Themes and message

Guilt

The short film “The English Teacher” by Blake Ridder deals with the theme of guilt, which is illustrated by Jin. The film gives the impression that Jin has been plagued by guilt for a long time, which is why he tracks Robert down. A scene where Jin is looking at Robert entering his house (10:33-10:41) suggests that Jin probably had to gather courage to come up with the idea of asking Robert for English courses.

Jin’s plan to hire Robert to teach him English allows him to apologize personally, although he eventually does it in a video and not face to face. During their courses, Jin is interested in the difference between “sorry” and “pardon”, which shows that he is genuinely interested in giving Robert a proper apology. At the same time, Jin’s guilt makes him give Robert a large sum of money, pro...