Oldboy & The 3 Act Structure
Does Oldboy Use The Classic 3 Act Structure To Help Tell Its
Story?
The Intent
The classic 3 act structure
does not appear to have a definitive definition amongst writers/analysts
because in many cases writers/analysts all have very different ideas
regarding the structure of story. “Since screenplays never show act breaks,
an "act" is really a theoretical concept. Screenwriters talk about
three acts, meaning the beginning, the middle, and the end.”
(Johnaugust.com/glossary, John August, 2003). The rest is very much up for
personal interpretation.
From what
I can understand during my study of the 3 act structure I believe that Oldboy
(Park Chan-Wook, 2003) Is best described using Syed Field’s
interpretation of an act structure. I can see the hook or inciting incident,
the 1st act plot point, the midpoint, the 2nd act plot point and then
resolution. So what I intend to do in this essay is to break down Oldboy into
these five sections and try to explain how each part is used to develop the
story and keep the lead character moving towards his overall goal.
The Film
Oldboy is traditionally a revenge
movie. Our hero Oh Dae-Su is captured and imprisoned for 15 years and once
released he sets out to get revenge on the man who locked him up. The
antagonist, the man who Oh Dae-Su wishes to kill is also out to get revenge,
revenge on Oh Dae-Su who, when still at school, witnessed the antagonist, Lee
Woo-Jin, having sexual contact with his own blood sister. This in turn triggers
a tragic event in which Woo-Jin’s sister is forced to commit suicide rather
than live with the rumors of incest. The great twist in the tale comes in the
form of the beautifully innocent Mi-Do who is the love interest for Dae-Su who
is later revealed to be his own grown up, forgotten about, 20 something year
old daughter. The coming together of Oh Dae-Su and Mi-Do in a sexual
relationship is completely pre planned and manipulated from the shadows by Lee
Woo-Jin. This is Lee Woo-Jin’s act of revenge.
The Hook
These opening scenes are
what is sometimes referred to as the inciting incident, ‘this is
the point in the story when the Protagonist encounters the problem that will
change their life.’(Abundant Productions LLC,
abundantproductions.biz/syd-fields-paradigm).
The film begins strongly as
we are first introduced to Oh Dae-Su in a powerful opening scene where he is on
top of a tall building clutching a weeping man by his necktie as he looks
almost certain to fall. Oh Dae-Su’s appearance is cast in shadow and he says to
the hapless man that he’s going to tell him his story and with that the film immediately
cuts to the inside of a police station. Oh Dae-Su is clearly very different;
he’s drunk, washed up and shouting obscenities. This is such a huge contrast
from the Oh Dae-Su we had just met moments ago and this clearly tells the
audience that Dae-Su is going to change at some point in the tale.
A friend comes to bail out
Dae-Su, it’s late in the evening and he calls home at a phone booth to wish his
young daughter (Mi-Do) a happy birthday. Then suddenly like vapor Oh Dae-Su
disappears, leaving a frantic friend in absolute panic. Dae-Su is snatched and
taken to what a first appears to be a state prison.
This opening segment of the
film is clearly the inciting incident that grasps the audience’s attention and
thrusts the lead character into a life changing situation.
The 1st Act Plot Point
Now that Oh Dae-Su has
encountered the great problem that has kick started the film, the story is now
going to start building towards the act 1 plot point, this point is going to
dramatically change our hero’s life and is going force Oh Dae-Su to act, ‘The last
scene in Act One, Turning Point One is a surprising development that radically
changes the Protagonist’s life, and forces him to confront the
Opponent.’(Abundant Productions LLC,
abundantproductions.biz/syd-fields-paradigm).
The next time we see Dae-Su
it is two months later. He’s trapped inside a strange apartment of some
kind. He’s not the only one locked in the building but he is isolated and
looked after but by people unknown. A TV broadcast explains that Dae-Su’s wife
has been murdered and the blame is pointed squarely at Dae-Su, the penny drops
and he knows that he is being set up. Oh Dae-Su makes a pledge that he will
find and kill whoever is behind this plot. This is the first stage of the
antagonist’s great plan. Dae-Su will spend the next 15 years locked in this
room and the audience now understands the protagonist’s main goal in the story.
What we start to see now is
Dae-Su’s slow transformation into the man we saw in the opening shot. He begins
to question his morality and understands he’s lived a life with many possible
enemies and so he writes a journal documenting all the horrible things that he’s
done, it starts as a means to discover who could be behind the plot to but it
quickly turns into a way of keeping his sanity. This along with some intense
physical training prepares him for his eventual release and his revenge but
also gives the audience tangible evidence that once Dae-Su is released he is
physically capable of achieving his goal.
The moments before his
release are quite strange but very important for the story. At points during
his imprisonment sleeping gas is seeped into his room so that he is unconscious
when his captives clean and maintain his living space, but this particular time
a hypnotist visits him. Dae-Su is put to sleep and the next moment he is awake,
on top of a tall building and the audience is brought back to the opening
scene.
Dae-Su's release is the 1st
act plot point because now he is forced to act. Dae-Su is driven by his need
for justice and he spares little time thinking about why he has been given back
his freedom. This is the second stage of the antagonist’s grand scheme.
The Midpoint
‘An
important scene in the middle of the script, often a reversal of fortune or
revelation that changes the direction of the story. Field suggests that driving
the story towards the Midpoint keeps the second act from sagging.’(Abundant
Productions LLC, abundantproductions.biz/syd-fields-paradigm).
Soon after Dae-Su’s release
he’s encountered by a nameless man who hands over a phone and a wallet full
with cheques. Dae-Su acknowledges that his situation is far from over but
nonetheless takes the opportunity to go to a decent restaurant and have a good
meal.
In the restaurant our hero
is served by Mi-Do, at this point in the story neither characters, or the
audience, are aware that they are father and daughter but there are hints of
familiarity. Dae-Su dismisses this by saying he saw her on a cooking program
once upon a time. The initial signs of a possible relationship between them are
set in motion and Mi-Do offers Dae-Su a place to rest at her home.
The two begin to work
together to try and track down the person behind his imprisonment and begin
their search at local restaurants. While imprisoned Dae-Su was treated to the
same take away meal every single day from a place called Blue Dragon. During
this bonding period between the two characters it becomes clear that the
antagonist has connections with Mi-Do. Only a young girl, she’s into internet
chat rooms and online the antagonist has been in regular contact with her.
Dae-Su manages to
successfully recognize the take away food and tracks down his place of
imprisonment. After an incredibly brutal and dangerous fight Dae-Su discovers
some audio tapes with Woo-Jin explaining that Dae-Su was locked up for talking
too much. This is the next clue that will eventually lead to the meeting of
Dae-Su and Woo-Jin. Woo-Jin gives our hero two options, the chance of revenge
or the chance to find out the truth about his capture. Dae-Su cannot act out
his revenge without knowing the truth and the antagonist slips away. Both Mi-Do
and Dae-Su attempt to escape the watching eye of Woo-Jin and here the film begins
to reveal that Dae-Su is in love with Mi-Do.
The hero’s goal has taken a
slight shift in direction, Dae-Su no longer wants to just act out his revenge
he now wants to know the truth, he understands that the rabbit hole goes much
deeper than he first envisioned. This goal will drive Dae-Su through the
remaining portion of act 2 and into the final act.
The 2nd
Act Plot Point
‘A
dramatic reversal that ends Act 2 and begins Act 3, which is about
confrontation and resolution.’ (Abundant Productions LLC, abundantproductions.biz/syd-fields-paradigm).
This is the point Oh Dae-Su will go to confront Woo-Jin and have his final
showdown.
The 2nd
half of act 2 begins with Oh Dae-Su and Mi-Do having sexual intercourse. This
is crucial character development that's needed to add serious emotional impact
latter in the showdown portion of the story.
Dae-Su
and Mi-Do continue to unravel the mystery and the next set of clues lead them
to begin their search online. They discover a link between our hero and the
antagonist, both attended the same school and they later discover that
Woo-Jin’s sister, who also attended the school, was killed by drowning after
falling from a nearby dam. Oh Dae-Su suddenly recalls a memory from his days at
school and the film takes the audience into this memory. In the memory we see a
young Dae-Su accidentally encounter Woo-Jin and his sister having sexual
contact, in confusion he speaks out to a friend which starts a rumor that
spreads throughout the school thus leading to the suicide of Woo-Jin’s sister.
It dawns on Dae-Su that this is the reason he is being punished. Dae-Su, with
the truth at last, still feels the need to take his revenge. He leaves Mi-Do to
confront the antagonist alone.
The Showdown
‘About
midway through Act 3, the Protagonist will confront the Main Problem of the
story and either overcome it, or come to a tragic end.’(Abundant Productions
LLC, abundantproductions.biz/syd-fields-paradigm). Oh
Dae-Su’s confrontation with Woo-Jin propels the story into the final act.
Dae-Su
confronts Woo-Jin with what he’s remembered but the antagonist laughs of
Dae-Su’s certainty of the truth. Woo-Jin reveals that being locked up for 15
years is not a severe enough punishment and that he had chosen to take Dae-Su’s
daughter and raise her, then, when she was old enough, hypnotize her and Dae-Su
to make them one day fall in love. With this truth Dae-Su begs Woo-Jin not to
tell any of this to Mi-Do, he even goes as far to cut out his own tongue to
show no more rumors will spread. A lonely and mentally disturbed Woo-Jin
accepts this and then takes a gun to his head and takes his own life. Dae-Su
has to now live with this knowledge and this is Woo-Jin’s final act of his
master plan thus successfully achieving his goal of revenge. The death of
Woo-Jin also signals the end of Oh Dae-Su’s goal, though it’s up for debate
whether or not he successfully achieved what he set out to accomplish.
The Resolution
The
resolution is when; ‘The issues of the story are resolved,’(Abundant
Productions LLC, abundantproductions.biz/syd-fields-paradigm). Dae-Su appears, months later,
in the middle of a snowy wood talking to the very hypnotist that brought Mi-Do
and Dae-Su together. In the end the film leaves the door wide open for
interpretation, there is no solid conclusion to Dae-Su’s story. Does he use the
hypnotist to help him forget that Mi-Do is his daughter or does he simply live
with the lie and bear the burden of his actions.
The Summary
I do believe that I have
provided enough evidence to suggest that Oldboy does indeed use all of the
elements of a classic 3 act structure to help tell its story. Within each
section of the 3 acts Oldboy successfully moves its narrative forward while
giving the protagonist and the antagonist enough motive to act.
