How Individualism and Collectivism Clash in “Train to Busan” and What the Film Suggests About Human Nature in Crises.
At the start of the film Train to Busan, the viewer is introduced to contemporary South Korean society through the prototypical individualist, Seok-woo, the film’s protagonist. Seok-woo initially appears as the stereotyped “success story” through the modern, capitalist society’s lens, that is until pieces of his personal life start to come together and reality reveals itself in a brutally honest fashion. Seok-woo has failed as a husband, and doesn’t show signs of being all that successful as a father, either, as he attempts to sway his daughter, Su-an, in his favour through the purchasing of unnecessary duplicates of consumer goods in the form of electronics.
Rather than listen to what his daughter wants the most, which is simply to be able to see her mother, he believes that a new Wii gaming console will be sufficient to fulfill his fatherly duties. This is despite his daughter already having one still packaged and sealed up in another unopened box, showing his financial success is wasted due to his lack of connection with his daughter. His daughter’s truest desires along with her emotionally intelligent nature, much superior to his, finally convince Seo-woo to do the right thing and get on the next train to take her to his ex-wife.
As detailed in Professor Michael Truscello’s explanation of his book, “Infrastructure Brutalism: Art and the Necropolitics of Infrastructure”, modern infrastructure, like the high speed rail depicted in the film, is an embodiment of the hyper individualist and unsustainable engine of capitalism gone unchecked. Once Seok-woo and Su-an board the train, the zombie plague that was hinted at in the very first scene of the film starts to present itself as the fast approaching premise of the film’s plot, as well as revealing that this will be what the characters will be dealing with and trying to survive through. When the first victims of the zombie horde start to become infected and part of the moving sea of the undead, the contrasting ideologies and mental models of the characters on board start to become apparent.
Seok-woo, tries to translate his success in the corporate world to the interior of the packed railway car cabins, as he pushes his way past others and hesitates to let characters Sang-hwa and the pregnant Seong-hwa through a sliding door as they try to evade a swarming pack of bloodthirsty zombies trailing closely behind them. Sang-hwa and Seong-hwa start to see the association between Seok-woo’s actions and his career as a fund manager, because of the lack of remorse in helping others in times of life and death.
Although Seok-woo comes across to the rest of the passengers on board as self-serving and arrogant, trying to find ways to cut corners and get one step ahead of everyone else involved, he is eclipsed by the practical psychopath in Yon-suk, a COO of a large company, and fellow passenger in the elite, business class caboose on board. Yon-suk represents the completely heartless representation of the 1%, who doesn’t seem to realize that he is literally on the same train as everyone else, and isn’t used to having to think about what’s best for the whole rather than just himself in many other circumstances. Once there is the matter of survival on the line, this cruelty is ramped up to the extreme, and Yon-suk does everything in order to ensure that he and few other business class passengers outlive everyone else, if that means closing doors on uninfected passengers and forcing staff on the train to give in to his commands to serve his interest.
Train to Busan is potentially an allegory for revolt against capitalism gone unchecked in that it presents the foul ways in which self-serving actors will create havoc in times of crisis for the rest of the collective group, and the self-destructive nature of this behaviour. Although Yon-suk, the human embodiment of the 1% in a hyper capitalist society, depends on the rest of the group to survive, he doesn’t see it that way, and sees others as objects to expend and use in order to be the lone survivor. The film Train to Busan suggests that a more ethical and sustainable societal buy-in and ideological shift is necessary for human existence, and that the status quo is a guaranteed way to commit collective suicide, quite frankly, if this does not occur.
