A columnist for The Korea Herald analyzed the dystopian novel *The Man in the High Castle*
Kim Seong-gon, professor emeritus at Seoul National University, analyzed the TV series *The Man in the High Castle* in a column for the *Korea Herald*. The events of this dystopia unfold in an alternate history where Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan won World War II. According to the author, the series explores themes of xenophobia and racial harmony, uniformity and diversity, tyranny and resistance.
The series, based on Philip K. Dick’s 1962 novel and produced by Ridley Scott, depicts the United States divided between the Japanese Pacific States on the West Coast and the Nazi American Reich in the East. According to the plot, the United States was occupied following its defeat in the Pacific War and the destruction of Washington by a German atomic bomb.
Kim Son-gon drew attention to resistance leader Gorthorn Abendsen and Adolf Hitler: both characters are associated with the “High Castle” and are interested in films about alternative histories. The columnist believes that this comparison highlights the fine line between tyranny and resistance when either side goes to extremes. He noted that members of the resistance can also be cruel to innocent people, justifying it with a greater cause.
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The columnist also mentioned the heroine Juliana Crane, who, in the story, declares that she believes in people, not ideologies. To save a sick boy—the son of her Nazi enemy—she shoots one of the resistance leaders, the father of her half-sister Trudy.
An important motif in the series is a film titled “The Grasshopper Lies Heavy,” which presents alternative versions of history. In Dick’s novel, this is the title of a book written by Abendsen. In the TV adaptation, the films inspire members of the resistance, and some characters discover that their deceased relatives are alive in a parallel reality.
According to Kim Sung-kon, acknowledging the possibility of an alternative history or a parallel world can broaden our perspective on the present and inspire people to build a better world. He also conveyed the concerns of some political commentators who see parallels between the current situation and the period leading up to World War II.
