The Death of a Cleaning Worker and 'I, Daniel Blake' [Joohee Kang's Video Prism]

'I, Daniel Blake' still image./Photo by Jinjin Film Company

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[Asia Economy Reporter Kang Juhee] Humiliation. The shame felt when being belittled and ignored. Humiliation refers to the painful emotion experienced when one's existence is denied. Kim Chan-ho, the author of , explains that 'insult'?the anger felt when directly subjected to verbal abuse or ridicule?and 'humiliation' are different. Insult is immediately recognizable because the act is intentional and overt, but humiliation, which is an implicitly dismissive and contemptuous attitude, may be harder to detect. Humiliation, cleverly hidden in everyday speech, makes it difficult for those who feel it to raise objections. Moreover, humiliation is sometimes justified under the guise of the most legitimate and rational social institutions, standards, and principles.

Director Ken Loach's film shows how frequently and in what ways such humiliation appears in everyday life. The film tells the story of Daniel, a carpenter who can no longer work due to a chronic heart condition. After losing his income, Daniel applies for sickness benefits but is informed that he has failed the assessment. His doctor diagnoses that he should not work yet. However, the government agency judges that his health poses no problem for job seeking. Daniel is caught in a dilemma where he can neither receive sickness benefits nor return to work.

The film begins with Daniel undergoing an assessment to receive sickness benefits. The assessor asks questions in a businesslike tone. "Can you walk more than 50 meters on your own?" "I received your documents, but it's hard to read what you wrote." "Please answer only the questions." The voice heard in the dark room pierces Daniel's heart.

The hardships Daniel faces to receive welfare benefits continue repeatedly. While preparing to appeal the sickness benefit rejection, Daniel applies for jobseeker's allowance, but the office requires all documents to be submitted online. The elderly Daniel does not know how to use a computer. With the help of a passerby, he slowly fills out the application form on the computer screen but fails dozens of times. There is no system anywhere that considers the elderly.

In the mandatory resume course required to receive jobseeker's allowance, Daniel, a carpenter, is taught information that is neither applicable nor practically useful for his work. The instructor says, "Make yourself stand out," "You have to be smart." The instructor's words and the messages from government officials directed at Daniel can be summarized as: "The reason you lost your job is because you lack ability and did not try as hard as others." Daniel averts his eyes and lowers his head from the impassioned instructor.

The film exposes how humiliation can be inflicted everywhere in daily life. It reveals how inhumane and heartless a society is that solely blames poverty and unemployment on individuals. It shows how humiliation, under the names of systems, standards, and principles, is justified against the socially vulnerable and how it destroys a person's life.

'I, Daniel Blake' still image./Photo by Jinjin Film Company

On the 26th of last month, a cleaning worker at Seoul National University passed away from a heart attack while resting in a dormitory lounge. This cleaning worker had no underlying health conditions. He had complained of suffering from excessive workload and unfair orders during his lifetime.

Seoul National University made the cleaning workers take a written exam. One question required writing the name of the dormitory where they worked in English and Chinese characters. Seoul National University announced that the exam scores would be "actively reflected in personnel evaluations." Low-scoring test papers were shown to colleagues, causing embarrassment, shame, and humiliation. At meetings, they were instructed to attend "looking as stylish as possible" and were given a "dress code."

Seoul National University explained that the reason for the written exam was to provide appropriate responses to international students, and the dress code was a guideline to wear casual clothes so they could leave immediately after meetings. Professor Koo Mo of Seoul National University posted a statement about the incident saying, "It is disgusting to see people pretending to be victims over the tragic death of one person." He claimed there was nothing wrong with their instructions and that their demands were legitimate.

This is how humiliation is justified. Under the plausible pretexts of education and work guidelines, shame is secretly inflicted, and even if objections are raised, they cleverly avoid criticism. After the cleaning worker's death, when reports criticizing the university flooded in, Seoul National University showed a brazen attitude, claiming damage to the school's reputation. Who is really "pretending to be a victim"?

At the end of the film, after enduring all kinds of humiliation in the process of receiving government subsidies, Daniel ultimately asks to have his name removed from the list of jobseeker's allowance recipients. Although not receiving the allowance means he will soon be homeless, his expression is resolute. He says, "When a person loses their dignity, they lose everything." "I am not a dog; I am a human being." He eventually dies of a heart attack before appealing the sickness benefit decision.

The film conveys that violence is not only direct verbal abuse or physical acts. The reason Daniel loses his will to live is not because he has no money, lost his job, or is ill. When he is humiliated by others and his existence is denied, when he is not respected as a human being, he loses the strength to sustain himself. Seoul National University expressed regret over the deceased's death but has yet to apologize for the acts of humiliation inflicted on the cleaning workers.