I’ve been seeing a lot of backlash thrown at Koogi for the recent chapter and it’s really disappointing. Yes, it was obvious that Sangwoo had expierenced sexual abuse from his mother so the confirmation of him having been raped wasn’t much of a surprise. It had been hinted at since season one. Still, it should be considered horrifying that it had happened, and that Sangwoo had to suffer with his abusive mother since even before he was born.
A lot of people are saying they miss the angst and the murder from the first two seasons, but seem to forget that this is also a physiological story. We’re seeing what makes a serial killer. Sangwoo having “mommy issue” isn’t something being thrown at us for no reason. If you look at cases from the real world, a lot of other killers had similar issues resulting from their parents (particularly their mother) (Ed Gein had a super religious mother who forbade him from even thinking about a woman, and in turn he resorted to skinning women and wearing it to appear like his mother).
That being said, we knew from the beginning that he was being haunted by his mother. We know that Bum helps him keep the visions of his mother away. We see him as chapters pass that the more time he spends the Bum, the more he starts seeing Bum as his mother, no matter how hard he tries to deny it. We, as a reader know this. We see it happening, so it doesn’t come to a shock to us. But you know who doesn’t know this?
Bum.
Bum is completely clueless. Even when Sangwoo does actually decide to reveal something about his past, Bums never conscious to actually hear and process the information. For this story to move along, Bum NEEDS to find out about Sangwoos past, just as much as Sangwoo needed to know about his. After the whole Uncle incident, it’s pretty obvious that Sangwoo is on the verge to losing it, especially with the constant flashbacks. If Bum never finds out, then who knows what would happen when Sangwoo actually snaps. Bum would have no way of knowing what to do or say to protect himself, and I think after Sangwoo realizes what he’s done to Bum, he will be totally broken.
Of course, Sangwoo would never actually come out and say that he was being haunted by the memories of his mother and he associate Bum with being her. That’s why it makes since that they were both drunk. We know that Sangwoo has a hard time holding his tongue when he gets like that. And Bum becoming more “dominant” while having sex only brought back the memory of his mother raping him. It just shows how close Sangwoo is close to losing it.
(See how scared/shocked he is that he had outted himself)
Koogi showing their developing relationship isn’t to squash the murder and angst she had in the first two seasons. It may not be as heart stopping as them either. But seeing their developing relationship and Sangwoo slowly losing it is a major plot point to both of their character development. We get to see what makes a serial killer, as well as what’s really makes Bum tick.
The psychological affects of abusing a child and them having to witness abuse themselves is what’s keeping me on my toes, and I don’t know what Koogi is planning to do with this revelation, but I can’t wait for the next chapter. But I commend her for taking this bold step of explaining Sangwoos past in the way she did.
Sure, you can like whatever character you feel into. But, you can’t convince anyone when you say he/she is a good person. You know very well that’s not the truth, if the said character is a killer, a psychopath, or/and a rapist etc. Sorry, that’s what I think
I can’t stand Eunseo either but people gotta realise she‘s mentally ill, just like Sangwoo. We don’t know why she’s like that, we don’t know if she was abused as a child. While that doesn’t excuse what she did to Sangwoo, I don’t get how people can love Sangwoo, who kills people, and be completely apologetic when it comes to him, but hate Eunseo like she’s the devil without considering she might have a painful backstory too.
Sangwoo and his mother are not as different as you’d like them to be.
I was listening to Take Me Dancing By Joseph Cook And drew a bunch of dancing sketches this pose felt very 1950′s to me so here were are with the boys staying in listening to the radio dancing in the moment
Can I watch a great film knowing the actresses in it were terrorized and mistreated the entire time? Can I watch a football game knowing that the players are getting brain injuries right before my eyes? Can I listen to my favorite albums anymore knowing that the singers were all beating their wives in between studio sessions? Can I eat at the new fancy taco place knowing when the building that used to be there got bulldozed eight families got kicked out of their homes so they could be replaced with condos and a chain restaurant? Can I wear the affordable clothes I bought downtown that were probably assembled in a sweatshop with child labor? Can I eat quinoa?
Can I eat this burger? Can I drink this bottled water? Can I buy a car and drive to work because I’m sick of taking an hour each way on the subway? Whose bones do I stand on? Whose bones am I standing on right now?
On one hand, it’s a privilege to be able to choose to acknowledge these horrors or not–we’re going to acknowledge that privilege. On the other hand, I once attended a lecture by the explorerer-conservationist Jacques-Yves Cousteau’s daughter and son and they had a lot of opinions about what we could do to help the environment and the ocean and I talked about how in my country, we have to drink bottled water, because it’s a desert and there’s only salt water all around, but we’re contributing to pollution and all of these things…
And she looked at me and told me not to fall into the trap of “activist guilt.” I couldn’t remember the exact words, but, it was the first time I’d heard the term and it took a weight off my shoulders.
We do what we can. It’s so much better than giving up entirely or not doing anything at all because we can’t do it perfectly. It doesn’t benefit anyone in the end if we just sit around feeling guilty about every little thing in life. I’d just joined tumblr back then (haha, so like, eight or nine years ago at this point?), I was being exposed to way more than I’d ever been before (I was previously just into feminism and animal rights/wildlife conservation/environmentalism since I was a kid), and it was weighing on me.
As long as humans are humans and living flawed lives, many consumed by greed, there will not be anything in this world untouched by evil.
I usually avoid stuff that says it was made in China or other cheap looking knockoffs, out of fear of them being made in sweatshops (now, I know even a lot of big brands use those…), it’s exhausting. Then, I read something about how people who actually lived and worked in those would still buy this cheap stuff and how this shocked the foreigner reporting on it, but they just looked confused like, it’s what they can afford and them avoiding consuming it isn’t going to change the whole system from the ground-up.
… it went on about how “money talks” and choosing where to put your money still feeds the whole capitalist system and is nearly a way of comforting yourself, but you not buying doesn’t mean everyone else isn’t. What needs to be tackled is at a much higher level than any of us can reach.
Of course, I’d still, given the choice, give my money to companies I agree with and I’ll boycott what I know to support awful stuff, but I also feel no superiority over this and know now it’s not as black and white or easy as I thought it was.
This is the same reason that moral purity “you can’t enjoy [x] because it’s Problematic ™” is such nonsense, because nothing is pure. There’s something bad about everything if you dig deep enough. As long as we lived in flawed human societies we’ve got to make the best of what they offer us. If you have the choice and means, please, do support those who do good, but also, don’t beat yourself up over not living up to an unattainable ideal.
No one can. You’ll just make yourself so miserable, you either burn up and stop fighting entirely or you’ll make yourself a non-productive, depressed heap just out of a bleeding heart left unchecked. You can’t make a change to this world if you refuse to engage in it.
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