Character Analysis
Repeating Frames
We’ve lumped Guy’s co-workers into one category because it’s hard to tell them apart. Here’s what we know about the animators we meet.
- Sandrine is jumpy and defensive. Key quotes: “Huh? What’s wrong? Is there a problem? Do you think we should redo it?” (1.57), and: “Shit, we forgot to tell the guards” (1.66). She’s clearly nervous about the situation in North Korea.
- Richard is the new guy, working on animation based on Corto Maltese, a European graphic novel. He’s less jumpy and not at all concerned about what the guards think of him.
- David is good with Photoshop.
- There’s a French guy who’s a good artist.
And that’s pretty much all we know about them.
It seems that the animators are only friends with Guy because they speak a common language. You bond over whatever you can when you’re alone together (how’s that for an oxymoron?) in a foreign country.
But there isn’t really any intimacy between the animators. All they do is go out and drink. They rarely have anything to talk about other than their jobs and the oddities they’ve seen on the streets of Pyongyang. Guy actually thinks that Richard will think the story of the animation pages getting soaked is funny. “He doesn’t think it’s funny” (5.51), Guy says. Of course he doesn’t, because it was his work getting ruined.
The animators, like the North Koreans, are pretty much anonymous. One animator comes in; another leaves. They’re all replaceable. They even look the same.