![]() ![]() In Detention, the KMT authoritarian regime is the real source of horror, and the demons and villains its characters face are simply extensions of that regime. Even the monsters get political they wear KMT military caps. The film directly calls out the Taiwan Garrison Command secret police as perpetrators, and its main human antagonist is Greenwood’s dyed-in-the-wool KMT military training officer. It contains multiple torture and execution scenes nooses and blood are constant motifs. Furthermore, these movies never discuss who was guilty of the White Terror.ĭetention boldly goes where no Taiwanese feature has gone before. For instance, A City of Sadness shows political prisoners, but never directly depicts killings or torture. While previous Taiwan-made films like 1989’s A City of Sadness and 1991’s A Brighter Summer Day acknowledge the White Terror, they do so obliquely. At a meta-level, Detention itself is a full-throated exercise in transitional justice, more so than maybe any other mainstream Taiwanese movie from the past three decades. Complex narrative structure aside, the film marks a milestone for Taiwanese society’s efforts in coming to terms with the White Terror. Transitional Justice Courtesy of Movie One.ĭespite these flaws, Detention remains one of Taiwan’s most important contemporary movies. Detention the movie could’ve guided a character linearly along those stages, and created a more compelling story. Players remember what wrongs occurred, assign guilt, and finally initiate a rebirth based on acknowledging that guilt. Through these choices, they move along textbook stages of transitional justice. In Detention the game, players have to make active choices that result in meaningful consequences. However, the video game medium still feels more effective towards this end. While this narrative structure can feel disorienting, you could argue the sense of psychological unease that results builds empathy for what it felt like to live during the White Terror. If you’re watching it for the horror, do the opposite. If you’re watching Detention for the politics, speed through the beginning and focus on the end. Some horror tropes resurface, but only to support boldfaced musings about historical guilt and memory. By this time, the most intense scares have subsided, and the film moves into slightly more realistic territory. Those who aren’t horror enthusiasts might find this first portion agonizing, because it’s not until the second part that Detention provides meaningful plot exposition. The beginning third feels like a standard survival horror movie, introducing monsters and laying it thick with jumpscares. Horror in Three Acts Courtesy of Movie One.ĭetention’s story proceeds nonlinearly, and you could easily divide the movie into three parts. Uncovering how the study group got caught, the movie implies, might help them find the truth about these demons. They’re alone, it’s night, and demonic creatures begin emerging from the shadows.Īs Fang and Wei flee through the labyrinthine school, they learn the creatures have something to do with a study group for banned books that the authorities recently busted. She stumbles upon a younger male classmate, Wei Chung-ting. Welcome to the height of White Terror Taiwan, as told through Detention.Īgainst this societal backdrop, twelfth-grader Fang Ray-shin finds herself wandering the halls of Greenwood High. Freedom of speech doesn’t exist surveillance and censorship run rampant. The KMT government is on high alert for anyone who might challenge their rule. It’s 1962, and paranoia permeates Greenwood High School (an intriguing translation of 翠華中學). Scary School Story Courtesy of Movie One. Still, the film represents a significant milestone in Taiwan’s reckoning with its authoritarian past. The Detention ( 返校) movie uses psychological horror to convey the White Terror’s traumatic impact, though less effectively than the game. Now, the game has an eponymous film adaptation. Besides providing gripping gameplay, Detention helped many international critics and gamers learn about the White Terror-in which Taiwan’s ruling Kuomintang (KMT) Party imprisoned over 140,000 political opponents between 19. Set in 1960s Taiwan under martial law, the survival horror video game released in 2017 to positive reception. If you’re interested in either games or Taiwan, you might know about Detention. ![]()
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