Although Whispering Corridors may not be a conventional horror film, I think that it works very well in discussing the fears of South Korean dictatorship and democracy. While the film has a complex narrative, the dominant story is easily received, even by a Western audience, of basic history of Korea. Based in a girl’s boarding school in South Korea after the military ruling was lifted, every three years a teacher is murdered by the ghost of Jin-Ju; a former student who died, who has come back to haunt the school. Whispering Corridors works as a microcosm in the sense that the old teachers represent South Korea in dictatorship and the new teachers represent the new democratic South Korea. The murders of older teachers (Mrs Park and ‘Mad Dog’) connote the phasing out of dictatorship and new teachers (Eun-Young) replacing them are the start of a new beginning in South Korea. In terms of the ghosts coming back to haunt the school, this acts as a metaphor; although dictatorship has been phased out, there is always a fear that the past may come back to haunt them and promotes a warning to democratic South Korea. Unlike Western film, Whispering Corridors does not follow a linear narrative and could perhaps come across confusing to a Western audience. The film is mood driven rather than narrative driven; this can be seen through the regular use of transition shots displaying the empty and abandoned school corridors and class rooms and the use of close up shots of characters within deep thought or focussing on something in front of them. The audience is sometimes not shown what the character is thinking or looking at which is enigmatic and also shows the film is mood driven. The sound design of the film is perhaps a little dated within this film as diegetic sounds have obviously been enhanced during the editing process of the film and the reverb of narration of past characters. This can come across a little weird for Western audiences and perhaps lets the film down in my opinion. However, the non-diegetic sound within the film is used cleverly – although not satisfyingly. Because the film is mood driven and most non-diegetic sound within any film is there to set the mood of the audience, I think that it is used cleverly to tell the audience how to feel, even if the audience is somewhat confused about what is visually happening. The film constantly makes reference back to a set of finger bells (connoting death) and the noise of them is used at times that the ghost of Jin-Ju is around or the character on screen is in thought of her. The final shot of the film is the only shot where a character (Jung-Sook) breaks the fourth wall. This is metaphorical in the sense that even though South Korea has changed, the past will always be there to haunt them and this is a clear warning to the South Korean audience; this is very important within the film and runs into other South Korean film as the final shot delivers the film’s main message and a warning to the audience. As a Western viewer, I found this film rather confusing. However, I understood the dominant reading of the film. Excluding the message of the film, I wouldn’t say I enjoyed the film (except for the amusing use of a freeze frame montage and the ‘spooky’ jump shot of Jae-Yi as she approaches Eun-Young) as the story was hard to follow and a lot of enigmas were not answered such as the body under the floor boards in the art room; who was it and why the use of high angle static two shots in the library. Overall, I would give the film a 7/10 purely because I enjoyed the concept of the school being a microcosm and how metaphors have been cleverly used.
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