I have a decent background in symbology, but I can’t shake the feeling that I’m missing something about the video played in E51 of Killing Stalking. Maybe there’s not that much to it, but Koogi goes for depth, so it’s worth investigating. Here’s a working theory.
On a practical level, we understand why Sangwoo plays the video for Bum. We understand why he turns the volume all the way up, and why he takes the remote with him. He doesn't want Bum to hear the sound of his uncle being dismembered. Considering what we've come to expect, it's almost a sweet gesture.
Before the video even begins, Koogi cultivates an atmosphere of dread. This is accomplished through Sangwoo’s sudden professed growth, the use of uncanny imagery, and a certain line Sangwoo says to Bum before leaving. Also, we've come to expect everything to go wrong in KS!
From a real-world perspective, it's not a huge stretch to call Sangwoo a domestic abuser. Don't stan me out of here; this is not a criticism of Sangwoo as a character at all. Look at my icon and banner, ha! I just want to take a holistic view of a work of art. When a violent person does something traumatizing, leaves, and returns expressing remorse, that's not a great sign.
Now for the aesthetic. What is considered to be creepy varies greatly throughout different cultures, but Koogi has used accessible horror imagery (and audio!) in the past, so we can interpret this video’s unnerving aesthetic to be intentional.
The most important thing to notice here is that the main character is a fox. The design might be a horror version of The Fantastic Mr. Fox, but that's not crucial. However, I want to make a couple of points about the aesthetic.
Compare the first shot we get of the fox in the video to the teeth of an actual fox. The epitome of the academic definition of “the uncanny” is nonhuman things that look a little too human. If you pay attention, you'll see that this is used a lot in horror movies, especially when it comes to teeth. Now, compare either of those pictures to Mr. Fox’s teeth. They're clearly based on foxes’ teeth, not humans’. They even toned it down a lot-- presumably because the movie is intended to be fairly lighthearted and child-friendly.
I don't know that everyone would have the same reaction to this last line as I did:
After seeing that the video wasn't horrific in-universe, and that neither of them disliked it, I could not figure out why Sangwoo said this. It's a sentiment that one would usually say to downplay how unenjoyable and/or uncomfortable something is. There are plenty of linguistic deviances in English based on region, education, etc. For my part, the best examples I can think of where a sentence like this would make sense are fairly outdated, and not phrased in exactly the same way.
Okay. Here’s the bulk of my theory.
Throughout several cultures, foxes are considered to be tricksters. A Cherokee story about a wolf and a “trickster fox” being bested by Bre’r Rabbit is a great example. This is a subversion of the fox’s typical role, which should please those of you who see Bum as the real villain.
The best-known example of the trickster fox is probably the kitsune of Japanese folklore. It’s quite pervasive in pop culture. I remember one of the first manga I owned-- this was over a decade ago-- involving a kitsune storyline. Another series released their latest English volume just a week or so ago. It featured a visibly Christian terrorist organization by the name of Nine Tails, a related spirit present in both Shinto and Korean shamanism.
So, who is the fox in this situation? I mentioned a couple of ways in which it can be Bum. (Edit: no I didn’t, whoops. Maybe I’ll bring up the second way in the next installment.) I think it's fairly straightforward why the fox could be Sangwoo instead. Unfortunately, he will probably regress to his old ways.
I have another theory about the video, but this seriously took for.ever., so I’ll write it out later.
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