Cinema of South Korea
Capital:
Seoul
Area: 38,690
square miles
Population
(in 2017): 51,446,201
Religion(s):
56.9% Unaffiliated with any religion
19.7% Protestant
15.5% Korean Buddhist
7.9% Catholic
Ethnic
Group(s): Hangul
Languages:
Korean
Unemployment:
3.7% in March of 2017
Poverty
and wealth: 15% live below the poverty line.
GDP:
$35,277
Economy:
South Korea’s economy is mixed and it is one of the fastest growing economies
in the world. The economy was hit hard in 1997 during the Asian Financial
Crisis. The South Korean won (currency) fell and the country fell into a crisis
for years. But it bounced back and now is one of the top economies in Asia. The
country mainly relies on exports of technology, steel, textiles, and cars to
fuel its economy today.
Industries:
Electronics, cars, steel, textiles, shipbuilding, tourism.
A key
social impact on the country was the invasion and colonization by Japan in 1910
to 1945. The Korean people were oppressed by the Japanese. In World War II,
Korean men were sent to fight while women were made sex slaves (“comfort
women”) for Japanese soldiers. The Korean language was banned from use, with
Japanese being the main language. After liberation, the effects have still been
felt. There is heavy anti-Japanese sentiment throughout the country, and war
crimes have yet to be answered for by the Japanese. Koreans feel reparations
are owed to them for what the Japanese did.
South
Korea is at risk of typhoons and accompanying floods mainly. On average, South
Korea experiences one typhoon every year.
The Housemaid (Hanyeo) (1960) Director: Kim Ki-young.
This is
a thriller/horror film that focuses on a family and their erratic housemaid. A
young composer and his pregnant wife hire a housemaid to help around the home.
She begins showing strange behavior and eventually seduces the composer.
Everything culminates in the housemaid killing the couple’s children, and the
couple committing suicide. However, there is one final twist to the film in
which it turns out the composer was the narrator of the entire story and
nothing has actually happened to him.
Best
Picture winner at Fantasporto Film Festival in Portugal, 2004.
A young
girl (Im Soo-jung) is sent home from a mental hospital back to her father,
stepmother, and younger sister. The sisters are very close and dislike their
stepmother, who is cold and emotionally distant. Strange things begin to happen
at the house involving ghosts and it all seems to be tied to their stepmother.
The film has a shocking twist ending that has made it famous. This was the
first South Korean film to be released in the United States theatrically. It
won several Best Actress awards at several film festivals for actresses Im
Soo-jung and Yum Jung-ah. It also won several Best Film awards at several film
festivals like Screamfest Horror Film Festival, Fantasia Festival, and the Gérardmer
Film Festival.
Grand
Prix winner at the Cannes Film Festival, 2004
A man,
Dae-su (Choi Min-sik), is imprisoned for fifteen years without knowing why or
who his captors are. When he is suddenly released with no warning, he goes on a
quest for vengeance and gets mixed up in a conspiracy of violence. He also
falls in love with a young woman who may have a secret of her own. The film is
one of the most famous South Korean films and had a huge impact
internationally. It received high praise and won several awards from various
film festivals, including best director and best film.
Park
Chan-wook
One of
the most acclaimed and famous South Korean directors, Park’s films have broken
the international barrier many times. He has worked on two American films as
well, Stoker (2013) which he
directed, and Snowpiercer (2013)
which he produced. His famous Vengeance trilogy contains Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, Oldboy, and Lady Vengeance He also uses many of the same actors in his films,
such as Choi Min-sik, Song Kang-ho, and Shin Ha-kyung.
Bong
Joon-ho
Nicknamed
“Detail” in Korean, Bong’s films are filled with heavy subject matter and black
humor. He reached critical fame in his home country with his film Memories of Murder (2003), which was a
rousing success. He made international success with his film The Host (2006), a monster movie with
biting social commentary. This film brought a new international interest in
South Korean cinema and in Bong’s work in particular. In 2013, Bong directed
the English-language film Snowpiercer.
With a
filmography that spans genres, Kim has become one of South Korea’s most
eclectic filmmakers. He works a lot in horror, action, and comedy, with films
like I Saw the Devil (2010), and The Good, The Bad, and The Weird (2008).
Kim has also crossed over into international fame and directed the American action
film The Last Stand (2013) which
starred Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Choi
Min-sik
Born in
Seoul in 1962, Choi is a Korean actor with almost 30 acting credits to his
name. He is considered one of South Korea’s most acclaimed and talented actors,
and is probably the most famous. His role in Oldboy made him internationally recognized.
Song
Kang-ho
Starting
out as a stage actor, Song became a famous star in South Korea by
scene-stealing in several movies in which he played bit parts. It wasn’t until
the early 2000’s that he broke out as a major leading star in The Foul King (2000). He has gone on to
star in movies like The Host, Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance , and Memories of Murder. He broke the
international barrier by taking a supporting role in the American film Snowpiercer for which he was nominated
for Best Supporting Actor at the Asia-Pacific Film Festival.
Jun
Ji-hyun
Originally
a T.V. actress, and pop icon for her role in a Samsung commercial, Jun rose to
stardom in her breakout role as “The Girl” in My Sassy Girl (2001), the highest grossing comedy in Korea. She
also starred in The Uninvited (2003),
The Man Who Was Superman (2008), the
American film Snow Flower and the Secret
Fan (2011), and The Berlin File
(2013).
Citation
Ahn, M.
(2006). "Representing the Anxious
Middle Class: Camera Movement, Sound, and Color in The Housemaid and Woman of
Fire". The House of Kim Ki-young.
http://www.asianinfo.org/asianinfo/korea/pro-history.htm
Ebert,
R. (2005) Oldboy. http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/oldboy-2005
Kim, K.
(2013) “The Housemaid: Crossing Borders” The
Current. https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/2993-the-housemaid-crossing-borders
Gamm, K.
(2004) Teaching World Cinema. London,
England: British Film Institute.
Thomas,
K. (2004) A stylish and creepy Korean “Tale”
LA Times. http://articles.latimes.com/2004/dec/17/entertainment/et-Tale17?pg=1
Sousounis,
P., Louie, M., Kafali, C., Butke, J. (2010) Managing
Typhoon Risk in South Korea. AIR Currents. https://www.air-worldwide.com/Publications/AIR-Currents/2010/Managing-Typhoon-Risk-in-South-Korea/
1) ( x ) I have not handed in this assignment for any other class.
2) ( x ) If I reused any information from other papers I have written for other classes, I clearly explain that in the paper.
3) ( x ) If I used any passages word for word, I put quotations around those words, or used indentation and citation within the text.
4) ( x ) I have not padded the bibliography. I have used all sources cited in the bibliography in the text of the paper.
5) ( x ) I have cited in the bibliography only the pages I personally read.
6) ( x ) I have used direct quotations only in cases where it could not be stated in another way. I cited the source within the paper and in the bibliography.
7) ( x ) I did not so over-use direct quotations that the paper lacks interpretation or originality.
8) ( x ) I checked yes on steps 1-7 and therefore have been fully transparent about the research and ideas used in my paper.
Name: Melissa Faitoute Date: 5/9/2017
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