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Self-consciousness of Newly-independent State and the Imagination of Asia: - Notes on Korean Cinema(1957-1960s) between Cosmopolitanism and Nationalism -

오영숙 1

1성공회대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

From the late 1950s through the 60s, film productions emerged en masse in the Korean film industry, drawing the Asian space into a narrative realm. I will examine various aspects of Korean films depicting Asia and elucidate the implications of being termed ‘Asian’ and investigate the process of cultivating imagination in Asia. These questions primarily allude to the relation of the representation aspects of Korean films and the state of the nation in that time. The significant point to take away from the series of movies depicting Asia is the breakthrough of self-reflection in Asia. While at the start, the newly independent states in Asia sought to model after all things Western, by communicating and sharing the concerns of seeking out new and alternative modern thoughts, these states were able to corroborate their own image. Moreover, by enhancing the bond between newly independent states through personal intimacies of the colonized in Asia and expanding public imagination through Asian classicism, Korea as the newly independent state has ultimately acquired a newfound sense of confidence. Likewise, the concerns of how Korean cinema will be revealed on the global stage arouse their concerns regarding the newly independent states’ national identities. And while the influence of cosmopolitanism which strongly dominated the rise of these movies in the 1950s still remains, this period is shared by another onset of nationalistic problem-awareness. This period was a time to reflect on the heavy dependence on Western modernism manifested in the ideology of cosmopolitanism in the 1950s, and a time where while being pitted against the West, people were comparatively willing to extend efforts to discover a universal identity as a alternative to American modernism. However pursuing universality and pursuing particularity occur simultaneously. The representation of China, Southeast Asia and India in Korean films during this period could be viewed in the light of maximized university which Korean made effort to stand against the West.

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