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?
