The Rage of Young Generation in Lee Chang-dong’s Burning

Abstract

Film adapted from Japanese literature, especially Haruki Murakami’s literary works has become popular and has increasingly been mentioned nowadays. The film Burning, directed by Lee Chang-dong, a South Korean filmmaker, is a film based on Haruki Murakami’s short story, Barn Burning. Generally, it is considered that Burning portrays social inequality in Korean society today. This research aims to explore how the rage and the pain in young generation was presented and to examine how that illustrates the problems that exist in contemporary Korean society. From the study on main characters’ actions and the relationship between them, it was found that the rage and the pain in young generation appear in the film is related to family values and gender-role issues. The rage of the male protagonist comes from the painful relationship with his family especially his father. The effects of family values and expectations in Korea has finally ignited the flame of rage in the end. While the female character reflects women’s status in contemporary Korea. Korea has made significant progress on gender equality. However, in the midst of changes, the advance of movement to abolish discrimination against women has given rise to gender-based conflict and controversy in South Korean society nowadays.