Screening the Past: Historiography of Contemporary South Korean Cinema, 1998-2008 Young Eun Chae A dissertation submitted to the faculty of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Communication Studies. Chapel Hill 2011 Approved by: Dr. Joanne Hershfield Dr. Ken Hillis Dr. Lawrence Grossberg Dr. Mark Driscoll Dr. Guo-Juin Hong ©2011 Young Eun Chae ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ii ABSTRACT Screening the Past: Historiography of Contemporary South Korean Cinema, 1998-2008 (Under the direction of Joanne Hershfield) This dissertation examines cinematic representations of history on contemporary South Korean screen and the practices of film historiography in South Korea during a decade of democratic regimes are the subjects of this study. Between 1998 and 2008, during two liberal presidencies, the Korean film industry flourished and some of the most critical and traumatic events in the past were re-visited and re-visioned in popular films. 2009 Lost Memories and Hanbando employ alternative re-writings of the past, present, and future to portray the experiences of Japanese colonial occupations. The Korean War is re-examined in a more ambiguous and critical light in Taegukgi: The Brotherhood of War and Welcome to Dongmakgol, while Peppermint Candy and Splendid Vacation strive for capturing people‘s history, not an officially imposed version of History, in telling of the Gwangju Democratization Movement. As complex social constructions, the films analyzed in this dissertation reveal that South Koreans are finally able to ruminate on their past in a less simplistic and more complex manner without censorship. iii ACKNOLWEDGEMENTS The completion of this dissertation would have been impossible without love and support from my family. I dedicate this work to them: Adam, Sarah, Chae Soo Inn, Jung Kyu Hee, Judy, and George. I am also deeply indebted to my friends: Christine Scheer, Joseph Palis, Marta Sanchez, Daniela Sotres, Patricia Fuentes, Hee Kyu Sohn, and Im Sun Sook. My committee members, Dr. Ken Hillis, Dr. Guo-Juin Hong, Dr. Mark Driscoll, and Dr. Lawrence Grossberg, pushed me hard in the right direction, and mostly, I owe to my advisor, Dr. Joanne Hershfield, for not giving up on me. Judy, Adam, Ms. Kay Alexander, and Ms. Amanda Mathis were my copy editors. I sincerely thank you all. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter 1. INTRODUCTION I. Introduction……………………………………………………………………..1 II. Context: History, Politics, and Industry……………………………………….9 III. Research Design of the Study………………………………………………..14 IV. Theoretical Discussions……………………………………………………...16 i) History, Narrative, Cinema, and Historical Films……………….16 ii) National Cinema…………………………………………………24 iii) Korean Cinema…………………………………………………..33 V. Conclusion: Peppermint Candy, Cinema, History, Narrative, and Identity….40 2. THE RETURN OF JAPANESE COLONIALISM: ALTERNATIVE FUTURES WITH JAPAN IN 2009 LOST MEMORIES AND HANBANDO I. Introduction…………………………………………………………………....50 II. Contextual Background……………………………………………………….61 i) The Past…………………………………………………………..61 ii) The Present……………………………………………………….64 III. Two Films in Focus: 2009 Lost Memories and Hanbando…………………..72 IV. Conclusion…………………………………………………………………...99 v 3. THE KOREAN WAR RE-VISITED IN TAEGUKGI: THE BROTHERHOOD OF WAR AND WELCOME TO DONGMAKGOL I. Introduction…………………………………………………………………..108 II. Context: History and Politics of the Past and the Present…………………...114 III. Two Films in Focus: Taegukgi and Welcome to Dongmakgol……………..119 IV. Conclusion………………………………………………………………….147 4. THE GWANGJU DEMOCRATIZATION MOVEMENT IN FILMS: PEOPLE‘S HISTORY IN PEPPERMINT CANDY AND SPLENDID VACATION I. Introduction…………………………………………………………………..153 II. A Brief History of the Gwangju Democratization Movement and Its Cinematic Representations……………………………………………...160 III. Two Films in Focus: People‘s History in Peppermint Candy and Splendid Vacation………………………………………………………………...163 IV. Conclusion………………………………………………………………….193 5. CONCLUSION………………………………………………………………………199 APPENDIX……………………………………………………………………………..211 REFERENCES…………………………………………………………………………229 vi CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION I. Introduction Today, the South Korean film industry holds one of the most successful local film businesses outside of Hollywood.1 Starting with Shiri in 1999,2 many hugely successful indigenous films have filled the screens of South Korean movie theaters. In 2006, The Host, directed by Bong Joon-Ho, sold more than 13 million tickets nationwide in a country whose population was estimated at around 47 million. Splendid Vacation,3 the film that directly narrates the stories of the Gwangju Democratization Movement, one of the most traumatic events in recent South Korean history, attracted more than 7 million people to theaters in 2007. It had more admissions than Hollywood blockbusters like Pirates of the Caribbean: at World’s End, Spider-Man 3, and Harry Potter and the 1 Unless otherwise noted, the terms ―Korea‖ and ―Korean‖ in this work refer to South Korea and South Koreans, respectively. 2 Shiri [Shwiri]. Dir. Kang Je-Gyu. 1999. Film. 3 The original title of the film in Korean, Hwaryeohan Huega [Splendid Vacation], is the name of the military operation in which Gwangju‘s citizens were attacked and killed on May 18, 1980. It was translated by the film production studio as May 18 in English. Although the usual English title, May 18, is the date of the Gwangju Uprising, herein I use a translation of the original Korean title to emphasize its irony. Order of the Phoenix,4 all released in the same year. Although the Korean film industry has a strong domestic appeal, compared with many other nations, it is still challenging for a local film to achieve more box office success than a Hollywood blockbuster. It was quite surprising to witness the success of Splendid Vacation over these Hollywood blockbusters, especially considering the gravity of the subject matter. Splendid Vacation‘s narrative centers around two brothers, Minwoo and Jinwoo, Shinae (Minwoo‘s love interest), and Park Heung-Soo (Shinae‘s father).5 Based on the Gwangju Democratic Uprising, the film depicts events in chronological order as it portrays the lives of people in Gwangju, a small city south of Seoul in May 1980. In the spring of 1980, a government-sponsored massacre was inflicted upon the citizens of Gwangju when they resisted an illegal coup. Depending on sources, between 200 and 2,000 people were killed, including women and children. Although the exact number of casualties remains in dispute, it is widely acknowledged that a large number of innocent bystanders were killed in Gwangju. All but one of the main characters in Splendid Vacation die at the end. The Gwangju Uprising is one of the most controversial chapters of modern South Korean history, and it played a crucial role in the democratization of South Korea. Some citizens were massacred, and others participated as killers, but most Koreans remained complicit by keeping their distance and feeling guilty about not being able to stop the tragedy. For years, the country‘s authoritarian regimes forbade speaking of the massacre, 4 Pirates of the Caribbean: at World’s End. Dir. Gore Verbinski. 2007. Film., Spider-Man 3 Dir. Sam Raimi. 2007. Film., and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Dir. David Yates. 2007. Film. For specific numbers of admissions, refer to Appendix. 5 In this work, Korean names are written as they are in Korea, surname first and given name second (e.g., Kim Soyoung) unless the person‘s name has already gained currency in English, with given name first, surname second (e.g., Kyung Hyun Kim). 2 and it is still a very sensitive issue. As Lee Chang-Dong, the director of Peppermint Candy, another film about Gwangju, has said, being the massacre‘s passive spectators made people feel like they were tacit collaborators.6 The Gwangju killings affected everyone in South Korea even though the victims came mostly from Gwangju. Shot in black and white, the last scene of Splendid Vacation is a wedding ceremony for Shinae and Minwoo. It cannot be ―real,‖ since all the characters present at the wedding, except Shinae, were killed earlier in the film. Everyone is happy and smiling, but Shinae remains grim and stern. As the only survivor, she is left alone to endure sadness and despair for the rest of her life. The fictional Shinae represents those Koreans who live with the memory of Gwangju and bear the responsibility of carrying on its legacy. As Shinae requests in the film, Koreans will not forget those who courageously resisted injustice and died as a result. They will remember them.7 At the time Splendid Vacation was released, it was unexpected to see a production of a costly film directly portraying Gwangju because of the longstanding official prohibition against mentioning the Gwangju killings, in addition to the national shame and communal guilt over it. Even more surprising was the film‘s success. Ahn Sung-Gi and Kim Sang-Kyung, who played main roles in the film, are well recognized but not necessarily for their box office appeal. Nor does Splendid Vacation feature stunning visual effects or spectacles. A large portion of the audience for this film, which is set in the fairly recent past, was not even born when the events occurred. These seeming contradictions made me want to find out why Splendid Vacation was so successful and what this success means in the context of contemporary Korean society. 6 Kim Soyoung. ―Do Not Include Me in Your ‗Us‘: Peppermint