This article is about the relationship between Asian ghosts and urban cities, especially how it’s portrayed in modern films. It dives into how the loneliness of ghosts actually reflects the inhabitants in apartments.
Having lived in only apartments my whole life I agree with Ancuta. I never had talked to any of my neighbors. The bustling business of the city makes me want to reduce my interactions to a minimum so that I can keep my social battery to work. The architecture of apartments, just like the article mentions, such as small windows, encourage this isolation of human bonds. There isn’t any space to connect with the people living around me, even communal parks are being destroyed. This reflects how society encourages seclusion in order to be driven for economic success.
So yes, we all become ghosts to each other, knowing the presence of each other but practically making each other transparent. Just like in the movie Apt. where Seo-jin’s neighbors tell her to mind her own business.
However, I would also like to argue that this does not actually represent the real longing of humans. In Korea, a kdrama called “Reply 1988” was a big hit because it showed Korea before apartments, when the neighborhood was like a big family. This shows that citizens are lonely and do not want isolation and miss interaction, but society forces them towards alienation through mechanisms like apartments.
Just like the article quotes, “The loneliness of apartment ghosts mirrors the loneliness of humans.”
— Dohyun Kim 3036192536