Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Movie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Since last week we have been talked about Korean high school education and the studying abroad trend, I found this horror movie focusing on high school seniors preparing for the college entrance exams. It was published in 2006 by director Kim Eun-Kyung.
Story happens in a boarding high school created especially for students who have failed college entrance exams from previous year. It started with an advertisement by the principle introducing “the perfect school for study only” and close shots are around the campus. Dormitory, study room and dinning hall are newly renovated and look beautiful but lack of vitality. Everything in this high school is highly unified. Girls are dressed in uniforms with certain hairstyles and ruled by exactly same schedule of their daily activities. Girls get up early at the same time, brush their teeth in same room with same pace, do same morning exercises and eats the same breakfast during the same given period of time. Gilrs’ personal properties except textbooks and exercise booklets are collected on the first day they arrived school, because all are considered as disturbances, which could only harm their efforts for the test. We see girls lost their interests, their habits or even friendships during their preparation for test. They are taught that the only concerns should be the grade. It is not right to care about roommates or classmates because they are only competitors not companions in life.
Another storyline made me feel painful is the family of the girls. We see one girl, Kim Ri-Na, had strong desire to leave and was already mentally ill, however, her mother forced her to return and finally pushed her to the edge of her life. Family’s decision has been distorted by the stressful reality of education in Korean society.
“Do you wish to continue to be a loser?” Their mentor, a young cold-blood woman, repeated this sentence more than ten times in the movie. Originally from China, it is not difficult for me to imagine this story happening in the real world. Traditional admission culture and education system in Korea and China made college entrance examination a huge deal and had tremendous pressures and negative psychological effects on teenagers and their families. Failing the test equals to failing your first eighteen years of life. But truly, is it fair to define someone a “loser” based on test score? Is it valid to measure how well one learns in six years based on several pieces of test papers?
What do you think about the college admission requirement and process in Korea? Is a fatal examination enough to evaluate the education outcome? Does the examination well prepare students for higher education? Does it result more harm or more benefit? For broader picture, Do you prefer Korean way or American way of college admission? Why do you think this system has been effective in Korea and China for decades?
This movie is also known as “D-day” when it published in Korea and China. D-day usually refers to June 6,1994, which American army fought to win or die. It makes a lot of sense: A examination for win or die.
Thank you CJ for posting this interesting article and sharing your thoughts on the film! I wonder if the film has caused the government or activists to respond to this social issue of overwhelming stress faced by high school students in Korea, in the past ten years from when “D-Day” was first published? The film might appear to be exaggerated at times but I think the issues that it explores are very relevant to an Asian culture that prioritises and if I may go further to say, is terribly obsessed with high stakes exams such as this? However, I also wonder if students can ever avoid academic competition since being accepted into a top university is still often considered as a potential gateway to future success?