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so you're telling me there are actual people out there who watched strangers from hell and concluded that seo moonjo is straight

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Kafkaesque Horror in Strangers from Hell

Since the beginning of this year, I’ve been obsessed with Strangers from Hell. As a literature student, I find myself falling deeper in love with this show the more I reflect on it. That’s why I decided to explore one of its most compelling themes: metamorphosis. In particular, I want to look at how the show engages with Franz Kafka’s Metamorphosis, and how this intertextual reference adds depth to Yoon Jong-woo’s transformation.

This won’t be an exhaustive analysis—at least not yet!—but I hope these initial thoughts will offer something interesting. And if anyone’s curious enough, I’d be more than happy to dig deeper into the topic.

At the heart of Strangers from Hell lies the theme of metamorphosis, serving as a central axis around which the narrative turns. The protagonist, Yoon Jong-woo, undergoes a profound psychological transformation, one that parallels Gregor Samsa’s arc in Kafka’s novella. While many viewers focus on Jong-woo’s moral decline—his gradual shedding of innocence and descent into violence—I think Kafka’s influence invites us to look further back, into the systems and environments that initiate the change.

Kafka’s Metamorphosis isn’t primarily about morality. It’s about suffocation—emotional, social, and existential. Gregor doesn’t fail because he becomes a monster (although that’s how people around him become to perceive him); he fails because his human efforts to meet impossible expectations finally collapse under pressure. That same undercurrent of exhaustion and dehumanisation runs through Jong-woo’s story.

Like Gregor, Jong-woo exists in a world that is cold and demanding. His work life is rigid and hostile: he’s overworked, undervalued, and constantly micromanaged by a boss who pretends to be his friend. Of course we can take it with a grain of salt since Jong-woo is an unreliable narrator and we can’t be sure that everything we see was how things truly were, but that’s not the point of this analysis. What we can tell is that his home life is no better. He carries the weight of responsibility for his single mother and disabled brother, pushing himself to provide for them financially, even at a great personal cost. This mirrors Gregor’s own sacrifice for his family, who depend on him but offer little in the way of compassion or understanding.

And this begs the question—who truly was the parasite in these relationships? Both in book and the series. Supervisors? The family? It’s easier to judge in Gregor’s case, since the label of unreliable narrator belongs more to Jong-woo than Gregor, at least in my belief and interpretation of the book.

Both characters live in cramped, isolating spaces that reflect their inner turmoil. Gregor is locked away in a room where the dust and mold accumulate as his physical condition deteriorates. Jong-woo, too, is confined to a small, suffocating apartment in Eden Studio—a decaying place that seems to infect him the longer he stays there. Interestingly, while Gregor’s surroundings become dirtier as he declines, Jong-woo’s environment was like that since the day he moved in, and that’s partially why his mind slips into chaos. He feels trapped, we could even say ‘claustrophobic’. The contrast suggests a more modern kind of alienation, connected to how capitalism feeds on us (but that’s also a subject for different analysis!).

Even their relationships follow a similar trajectory. Gregor’s sister begins as his only ally, but as time passes, she grows tired of him—tired of his „illness”, his silence, his failure to return to being useful. Jong-woo’s girlfriend echoes this arc. She, too, starts out supportive, only to drift away as his paranoia and inner darkness surface. Like Gregor, Jong-woo becomes someone whose suffering others no longer want to accommodate.

There’s a particularly evocative detail in both series: the desk. Gregor’s desk becomes a symbol of his former human life, something he clings to even as his body betrays him. In Strangers from Hell, Jong-woo also sits at a desk—writing, reflecting on his life, coming undone... In both cases, the desk represents perhaps the last link to their internal selves, a place where identity once resided but now feels foreign.

Ultimately, the metamorphosis in both narratives isn’t just about becoming something else—it’s about what we’re forced to become when we’re no longer allowed to be human.

In Kafka’s Metamorphosis, Gregor dies in the end—quietly, almost incidentally. His body is disposed of by a housekeeper, and his family, far from grieving, is relieved. To them, Gregor had become a burden, and his death marks a return to comfort and normalcy. His existence was tolerated only as long as he could serve them; once that utility vanished, so did their sympathy.

Strangers from Hell takes a different, darker turn. Jong-woo doesn’t die in the literal sense. Instead, he undergoes a symbolic death—an erasure of the self he once was. What emerges in his place is someone new, someone far more dangerous. His transformation into a killer is the culmination of a slow, deliberate unraveling, one that doesn’t just reflect Kafka’s story but expands upon it in disturbing and meaningful ways.

Where Gregor was cast aside by a family that never truly understood him, Jong-woo is drawn deeper into himself by someone who claims to know him almost intimately. Moon-jo is the only character who offers Jong-woo something that resembles a twisted form of empathy. He listens, observes and... guides—but his version of guidance is laced with manipulation and violence. Still, it’s that false intimacy that sets Moon-jo apart from everyone else in Jong-woo’s life. He doesn’t ignore Jong-woo’s descent—he nurtures it.

One subtle but potent moment underscores this twisted connection: Moon-jo steals Jong-woo’s copy of Metamorphosis. It’s never entirely clear why, but symbolically, the act is striking. Perhaps he reads it to better understand Jong-woo’s mind, to identify with the alienation and despair that echo his own. Or maybe he uses it as a map—a psychological blueprint for how to push Jong-woo past the point of return. If Gregor dies from neglect, Jong-woo is reborn through corruption, shaped by a man who weaponizes understanding.

In the end, the show doesn't offer redemption. It offers transformation—and the horror of what we can become when the world leaves us isolated, exhausted, and seen only by those who would exploit us.

Let me know if these thoughts resonated with you, or if they sparked any new interpretations. I’d love to explore this further, especially with timestamps from the show or direct quotes from Kafka’s text—though fair warning, that expanded analysis would easily run over 5,000 words. Still, if anyone’s interested, I’d be more than happy to dive in. <3 You can ask me any other question's you'd like on my profile by the way.

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all Yim Siwan's villain characters die at the end so he can reunite with his dead husband btw

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strangers from hell (2019)/ "the god of peace" from naoki urasawa's monster (1994-2001)/ BTS, 애매한 사이 (young love)/ susan howe, singularities (1990)/ claudia durastanti, strangers (2022)/ "자기"/"jagi" etymology by kirby cho on reddit/ mabel podcast (2017), episode 28/ junji ito's uzumaki (2000)

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i’m okay with change and i’m fine if things are no longer the same i embrace change

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blocked because your interpretation of that character doesn’t match the way they act in my bedtime narrative i imagine when i’m falling asleep every night

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strangers from hell is a truly buckwild batshit insane show like. imagine if you were stuck in a dead-end job and you sublimate your dissatisfaction and rage by trying to write a novel about a serial killer so you can live vicariously through them but you know it’s no good and you live in a crumbling tenement building with undiagnosed psychopaths and probably cannibals and definitely filthy singletons because you can’t afford anything better and your next door neighbour is a waiflike freak of a man that touches your neck like a lover wondering what your insides look like and who thinks you look pretty when you’re angry and who’s a respected dentist in town that everyone knows but he also kills people —at least you think he kills people— and he’s everywhere you look but nowhere when you actually need him and he loves you and it terrifies you and when you’re both covered in blood he’s never looked at you more sincerely and he calls you sweetheart even though it repulses you and when it’s all over you still look for him because he was the only one who ever really saw you for who you actually are and he gave you a bracelet made of teeth as a gift and you won’t take it off even if it makes you look crazy. especially because it makes you look crazy. and so what if you are?

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Having one-sided beef with one specific character is so funny. Like I can see a million characters who do terrible things and be like “whatever.” But then there’s one specific motherfucker who pissed me off so bad that I’d run them over at a red light if given the chance.

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i saw an instagram reel of someone talking about his experience as a gnc individual. he was like "yeah i'm afab and i dress very fem and i've never experienced gender dysphoria in my body but i use he/him pronouns." and i was like wow that's so fire you're so real for that. and then i opened the comments (rookie mistake, won't happen again) and holy shit, the transphobia was RANCID. so many people saying shit like "white women want to be oppressed so badly," "so you're cis," "maybe i'm not woke enough for this"

holy fuck yall. we can acknowledge that yes, thin and white/white-passing trans individuals face less systemic and societal barriers. yes, cis-passing and non-physically-transitioned gnc folk may experience less stigma and oppression in their day-to-day lives. but hello, we can still acknowledge that someone's gender is still valid?? we should still respect their identity ??

trans/gnc individuals don't need to match your stereotypes in order for their identity to still be valid. trans/gnc people don't need to look a certain way, experience dysphoria, or physically transition in order to still be valid. external appearance does not equal internal gender identity. these things can exist and change independently of one another.

so yeah. maybe the problem really is that you're not "woke" enough to have this conversation. but then again, yall can't even accept that cis heteroromantic asexual men are queer too, so. maybe you're just not a queer ally in general.

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I feel the phrase “Aro/Ace people can still date/have sex” has just morphed into a new version of “you just haven’t found the right person yet.”

Yes we can. But it’s our call if we do. And it’s certainly not gonna be with anyone who tries to use the fluidity of our experiences as a clap back to break firmly set boundaries.

And that fluidity doesn’t make sexual/romantic repulsion that some of us experience any less true or valid.

I’ve never had sex and I never will. The sheer concept of it viscerally disgusts me.

I’ve never experienced any form of sexual attraction and know at this point i likely never will. I have zero framework for it when people talk about it. It confuses me.

“Little to no romantic/sexual attraction” has a no in it for a reason. Because aro/ace people who don’t experience sexual/romantic attraction at all regardless of circumstance are in fact real.

Other ace people have different experiences. They’re allowed to. Their experiences aren’t mine or anyone else’s to make. Nor are mine theirs.

Sexualities are complicated and often fluid sure. But one thing they’re not is negotiable.

Ace peoples boundaries are ours to make and yours to respect. No ifs or buts. You don’t get a say in it.

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''i wasted those years'' who cares. you lived the only life you could've lived in those moments

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you don't know how little i lived before i loved you.

✨ art: anteiku, official artist of tgcf russian edition

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can someone teach me how to be emotionally regulated and not be sensitive or take things personally

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the great thing about being an aroace nonbinary person is that half the queer community thinks I’m a privileged cishet invading their spaces and the cishets think I’m a mentally ill freak but both sides agree that I’m faking it for attention.

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I wish I woke up tomorrow in a world where I don't have to see a single AI generated image ever again

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Ideas are cooking for my pride outfit.