[The Second Take] Anxiety Destroys a Person's World

A World Torn Apart by Violence and Anxiety
Director Kim Chang-hoon Depicts Lives Shattered by Anxiety
All That Remains Without Future or Hope Is Desolation

Violence severs the continuity of life. It creates a completely different person. It fundamentally changes the world. There is no longer a familiar hometown. It is only a recurring source of threat. Trust in the familiar has collapsed. It is not because others are indifferent. The experience of loss rarely disappears.

In director Kim Chang-hoon's film Hwaran, Yeon-gyu (Hong Sa-bin) and Chi-geon (Song Joong-ki) form a deep bond. The violence each experienced became a basis for empathy. There was no protective hand to shield them from violence. They fall into the abyss of fear and cannot return to their original place. They are misunderstood as having fallen into a state of numb regression by others who did not share their fate.

Silence, distrust, and anxiety lead to the destruction of self-confidence. Helplessness and despair break the belief in the ability to act. Every action requires thoughtfulness and trust. Those who survive violence can only regain this after the pain of helplessness is healed. The process is extremely difficult. Sometimes, it is even impossible. Failure does not encourage new efforts. Rather, it approaches resignation, a boredom leading to death. Like a fish caught on a fishing hook...

Yeon-gyu changes like Chi-geon. Anxiety and pain pierce indiscriminately through nerves, head, limbs, and skin, erupting into madness. Violence has penetrated the unconscious realm. It actively operates there and often bursts out. It is the moment when uncontrollable internal anxiety pierces the body. At the same time, it delays emotional capacity. The barely encountered joy and ability to enjoy are crushed by anxiety and sorrow.

German sociologist Wolfgang Joffe explained in his book Violent Society, "Anger and revenge usually lack power. Anxiety simply invades memory." "Memory always retreats into the situation at the time and, when seeing something new, always repeatedly awakens anew. In other words, the past cannot be forgotten. Violence does not disappear. Survivors can never forget the memory of violence, even when memory fades. Violence firmly controls sensations and representations. Survivors can never escape from it. They are well aware that what is happening to them will spread far through the representational capacity of others."

Physical and mental incapacitation is the devastation of the human condition. Hwaran causes a rift in a brotherly relationship and puts a brake on inheritance. Yeon-gyu breaks the chains of physical frailty, destruction of consciousness, and denial of existence. He also escapes from the village (Myeongan-si) with no future or hope. However, he cannot reach Hwaran (和蘭, the Netherlands). Life is still Hwaran (禍亂, calamity and chaos). Anxiety tightly holds and binds both the past self and the present.

Anxiety is not a negative expectation psychology. Expectation, after all, is future-oriented. In anxiety, the direction of time is the exact opposite. It narrows the field of perception and invades psychological refuges until the person collapses. It drives one into uncertainty, which further amplifies anxiety. Meanwhile, the permanence of the world, the foundation of all trust and action, disappears. Thus, the continuity of time is once again destroyed.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.