Under- and Hyper-Reading in Joint Security Area and Decision to Leave

Abstract

This study investigates the ways in which Joint Security Area (2000) and Decision to Leave (2022) each deal with under-reading and hyper-reading, respectively. Under-reading substitutes surface phenomena for the undergirding structure or power, assuming that, under the surface, there is nothing to plumb. Hyper-reading, on the other hand, can be bifurcated into two modes: one is perceptively discerning what lies beyond the empirical data, and the other is erroneously supposing there is an underlying basis to what is seen, which is, in fact, nonexistent. My analysis shows that Park Chan-wook’s signature style of mise-en-scéne creation turns the extraordinary into the ordinary, not vice versa, demonstrating how this distinct mise-en-scene aesthetic circumvents both the error of under-reading and of hyper-reading. This article also examines how Decision to Leave employs and coopts the theatrical devices of lighting and solo asides to stress the staged qualities of given scenes. Whereas Joint Security Area subtly criticizes the under-reading practice, Decision to Leave centers on the ambivalence of hyper-reading. This study argues that Park’s two films probing of the theme of under- and hyper-reading instantiate the cinematic aesthetic of liminality par excellence.