Train to Busan: A New Background
Zombies have been a well-known factor for horror movies because of the tension that it creates. Train To Busan, directed by Yeon Sang Ho in 2016 has created a high mark for the zombie horror films as it explores deep in each character and reveals a new perspective about the zombies. The story focuses on an epidemic that turns human and animals into zombies. The main characters are father and daughter Seok-Woo and Su-An, who is going on a KTX (high-speed train) to visit their wife/mom in Busan, another city in Korea. While traveling, they have to fight against the zombies with the supporting characters that they meet on the KTX, heading to Busan, where they believe the police forces are. Through the images of the zombies (monsters), the survival fear and instinct is examined as the audience see how each character turn against each other and turn off their humanity in order to protect themselves from danger. For my adaptation, I will change the location of the epidemic, which is at Thornton Academy’s campus and some of the characters.
In Train to Busan, the zombies completely lose their humanity and attack whenever they see or hear a living person, which creates a suspenseful atmosphere throughout the movie and explore the survival fears. The characters abandon their moral beliefs of helping people and change to only thinking of themselves, which makes it even harder to stay alive because they are not working together. For example, when Seok-Woo and his daughter Soo-An run to the next cabin with other living passengers to get help, the passengers from the other side of the cabin make a tight rope holding the door from being opened, even though they know that Seok-Woo and Soo-An are not turned into zombies. This scene reflects on how humans are willing to kill their own kind for the sole purpose of protecting themselves from the threat. Besides the moral beliefs, Yeon Sang Woo also adds in the element of social levels: rich and poor. From the greedy CEO to the homeless-looking man, the audience can see that there are characters from different levels of privileges, and Yeon Sang Woo applies the norm of rich people have more authority than poor people into the movie, making it a fictional thriller movie with some cultural realities that are occurring in our lives.
In my adaptation, the location and a few characters will be changed to match with the background and storyline. From KTX to Thornton Academy’s campus, this new background will expand new areas where the characters can go to, such as the Main Building or the dormitory, where there is more security that the character can go to as a hiding place. The rest of the characters will be kept the same as the connection and relationship between them adds on the love element to the movie. My adaptation will comment on the role of men and women, that gender inequality is still a problem in our modern world by showing that men usually the one who takes control of the situation and that men degrade women as weak and useless. Followed by my adaptation, the audience would see the message of women change now, that they can make their own decisions and they are gaining strength within themselves, physically and mentally. For the ending, I will keep most of the main characters alive as the story in Train to Busan came to a sad ending when the dad passed away. Also, I want to add some kind of mystery in my adaptation so I will add a cliffhanger as the ending.
Zombies have been a well-known factor for horror movies because of the tension that it creates. Train To Busan, directed by Yeon Sang Ho in 2016 has created a high mark for the zombie horror films as it explores deep in each character and reveals a new perspective about the zombies. The story focuses on an epidemic that turns human and animals into zombies. The main characters are father and daughter Seok-Woo and Su-An, who is going on a KTX (high-speed train) to visit their wife/mom in Busan, another city in Korea. While traveling, they have to fight against the zombies with the supporting characters that they meet on the KTX, heading to Busan, where they believe the police forces are. Through the images of the zombies (monsters), the survival fear and instinct is examined as the audience see how each character turn against each other and turn off their humanity in order to protect themselves from danger. For my adaptation, I will change the location of the epidemic, which is at Thornton Academy’s campus and some of the characters.
In Train to Busan, the zombies completely lose their humanity and attack whenever they see or hear a living person, which creates a suspenseful atmosphere throughout the movie and explore the survival fears. The characters abandon their moral beliefs of helping people and change to only thinking of themselves, which makes it even harder to stay alive because they are not working together. For example, when Seok-Woo and his daughter Soo-An run to the next cabin with other living passengers to get help, the passengers from the other side of the cabin make a tight rope holding the door from being opened, even though they know that Seok-Woo and Soo-An are not turned into zombies. This scene reflects on how humans are willing to kill their own kind for the sole purpose of protecting themselves from the threat. Besides the moral beliefs, Yeon Sang Woo also adds in the element of social levels: rich and poor. From the greedy CEO to the homeless-looking man, the audience can see that there are characters from different levels of privileges, and Yeon Sang Woo applies the norm of rich people have more authority than poor people into the movie, making it a fictional thriller movie with some cultural realities that are occurring in our lives.
In my adaptation, the location and a few characters will be changed to match with the background and storyline. From KTX to Thornton Academy’s campus, this new background will expand new areas where the characters can go to, such as the Main Building or the dormitory, where there is more security that the character can go to as a hiding place. The rest of the characters will be kept the same as the connection and relationship between them adds on the love element to the movie. My adaptation will comment on the role of men and women, that gender inequality is still a problem in our modern world by showing that men usually the one who takes control of the situation and that men degrade women as weak and useless. Followed by my adaptation, the audience would see the message of women change now, that they can make their own decisions and they are gaining strength within themselves, physically and mentally. For the ending, I will keep most of the main characters alive as the story in Train to Busan came to a sad ending when the dad passed away. Also, I want to add some kind of mystery in my adaptation so I will add a cliffhanger as the ending.