Fusion or Conflict: Intriguing or Lacking?

Jeon Woo-Chi was a difficult movie to watch but at the same time entertaining. Part of the reason why I found this film difficult on the viewers had to do with the mythology and folktale related to the plot. Like a couple others have mentioned, I was quite lost in the first 30 minutes or so. But this was probably because the targeted audience was domestic. I think having the proper background and the ability to understand the Korean description without having to constantly read hard into the subtitles would have definitely helped. Another contributing factor to my state of confusion was also the clashing of time and chronology. We live in a world where time flows chronologically and we have adapted to think and operate so. Whenever a director mixes up the time, it intentionally makes the viewers think extra hard. It’s a technique not uncommon. It brings emphasis and attention to details we normally would have missed.  Similar techniques were used in previous films screened in this course. For example, Peppermint Candy.

Pertaining to the title of this post, time was merely one amongst many which all centered around the idea of “fusion and conflict”. By fusing elements that are not usually associated together, the director created conflicts in multiple aspects of this film and through them the viewers’ attention was successfully captured. In terms of time, the directors fused the old Choson period with the 21^st century. This involved the popular idea of time traveling amongst targeted audience, most likely young adults and teenagers. The idea of fantasy was also fused with reality, a common conflict in every person’s life. The computer editing provided the fantastic magic, wizardry and images of goblins and gods. And yet the setting traveled back to the 21^st century and the background was depicted with things that are real to us in present time. The choice of shooting the climax battle in an artificially constructed street setting meant for the film shooting within the film further challenged the internal conflict of fantasy versus reality. In addition to these, numerous cultural elements were also presented as a fusion between the traditional and modern trends. For instance, the music played when Woo-chi was tricking the King was imaged through traditional Korean music instruments but overlaid audio with up-beat and trendy music style from the 21^st century. Another instance was when Woochi and the dog saw how the commercial girls on the streets and girls in the clubs dressed. Again, this invoked a conflict between the traditional and modern perceptions of women and their body. In term of effect, despite the potential discourse within each of these cultural fusion conflicts, they generally served as comedic tools to keep the viewers entertained.

In summary, I think Jeon Woo-chi was an entertaining film to watch. It definitely appealed to the viewers’ senses through conflicting fusions in elements like sound, culture, time and fantasy. However, that was about the extent of this film. The conflict in time took away the flow required in a quality film. To depict conflict of fantasy within reality unfortunately also made numerous and countless scenes appeared to be “too fake”. The exaggeration traded away the finer details. Furthermore, there was little plot neither involved nor developed. The film in general was too superficial and lacked depth in many aspects. I took this film as something for a good laugh and show off the 3D technologies but definitely not a serious or content based movie.