Youtube Exercise » English Grammar Homework

“Cursed Bunny” by Bora Chung – Surreal Horror That Exposes Trauma, Family Violence, and Patriarchy

Academy Books

7 views 3 months ago

Warm-up Questions

From the title, what kinds of topics do you expect this video to discuss (horror, family, society, etc.)?
What do you think “surreal horror” means, and how might it be different from typical horror?
How can a story about a “cursed bunny” connect to real-life issues like trauma or patriarchy?

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“Cursed Bunny” by Bora Chung – Surreal Horror That Exposes Trauma, Family Violence, and Patriarchy

Entering Bora Chung’s unsettling world (00:00 – 01:12)

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1. What kind of reading experience does the speaker describe at the start?

Something predictable with a happy ending
Something so strange it “gets under your skin” for days
Something light and funny that you quickly forget
Something confusing because it has too many characters

2. How does the speaker position Cursed Bunny as a book?

A realistic memoir with no supernatural elements
A children’s fantasy classic
A collection mostly focused on romance
A landmark of modern Korean fiction blending horror with surreal elements

3. According to the speaker, what is the collection designed to make readers confront?

The history of Korean royal families
How to write short stories in English
The horrors of patriarchy and capitalism
The joys of friendship and community

“Cursed Bunny” by Bora Chung – Surreal Horror That Exposes Trauma, Family Violence, and Patriarchy

Body horror and patriarchal control: “The Head” and “the embodiment” (01:12 – 03:28)

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1. In “The Head,” what is the creature in the toilet formed from?

Everything she’s ever flushed away, the discarded parts of herself
Mud and plants from a river
Pieces of a broken doll
A stolen medical specimen from a hospital

2. How does the woman respond when the creature calls her “mother”?

She immediately asks the doctor for help
She feels proud and protective
She laughs because it is harmless
She feels pure visceral disgust and tries to get rid of it

3. What baffling advice does the doctor give in “the embodiment”?

She should move to a different country to continue the pregnancy
The fetus will not develop without a father, so she must find a man
Pregnancy is impossible, so the woman is imagining it
She must stop eating certain foods to avoid a curse

“Cursed Bunny” by Bora Chung – Surreal Horror That Exposes Trauma, Family Violence, and Patriarchy

Systems, curses, and the cost of revenge (03:28 – 07:15)

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1. In “Cursed Bunny,” how does the massive corporation destroy the small family-run company?

By hiring all their workers with better salaries
By stealing their recipe through a spy
By offering to buy their product at a high price
By lying and spreading rumors that the product is dangerous

2. What does the grandfather create to carry out the revenge?

A weapon hidden inside a bottle of spirits
A secret contract that ruins the CEO legally
A spell written on the company’s account books
A pretty, innocent-looking bunny lamp that is cursed

3. What lesson does the speaker highlight with the saying about revenge?

Revenge is best served immediately and publicly
Revenge is never a one-way street and leaves a permanent stain on the one who curses
Revenge always leads to a happy ending for the victim
Revenge only works when the legal system supports it

“Cursed Bunny” by Bora Chung – Surreal Horror That Exposes Trauma, Family Violence, and Patriarchy

Transcript will load here…

1. What is the speaker’s main claim about why the stories feel so disturbing?

They are disturbing mainly because of graphic violence and gore
They are disturbing because they give concrete form to invisible anxieties and systems
They are disturbing because they are difficult to translate into English
They are disturbing because they are based on true crimes

2. How does the speaker contrast the two body-focused stories discussed?

One is set in the past and the other is set in the future
One is about internal horror from within the body, the other about external rules imposed by society
One is narrated by a child and the other by a doctor
One is comedic and the other is romantic

3. What broader social targets does the speaker say the collection confronts?

Education and exam culture only
Patriarchy and capitalism
Environmental pollution only
Technology and social media influencers

Discussion Questions

Discuss the ideas from this video

“Cursed Bunny” by Bora Chung – Surreal Horror That Exposes Trauma, Family Violence, and Patriarchy

Do you agree that surreal horror can reveal “real truths” better than realistic stories? Why or why not?
In the examples described, how do bodies and systems become sources of horror? Which feels more frightening to you?
The speaker says “Getting even is never clean.” What are some real-life examples where revenge harms the person seeking it?
What “unseen curses” (systems, traditions, expectations) do you think shape people’s lives today?