Teaching Practice: Idiot Girls and School Ghost 2

A Fake Horror Trailer and the Brilliant Insertion of Comedy

The movie Student Teaching Practicum leaves a strong first impression with a trailer that cleverly twists the audience's expectations. Looking solely at the trailer, it appears to be a chilling, bizarre, and authentic horror film set against the backdrop of a school. However, looking beneath the surface, the situational comedy is hidden perfectly. In particular, the 'word chain game with a ghost' scene featured in the preview clearly defines the film's true identity. The scene where a character gets hit by a ghost for using a foreign loanword during a life-or-death word chain game suggests that while it wears the outer shell of the horror genre, its core lies strictly in B-grade comedy.

Twisting the Genre: Emptying the Fear and Filling It with Laughter

If you watch the movie with this trailer's atmosphere in mind, you will find yourself anticipating what kind of quirky laughter will burst out, rather than feeling fear, despite the ghost-related subject matter. In fact, the early part of the film utilizes visual and auditory devices to create the atmosphere of a slightly scary teen horror flick, inducing tension in the audience. However, that tension does not last long. Once the initial horror atmosphere clears, the narrative flows in a thoroughly comic and cheerful tone, to the point where not a single scary scene appears afterward, delivering the true delight of genre twisting.

Student Teacher Kang Eun-kyung’s Harsh Return to Her Alma Mater

As the title Student Teaching Practicum suggests, at the center of this work's narrative is the protagonist 'Kang Eun-kyung', played by actress Han Sun-hwa. She is appointed to her alma mater as a student teacher, harboring big dreams and passion. Although she stands at the podium with the ideal of becoming a true educator, the reality she faces is a series of unexpected hurdles right from her very first class. Even during the meaningful moment of introducing herself to the students as their new student teacher, a student right in front of the teacher's desk completely ignores her presence and focuses entirely on other distractions, starkly exposing the collapsed order of modern classrooms.

Exaggerated Comic Action Metaphorizing Collapsed Teachers' Authority

Unable to tolerate a student who wears earphones during class and solely focuses on private academy homework unrelated to the school lesson, Kang Eun-kyung attempts to discipline the student. However, the result of this normal disciplinary action is disastrous. As soon as she points out the student's behavior, the parent immediately storms into the school, turning the classroom upside down and causing a massive uproar. At this point, the movie satirizes reality by borrowing the extreme setup of comic action. The exaggerated directing—where Kang Eun-kyung is blown backward as if she were hit by a blast of energy from a martial arts movie due to the parent's protest—symbolically portrays the current state of teachers' authority, which has become infinitely powerless in the face of parents' complaints in the real educational field.

The Black Magic Club Sweeping Top Grades Without Tutoring

While struggling through her grueling student teaching practicum, three particularly unique female students catch Kang Eun-kyung's eye. In a fiercely competitive environment that could be called the epicenter of private education, these are bizarre individuals who sweep the top places in the entire school without even attending a single private academy. 'Aoi', played by Hong Ye-ji, ranks first in Language; 'Riko', played by Lee Yeo-reum, ranks first in Math; and 'Haruka', played by Lee Hwa-won, ranks first in Foreign Languages. Judging solely by their outstanding grades, they should be the pride of the school, but surprisingly, they have formed a bizarre gathering called the 'Black Magic Club' and are continuing their secret activities.

The School's Neglect and Hypocrisy Born of Grade-Centrism

According to general common sense, it is an unhealthy and strange club that the school should immediately sanction, but the school turns a blind eye to and neglects their black magic activities. This is because the brilliant report card of being the top in the entire school is directly linked to the school's honor and college admission records. Finding the school's hypocrisy and negligence strange, Kang Eun-kyung begins to focus on these three students. When the kids spout absurd, nonsensical stories and mention ghosts, Kang Eun-kyung leaves a note to attempt communication, which becomes a decisive turning point leading the incident to a new phase.

Idainashi, the Samurai Ghost Trading Grades for Souls

The next day, the students deliver shocking news to Kang Eun-kyung. They say they delivered the note she left to the ghost, and the ghost became extremely angry. The entity that appears here is none other than 'Idainashi', played by actor Yoo Seon-ho. As the vengeful spirit of a Japanese samurai, he acts as the actual leader of the Black Magic Club, boosting the children's test scores. However, nothing in the world is free. Instead of giving the students perfect scores, Idainashi is a terrifying evil spirit who maintains his own existence by gnawing at their youth and souls.

An Extraordinary Rescue Mission Through Subject-Specific Quests

The furious Idainashi takes Haruka, a club member, hostage and threatens that Kang Eun-kyung must come to him personally to get the student released. To save her student, Kang Eun-kyung braves her fear and approaches him by solving the missions presented by Idainashi. Interestingly, the missions given by the ghost are composed of problems from each subject area, such as Language, Math, and Foreign Languages. The extraordinary development where Kang Eun-kyung's struggle to solve the missions to save her student naturally leads to academic learning and improvement in skills is a unique humor code exclusive to this movie.

A Lost Educational Reality Between Past Violence and Current Indulgence

While the movie outwardly depicts a comical showdown with a ghost, a sharp criticism of the collapsed authority of teachers and the distorted educational reality lies at its foundation. In the past, there was an era of barbarism where teachers unfairly wielded immense power, relentlessly beating students to the point of bleeding. However, highlighting the present, where the pendulum has swung completely in the opposite direction, the film points out a situation where teachers have become so powerless that they cannot even freely offer proper disciplinary words to students. As schools have degenerated from places of holistic education into mere tools for college entrance, the film points out that the perspectives of parents and students toward teachers have also been thoroughly corrupted into a consumer-centric mindset.

A Heavy Social Message Hidden Behind Light Laughter

Recalling the infringements on teachers' rights and the tragic incidents in the educational field reported daily in recent news, Student Teaching Practicum is an incisive work that cannot be consumed merely as a light comedy. The director cleverly unravels the dismal reality of education through a delightful twist accompanied by the fantasy of ghosts and black magic, rather than a straightforward documentary or a heavy traditional drama. The fact that actress Han Sun-hwa, who brilliantly led the play, won the Best Actress in a Feature Film award for this work is likely due to her merit in sublimating this message through excellent comic acting. It is an entertaining film that can be enjoyed lightly without burden thanks to its relatively short runtime of 95 minutes, but the aftertaste of reality that lingers in the mouth after leaving the theater proves it to be a weighty masterpiece.