food as a symbol of suho and sieun’s relationship in weak hero class 1
this is inspired by @dearmyloveleys’ analysis of the symbolism of food in whc1. please go read their post first, or at least after—it’s beautiful, insightful and will make what i’m about to say make much more sense.
food is involved in a lot of suho and sieun's pivotal moments of connection. the first is when sieun apologises to suho for trying to hit him when he prevented him from crossing the line.
this interaction lays the ground for the relationship the two of them will build over the rest of the first season. it's the moment suho refutes sieun's assumption that he is just another one of the boys at school out to get him. unknowingly, he creates the first crack in sieun's walls.
the food sieun goes on to buy him is a lunch at the school cafeteria (comedy king). although it's not at all what suho meant or expected, he has no problem eating it. over this meal they share, they get to know each other, and we get to hear the first little joke sieun makes in the show:
through food, they make their way into a conversation, through conversation they make their way into humour, and through humour into connection.
suho loves and enjoys food so much, it’s genuinely one of his biggest joys in life. and what he does immediately as he gets closer with sieun is feed him and share with him this joy of eating good food.
when he feeds him that ssam wrap, he says “hands make the food taste better”, but what isn’t explicitly said is that being fed by hands that love you is something different and something more.
suho makes it intensely obvious that the way to his heart is food, and food is what he ends up using to bulldoze his way through sieun's walls. and this loud and eager manner of suho's works on sieun instantly. as op pointed out, the smile in his eyes says everything: no one has ever shown him care so unrelentingly, no one has ever refused to give up on sieun so adamantly. and it means everything.
sieun takes notice of suho's intense love for food very quickly, which is made clear when he brings suho the ox knee soup he so craved to the hospital—and he doesn’t just bring food to suho, but yeongi as well.
that’s how this whole situation gains another dimension: it’s not just about sieun being attentive to suho and showing him care through food, it’s also about how suho affects sieun and begins to bring out of him the warm-heartedness that has always been there, but never had anywhere to go.
he notices and says as much: “you’re so warm-hearted. your eyes. the way you act, talk. and your face.” but what he doesn’t know is that this is his effect. he is not the one who made sieun loving and warm, but he is the one that gave him a place to finally express it, albeit in his rough, yet quiet and subtle way.
and the smile this earns him from sieun is a smile of relief, of being seen, of joy and freedom, it's sieun revealing his heart to suho for the very first time—and the way there was utterly interwoven with food.
when they feed each other, they not only sustain each other, they connect, they tell each other something more than what can be expressed in words, and through food, they both slowly carve themselves a home inside the other's heart.
while we’re here, i need everyone to take a second and look at sieun watching suho eat:
(no need to analyse this. that's sieun's first love. i feel crazy.)
if we are to look at suho as someone who spreads joy and light through food, a big part of this being him delivering it to people, then the instance in which he brings sieun along to help him at his job is just another, more active way of him showing sieun how to express the care he feels for other people and spread joy himself; by making him do it the exact way suho himself does it.
it’s a subtle bonding moment like no other—doing something positive for the people around you together (even if they paid for it, lol.)
an instance that might go unnoticed the first time you watch (i know it did for me) is when for suho's birthday, sieun cooks him seaweed soup.
really, it symbolises a crucial moment in their relationship. the first time we see sieun give food to suho is the cheap school lunch, the second time is ox knee soup and the third is the seaweed soup.
lined up this way, these three instances can be viewed as symbolic of the stages of sieun and suho's relationship.
when sieun buys suho that school lunch, it's nothing special—it's cheap, likely not that good, and bought out of a sense of obligation.
the ox knee soup is a meal sieun orders, picks up and delivers himself—and it's the exact thing suho craved. it's thoughtfulness, gratitude, friendship and fondness, all expressed through a meal delivered to suho's hospital bed.
the seaweed soup is food sieun cooks himself for suho. it's the final stage, a most intimate act a person performs for the people close to them. made with his own hands, it one of the most subtle ways to show care and love. bearing in mind that only hours after this, sieun goes into a fight completely alone against an entire group in suho's place, this meal serves to symbolise the fact that their bond has become unbreakable, that they would risk it all for each other.
and the most shattering part of this: the same way we never see suho eat the soup, sieun never gets to express all the tenderness, love and care he feels for suho directly to him. he's taken away from him too quickly for that. all of that unexpressed warmth, devotion and affection stays brimming inside sieun, until we see it spill out of him in the form of violence, pure rage and then life-altering grief.
to end off, i want to discus one more instance in which food comes into play as a symbol in whc1, in arguably one of its most devastating scenes:
first, it’s suho who declines, and we see sieun’s face drop—
—and it’s not just in temporary disappointment that he can’t make plans with a friend. it’s in a sense of unease that signals that this is the moment after which nothing will ever be the same: suho blatantly refusing to go get food, when from the beginning he has been the one always loudly and enthusiastically suggesting it and without fail agreeing to it.
then, beomseok declines as well. we could look at this as just another instance where no matter how there sieun is and how much understanding and friendship he offers beomseok, all beomseok ever saw and wanted was suho, so if he’s not going, he has no interest in going either.
both of the boys leave the classroom and sieun is left alone once again, dread blatant on his face, audible in the piano tune in the background that turns slow and quiet, until it fades out completely—and that’s when we know: this was the last good moment the boys will ever have together. it was the beginning of the end.
whc1 has managed something i haven’t seen in a while—to quietly and implicitly tell a story of such depth, to pour such symbolism into every line, every shot and camera angle, every expression on the actors’ faces and through this make the blatantly violent and loud scenes that much more impactful in a new and different way.
especially when it comes to the characters’ inner feelings and their relationships to each other, barely anything is ever told explicitly, and still nothing goes unnoticed if you’re willing to pay attention, even as a casual viewer.
i’m so grateful to every person who worked on this show and i hope they know we see with just how much love and care it was created.
thank you op for inspiring this <3
