it may be a stretch but has anyone talked about the scarecrow’s allusions to the wizard of oz… but a cynical, doomed version of the story
we have taejoo - the dorothy of our story, naïve and pushed away from his most recent home, landed in kangseng in a whirlwind, righteous and motivated but easily distracted and swayed
i’d say that sunyoung is our glinda, the good witch welcoming taejoo to kangseng, but making impulsive decisions without the full picture of what’s really happening in the land of oz.
we also have siyoung, arguably the wicked witch of the west, riddled with trauma and a startling lack of empathy, who at every twist and turn interferes with taejoo’s journey to find the truth. the wicked witch of the east isn’t really a person here, but you could call her the group of “suspects,” killed by taejoo continuously proving siyoung’s forced confessions to be falsehoods
we have the collection of police, journalists, and townspeople - who uphold the roles of cowardly lions and scarecrows and tin men - lacking the bravery, brains, and heart to stand up to corruption, protect the women of the town, and reveal the truth
you might think that kihwan would be the scarecrow, but he uses the titular straw man as a costume, a mirage. no, he’s the man behind the curtain terrorizing the town. he’s the wizard, magically shifting blame and accountability to others, revealing everyone’s flaws in the process
the emerald city is justice, but perhaps it never existed in the first place
taejoo takes us through the rice paddies - their yellow brick road - and tries his best to uncover the truth of kangseng, but we know he returns home to seoul eventually without the answer.
in the scarecrow’s story of oz, the wizard doesn’t reveal himself until 30 years later, when there was no hope of gaining hearts or brains or courage. 30 years of burying bodies and saving face. 30 years of the emerald city slowly crumbling until all that was left was the curtain and the man behind it.
