'Train to Busan' and zombie

The Korean film "Train to Busan" has drawn more than 10 million viewers. The film, directed by Yeon Sang-ho, is a portrayal of passengers, trapped on a bullet train to Busan, struggling to fight for their lives against an attack by people turning into zombies because of a mysterious and unknown virus. Throughout the film, director Yeon also depicts the ugly side of human nature of survival. The film was invited to the Midnight Screenings in Cannes, an event for a collection of genre movies that are expected be received well by both critics and box office, where the movie received a standing ovation, boosting expectations about the zombie train ride. Still, it is rare to see a zombie movie has made a big hit in Korea because the zombie genre is not something the Korean audience would welcome.

Zombies are the undead come to life. The concept of zombies was first believed in voodoo, a traditional religion developed around the Caribbean. Zombies are revived and controlled by a voodoo sorcerer. The 1968 film "Night of the Living Dead" introduced stories of zombies into the space of popular culture and set a model of zombies we know. In this film, zombies are the undead that eat flesh of live people and die only when their brains are crushed and a victim of zombies becomes a zombie as well. The audience never loses its appetite for this seemingly obvious and predictable sequence of events as the thrills of fear from zombies capture the panic and anxiety in modern society.

The success of "Train to Busan" in box office can be attributed to its showcase of lives of Koreans stained with fear and anxiety. Through the director’s storytelling of a workaholic breadwinner becoming less dedicated to family, an unethical fund manager trying to rake in more money, and an adult giving advice to a child to work harder after pointing a finger to a homeless man, the reality blends well into the imaginary world of a trapped train. In a setting of life-or-death situation, only a child and a group of teenagers are committed to protecting principles and the community, while most of the grow-ups are struggling to survive a zombie attack at the expense of others’ lives. One of the key messages throughout the movie is in the line that goes “humans are scarier than zombies.”

The film has left the audience a question: "Who would stay calm and reasonable with dignity until the end in the moment that death is around the corner?" The movie subtly criticizes the government for not coming up with resolutions of the risk. In the film, the government tries to cover up the zombie outbreak as a riot and repetitively asks the public to stay clam amid the chaos. This reminds of the government’s incompetence during the Sewol ferry incident and the MERS virus outbreak. Zombies are the undead come to life and they should have never appeared in the living world. It is unfortunate that, in reality, there are more zombie-like people whose lives are already expired but still pretending to be alive.