Globalization and Delocalization in Contemporary Korean Cinema

Representing Seoul's Urban Landscape in «The Chaser» (Na Hong-jin, 2008)

Abstract

This article analyzes The Chaser (Na Hong-jin, 2008) from a historical-cultural perspective, focusing on its representation of Seoul’s urban landscape as a deliberately delocalized space. Through textual and formal analysis, it examines how the film minimizes explicit geographical markers and constructs a city indistinguishable from other contemporary metropolises, recognizable primarily through cultural elements. The study shows that this strategy reinforces, on the one hand, a transnational reading of the thriller as an urban experience and, on the other, the visualization of social stratification through movements between marginalized areas and affluent residential districts. Finally, it interprets the film’s hospital final shot as an aesthetic synthesis of a globalized, anonymous Seoul that remains structurally indifferent to social harm.