Disha Murugupandiyan - Week #10: When Pride Turns Violent
Pride is considered the primary, and often the “father” of the seven deadly sins. It can, in fact, be very deadly.
A perfect example of this is my favorite show ever (even though it’s kind of depressing), Weak Hero. Weak Hero focuses on the life of a quiet, loner nerd, Yeon Sieun who finally finds friends in two of his high school classmates through chance encounters. There’s Ahn Suho, a loyal ex-MMA fighter who always sleeps during class and Oh Beomseok, a rich transfer student whose father is an assemblyman. They eat together, fight together, and laugh together, but by the end, Suho’s in a coma, and it’s all Beomseok’s fault. Well, his pride’s at fault.
As a child, Beomseok was adopted by an abusive father purely for political publicity and had classmates that beat him up simply because they saw him as a weak target. As a result, Beomseok grows up to be a hypersensitive student with an inferiority complex that finds it difficult to make real friends. While he thought he found two new friends, the fact that they were more popular and respected than him sparked a flicker of doubt in his mind. That doubt slowly grew to hatred.
A scene with several intentional directorial choices takes place in a karaoke room, with loud music and flashing lights. Beomseok, along with Sieun and Suho, goes to confront the bullies from his old school and demand an apology from them. At first, Beomseok stands up for himself; yet, when they refuse to apologize, Suho steps in. When Beomseok sees that Suho succeeds in something he can’t, he feels what little power he had slipping. After everything Beomseok has gone through, he wants to stand on top and be the one in control. Beomseok then hits the main bully and for a split second, he’s in charge. His pride grows, as this feels like validation and revenge on his own terms. However, when he goes to beat the bully up even more in a flow of passion, Suho stops him.
How dare he stop me? Who is he to tell me what to do? Why does he think he can order me around and I’ll just listen to everything that he says?
From then, the friendship breaks apart and everything changes. That same night, Beomseok joins a group of thugs who quickly become his new friends. There, he feels valued and important. While reveling in his newfound control, he pays someone to beat Suho up. Even after Suho has taken multiple blows in the ring, Beomseok steps in and takes out his anger, resulting in a comatose Suho.
The pride Beomseok had was dangerous. His ego could not tolerate any feeling of being “smaller” in any manner. Suho’s protectiveness and friendliness felt like pity. Sieun’s calm exterior felt like judgement. Evident in the way the season ended, anytime Beomseok felt like he was being looked down upon, he would lash out and “show them” who was really in control. All because he had too much pride to back down.
Hi Disha! I loved your analogy on pride using the show “Weak Hero:” while I haven’t watched it personally, I’m already interested! You start off by telling us about how pride is the “‘father’ of the seven deadly sins,” and just based on that I think we can assume that the show is going to pivot towards demonstrating how the pride you mentioned leads to Beomseok’s demise. Aside from just pride, though, I think this narrative also displays how dangerous a combination of pride and power can be: Beomseok was willing to influence the course of events in Suho’s life because of pride but only ABLE to do so because of the power of being friends with thugs and having the money to pay someone to beat Suho up. Rick Riordan called pride a “fatal flaw,” but in this case it was near-fatal for Suho instead of Beomseok. In your writing, I think your excellent use of imagery and very detailed storytelling really engages the reader and helps get your point across much more effectively. I also love the way you end the blog, which can serve as a warning for all of us not to repeat the same mistakes (pride specifically in this case) as Beomseok. Thank you for an amazing piece!
ReplyDeleteI was super excited to read your blog today when I saw the cover photo—I’ve seen so many people ranting about Weak Hero, and because of that, it’s been on my watchlist for a long, long time. Because I haven’t actually watched the drama, I really appreciate your analysis of Beomseok’s character and his motivations for betraying the only people who befriended him. I’m intrigued by the conclusions he drew; for example, it surprised me that Beomseok left Suho and Sieun because he felt inferior to them in power and popularity for a group of thugs, who were probably just as powerful and popular. In essence, nothing’s really changed—Beomseok is still in the position of having others be powerful for him (in this case the thugs), but he somehow feels empowered. Did Beomseok feel constrained by Suho’s imposing morality on him? Did he feel that the newfound power he had, when he punched the bully, was being suppressed by his friends? Was it jealousy, perhaps? Or a desire to be equal with his friends? I’m also perplexed by Beomseok’s main flaw being his pride. Typically, when we think of children growing up in abusive households, we tend to assume that these children may view themselves as inferior, undeserving, a waste of space, or otherwise viewing themselves as of lesser importance than those around them. However, Beomseok reacts to his trauma in a much more unique and compelling way: by trying to prove himself as something that his abusive household may tell him he’s not. Maybe he was seeking validation that he was successful and powerful from his friends, that he never got from his father. And when his friends instead tried to impose morals and righteousness on him, trying to suppress his power (like how his father did), he may have taken this as motivation to leave them behind and surround himself with people who affirmed his violent tendencies. Overall, from your analysis, I can definitely conclude that Beomseok is a very complex and intriguing character, and it’s made it all the more clearer that Weak Hero should be at (or close to) the top of my watchlist. Great post!
ReplyDeleteThank you for a “riveting” plot summary of Weak Hero! I do not watch Korean media often, but this story is a fascinating concept! It seems to me that Beomseok finds himself caught up in the sin of pride and subsequently wrath. The seven deadly sins are distinct from each other but often go hand-in-hand, Weak Hero being one such example.
ReplyDeleteA quick Google search tells me that the show was adapted from a Webtoon of the same name. Have you read the comic, and if so, do you feel that the show was an accurate/creative adaptation of it? The trailer looks so cool, and I’m lowkey invested now lol. I hope that Beomseok finds peace with himself at the end of the show. The two extremes of “inferiority complex” vs. “insecure egoist” are both terrible situations, and it hurts even more to know that his past has led him to push away his true friends. The setting of high school stories could just be a trend in Korean shows, but I still find it interesting that the characters are young. I think that Beomseok’s situation proves how fragile teenagehood can be, and that stunted development and other early childhood trauma can alter a person’s life forever.
Thank you as well for the awesome poster you have included.The boys’ tortured yet solemn stares are chilling!