University Name - Critical Summary of White Christmas Drama Analysis

This report provides a critical summary of the Korean psychological thriller drama 'White Christmas'. The series explores the question of whether evil is inherent or a product of societal pressures, using the setting of Sushin High School and the experiences of eight students. The narrative, driven by characters like Kim Yo Han, delves into themes of peer pressure, societal expectations, and the creation of monsters. The drama employs thematic elements and metaphors to express social commentaries, highlighting issues such as drug addiction and the vulnerability of young minds. The summary analyzes the characters' psychological experiences, the impact of the school environment, and the exploration of the monster theory, drawing on the provided bibliography to support the analysis.

Running head: CRITICAL SUMMARY
Critical Summary: White Christmas
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Author Note

CRITICAL SUMMARY
White Christmas is an 8 episode long Korean psychological thriller drama that
aired in 2011 on KBS2.1 The series deals with one of the primary questions of modern
human existence and psychology that is are the evil externally in the society and
internally within the human souls born or created. The series tried to capture the monster
theory that highlights the negative aspects of human existence and how society pushes
them towards self destruction. Kim Yo Han the psychiatrist who took shelter in the
Sushin High School exploit the 8 students for 8 days to turn them into monsters that
already are in internal and external trouble.2 The psychological experiences and the
expression of those through various emotions have been captured through the characters
of difference shades. The snow covered mountains and the empty school grounds reflect
the emptiness, haunting, vulnerability and isolations of the characters.
The extreme pressure of the society and family for high standard of education
pressurize the young minds greatly. The characters of Park Mu Yul, Yoo Eun Sung, Jo
Young Jae, Choi Chi Hoon, Yoon Yoon Su, Yang Kang Mo, Kim Jae Kyu and Kang Mi
Ru are those characters that carry the narrative forward. According to the story only
Korea’s top students can get admission in Sushin High. This conscious seclusion of the
school is management’s careful decision for providing the students a world without any
materialistic distraction from the rest of the world. The students often feel that the school
is almost like a prison, nothing better than an Alcatraz.3 In the modern world the young
children all over the world are suffering from the extreme peer pressure and the pressure
of studies that they miss the natural demands of playful innocence of that age. All the
1 "White Christmas." Kissasian.ch. N.p., 2015. Web. 9 Oct. 2017.
2 Mee-yoo, Kwon. "Eight Chilling Days Of White Christmas." Koreatimes. N.p., 2011. Web. 9 Oct. 2017.
3 Clemson, Christen E. The prison path: School practices that hurt our youth. Rowman & Littlefield, 2015.

CRITICAL SUMMARY
students in Sushin High are also racing towards the same goal of high scores. The only
time they get to meet their families is during the 8 days leave in Christmas but this year
that 2011, only these 7 students could not leave the school for various reasons. The night
before Christmas the injured man took shelter in the school and in that night every
student gets a letter consisting of a meaningful poem. The letters talk about 8 sins but
only 7 students are there but later it was found that Kand Mi is staying there without the
authority’s permission. There was a statue of the school chairman was destroyed and the
authority blamed and expelled from the school he stayed back to figure out the truth. The
school is highly protected and covered by security cameras but Kang Mi Ru proves it
wrong. The security system set by the authority promises to be secured and protective
enough but in reality it fails to provide that. The drama uses certain thematic elements
and metaphors express their social commentaries. Kang Mi hacks the security cameras
without many difficulties and steals the footages. The teacher is soon found dead in the
snow and students are in the school suffering from fear, doubts, confusion and distrust.
In White Christmas the psychiatrist serial killer wants to become Dr. Frankenstein and
experiments with the students in order to make them his monsters.4
The constant pressure from the society and his or her peers had made the young
minds so vulnerable that they easily become subjects of the social negativity.5 It is easier
for the authoritative manipulative power to exploit them easily. The character named
Yoon Su is drug addict that demonstrates another problem of the present society which is
the easy access to drugs. Eun Sung on the other hand represents those students who are
4 Kimmerly-Smith, Jevon Scott. "Frankenstein's Monster: The Modern Leviathan." (2014).
5 Müller, Christoph M., Verena Hofmann, and Sybille Arm. "Susceptibility to classmates’ influence on delinquency
during early adolescence." The Journal of Early Adolescence (2016)

CRITICAL SUMMARY
unable to live up to the society’s expectations. Kang Mo has a physical disability that
affects his personality.
The narrative highlights the idea that following the laws of nature both good and
evil are coexisting in the human minds and depending the experiences of life one
becomes dominant over the other.6 The creation of the monster has been portrayed
through the character of Jae Kyu. In one scene he thinks that to save himself Yung Jae
would lie to serial killer and that would great problem for him. In that he becomes a
monster and attacks him. There are several instances where the director played with the
concept of monster theory and how they are created. Like when Mu Yeol considers to
leave the rope but thought of saving him there the monster was about to be born but did
not. The Frankenstein like Dr. Kim Yo Hun continued his experimenting but the united
fight of the students did not let him win the race.
6 Smith, Christian. To flourish or destruct: a personalist theory of human goods, motivations, failure, and evil .
University of Chicago Press, 2015.

CRITICAL SUMMARY
Bibliography
"White Christmas." Kissasian.ch. N.p., 2015. Web. 9 Oct. 2017. Link:
http://kissasian.ch/Drama/White-Christmas
Clemson, Christen E. The prison path: School practices that hurt our youth. Rowman &
Littlefield, 2015.
Kimmerly-Smith, Jevon Scott. "Frankenstein's Monster: The Modern Leviathan." (2014).
Mee-yoo, Kwon. "Eight Chilling Days Of White Christmas." Koreatimes. N.p., 2011. Web. 9
Oct. 2017.
Müller, Christoph M., Verena Hofmann, and Sybille Arm. "Susceptibility to classmates’
influence on delinquency during early adolescence." The Journal of Early Adolescence (2016)
Smith, Christian. To flourish or destruct: a personalist theory of human goods, motivations,
failure, and evil. University of Chicago Press, 2015.