Oldboy

In regard to Oh Dae-Su and the effect of the television, his relationship to it can be looked at in a number of ways. In Lynne Joyrich's article, she describes the television itself as female, with its "gaping wound" that "tapes are thrust into." Under this interpretation, the television can be seen as Dae-Su's female companion during his imprisonment, allowing him to hold on to his sense of masculinity. However, Joyrich also writes about how the television spectator is thought of as female, because of the lack of distance between the spectator and the television. The look is feminine because it "is too close to the object to maintain the gap essential to desire and full subjectivity. This way of thinking would suggest that the constant watching of televesion feminized Dae-Su, which he combated by training himself physically and becoming hyper-masculine. His desire for hyper-masculinity is also driven by the emasculation that he feels because he is so hopeless and at the mercy of his captors. This leads to his need for revenge, and the violent avenger is an archetypal masculine character. Dae-Su attempts to prove his masculinity throughout the rest of the film through extreme violence and sexual conquest. However, it is revealed at the end that ll of Dae-Su' hyper-masculinity was in fact part of Woo-Jin's plan to manipulate him. Dae-Su is again hopeless and at the mercy of Woo-Jin, begging at his feet and cutting out his own tongue. This is a particularly emasculating encounter, and the ambiguous ending leaves it unclear whether Dae-Su has regained his masculinity in the end. If the monster is truly gone, perhaps the hyper-masculine side of him is gone also.