Highrise Outline

             The person I chose to analyze is John from Johannesburg in South Africa. Before watching his highrise video, I researched about the city of Johannesburg from Wikipedia. Johannesburg has the largest population in South Africa, and it is the provincial center of South Africa. It also has the largest economy in South Africa. Johannesburg also features a very dry and sunny climate with warm temperature due to its high altitude. Many people living in Johannesburg are divided into many classes, from very rich to extremely poor. These thousands of poor migrated into the city of Johannesburg from other cities and they contribute the high percentage of crime rate. I also figured out about Johannesburg's residential areas which range from very luxurious complex to abandoned poor towns.
             Having this done, I read the stories of John in Highrise. According to him, there are many hijacked buildings in Johannesburg.  He said that the hijackers often use violence and even kill the owner of the building to hijack the building. This is the way of how these hijackers in Johannesburg hijack the buildings and earn money from tenants. Also he talked about roof repair. He said that many citizens of Johannesburg throw out trashes and old belongings outside the window. He also said the 'horror stories' about Johannesburg, in which man's skull was found in lift or people were mugged and raped. This is his depiction of Johannesburg where he lives in. 

              Now I want to compare his life with my own life. His life in Johannesburg seems to be very unstable and dangerous, because Johannesburg, especially its poor area, is the place where many crimes often occur. Contrary to his life, my life is much safer. 
              I came from Jeju island, and I live in the fifth floor of apartment. I think Jeju is even the safest place in  South Korea. I see no fear of building being hijacked, or people being kidnapped and killed. I don't need to be afraid of people throwing furnitures out of the windows. Jeju city is not only safe, but also very beautiful; it is located near the ocean and Halla mountain. It would be very interesting to contrast how this different environments affected the different lifestyles. 



              Now let's talk about this issue in terms of different 'culture'. Throwing old belongings and furnitures - these kind of acts - can be understood in terms of the 'culture' of Johannesburg poor people. I think that there are many unique cultures Jeju island as well, because Jeju island is far from the Korean Peninsula (it's an island) and formed some unique cultures and traditions. These traditions and cultures have not been understood by many people who live in Seoul, or other regions. I think I can compare these unique cultures of Jeju island and Johannesburg. 
              Comparison between John's life and my life will be given after the comparison between Johannesburg and Jeju's political, social, economic stances and cultures, traditions. Then, my own experiences of living there and his experiences I watched will be compared as well.