My Attempt At An Explanation
NAMES
Young-eon (Ok-bin Kim, protagonist ghost)
Seon-min (her human friend)
Choh-ah (loner girl)
Hyo-jung (killer ghost girl)
THE CONCEPT OF “VOICE”
It is apparent that the “Whispering Corridors” series has attempted to take a classy, art-house approach to horror while tapping into the theme of schoolgirl friendship. I think 3 of the 5 installments have been successful in doing so. The two major characteristics of “Voice” are as follows: (1) humanizing the ghost; and (2) having the ghost’s voice be reliant upon a sustained human connection. The latter concept is an intriguing adaptation of what we'’ve seen previously in J-horror films like “Ju On”, which explain the ghost’s existence as culminating from great rage at the time of death – a rage that prevents it from resting in peace. The concept of “Voice”, however, is much more nuanced, unique, and multilayered than that.
SPOILERS AHEAD!!!
After dying a ghost will have a voice that can be used to communicate with those human beings that have a strong connection with that ghost. This is an ability that would typically be cherished by ghosts who were murdered and cling to the physical world in fear of the afterlife. Young-eon is a perfect example of this, and explains why she doesn'’t want to lose her voice throughout the film. At one point she even admits that she’s “afraid of what’s coming.” Hyo-jung, on the other hand, is motivated by an unforeseen opportunity in death. She was obsessed with her teacher while alive but was consequently chastised by her classmates and driven to suicide. However, after death she realizes that this situation allows her to freely engage in a relationship with the teacher while avoiding the relentless persecution by her peers. It’s ironic that in death Hyo-jung has found a certain solace and contentment that she couldn’t possess while she was alive. This is why the two ghosts in this film cherish their voices.
After viewing “Voice”, one will observe that the connection between the human being and the ghost is grounded in emotion more so than simple knowledge. For example, the strength of Hyo-jung'’s voice is directly reliant upon her relationship with the music teacher even though other teachers in the school (dispassionately) remember her suicide. In like manner, the strength of Young-eon’'s voice is directly reliant upon her relationship with Seon-min, her best friend.
It must be pointed out that the strength of a ghost’s voice and the ability for someone to hear a ghost’s voice are certainly related but the latter is not always dependent upon the former. As a general rule human beings are unable to hear the voices of ghosts for which they do not have an emotional connection, but the emotional connection itself is not necessarily limited to the strongest one. For example, Seon-min'’s investigation into Hyo-jung'’s life gradually creates an emotional connection because she learns more about the murderer of her friend (i.e., putting a face to a name). As another example, the schoolgirls are able to hear Young-eon’'s voice at the very end of the film because they just recently discovered Young-eon'’s dead body and saw her bloody corpse being taken out of the school. This created a huge stir and in turn created an emotional connection with all of them that was lacking during much of the film, which is why they couldn’t hear Young-eon’'s voice until after that event had occurred.
Now, if the relationship between the ghost and their human connection is weakened then the ghost loses its voice and can no longer communicate with humans. The voice doesn’t vanish all at once, but will die out intermittently over the course of hours or days. We see this at times during the film when Young-eon’'s relationship with Seon-min becomes strained and Young-eon’s sentences become disjointed.
There are a few other details to point out. It is evident that ghosts can hear each others’ voices and that in rare cases a human being like Choh-ah will be naturally receptive to hearing their voices regardless of whether or not she has an emotional connection with them. It is also shown that occasionally electronic devices like microphones can be disrupted by the voices of ghosts.
These are the basic rules of “voice” that have been presented in this film. They create an extremely interesting, unique mythos that demands an attention to detail from the viewer but also provides some great entertainment value. With this information in mind, the viewer can figure out much of the film.
THE FRACTURED MEMORY OF GHOSTS
The great thing about Asian horror films –- you knew this was coming -– is that they don'’t rely much on verbal exposition to explain everything. This is a good thing because in many cases exposition feels artificial and contrived when presented in film. It’s much more realistic and entertaining for characters to simply “do their thing” instead of explaining what they’'re doing all the time. The viewer can piece together details based on their actions and dialogue with other characters in order to see the big picture items like character motivations or in this case how the fractured memory of a ghost works. There are two sources of information that we must consider, Choh-ah'’s intimate knowledge of ghosts (based on her many experiences) and Young-eon'’s personal journey throughout the film.
It is revealed that Choh-ah has a long history of hearing ghosts (because she is naturally receptive to such phenomena), and her prior experiences have given her some knowledge on how ghosts act. She understands that a ghost’s subconscious will repress memories that the ghost does not want to remember. This is a vitally important fact that she states clearly at one point by saying, “the ghost only remembers what it wants to.” However, Choh-ah indirectly communicates that the ghost’s fractured memory is only temporary with the use of a clever metaphor for the ghosts. In the broadcast room Choh-ah tells Seon-min that it’s time for “dogs and wolves” and that “it’s time for the truth to be hidden, or the other way around.” She says that when the sky is dim you cannot tell whether or not it’s a dog (friendly) or a wolf (dangerous). Of course, the “sun” will eventually rise and the ghost’s fractured memory will become clear again. Their temporary period of confusion will end and the ghost will finally remember its true self. This is consistent with how Young-eon'’s fractured memory plays out in the film. (See below for details.) Hyo-jung likely experienced the same fractured memory that Young-eon experiences in the film, but Hyo-jung has already passed that stage in her ghostly existence (she died years ago). Therefore, her memory is accurate and intact during the events of this film.
CHARACTER MOTIVATIONS
Young-eon – Young-eon is a very selfish person, but her experiences in life are what drove her to this worldview. Ever since she was young she was forced to take care of her mother, who suffered from an undisclosed illness. She was enduring the very stifling obligation of taking care of her mother, smelling the sick stench of the hospital, and racking up medical bills. She endured this for years and desperately wanted to free herself of this depressing existence. The defining point in her life was when she coerced her mother into committing suicide, making the ultimate choice of selfishness over altruism. This newly discovered path of selfishness continued further into her human life while at school. She discovered a natural talent for singing, which earned the attention of the teacher. However, through Young-eon’s interactions with the teacher she discovered that the teacher was still clinging to a ghostly voice (Hyo-jung). Using her quintessentially selfish outlook, Young-eon decides to manipulate the teacher in order to earn her total attention, and ignores the ghost'’s desperate pleas. After death Young-eon endures the fractured memories of ghosthood but ultimately sides with selfishness yet again by murdering the teacher (to strike against Hyo-jung) and taking over Seon-min’'s body so that she can live again. The reason Young-eon wants to live again is because her life was taken from her by Hyo-jung and she fears of what awaits her in the afterlife.
Hyo-jung – Hyo-jung is an obsessive girl. As a human she fell in love with her teacher and was consequently chastised by her classmates and driven to suicide. As a ghost Hyo-jung has been haunting the school and interacting with the teacher in an effort to keep her voice. After death she realizes that this situation allows her to freely engage in a relationship with the teacher while avoiding the relentless persecution by her peers. This is one major reason why –- contrary to Young-eon’s decision –- she chooses not to possess the body of another girl. She'’d simply be forced to endure the persecution again, which is the very reason why she killed herself in the first place. Let’s not make the same mistake that the scriptwriters of the “Pulse” remake made by having people commit suicide and then suddenly want to live again –- it makes no sense.
Seon-min – Seon-min is likely the most pure-hearted character in this film. She'’s driven by love even in the face of difficulties. Seon-min met Young-eon shortly after Young-eon'’s mother committed suicide. She became friends with Young-eon because she admired how well Young-eon handled such a tough situation. Of course, her image of Young-eon is inaccurate and far too idealistic, but this is likely the reason why they were such good friends. Seon-min’'s image of Young-eon is strained, however, after Young-eon'’s ghost begins to exhibit a fractured memory. Seon-min eventually expresses doubts about Young-eon. She ponders as to whether or not she actually knew Young-eon when she was alive. Much of the script focuses on the emotional hardships of Young-eon as she struggles with her fractured memory, but here we also see the hardships of Seon-min –- the ghost’s human connection –- during this period of confusion. This is very similar to how humans deal with a loved one who has a form of dementia or forgetfulness. I had a personal experience with this when my grandmother came down with dementia. It created a feeling of fear and even animosity against her, not only from myself but also my grandfather. It’s illogical but entirely human and natural. Seon-min cultivates the same feelings when she realizes that Young-eon didn’t even know that Seon-min never visited Young-eon’'s house while she was alive. How can a “best friend” not know such things? By the end of the film, however, Seon-min overcomes her doubts and ultimately decides that she does indeed know and love her friend.
Seon-min’s situation gets even more interesting when we realize that it very accurately mirrors Young-eon’'s situation when she was caring for her mother: the fear and animosity was so strong that it drove her to coerce her mother into committing suicide. This offers a HUGE juxtaposition between the two lead characters and how they deal with confusion and hardship -– Seon-min ultimately sides with love while Young-eon ultimately sides with selfishness (not only with her mother but also with Seon-min’'s body). I would also like to point out the irony in Seon-min’s decision-making. A typical film would be written in such a way that Seon-min would discover that Young-eon coerced her mother to suicide. Not so in “Voice” because Seon-min NEVER discovers this fact. She'’s denied this knowledge and remains in ignorance, sealing her fate by her pure heart and love for her friend! It doesn’t get more tragic than this.
CONTINUED IN NEXT POST
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