There are so many recluses in modern Japan that they have come up with a psychological determination for these people called Hikikomori. This is not just people who don’t like to go outside now and then. These are hardcore adolescents or adults who have withdrawn from society. In Loner, we see a normal, kindhearted girl named Soo-na become a hikikomori soon after her best friend dies. There’s lots more to the plot of this intriguing Korean film, but I’m not here to reveal plot twists.
What I’m here to do is connect this with something from the world of literature and that something is an anchorite. An Anchorite was a person who chose the life of a recluse and withdrew themselves from society in an effort to live a life of religious contemplation and closer communion with the Almighty.
Their cell, or anchorhold as it was termed, was usually built right along the side of a church. When the anchorite made his/her decent into their anchorhold for the first time, the Bishop was usually on hand to say for them the Office of the Dead as symbolically anyway, they were dead to the outside world. This, however, did not stop them from interacting daily with those of the community as anchorites were assumed to have wisdom beyond the normal due to their long communion with God and the spirit world.
There are 6 criteria for a person to be declared a hikikomori:
- Spending most of their days confined to their homes
- Conscious avoidance of social stimulation
- Symptoms that interfere with the normal routine of social functioning
- The withdrawal is manifestation of behavior in harmony with the needs of the ego or one’s ideal self-image (ego-syntonic)
- Duration of at least 6 months
- Other mental disorder present
Now I don’t know if you have to meet them all…that would require research and I’m sort of allergic! But there are parallels to the character Soo-na and the reasons she turns into a hikikomori and Julian of Norwhich…probably the most famous anchoress in literature. All in all two people seriously dedicated to finding answers without the help of society. Whether there’s something supernatural going on in Loner or not…you will just have to watch and see.
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