<킬링 디어>에 나타난 폭력의 구조: 희생양과 보복적 정의

Abstract

This paper explores structures of violence in the film, The Killing of a Sacred Deer (dir. Yorgos Lanthimos), as evidenced through the processes of scapegoating and rendering justice. It does so by drawing on René Girard’s theory of the scapegoat and Jacques Derrida’s theory of justice. In the film, Steven, a cardiothoracic surgeon kills his patient. The patient’s son, a teenage boy named Martin, seeks revenge. Steven’s children start dying as their limbs go numb and they refuse food. Martin demands Steven to kill a member of his own family in the name of justice. In order to choose a scapegoat, Steven puts a balaclava on his entire face and spins round on the spot. Steven’s son Bob is then sacrificed in a shooting. Martin’s call for justice is realized. However, Martin’s call is neither a justification nor a sort of balancing out of Steven’s guilt. Rather, he violates the innocent surrogate victim. Throughout this paper, I argue that a society without the justification of law increases the symmetry of violence and vengeance. Moreover, Martin’s call for justice cannot be recognized as such because his rendering of justice is carried as a violent law. This contrasts with the Derridean concept of justice, which views it as the deconstruction and incalculable beyond of the violence of law. It is my contention here that scapegoating and rendering justice should be sacrificed as they become indistinguishable from the original violence.