Since we are talking about character death
Spoiler alert for the entirety of Train to Busan
Train to Busan is a 2016 South Korean action horror movie
About a train overrun by zombies
While dealing with the undead
The survivors on board are gradually driven apart
By fear and panic
"Those on board must survive!"
Being a zombie film, death is a constant
And I'm not talking about cannon fodders
I'm talking about CHARACTER deaths
People with personalities and motivations
People we, as the audience, care about
K-horror has a knack for killing
In good K-horror films
Death is impactful and emotional
But even in films that I don't think highly of
The kills are still meaningful
Sometimes used as social commentary
On killing characters, Train to Busan is a great case study
The deaths are not only touching
They are also poignant
Leaving you with a lot of emotions
And a lot to think about
And with its sequel, Peninsula, came out recently
I figure it is a good time to do a dissection
No pun intended (?)
Let's go through the film
From the perspective of three major characters
And see why deaths are so poignant in this film
All aboard
Let's start from the beginning
Our protagonist is a newly divorced father
And a successful and ruthless fund manager
"Sell all related funds"
After failing to come home early to celebrate his daughter's birthday
He agrees to bring her to Busan
To celebrate with her mother for once
And what do you know
A zombie appears
And chaos ensure
Desperate to save his daughter
He closes the door right in front of other survivors
Locking them away with other zombies
We see the father's business philosophy
Carries over to his day to day action
"At a times like this, only watch out for yourself"
Apathy is his defining flaw
And if you watch enough movies
You know he has to overcome it by the end of the film
We also meet two other characters
We meet the husband
"Touch her belly"
A full time loving father to be
Part-time zombie punching badass
He is a gentle giant
Someone who goes out of his way to save others
He is written to be loved by the audience
A flawless character
We also meet the selfish man
Who insults a homeless man the first time we see him
"If you don't study, you'll end up like him"
He has no manner what so ever
He would selfishly demand the train to leave
Before all survivors are aboard
"Why aren't we leaving yet!?"
"There's still more people!"
Opposite to the husband
The selfish man is designed to be hated
He has no redeeming qualities
Every bit of him oozes this disgusting entitlement
Now we have the characters
Let's kill them
Let's start with the husband
His interactions with our protagonist occur in three major sequences
First, when the horde of zombies first attack
He is the last to escape
Too busy protecting his pregnant wife
With the undead hot of his trail
Our protagonist shut the door right in front of him
Fearing the zombies may come through
"You shut the door in our faces, asshole!"
"You weren't the only ones in danger!"
Yet, despite the grudge he holds
He still saves the protagonist's life in their second major interaction
In this sequence
The passengers arrive at a train station
Where the army is supposed to be there to help escort them
As everyone scrambles to run away
Our hero is the last to escape this time
What did our big guy husband do?
He holds the door until the very last second for him
Kind and strong
The husband character is what we usually want to be in a horror film
Someone who loves his wife so much
His first reaction when seeing a zombie
Is to stand in front of her
Someone who can elbow a zombie
"What's with the look? Did I sound cool?"
Yes, he does sound cool
But he is more than just a wish-fulfillment character
Throughout the film
We interact with the husband
Through the eyes of the protagonist's daughter
She comes from a divorced family
While he is deeply in love with his wife
She's disappointed at her father for being apathetic to others
While the husband would risk his life to do the right thing
In many ways
He is the kind of father the daughter wanted
And by proxy, the version of hero we desired
We aspire to be this character
Both in real life
And in universe
As if that's not lovable enough
The film has one more trick up its sleeve
Usually in zombie movies
The base tone is either dead serious
Or straight up satire
For the most part
Train to Busan is a fairly serious movie
But in the third major interactions between the husband and our hero
It temporarily lightens up
And becomes a thrilling action movie
After the train station incident
Everyone runs back to the train
Our hero's daughter, and the pregnant wife
Are stuck on the other side of the train
To rescue them
The men decided to fight their way through the zombies
It's unexpected but satisfying
For a moment, It ceases to be a horror film
These characters feel invincible
True to his character, it is a fantasy fulfillment
But...
The film pulls a sneaky on us
Just as we are getting used to seeing them being indestructible
Tragedy strikes
As they return to the other survivors
In fear, these survivors locked the door
They could've easily made it
But on the other end, the others refuse to budge
With no choice
The husband blocks the zombies with his own body
"Stay back, baby. Please go!"
Sacrificing himself for his wife, his unborn daughter
And the new friends he made
"Take care of her, okay?"
His death is a big tragic moment
Even if you see it coming
Which most of us probably do
It is still impactful
Because the film, in more ways than one
Crafted a character that we love
It then sends this character to the highest of high
Before crashing back down for a dramatic end
And because we care about the character
We can't help but be emotional
The death becomes memorable
But that's not the only way to write a good death
On the opposite end of the spectrum
Death can also be satisfying
Let's talk about the selfish man
A man so unlikeable
He will get your blood boiling
Aside from his general rude and self-centered behavior
Every move he makes is made out of a selfish desire
When the first wave of zombie attacks
He is the first one to yell
"Get the door! The door!"
During the train station incident
He is the first one to tell the operators to leave
Without everyone on board
"Why aren't we leaving yet?!"
But most importantly
He is directly responsible for the death of the husband character
Personally holding the door shut
Refusing to let our heroes in
The selfish man is as unlikable
As the husband is lovable
As such, his inevitable and predictable death
Feels satisfying
And stress reliving
But there is more to this character's unlikeability
Than simply making him the asshole
"He's infected!"
"He's one of them!"
If you are in the selfish man's position?
Would you trust the protagonist?
Trust that they fought through train carts full of zombies
Completely unharmed?
I don't know if I would
That's the thing about him
His actions may be rude and unpleasant
"We've got to throw them out!"
But his logic, on some level, is sound
It makes sense to us
And that's not a good feeling to have
To find yourself agreeing with an utter asshole
It forces us to confront ourselves
And that is a deeply disturbing feeling for most people
To find out that we might be the bad guys
At the end
After directly and indirectly killing multiple people
Just for his own survival
Karma finally caught up
And, as expected, he turned
But, he's not done yet
To talk about his death
We need to talk about the one who killed him
The father
If you have not seen Train to Busan
This is where you need to shut off this video
And go watch this film
There are still great moments that I did not spoil
Including the ending
Spoiler alert
The father dies
In his scuffle with the zombified selfish man
He is bitten
To protect his daughter
He leaves his daughter to the pregnant wife
And...
Jumps off the train
As previously stated
The protagonist's biggest flaw is his apathy
At first, with some convincing from the selfish man
He is willing to shut the door and leave the others to die
He even made a special arrangement with the army
To escort him and his daughter to safety
An opportunity that he's not willing to share with other survivors
"You only care about yourself"
"That's why mommy left"
That begins to change, however
When the husband repays him with kindness
The husband character risks his life to save him
He then repays the favor
By offering a hand, helping him get on the train
See how the husband and the selfish man
Influence the action of the protagonist?
They are like the angel and the devil on his shoulder
Steering him between selfishness and selflessness
Or if you prefer Sigmund Freud
They are his id and superego
The husband is the ideal superego
What the father should've strived to be
A type of father the daughter wanted
And the selfish man is who the father will become
If he fully surrenders himself to his apathy
Someone we, and the protagonist, are scared of agreeing with
So, watching the husband being killed by the selfish man
The father is essentially witnessing the death of his virtue
Killed by his own sin
And so, in the final climax
When he tosses the zombified selfish man off the train
It really is the moment he abandons his apathy
The moment he overcomes his flaw
We know that
Because he sacrifices himself to save ,not his daughter
The man was attacking the pregnant wife
He sacrificed himself for a stranger
The same way the husband did
Death can be emotional
Death can be satisfying
But most importantly
Death can be meaningful
As the father ready to jump off the train
The last thing he remembers
Is the feeling of holding his daughter
He smiles in the face of death
Knowing that he truly does love his daughter
All too often
Death in movies rings hollow
It is used as nothing more but a cheap trick to incite an emotion
But more often than not
It only incites boredom
Death alone means nothing
If we don't care about the characters
Then, Death is about as impactful
As reading the obituary of a complete stranger
If Train to Busan teaches us anything
Is that the characters are what makes death feel emotional
They need to feel real
With personalities
And motivations
They interact and affect each other
How can a character dies...
If they don't feel alive to begin with?