What is South Korean Cinema?Brian McDaniel브라이언 맥다니엘

Haeundae Beach in Pusan (City where Pusan International Film festival is

held)

Significant Events in History

• “Hermit Kingdom” became Korea in 1903• Russo-Japanese War (1904 -1905)• Japan-Korea Annexation Treaty of 1910• World War II (1939 – 1945)- Formation of Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (North Korea) in 1948- Formation of Republic of Korea (South Korea) in 1948

• The Korean War (1950 – 1953)- Ended in a Armistice/Cease-fire- Establishment of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ)

• June 15th North – South Joint Declaration (2000)- Constantly on/off again relationship

South Korean Cinema History• 1910 – 1945 Japanese Occupation- 1919: First Korean film The Righteous Revenge (Uirijeok Gutu)- 1923: First Silent Film, Yun Baek-nam’s Plighted Love Under the Moon (Wolha-ui maengseo)- 1935: First Sound Film, Lee Myung-woo’s Chunhyang-jeon - Japan burns Korean Films

• The Golden Age of Korean Cinema (Post Korean War – 70’s)- Number of Productions increased immensely than previously before.- South Korea’s first President Syungman Rhee (term in office from 1948 – 1960) passed the National Security Law

(NSL) in 1948 that allowed police to arrest people based on their Political views. 1962, Park Chang Hee passes Motion Picture Law further censoring films produced and lowering the Screen quota.

- Comedies and Melodrama’s were most popular genres.

• 1970’s- Film Industry at it’s lowest point

• 1980’s -1999- Gradual Interest again

• The South Korean Renaissance (1999 – 2006?)- Film industry becomes commercialized

History leading to South Korean Film Renaissance

• 1988, The Motion Picture Law (MPL) is passed. It allowed major U.S. to release their films directly into the Korean Market and set up branches. Began with 20th Century Fox, followed by Warner Brothers (1989), Columbia (1990), and Disney (1993).

• “In May 1994, the Presidential Advisory Council on Science and Technology reported to President Kim Young-sam an eye opening statistic showing that profits from the Hollywood blockbuster Jurassic Park (US, 1993) equaled the export revenue of 1.5 million Hyundai cars” (Shin/Stringer, 53).

• In January 1995, The Basic Motion Picture Promotion Law (Yongsangchinhung Kiban bop) was passed. Created to help promote the media by requiring the government create bodies, conferences, policies, and funds for media promotion.

• In December 1995, The Motion Picture Promotion Law (Yonghwa pop) allowed incentives like tax breaks for film studios to welcome large conglomerates (mostly local), like Samsung and Hyundai to contribute to the film industry.

• 1996, establishment of the Pusan International Film Festival• The South Korean Film Renaissance – Started by Shiri (1999). A period where South Korean were

beginning to have bigger production values. Eventually, Korean films became to overtake American films in terms of box office receipts in South Korean theatres. Domestic films began making more revenue than imported films.

Hybridity Theory

Hybridity is used to describe mixed cultures or the process of mixing genre within a culture.

• Homi Bhaba (1994) – “Hybridity opens up a third space” within which elements encounter and transform each other as signifying the “in-between,” incommensurable location where minority discourses intervene to preserve their strengths and particularity.”

• Garcia Gancing (1995) and Jan N. Pieterse (2004) – “Hybridization offers an opportunity for local cultures to be highlighted or to continued, and furthermore that globalization is built on the base of local culture and local interpretation.”

In terms of Hybridization, it is believed that South Korean cinema mimicked many filmmaking techniques from other countries (primarily western) and incorporated it

into their own.

Some Films of the South Korean Renaissance

• Kang Je-gyu’s Shiri (1999) trailer

- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPL0vM71vrc

• Park Chan Wook’s J.S.A. Joint Security Area (2000) trailer- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IEl2BVcnnc

• Kang Je-gyu’s Tae Guk Gi: The Brotherhood of War (2004) trailer- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-1Rtj1jClo&list=PL_tkjvIfT5F9aPWcwrimVTMn1cLiMWqC4&index=8

Domestic films that were most successful dealt with South Korea and it’s relations to other countries.

Bong Joon-ho’s The Host “Gwoemul” (2006)

• The Host (2006) trailerhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bBsLzknLQI&list=PL_tkjvIfT5F9aPWcwrimVTMn1cLiMWqC4&index=2• The story of the Host is based on the story of Albert McFarland, an

American civilian who ran the morgue at the U.S. Military base in Seoul and ordered Korean employees to dump embalming waste down the drain into the Han River in 2000.

• The creature was created by San Francisco based FX House• Film is a Horror/Monster/Family Comedy?- Protagonist’s are a ragtag family• Some consider this film “Anti-American”• Park Myeong-Chan’s The Host 2 (2014) featurettehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Fedr47ugbM

Final Thoughts I Had• Should South Korean Cinema be known for hybridization?• Is it right for South Korea Cinema to be known for a particular

period in it’s film history?• Korean culture is becoming more popular than people think.- Hanryu (New Wave): Korean Music and Television becoming more popular in the

world. Started in China but spread out.- Korean Starcraft players are celebrities in Video Games Industry- Koreans are most frequently cast Asian actors in Hollywood (my own observation)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OShx6xaSLNE&list=PL_tkjvIfT5F9aPWcwrimVTMn1cLiMWqC4&index=1http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmWo7m3zhZs

Oldboy (2003) Hallway Fight Scene The Good The Bad The Weird Trailer

References• Choi, J. (2010). The South Korean Film Renaissance.

Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press.• Shin, C., & Stringer, J. (2005). New Korean Cinema. New

York City, NY: NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS.• Yong Jin, D. (2010). Critical Interpretation of Hybridization

in Korean Cinema: Does The Local Film Industry create "The Third Space" (Vol. 17, pp. 5-21). Burnable, British Columbia: Simon Frasier University. Retrieved April 1, 2013, from http://pages.cmns.sfu.ca/dal_yong_jin/files/2012/01/javnost2.pdf