Kim Giduk’s 3-iron conveys a story of socially marginalized figures such as an abused wife, Sun-Wha, and a wandering youngman, Tae-suk who appropriates empty houses of other people. While bringing the unnoticed space of an ‘empty house’ into focus and taking the alienated in the society as main characters, the film unveils the significance of the house as a convergence point of two systems, capitalism and patriarchism in Korean society. That is, focusing on the preposterous domination which a fetishized house exerts over its owner, this film represents the ideologically structured reality in which alienation and exploitation are prevalent. This paper argues that this film reveals the phantasmic structure of our home, the space of our living, which is sustained by the compulsive desire for possession. Disclosing this imaginary nature of reality, the director skillfully interweaves fantastic elements with realistic representational techniques. This tactical combination enables its male character to act out the ambivalent roles of the real in Lacanian theory. The Lacanian real functions not only as a threat—“traumatic return”—to the symbolic system but also as its supporting buttress. Likewise Tae-suk sometimes explodes a gap of the symbolically structured reality with his temporary suturing; he also fills out the gap and makes the reality look more plausible than before. Through an encounter with Tae-suk, Sun-wha finds strength to endure her unhappy marriage since he lets her recognize the hidden void in the oppressive reality. At the same time, his spectral apparition supports the extremely troubled conjugal relationship between Sun-wha and her husband. In this way, Sun-wha fantastically negotiates with the void in the Symbolic system. To investigate how the fantastic real performs its ambivalent roles in 3-Iron, therefore, significantly helps us to understand the film’s strategy in revealing that reality is inherently structured fantastically.

Kim Giduk’s 3-iron conveys a story of socially marginalized figures such as an abused wife, Sun-Wha, and a wandering youngman, Tae-suk who appropriates empty houses of other people. While bringing the unnoticed space of an ‘empty house’ into focus and taking the alienated in the society as main characters, the film unveils the significance of the house as a convergence point of two systems, capitalism and patriarchism in Korean society. That is, focusing on the preposterous domination which a fetishized house exerts over its owner, this film represents the ideologically structured reality in which alienation and exploitation are prevalent. This paper argues that this film reveals the phantasmic structure of our home, the space of our living, which is sustained by the compulsive desire for possession. Disclosing this imaginary nature of reality, the director skillfully interweaves fantastic elements with realistic representational techniques. This tactical combination enables its male character to act out the ambivalent roles of the real in Lacanian theory. The Lacanian real functions not only as a threat—“traumatic return”—to the symbolic system but also as its supporting buttress. Likewise Tae-suk sometimes explodes a gap of the symbolically structured reality with his temporary suturing; he also fills out the gap and makes the reality look more plausible than before. Through an encounter with Tae-suk, Sun-wha finds strength to endure her unhappy marriage since he lets her recognize the hidden void in the oppressive reality. At the same time, his spectral apparition supports the extremely troubled conjugal relationship between Sun-wha and her husband. In this way, Sun-wha fantastically negotiates with the void in the Symbolic system. To investigate how the fantastic real performs its ambivalent roles in 3-Iron, therefore, significantly helps us to understand the film’s strategy in revealing that reality is inherently structured fantastically.

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the symbolic, fantastic structure, Ideological system, empty house, Lacanian real, alienation