The way western audiences view 'Oldboy' to the way the eastern audience would view this film is shown below. For example, a western audience sees eating a live octopus as awful but the eastern audience sees it as everyday.
Positive Western Reception
- Cult reception
- Complex narrative
- Symbolism of eating the live octopus (been locked up for 15 years, needed to eat the life not the food, been buried for years)
- Powerful film...depth of the human heart
- Age consent
Negative Western Reception
- Harming animals - octopus
- Sadomasochism - hammer - tongue cutting
- Puerile
- Does not reach the standards of a puritanical minority
- Age consent
- Style over substance
- Adolescent target audience
Hollywood Remake Reception
- CHN - Less morally ambiguous ending
- Commodifies morals (capitalistic greed)
- Alignment (back story)
- hammer Scene (separate shots)
- Ending - completely ending
- Insulting to hollywood audience
- Age consent - 15 years to 20 years so that the daughter is over 21
