KJCKorea
Journal Central

This paper outlines the background, flow, and characteristics of the Korean revenge films since the 2000s, and then categorizes revenge films in which women play a central role into ‘maternal revenge films’ and ‘female action revenge films’ to examine how differences in subject and theme create formal and aesthetic differences and what the socio-cultural and gender-political implications of this is. The reason that revenge films have become a major trend in Korean films since the 2000s is the collapse of judicial justice and publicness, and the socio-economic and psychological impact of the IMF crisis in 1997. In revenge films, Korean society is depicted as a pandemonium where greedy capitalism and power dominate. The representation of the post-IMF era in Korean films is characterized by ‘catastrophic narratives’ and ‘aggravation of traumatic loss,’ the latter leading to films in which individuals take violent revenge on those who did injury to them. Films in which the subject of revenge is a woman are gradually appearing. Among the maternal revenge films that link the pathologizing motherhood after losing a child to crime, <Princess Aurora> and <Bedeviled> interestingly raise the issue of motherhood through themes such as women’s identification and identity, women’s voices and homosexuality. <The Villainess> and <Ballerina>, which focus on ‘female action’, show a ‘hyperreal and postmodern visualization of violence’ that focuses on the expression of surface and sensibility and the production of artificial images rather than reality itself through active using of cinematic style. This paper aims to examine the slightly different development process of male-centered and female-centered revenge films and the differences in themes, meanings, forms, and styles shown by female-centered revenge films from the perspective of cinefeminism. Research on the following questions remains as tasks: ‘Can revenge films move toward demands for social ethics and justice of a new paradigm? and ‘What kind of reflections and visions for Korean society can the resistance energy in revenge films present?’This paper outlines the background, flow, and characteristics of the Korean revenge films since the 2000s, and then categorizes revenge films in which women play a central role into ‘maternal revenge films’ and ‘female action revenge films’ to examine how differences in subject and theme create formal and aesthetic differences and what the socio-cultural and gender-political implications of this is. The reason that revenge films have become a major trend in Korean films since the 2000s is the collapse of judicial justice and publicness, and the socio-economic and psychological impact of the IMF crisis in 1997. In revenge films, Korean society is depicted as a pandemonium where greedy capitalism and power dominate. The representation of the post-IMF era in Korean films is characterized by ‘catastrophic narratives’ and ‘aggravation of traumatic loss,’ the latter leading to films in which individuals take violent revenge on those who did injury to them. Films in which the subject of revenge is a woman are gradually appearing. Among the maternal revenge films that link the pathologizing motherhood after losing a child to crime, <Princess Aurora> and <Bedeviled> interestingly raise the issue of motherhood through themes such as women’s identification and identity, women’s voices and homosexuality. <The Villainess> and <Ballerina>, which focus on ‘female action’, show a ‘hyperreal and postmodern visualization of violence’ that focuses on the expression of surface and sensibility and the production of artificial images rather than reality itself through active using of cinematic style. This paper aims to examine the slightly different development process of male-centered and female-centered revenge films and the differences in themes, meanings, forms, and styles shown by female-centered revenge films from the perspective of cinefeminism. Research on the following questions remains as tasks: ‘Can revenge films move toward demands for social ethics and justice of a new paradigm? and ‘What kind of reflections and visions for Korean society can the resistance energy in revenge films present?’

revenge film, maternal revenge film, female action revenge film, female bonding, cinefeminism