How Marketing Ruins Movie Expectations
It’s a strange state of affairs when you don’t know why you don’t like something. Do I have poor taste? That can’t be it, I’m wearing starry purple pyjamas and BTS merchandise slippers. Was there something I missed, or am unaware of? Very possible, there are many things in this world I’m clueless on. Or did I just expect something different?
When it comes to 2016’s Seoul Station, these were the questions I was ultimately left with, my answer largely being that yes, I did not expect what this film was. Seoul Station is an animation from director Yeon Sang-ho, detailing the emergence and spread of a violent zombie outbreak that starts from Seoul’s, well, central station. Hence the name. Yeon is a director who initially focussed on animations detailing social problems, such as King of Pigs and The Fake. But, around the time of Seoul Station, he also ventured into live-action feature film making.
The film he made? Train to Busan.
Now, if you know me, or know anything about Korean cinema, you’ll know this film is a certified big deal ™. It was a huge box office success, and led Yeon Sang-ho to create the movie Psychokinesis (which is fine) and recent Netflix smash Hellbound (which is more than fine). It starred Gong Yoo (pause for swoon), and featured wonderfully fast, ravenous, veiny zombies who twitched and snarled in a way that had not much been seen before. A tight action horror thriller, it pulls at the heart strings, sets the pulse racing, and wastes no time. I love it, if you couldn’t tell.
So how does Seoul Station relate to all of this then? Well, that’s a question I was asking throughout watching it, which led me to realise that it doesn’t connect in the way many present it to. On the Wikipedia page for the film- yes, I like to dive deep- it is described like this:
The film serves as a prequel to the live-action film Train to Busan, showing how the zombie epidemic began in South Korea before the latter's events.
This is backed up by a source from The Hollywood Reporter, which quotes Yeon describing this film in the same way. So, this film is going to tell the animated story of the events before those of Train to Busan, right? That is what a prequel is, am I wrong? * Quickly googles prequels to check I’m not wrong* No, I’m not wrong! I came to this movie expecting the story of what led up to, or perhaps even sparked, the zombie outbreak that led to a very sick lady getting on Gong Yoo’s train one fine day.
But the thing is, that’s not what happens in this film. Taking place over a hot summer evening, Seoul Station seems to portray a pretty full-scale outbreak across parts of the city, starting at the station of the title. We see a fair bit of carnage and societal breakdown, and a lot of the undead. This isn’t really about what started the outbreak- that’s not the focus of this film- but about how it plays out across society, and how those at the bottom fight to survive it.
We follow three characters in particular- Hye-sun, a teen runaway and former sex worker, her pathetic boyfriend Ki-woong and Suk-gyu, her estranged father. Hye-sun and Ki-woong are already in dire straits as the movie starts, with the zombie apocalypse pushing them to fight even more desperately for their lives. Separated, the main action of the movie is Ki-woong, assisted by Suk-gyu trying to find his daughter, attempting to reunite with Hye-sun, who spends most of her night escaping with various homeless people through back alleys and deserted subway stations. Seoul falls apart rapidly, and the police and military turn against potentially infected zones of citizens with worrying swiftness. It’s a story of those at the lowest point facing the end game of a society that never cared for them: in a word, it’s about brutality.
All of this is compelling in and of itself, with a narrative that’s pretty well paced, and particularly good voice performances from Ryu Seung-ryong as Suk-gu, and Shim Eun-kyung as Hye-sun. But unfortunately, these two compliments were quite hard to fish from my brain for the reason stated above: I spent the whole film confused as to how this matched up in any way to the live-action film I love so much.
Of course, this is not the fault of the filmmaker at all, but more in how it has been marketed. As shown on the Wikipedia page, this movie is entirely pitched on having a direct connection to Train to Busan, suggesting it will tell us how and why the events we saw happened. We are waiting for the cause of the outbreak, or the situation that led to the woman we see infecting the train at the beginning of the live-action movie. Instead, we get a separate origin story that can’t align with the supposed ‘sequel’ at all. In Train, society seems pretty darn normal up until the point that Gong Yoo and his daughter get on said vehicle. It’s kind of the point of the movie that nothing happens before it. But in the world of Seoul Station, the city is destroyed overnight, making a trip to the station the next morning out of the question.
You may well be thinking that this is all well and good, but it’s not a criticism of the actual film that was made. And you’re right, which is why the narrative of it being a prequel is so especially annoying. If you dig a little deeper around this, you’ll discover that Seoul Station was actually conceived, and I believe largely made, first. It was only when executives suggested that a live-action version of the same idea would sell better in the Korean market that Busan was made at all, and Seoul Station’s release date was pushed later, presumably making marketers feel obliged to sell it with a direct connection that it didn’t have.
That’s not to say that there are no connections. A lot of the themes of brutal society weave through both films, as does the disdain of those in power for those below them. Homeless people are treated as ignored but worthy human beings in both films, and the actions of government bodies do precisely nothing to help our central characters. The films are absolutely cut from the same cloth, and it’s fair to say this much.
But Seoul Station suffers from over-estimating the strength of this connection, as it makes viewers overlook its own merits and compare constantly. Just looking on Rotten Tomatoes, you can see that the critical score (100%) is a damn sight higher than the audience one (just 37%). I am absolutely guilty of this myself. I know that I overlooked the social commentary on the homeless situation in Seoul presented at the beginning of this film, because I was waiting for the zombie catalyst moment. I didn’t appreciate the skill with which it built atmosphere, because all I could think about was how much more tightly it was done in Busan.
I didn’t really appreciate the animation either. Part of this is just because it’s not a medium I choose to watch a lot, and I do normally prefer live-action for this kind of tone. But that doesn’t mean that it was bad; whilst I did have a problem with the lack of range in movement the characters had, the facial expressions were always detailed, and the backdrops were rich and evocative. All of these good points just fell to the wayside as I waited for the movie I loved to show its shadow on screen.
Whilst I know that a good prequel doesn’t just shoehorn in everyone from film one unnecessarily- and I didn’t come in wanting that- I was left disappointed that I didn’t get an extension of the world of Train to Busan, but rather a slightly angled alternate reality. To have sold the film so clearly in this way- just google it and you’ll find it described as a prequel pretty easily- really drops the ball on what is actually a fairly unique animation. This movie is not ultimately bad in any real way, and is worth your time if you like Yeon Sang-ho’s work, or more adult-oriented animation in general. If you, unlike me, can fully sever any tie to the live-action zombie movie that made such waves before it, Seoul Station will be able to give you so much more. Maybe one day I’ll be able to see its treats too.
Comments