UCLA UCLA Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title Archives of Ephemera: Cinema and Decolonization in South Korea Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/1gr9j6t5 Author Kim, Hieyoon Publication Date 2016 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Los Angeles Archives of Ephemera: Cinema and Decolonization in South Korea A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Asian Languages and Cultures by Hieyoon Kim 2016 ABSRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Archives of Ephemera: Cinema and Decolonization in South Korea by Hieyoon Kim Doctor of Philosophy in Asian Languages and Cultures University of California, Los Angeles, 2016 Professor Namhee Lee, Chair This dissertation offers a historical account of film preservation in South Korea, detailing how and why the idea of preserving film took hold, and how the process of decolonization complicated its practical realization. Drawing upon sources from archives, interviews, newspapers and published reports, it explores the conditions under which the archives of cinema evolved, and analyzes the conflicting ways that Japanese and American political authorities, Korean leaders, international policy makers, and Korean film industry members understood film’s value and purpose. The political regimes that ruled over South Korea—both foreign and domestic—understood film to be both short-term entertainment and a didactic tool, and therefore were not concerned with the long-term storage of cinema. Meanwhile, local actors such as ii filmmakers and critics challenged the state’s dominant perception of cinema. Their transnational encounters with film institutes, audiovisual education agencies, and film preservation movements around the world led to different and diverse understandings of the role and value of film. Despite this counter discourse, political regimes concentrated on the utility of cinema as part of the modernization of mutable subjects, instituting little rigor in local actors’ film conservation activity until the early 1970s. What ended up dramatically shifting the country’s attitudes towards and practices of film preservation was not a sustainable investment in film culture by the political regime, but instead competition with North Korea and the elevation of Korean cultural prestige as an economic force. These forces combined to lead to a reconsideration of film conservation and archival practices in South Korea. iii This dissertation of Hieyoon Kim is approved. Christopher P. Hanscom Robert Yee-sin Chi Mariko Tamanoi Namhee Lee, Committee Chair University of California, Los Angeles 2016 iv TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Abbreviations vi List of Figures and Tables viii Acknowledgements x Vita xiii Introduction 1 Chapter 1 Where Have Old Films Gone?: 39 The Ecology of the Film Business in Colonial Korea Chapter 2 Liberation’s Contradiction: 82 Cinema under the U.S. Occupation Chapter 3 Celluloid Democracy: 127 Cinema’s Educational Potential in Postwar Korea Chapter 4 On Historiography and Archive: 172 Cinema, History, and Nation in the 1960s Chapter 5 Between Anti-Communism and Global Imperative: 210 Archive in State of Emergency Epilogue 244 Bibliography 257 v LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AKFP Association of Korean Film Personnel CAD Civil Affair Division CMPE Central Motion Picture Exchange FCA Film Council of America FIAF International Federation of Film Archives FPA Film Promotion Agency ICA International Cooperation Agency KAPF Korean Artist Proletarian Federation KORFEC Korean Fundamental Education Center MPAA Motion Picture Association of America MPEA Motion Picture Export Association MPPDA Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America NFB National Film Board, Canada NFPC National Film Production Center OWI Office of War Information SCAP Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers UN United Nations UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization UNKRA United Nations Korean Reconstruction Agency USAFIK United States Armed Forces in Korea vi USAMGIK U.S. Military Government in Korea USIA U.S. Information Agency vii LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES FIGURES 1.1 A Festival image 62 1.2 A Tribute page for Na Unkyu 63 2.1 Fury in the Pacific 92 2.2 Tuesday in November 96 2.3 The OCI’s mobile film units 121 3.1 Richard Kent Johnes 138 3.2 Officials of both UNKRA and the Bureau of Public Information 140 3.3 New Tools for Learning 145 3.4 The National Film Production Center 151 3.5 A cultural center in Sunch’ang 156 3.6 The NFPC mobile exhibition 157 4.1 1965 Seminar for Film’s Day 178 4.2 Yi P’iru 181 5.2 The Film Promotion Agency 220 5.2 Parade of Wives 222 5.3 Wibom’s inspection of the KFPC 239 6.1 UNESCO’s World Day for Audiovisual Heritage 254 TABLES 1.1 Chosŏn Film Distribution Agency’s Mobile Unit Activity 73 viii 2.1 USAMGIK Screening Program 93 2.2 CAD’s documentary films shipped to Korea 93 2.3 Hollywood films released in Korean Theaters 108 2.4 A list of non–fiction films 116 5.1 FIAF Executive Committees, 1974-1975 230 ix ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Archives have been curious yet obscure spaces since my childhood. It is largely because the first archive I encountered was demolished just four years after my first visit, when I wandered around without any knowledge of what had once been: this was one of the buildings of the Government General of Colonial Korea, right in the heart of Seoul. My first visit was made around the age of seven, when my father took me after Sunday service. I enjoyed walking the hallways, which had been renovated in order to function as a public museum. What captivated me more than exhibits were the beautifully designed old doors and stairs, as well as the magnificent ceilings and pillars. I found myself most curious about a few locked rooms, assuming that unknown people from the past lived behind the closed doors. Entering the threshold of the past excited me, and no wonder—I was a loyal fan of the Indiana Jones series at that time. I believed that the doors would be opened someday, so became a regular visitor, hoping to see what was inside. In 1994, the South Korean government proclaimed the need to eradicate the “remnants of Japanese imperialism” under the banner of the “rectification of history,” including the demolition of colonial architecture. My Sunday ritual continued until my eleventh summer, but once demolition began with a high-reach excavator removing a spire, I was forced to watch the building I had so enjoyed— or to borrow Ann Stoler’s words, the “imperial debris”— torn down over the months. It was disheartening to see the destruction of one of my favorite childhood spaces, but that did not stop me from watching in order to have a proper farewell. This was my entry point into the world of ruins, debris, ephemera, and archives. x This dissertation is my humble effort to think through those things that had disappeared, had become unappreciated, had been destroyed. While its analytic boundary remains in the field of film culture, the foundational inquiry for this project begins at the very moment when the regime’s demolition of colonial architecture could have invigorated, or at least triggered, a kind of counter-historical thinking and writing. I would like to thank the members of my dissertation committee: Namhee Lee, Chris Hanscom, Robert Chi, Seiji Lippit, and Mariko Tamanoi. I am especially grateful to Namhee Lee for her unwavering patience, generosity, and good heart. I also would like to thank my teachers here at UCLA: John Duncan, George Dutton, Shu-mei Shih, Thu-huong Nguyen-vo, David Schaberg, Richard Strassberg, Vinay Lal, and Burglind Jungmann. I would like to acknowledge UCLA’s Graduate Division for its generous support through the Dean’s Predoctoral, Summer Research Fellowships, and Dissertation Year. UC Pacific Rim Research Fellowship also allowed me to make significant progress in writing this dissertation. I am also grateful to the many staff members of the Department of Asian Languages and Cultures, Asia Institute, Center for Korean Studies, Center for Japanese studies, and UC Pacific Rim Research Center. I began to develop the idea of writing about archive while on grants from UCLA Center for Korean Studies and Terasaki Center in 2013-2014 academic year. I appreciate the scholars at Yonsei for their support and feedback: Helen Lee, Han Seungmi, Baek Moonim, Michael Kim, Kim Dohyong, and Howard Kahm. I was especially lucky to have the seminar with my colleagues in Korea: Lee Hwajin, Wee Gyeonghae, and Park Hyeyoung. I am also thankful to colleagues and archivists at the Korean Film Archive: Oh Sungji, Chung Chonghwa, Lee Jiyun, and Cho Junhyeong. xi Early versions of chapters were presented at various venues in Korea, Japan, the United States and the United Kingdom. I appreciate my fellow panelists and discussants: Jinsoo An, Steven Chung, Irhe Sohn, Kyeonghee Choi, Baek Moonim, Youngmin Choi, Sunyoung Park, Kelly Jeong, Aimee Kwon, Michael Pettid, Catherine Choi, Lee Hwajin, Sim Hyekyeong, Chon Woohyeong, Michael Baskett, and Yiman Wang. I thank my fellow travelers who shared with me their journey in Los Angeles: Hanmee N. Kim, Irene Cronin, May Ng, Mari Ishida, Ryoko Nishijima, Kayi Ho, Hannah Lim, Sinwoo Lee, Cedarbough Saeji, Franz Fritchard, Timothy Unverzagt Goddard, Jane Kim, Janet Lee, Sangmee Oh, Areum Jeong, and many more. I also express thanks to my friends in Korea and elsewhere for their emotional support during the darker time of my life in critical health issue: Seo Hyeyoung, Che Byeongsun, Ahn Jiyeon, Kang Jiyun, Park Sohyun, Yeo Imdong, Yoon Wonhwa, Park Kyongsu, Kim Jaehyun, Apple Kim, Stella Hyunjin Kim, Sejung Kim, Moontae Lee, and the late Jay Choi. Profound thanks as well to my mentors in Korea who inspired me throughout: Kim Myeongin, Joo Eunwoo, Yoo Sunyoung, Kim Soyoung, Choi Min, Kim Hongjun, Im Sungmo, and Cho Sunhee.