Movies

In the films The Chaser (2008) and Mother (2009), the traditional good guyevil guy divide is demolished. The protagonists do terrible things in their protective nature of another individual. The bad guys have their own ways to bring out monsters of their own. Here, the good guys are not characters of virtue but essentially individuals forced to act according to particular situations. The bad guys react to the actions of the good guys by virtue of necessity.

Traditionally, the good guy is a selfless individual who defends the oppressed, marginalized, and powerless against evil interests. He is also a person who obeys the law and seeks rectification for past errors. However, in the movie The Chaser, the protagonist is a former police officer turned gangster. Eom Joong-ho, the protagonist, is a self-centered individual who vies for satisfaction of personal interests. He is also suspicious and demanding. In the office scene, he yells at his employee for being lax and rogue. After asking for loan extension from another mobster, he immediately requests one of his girls to see a regular client. He is apparently in need of money to pay his standing debts.

Joong-ho immediately goes to the motel after his girl is assaulted by the customer. He slaps the customer, and asks him to settle the matter. He demands money from the customer, which the latter willingly accepted. Joong-ho is better off, having saved one of his girls and earned money. Joong-ho, however, soon realizes that several of his girls have gone missing. After the disappearance of Mi-jin, he is forced to act decisively. He knows that Mi-jin might be in danger. While searching for her, he dents another car in an alley. Accidentally, he sees blood splattered on the drivers shirt (the driver is unharmed). He senses that the man, Je Yeong-min is responsible for the disappearance of his girls. Yeong-min attempts to run away, but Joong-ho catches him. Both men are taken to the police station.

Joong-hos initial intention is to save his flagging business from bankruptcy. However, he soon realizes that he needs to save Mi-jin from the killer. This transformation is important because at this point, self-interest does not have a bearing on Joong-hos part. His goal is to rescue Mi-jin from the killer. Pursuing this goal is not an easy task.

However, the traditional good guyevil guy divide is not entirely broken. Joong-ho is, by nature, a good person. In a particular scene, he brings a kid to a hospital after being battered by the killer. Driven by anger, he then goes to the killers house and beat him without mercy. The neighbors are perplexed by his brutality (beating a defenseless person). Here, the bad guy is depicted as a harmless individual beaten by the good guy (protagonist).

In the movie Mother (2009), a mother (protagonist) gets involved in a murder case against her son. She is determined to prove her sons innocence. She loves her mentally challenged son, giving him extra care and attention. When the police arrest her son, the mother shouts in deep anguish. She knows that her son would never murder anyone. In the railway station, he defends his son from the judging public. She shouts at the passengers and railroad employees, with tones of insanity. Here, the protagonist is depicted as an almost insane individual who would do anything for the good of her beloved one.

During the trial of her son, she observes that the defense attorney is quite incompetent. Almost all people are convinced that her son is guilty as charged. Bypassing all legal procedures, she goes to find evidences to prove her sons innocence. Some of the evidences are acquired illegally and therefore inadmissible in court. She even risks her own life to find irrefutable evidence of her sons innocence.

The mother, the protagonist, is not the traditional good character. She is a person obsessed with a particular belief, based essentially on filial love for her son.