MovieChat Forums > Bom yeoreum gaeul gyeoul geurigo bom (2004) Discussion > The pets

The pets

posted 15 years ago by bataelo
9 replies | jump to latest

Just watched the movie and have some questions about the 'pets' present in each of the 'seasons'.

In the first spring there's a dog, them in summer there's a cock, then a cat in winter and finally a serpent in the second spring.

I interpreted them as metaphors for the little monk attitude... playful and naive in his childhood (dog), 'cocky' and wanting to prove himself and his masculinity (the cock), detached and more self-centered/interested (cat), and finally wise with the snake (which, I think, symbolizes the cycles, being at the same time the 'spirit' of the old monk, the passage of the young to the part of the old, and the arrival of the new child... as snakes symbolize renovation...)

I wonder if anyone got different ideas about the meaning of the animals (the pets more specifically but also the animals tortured with the rocks)... What do you think the represent? I kept thinking about chinese astrology, but I don't know much of that and I think some of the animal used in the film aren't chinese astrological signs.

Would really like to hear your insights.

[–] Barefoot-Bradley 15 years ago

Just finished watching the film for the second time (what a stunning film) and was wondering the very same thing.

I like your interpretation about the pets, very insightful! Though the second spring pet is a tortoise not a snake, but I think your idea still stants up :)

I too would like to know if the fish, frog and snake are symbols that have meanings I have missed. It seems quite obvious that they are and I'm just not getting something, so any answers would be great.

[–] vedrana_a 14 years ago

One thing about pets: in every life we carry burdens.

[–] wearyourlove 14 years ago

I don't recall the snake ever being a pet. Snakes do, however, appear quite often throughout the film. I read this as a symbol of temptation (think Adam and Eve).

[–] martino_CDLXXXIX 14 years ago

In each of the seasons, there was one animal living in the monastery with the monk(s). The snake was that animal in the winter chapter.

[–] JonnyBel 13 years ago

Yes, and the cat was in Autumn and not in Winter, unlike the original poster mentioned.

Other than that, I find his interpretation very interesting and meaningful.

[–] methriller 13 years ago

No man. There was a zoo nearby. The eloped animals come here because this is the place where nobody throws sh!t at them or tie stones to their ass.

[–] ciffou 10 years ago

...and a turtle during the second spring

[–] rydell1986 11 years ago

Yeah, the only one that I had further questions about was the snake. I agree about another poster's suggestion that the snake represented temptation, but I think its presence at the beginning of the movie several times was important, too. The master warns the child about snakes in the wild, and when the boy does see a snake, he looks surprised at first but then easily grabs the snake and throws it (he doesn't worry about temptation and just tosses it aside). However, clearly it comes back to revisit him later, so when the snake makes its return as the winter animal, what does this show about how far the protagonist has come? In regards to the ideas about temptation, he can now live with it, neither completely pushing it away or falling for it, but simply accepting that it exists with him and peacefully co-existing? And yes, the snake also represents the shedding of new life, which would coincide well with his coming full circle to where he began.

[–] cleopatram 8 years ago

Sorry to be joining the party so late, but the snake definitely does not symbolize temptation, although your interpretation is beautiful. Snakes being associated with temptation is something found in Christianity, and if this movie is about a religion, then I think we can agree this isn't the one. In Buddhism snakes symbolize anger, that's all I know myself.