2018, Vol.24, No.3

Politics of Criticism and Translation, A Study on Film Art in the Magazine Younghwa-yesul(Film Art)―Focusing on Translated Articles from 1965 to 1971

NAM KIWOONG | 2018, 24(3) | pp.9~40 | number of Cited : 3

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Discourses on New Cinema in Younghwa-yesul(Film Art)―The Professionalization of Film Criticism and the Institutionalization of Korean Film Studies in the 1960s

Sunjoo Lee | 2018, 24(3) | pp.42~83 | number of Cited : 2

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This paper examines the 1960s’ discourses on new cinema in Younghwa-yesul (Film Art), a Korean film journal that sought to not merely publish film criticism but also to introduce innovation to the entire Korean film culture since its first publication in April 1965. Although its publication was repeatedly suspended and revived until the mid-1990s, as the only film-specific journal of the 1960s. Younghwa-yesul raised an array of significant critical agendas such as critic Lee Young-il’s Riŏllijŭm ch’ogŭngnon (‘transcendence of realism’ thesis) as a key topic of its first issue, cinepoem (a.k.a. yŏngsangjuŭi [imagism]), internationalism, avant-garde cinema, modern cinema, cine-club movement, and scenario movement. This paper contextualize these agendas within the industrial and cultural contexts of the Korean cinema in the 1960s, including the government’s drive for the corporatization of the local film industry, its enactment of a new film law, and its excellent film reward policy. In so doing, it focuses on how these agendas could construct the synchronous modernity of Korean cinema in terms of their correspondence with the world cinema of the 1960s characterized as the age of ‘new cinema’. Additionally, this paper illuminates how the journal’s search for the professionalization and institutionalization of film criticism coincided with the local formation of film studies as an independent discipline, as well as how its effort to promote intersections of the official and the non-official film cultures aimed at public film education and the audience’s enlightenment. For these aims, this paper investigates the journal’s editorials, features, articles, round-table discussions, studies on modern film theories and film directors, cine-club correspondences, and scenario studies. In this course, it elucidates the ways in which several concepts delineated, employed, or supported by these sections, including auteurism, realism, globalism, cinepoem, and avant-garde cinema, were reflective of the processes of translation and refraction that were derived from the journal’s reception of Western film theory and criticism. In doing so, it takes a perspective of considering both the journal’s key critics and contributors and its readers as the active subject of culture.

Commemorating ‘Half a Century of Korean Cinema’ ― Focusing on South Korean Cinema’s Memorial Project in the 1960s

Hwajin Lee | 2018, 24(3) | pp.84~122 | number of Cited : 6

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A Study on the Korean Film Publicity Magazine in the 1960s―Focusing on Theater Newspaper

Jun Jeenee | 2018, 24(3) | pp.123~160 | number of Cited : 3

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This study is on Theater Newspaper, a public relations magazine published autonomously by each theater and production company in Seoul in the 1960s. A method of publicizing a movie through media will be discussed specifically on the basis of a program issued by the business circles in the ‘heyday’ of Korean film. First of all, the theater newspaper is divided the entity of publication into the publicity department of a theater or a production company as the material available for reading a trend of business community in that the position and goal of the publicity department in a theater and a production company are delivered without processing. Also, the readers of theater newspaper were those that were potentially attendees of theater, beyond the movie fans or the specialized reading population. Accordingly, the theater newspaper tried to attract the readers’ attention by diversely mapping out pictorials and others, and published behind-the-scenes insights of the movie production that may interest readers. Sequentially, the theater newspaper emphasized audiences’ responses, contained theater-related information, and has a characteristic such as preparing for an event for luring readers as potential audiences. The theater newspaper aimed to ultimately promote a motive. But the publicity department, which is the main agent of publication, attempted to make the film ‘information magazine’ while arranging the specialized reading materials such as the detailed information on movie personnel or as the in-depth film review with having own sense of mission. This study had the objective of broadening the horizon of a research on film media by multi-laterally examining the publication entity and the reading population, and the contents composition and orientation through discussing the theater newspapers in the 1960s. There is a limit as saying of having taken research subject only as the currently-secured volumes. However, it is expected to become the foundation of considering a trend of movie circles at that time from different attention from the days so far.

A Study on the Use of Hangeul in Jeguksinmun and Reader Strategy―Focusing on Unpublished Data and Contests

Kwon Duyeon | 2018, 24(3) | pp.164~205 | number of Cited : 2

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Jeguksinmun distinguished itself by succeeding in publishing only in the Korean language starting with its first edition and carried out various strategies for Hangeul (Korean language) readers: the prize contest was one of them. This study focused on the prize contest in order to examine Jeguksinmun’s use of Hangeul and strategies for its readers, since the contest provides a useful perspective for a study on media. The prize contest was different from readers’ contributions, in that both the company’s position and readers’ responses can be understood through it. The prize contests held by Jeguksinmun were divided into <Malmodeum> and <Gukmunpungwol>. The former was a kind of quiz in which Hangeul words were suggested as questions and players solved them, while the latter was a contest of writing in which participants created poems in Hangeul. Such contests were widely held in 1907 and 1908 and are found to have commonly used Hangeul. Response to the prize contests was considerable, and the participants were mostly comprised of teenagers and female readers. It is demonstrated that the contests effectively attracted young male readers in their teens who spoke Hangeul. Thus, the prize contests was measures for Jeguksinmun to extend its directivity of media, use pure Korean alphabet toward the masses, practice of language toward readers. In addition, that was one of the strategies designed to compete with a variety of Hangeul media, including the Korean language version of Daehan Maeil Shinbo. The contest not only enhanced the readers’ understanding of the Korean language, but also induced their active participation. However, it could not be sustained, as the difficulty of questions and the level of verse writing could not satisfy the expectations or needs of the company and financial difficulties did not cease.

The Cultural Significance of “Financial Automation” in 1990s South Korea―In the Context of Neoliberal Globalization and Financial Transparency

Han Sang Kim | 2018, 24(3) | pp.207~236 | number of Cited : 0

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The Promethean Motif in SF Movies―the Case of the Film Ex Machina

NOH SHIHUN | 2018, 24(3) | pp.237~262 | number of Cited : 3

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The purpose of this study is to reveal the changing aspects of the Promethean motif in SF movies by examining the use of this motif on the three layers of Promethean myth, Frankenstein motif, and contemporary SF movies in the film Ex Machina (2015). First, the greatest change of Ex Machina on the layer of the Promethean myth (creation of a living being) is that the character square of Prometheus - Epimetheus - Pandora - Zeus has been turned into a triangle of Nathan - Caleb – Ava. This means that there is a lack of the being whose role is to solve the problems caused by the development of science and technology and to bring a happy ending through the human’s usurpation of God and eventual replacement as Creator. Second, on the layer of the Frankenstein motif (taste of forbidden knowledge, hybris, and creature’s hatred towards the Creator), this film maintains the narrative centered around Dr. Frankenstein and his monster (Nathan and Ava) by making Caleb an eyewitness to the story of the Creator and the creature. Caleb’s role is similar to that of Captain Robert Walton of the novel Frankenstein, but the film differentiates itself from the novel through the emphasis of Ava’s ‘mechanicality.’ Third, on the layer of contemporary SF movies, unlike other such films, the revolt of the machine in Ex Machina is not quelled. The machine wins, and its power surpasses that of human beings. This requires the establishment of a new relationship between man and machine, suggesting the ‘emergence of a new species’ that does not belong to humans. The handling of the Promethean motif by Ex Machina through these various layers serves to enrich the narrative by compounding numerous classics into one motif and going further to introduce fresh elements by diverging from the common storyline. The significance of this study is to demonstrate the use of such multilayered motifs and, through this, the expansion of narrative through it in specific cases.

Park Sangmin | 2018, 24(3) | pp.264~290 | number of Cited : 4

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North Korea and Dystopia―Focusing on the Representation of a ‘Zombie State’

Do Hoon Bok | 2018, 24(3) | pp.292~320 | number of Cited : 2

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The Origin of the Era of Gendered Criticism and its Complaint―From “A Bunye Story” to “A Strange Land”, the Shift of Workplace and the Construction of “Laborer-Masculinity”

So, Young-Hyun | 2018, 24(3) | pp.322~351 | number of Cited : 10

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The Evil Woman and Urban Space Represented in Colonial Detective Stories

Yu Inhyeok | 2018, 24(3) | pp.352~391 | number of Cited : 4

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The Moral Reason Dissecting the Corrupt Society and the Illusion of Achieving Justice―Focusing on the TV Drama Series The Secret Forest

Jungok Lee | 2018, 24(3) | pp.393~437 | number of Cited : 4

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This paper scrutinizes The Secret Forest, which has been praised as a well-made TV drama series, as work of crime fiction. While the approach in the previous study on the TV drama has confined The Secret Forest to the drama genre that touches up on a detective or crime-investigation narrative, this study analyzes The Secret Forest with the wider viewpoint encompassing crime fiction. The Secret Forest is a crime fiction equipped with both criticism and entertainment; it interweaves social issues that expose corruption in contemporary Korean society in the guise of the popular speculative drama genre. The narrative of The Secret Forest is constructed in layers where crime investigation overlaps with design of concealment and exploration. The result is a frame narrative. The space of the ‘secret forest’ is the trope that illustrates the corrupt and exclusive arena of the Prosecutors Office and its accumulated powers and wealth in politics and indictment. In this space, corrupt figures conform to the times of darkness and are engulfed in private ownership and personal interests. In contrast, political thinkers resist to escape from such darkness and corruption. Throughout the series, the corrupt society is accused and accused with disillusionment by these corrupt figures and the hope of eradicating corruption and ushering in a new era is sought by the political thinkers. Previous studies on the Korean style of crime fiction or TV drama have been fragmented or stopped at the level of journalism. In this respect, the aim of this paper can be seen to be a search for a niche of academic discussions on The Secret Forest in terms of the theory of crime fiction. However, it puts more weight on analyzing The Secret Forest itself. Thus, a further study on the genealogical or historical trends of Korean crime fiction should be researched.

The Birth of a Dirty Girl―High-teen Fictions of the Popular Magazine Myeongrang in the 1960s

LEE Jura | 2018, 24(3) | pp.439~477 | number of Cited : 8

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“Along with the God” and Korean Movie―A Study on the Cause of Success Based on the Visual Style of Death Drive and Life Instinct in “Along with the God”

Cho Hyung-Rae | 2018, 24(3) | pp.478~509 | number of Cited : 5

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This paper analyzes the film styles and visual spectacles that are articulated with the audience’s ‘way of seeing’ “Along with the God”. The purpose of this paper is to clarify the success of the movie with regard to the problems of desire and impulse which are connected with such formal elements. The film consists of various sequences that turn the sinners in hell into inanimate objects. This dynamic intensifies towards the latter part of the film and stimulates a sense of anxiety in the audience. The protagonist, Ja-hong, is confronted with conflicting feelings of temptation or rejection of his punishment. As a result, he wants to return to being an inanimate object like the sinners in hell. The film provides a variety of visual styles that stimulate and induce his conflicts. The spectacle of death drive corresponds visually with the desires of the Korean audience that suffers from the reality of ‘Hell Jo-Seon(헬조선)’. On the contrary, the words and actions of underworld characters such as angels of death, kings of Hell and Su-hong are overly lively and are directed as living figures. The customary sequence/style of Hollywood movies that are being introduced in recent Korean blockbuster movies makes that visual directing more verisimilar. On the other hand, it also acted as a deterrent to the narrative completeness of “Along with the God”. However, the familiarity and déjà vu of the visual form caused by certain scenes can be seen as attracting audience response. Furthermore, the introduction of existing familiar styles restricts the possibility of the Jouissance that the spectacle of death drive caused. In addition, directing all the characters in the film do not die, and the dream of ending provides a visual reassurance that has led to the audience lives and does not punishment. It means that the viewer can stay inside the pleasure principle related to life instinct. This paper contradicts the general argument of the existing argument that the success of “Along with the God” is due to the successful application of elements of Sin-pa(신파). First of all, we have highlighted that Korean movies are not merely influenced by their content elements, but that this is a complex issue related to various factors such as the visual form, the desire and drive of the audience, and the surrounding cultural context. In addition, the style of Hollywood blockbusters that is introduced and borrowed in Korean cinema today leads to the a sense of familiarity of the audience and reveals the complex interaction with the desire of audience and reality of Korean society.

Export-Oriented Identity of K-Pop as Discussed in K-Pop―Popular Music, Cultural Amnesia, and Economic Innovation in South Korea by John Lie

Sa-Bin Shin | 2018, 24(3) | pp.512~538 | number of Cited : 6

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In his book K-Pop: Popular Music, Cultural Amnesia, and Economic Innovation in South Korea(2015), John Lie explains K-pop as the emergence of export-oriented South Korean popular music, and makes sense of larger South Korean economic and cultural transformations. In K-Pop, John Lie provides not only a history of South Korean popular music―Japanese colonial influence, post-Liberation American impact, and recent globalization―but also a description of K-pop as a system of economic innovation and cultural production. However, John Lie’s description of the history and circumstantial background of South Korean popular music is too lengthy and based on inaccurate information and a prejudiced point of view, and thus is not free from criticism about undervaluation and factual errors. This might be because John Lie, who is known to have been raised in Japan, relied too much on Japanese documents. Nevertheless, this paper mainly intends to critically accept and re-interpret John Lie’s opinion about K-pop’s dilemma between capitalism and genuineness, rather than to point out the errors of his opinion. In addition, this paper intends to propose that the hybridity and diaspora of K-pop lay the foundation of building the identity of and developing K-pop. This paper also intends to criticize the current status of K-pop from the perspective of socio-musicology in reliance upon the main concepts (i.e., production, marketing, consumption, and listener regression) of Theodor Adorno’s theory of popular culture and to seek the measures to develop the future-oriented identity of K-pop and facilitate the sustainable development of K-pop in reliance upon the concept of “articulation” under Stuart Hall’s theory and methodology of cultural studies. This paper does not support John Lie’s assertion on K-pop’s naked commercialism after the 1997 financial crisis of Korea. Rather, based on John Lie’s view that the “lack of authenticity” of K-pop is attributable to its “severance from tradition,” this paper intends to put forward a new point of view on “how authentic music can be created.” If K-pop interacts with consumers (listeners) after its hybridity articulates with authenticity (tradition) and its diaspora articulates with regionality (identity), the tradition of Korean culture and the essence of global culture would naturally interact with one another. What is required of us now is not the vague prediction or expectation of K-pop’s improved capitalism, but the clear understanding and activism of K-pop’s recovery of authenticity.

KJCKorea
Journal Central

Journal of Popular Narrative 2023 KCI Impact Factor : 0.85

2018, Vol.24, No.3