#bum's frog

What’s furthermore interesting about this is that either Bum or Sangwoo or both could be the frog prince symbolized. For example: Bum could be “the frog prince” because in The Frog Prince (a classic Grimm fairy tale), the emphasis is made on love shown to the frog by taking him in, letting him eat their food, and letting him sleep in their bed - all things that the frog needs in order to break the curse and all of which Bum himself has emphasized that Sangwoo has given him. Meanwhile Sangwoo also seems to fit the part of “the frog prince” because in more modern versions of the tale, the emphasis is placed more on love shown through comfort - both emotional and physical (kiss) - such as in The Princess and The Frog (the storybook), which contained the following, “Suddenly, she heard the sounds of weeping. She turned the light back on to see the frog beside her, wiping tears from his eyes.” A familiar scene, right? We’ve seen Bum briefly wake to Sangwoo crying beside him and asking for comfort several times. In The Princess and the Frog (the Disney movie), both partners became frogs! The frog prince turned his potential rescuer into a frog. The parallel for this within Killing Stalking is clear, with Sangwoo leading Bum to share his “curse” (remember the shared Poison Apple was also symbolism) and take a darker path into murder. It’s also worth noting that the frog prince in these classic tales is “cursed” or made to be this way usually by an “evil witch” figure, which Eunseo qualifies as, having both poisoned Sangwoo (mentally and physically) and cursed him to “die the most painful death.” A cursed state that he could be saved from and a mental poisoning that he could transform from by regaining his humanity. THEORY: Just a theory... Either Bum or Sangwoo will transform into a better person. LOL. Or they will live happily as “frogs” together.

In some of the more gruesome versions of the Grimm’s tale, the princess throws the frog at the wall - which turns him back into a prince, or - as in The Maiden and The Frog - the girl must chop off the frog’s head to turn him back into a prince. The point being that, as ridiculous as these versions are, this classic tale has had associations with violence in the past. And fairy tales overall have a tendency to be more violent or abusive than the Disney versions. So, the violence of Killing Stalking definitely doesn’t preclude it from containing some of these literary tropes and classic forms of symbolism.

Fun facts: Poison Dart Frogs are the most poisonous animals alive, which is why their poison was used for deadly poison darts. The Brothers Grimm collected folk tales and popularized both The Frog Prince and Snow White. And if you see thematic similarities between The Frog Prince and Beauty and The Beast, it is very likely they were inspired by the French fairy tale La Belle et la Bête (the origin of Beauty and the Beast) as that was published before The Frog Prince.