What filmmaking techniques does The Host use?

CineCode breaks down 5 techniques in The Host (2006): Genre Collage, Environmental Satire, Comedy Under Duress, Daylight Monster Reveal and Social Order Breakdown.

Who directed The Host?

Bong Joon-ho directed The Host, released in 2006. CineCode also covers Barking Dogs Never Bite (2000), Memories of Murder (2003), Mother (2009), Snowpiercer (2013), Okja (2017), Parasite (2019).

What films are similar to The Host?

Films that share techniques with The Host include Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), Okja (2017), Modern Times (1936), Pulp Fiction (1994).

Horror · Science Fiction · Comedy

The Host

Bong Joon-ho, 2006

A creature born from chemical dumping erupts from Seoul's Han River and snatches a young girl. Her clumsy family has to break out of quarantine to rescue her. It is a monster movie with family comedy and political anger in the same frame, and the creature appears in broad daylight.

3 Narrative 1 Cinematography 1 Psychology

At a glance

The Host is a 2006 horror, science fiction and comedy film directed by Bong Joon-ho. This breakdown covers 5 techniques (3 narrative, 1 cinematography and 1 psychology), each with the scene where you can see it. If you like how it is made, Who Framed Roger Rabbit uses several of the same techniques.

Narrative

Genre Collage

Mixing several genres in 1 film, such as crime, romance, horror and absurd comedy. The clash between them keeps you from settling into a single way of watching.

How this film uses it

The film is a creature feature, a family comedy and a satire of government at once. Bong lets a silly family fight sit next to real horror. That is why the funeral scene is both funny and heartbreaking.

Where to see it

The funeral scene. The Park family wails on the floor in front of Hyun-seo's photo, and the scene is both comic and sad.

Narrative

Environmental Satire

Mocking a specific world, such as an industry, an institution or consumer culture, by exaggerating what is already there. A sci-fi future built from present trends can do this with no direct argument.

How this film uses it

The film begins with an American pathologist ordering formaldehyde dumped into a drain that flows to the Han River. A creature then appears and the government blames a virus. The monster is the result of the people who run the system.

Where to see it

The opening dumping scene. A pathologist orders chemicals poured down the drain, and the story jumps to the river six years later.

Narrative

Comedy Under Duress

Putting jokes and comic performance inside dangerous or desperate situations. The humor works as a way of resisting, and you never forget what the characters are laughing through.

How this film uses it

The Park family is a bickering, clumsy bunch, and Bong keeps their bickering going while they try to save a child. The jokes make them feel real. It also makes their danger hurt more when the comedy stops.

Where to see it

The family hunt for Hyun-seo. The siblings and their father search the sewers while arguing the whole way.

Cinematography

Daylight Monster Reveal

Showing the creature early and in broad daylight, in full view of the characters, so the horror comes from how the people react to it.

How this film uses it

The creature comes out of the Han River in the middle of a sunny afternoon, with crowds relaxing on the bank. You see it clearly from the first attack, and the CGI team at The Orphanage animated it to look like a real animal. The fear comes from the crowd's panic in broad daylight.

Where to see it

The Han River attack. The creature climbs out of the water, kills people on the riverbank and takes Hyun-seo.

Psychology

Social Order Breakdown

Placing people in a pressured situation where politeness and rules fall apart. The film watches panic or fear turn ordinary people into something cruder, sometimes for laughs.

How this film uses it

After the attack, officials quarantine the survivors and claim the creature carries a deadly virus. The family has to escape their own government to look for the girl. Official rules and the truth keep getting in the way of the rescue.

Where to see it

The quarantine. Gang-du is held by officials and escapes to search for his daughter after she phones from the sewers.

Questions

The Host: quick answers

What filmmaking techniques does The Host use?: CineCode breaks down 5 techniques in The Host (2006): Genre Collage, Environmental Satire, Comedy Under Duress, Daylight Monster Reveal and Social Order Breakdown.
Who directed The Host?: Bong Joon-ho directed The Host, released in 2006. CineCode also covers Barking Dogs Never Bite (2000), Memories of Murder (2003), Mother (2009), Snowpiercer (2013), Okja (2017), Parasite (2019).
What films are similar to The Host?: Films that share techniques with The Host include Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), Okja (2017), Modern Times (1936), Pulp Fiction (1994).

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