‣ Arrival of a Train, made by the Lumière brothers in 1895, is recorded as the first film in human history.
‣ Its original title is L’Arrivée d’un train en gare de La Ciotat, which means “The Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat Station.”
‣ From the very first film in cinema history, the train appeared as a key icon, and its movement, presence, and dynamism closely aligned with the identity of the newly born medium of film itself.
‣ In Korean cinema, however, trains have tended to appear primarily as negative or dangerous entities, unlike their representation in the works of the Lumière brothers and other Western films (especially Westerns).
‣ In A Rose That Swallowed Thorns, the train’s symbolism of modernity functions as a fatal and dangerous means—dangerous precisely because it can take one anywhere—closely associated with the female protagonist’s sexuality.
‣ In March of Fools, the military conscription train appears as a symbol of criticism against the regime and as a metaphor for generational skepticism. In both cases, the train emerges before it became fully ubiquitous and before it was established as a complete technology—sharing the common characteristic of being born out of “forced modernization.”
‣ In contemporary Korean films, such as Peppermint Candy (Lee Chang-dong, 2000) or Miracle (Lee Jang-hoon, 2021), trains tend to appear less as threatening or potentially dangerous beings, as seen in earlier examples, and more as symbols imbued with nostalgia. Overall, they can be understood within meanings, contexts, and historical circumstances different from those of earlier generations.
