Friday, February 18, 2011

Ting's Journey

As the movie begins, the village males demonstrate their strength and dexterity by climbing the monstrous tree, with the goal being to grab flag at the very top. After a tremendous battle for the flag, Ting emerges as the winner  to an eruption of cheers from the village. It is later in the day when Don decides to steal Ong Bak's Head, much to the despair of the villagers. As the winner of the competition, the village elects Ting to be the person to get the head back. This is where the first stage of the hero's journey commences, as Ting is tasked with a responsibility that he is quite reluctant to accept. Although Ting is hesitant, he understands the severity of the situation and how much the village is depending on him to re-acquire the head.

Once Ting begins his journey to the city, Initiation begins. Ting has lived in a village in the country his whole life so he isn't used to the lifestyle in the city where most people are looking to make a living any way possible. This is where we see the inexperience that Ting possess's, as he has never been outside of his village. As he seeks out Hunlae, he thinks that he is finding a friend from who he can trust, due to Hunlae coming from the village that Ting lives in.  As he finds Hunlae, Ting sees how much the city has changed him, as Hunlae is stuck in a life where he must try to find the capital to pay off his gambling debts. When they first meet, Hunlae wants nothing to do with Ting, partly because he is ashamed of the situation he is in and that Ting reminds Hunlae of his village. As the movie progresses, Hunlae becomes more desperate for money, urging Ting to fight in the ring to gain money. Since Ting needs Hunlae to find Don, Ting creates a compromise. Ting fights to gain money while Hunlae finds Don.

As Ting is braving the new environment that his journey has taken him on, he sticks to his core morals and values as he only wants to accomplish the feat of finding the head. The city hasn't changed him into wanting money and lavish lifestyle, just the bare necessities. This is where we the road of trials, as Ting is learning about himself and growing as a person along the way. Ting has had many chances to show his strength and he has conquered every one of them, to show how he has grown along his journey.\

We have yet to see when Ting enters the innermost cave and when he will return from it to return and reintegrate into society.

Sunday, February 6, 2011

The Transition of Hunlae and Ting's Relationship

When the two first meet, Ting comes to Hunlae for information about Don's whereabouts and Hunlae wants nothing to do with him. When Hunlae sees the money that the village gave Ting, he lets him come in the hopes of taking it to gamble. When Ting gets to the fighting ring that Hunlae bet Tings money at, he demands it back and accidently walks himself into a fight. He easily wins the fight and when the announcer gives him the prize amount, he just wants the bag of money from his village. Hunlae cant believe that someone would turn down money and this where we see one of the major differences in values between the two men.

Ting lives life with great appreciation for just the bare minimums that allow him to survive while Hunlae looks to cheat and steal to pay off all of the debts that he has collected to try and live a luxurious life. At the beginning of their relationship, Ting plays the role of the Hero while Hunlae plays the role of the Evil Figure with the Ultimately Good Heart. Hunlae appears to be manpulating Ting into getting him to fight for more money at the fighting ring., although Ting wants to have no part of it.

As the movie progresses, we start to see more dependance and co-operation between the two characters. One of the parts in the movie that symbolizes this concept the best is when we see Hunlae and Ting eating noodles on the side of the road. They are both eating at the same height and with the same type of food to show that neither man thinks he's better than another. This is one of the common journeys in fiction when we see the protaginist meet what we deem to be an obstacle in his path but the character turns out to help the protaginist on his journey.