Volume 6 | Issue 10 | Article ID 2935 | Oct 03, 2008 The Asia-Pacific Journal | Japan Focus The Political Economics of Patriotism: Korean Cinema, Japan and the Case of Hanbando Mark Morris The Political Economics of Patriotism: basis of treaties signed, with highly Korean Cinema, Japan and the Case of questionable legality, during its take-over of the Hanbando peninsula a century ago, Japan now lays claim to ‘its’ railway system. Mark Morris Below I will try to give some idea of what the film is like, unravelling a sample of the narrative – roughly, the first half-hour – and adding a few For Korea’s confident and well-capitalized film considerations considering cinematic style plus industry, summer is a season to pull out the a brief introduction to three of the film’s cast. stops and offer the South Korean --Then, and after some consideration of the makers of increasingly international -- audience the most the film and of the critical reaction to spectacular products it can produce. In the Hanbando, the essay will return to look at summer of 2006, one such blockbuster was the several general aspects of film content and film Hanbando (‘The Korean Peninsula’). It was style. On the way to a conclusion, some produced by a syndicate of major companies observations will extend to recent Japanese headed by market leader CJ Entertainment and films and to the Japanese media market for directed by Kang Woo-suk, well-known for genre South Korean film. Rather than simply criticize action films like the Two Cops franchise and the the film, though criticize it I will, this essay will Public Enemy films, and the nationalistic action try to suggest how an artistic and financial thriller Silmido. The film was backed by a huge failure can reveal interesting lessons about advertising budget and saturation bookings: it South Korea’s contemporary film culture. occupied 550 screens during the opening week, roughly one out of every three in South Korea. The Film: story, style, stars The film seemed destined to be the phenomenon of the summer releases. An opening montage of news reports condenses the history of the recent past and blends it into Hanbando is set in the near future. The two images from a hypothetical near future. A rapid- Koreas are moving swiftly towards reunification. fire collage of footage from conflicts in the On screen appears TV-news footage showing Middle East is followed by an image of Kim Jong- families being reunited, sports teams combining il, the smoke pouring from the Twin Towers, and members from North and South, road links George W. Bush announcing the second Iraq opening. Now it is the turn of the railways. invasion. Banner titles announce that ‘Japan However, when the Japanese and other foreign dispatches biggest overseas force to Iraq’ below representatives fail to appear at a grand images of Japanese armoured units, then come ceremony to celebrate the re-opening of the rail scenes of Korea’s Zaytun Division deploying in link between Seoul and Pyongyang, signs are Iraq. In quick succession come clips of Chinese that reunification may be blocked. The villainanti-Japanese protests and Korean ones behind the scenes proves to be Japan. On the directed at the disputed Dokdo Islands – ‘Korean 1 6 | 10 | 0 APJ | JF ships told to stay away’ -- and a number of conflict – and intensification – conflict and scenes of protests over Japan’s callous handling disagreement are to be interpreted as of ‘the comfort women’ issue. Cut to (now preliminaries to war. The images are former) Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi in throughout sustained by a welter of anxious formal kimono at Yasukuni Shrine, then reports voice-overs and urgent titles, both shadowed by of heightened readiness of the Japanese Self- the kind of easy-listening martial music Defense Forces, including the possiblecommon to many blockbuster films in Korea and deployment of nuclear missiles; that is rapidly elsewhere. followed by Chinese claims concerning historical documents proving that Korea was once a part Welcome to Hanbando. of China. Next clips flash past presenting Bush’s ‘axis of evil’ speech and reports of North After all of the above, packed into a few Korea’s development of nuclear weapons. Then, minutes, comes the first real-time scene, an without allowing the spectator a moment to impending ceremony to re-open the Kyeong-ui reflect – and having tweaked every raw nerve- Railway Line, the main rail link between the ending concerning issues in dispute between Republic of Korea’s capital Seoul and Korea and Japan -- the sequence shifts register. Pyongyang, that of Democratic People’s We learn that the Six Party Talks have taken a Republic of Korea. (It is staged to suggest the dramatic turn, then follow the optimistic, real ceremonies held in June of 2003 to open a fictionalized scenes noted above. We see news ghostly rail line, one which still stands idle footage edited to suggest roadways being waiting for reconnection of the two peoples and unblocked, tearful family reunions, a joint their socio-economic and political structures.) Olympic Team, and more. The on-rush of images and voice-over information doesn’t allow for much critical distance. For instance, it is probably only well after experiencing this montage that you may have time to realize how, in juxtaposing the scenes of Japanese troops and Korean soldiers in Iraq, the editors manage to suggest that the two groups of soldiers might be rushing off, fully armed, to confront one another. This bit of manipulation ignores the peaceful nature of the The ROK President and a Kim Jong-il look-alike work undertaken by the mainly medics and wait uneasily before a crowd made-up of combat/civil engineers sent by both countries, officials and military top brass from both nations not to mention the fact that they supported the and young Koreans there to perform for them. same side in the conflict. An inserted graphic display has just shown the way in which this new line will link up to others The clips show Japanese troops on parade at in Korea and on across China towards Europe, home, hence the tanks rolling by; the Zaytun and presumably a new future for the re-united troops are in full battle gear for the TV cameras, nation. not for action. Much less dramatic would have been images of men repairing bridges or giving Word finally comes that the Japanese are injections to Iraqi children. The montageboycotting the event, claiming ownership of the sequence performs a work of simplification railway– system. The next scene takes place at reducing complex regional issues to bilateral the Japanese Embassy in Seoul. The Japanese 2 6 | 10 | 0 APJ | JF Ambassador, played by a Korean character example, Mandara (1981), Taebaek Mountains actor, informs the President and his entourage (1994) and The Festival (1996). that Japan has decided to enforce a claim to the railway system it built during the colonial The script of Hanbando gives him very little to period, based on a 1907 document bearing the do other than deliver short speeches. It is a official seal of the last Yi Dynasty King, Kingcharacteristic of the film’s style to have main Kojong. The Ambassador and his scowling staff figures – here the President, later Queen Min or inform the President that Japan plans to use all even King Kojong – deliver their lines framed its economic power and diplomatic leverage to squarely in the middle of a somewhat distanced reacquire the railways, and that it will withhold close-up, looking just to the side of the camera Japan’s massive US$157 billion loan meant to lens. It is a strikingly un-cinematic technique, support the re-unification which this president and as similar set pieces intervene in the has made his mission. Other scenes rapidly narrative, a spectator may feel uneasy at this follow, such as a news conference at which a rather unrelenting speechifying. As when, for White House spokesman expresses USinstance, the President makes his first direct-to- government criticism of Korea’s failure to camera address about the significance of 17 resolve this issue with Japan, or a Chinese November. He seems to be lecturing us as well newsreader expresses that country’sas speaking to others in the scene. straightforward disapproval of Korean re- unification. This first ten-minute jumble Theof next sequence of scenes opens with sequences ends with the President assembling something of an actual history lecture. Maverick his full cabinet and calling for a Presidential yet patriotic historian Choi Min-jae is filling a Truth Commission (an echo of then President white-board with key names and events Roh’s proposals for truth commissions) to concerning an early Japanese assault on Korean investigate the validity of the documents put sovereignty, the 1895 assassination of Queen forward by Japan. He notes that this day is Min, and the infamous 1905 Eulsa Treaty. No November 17, the date on which in 1905 fivelonger able, because of his unstintingly Korean ministers signed the notorious Eulsa nationalist views, to find work in a regular Treaty, making Korea in effect a protectorate of university, Choi has been reduced to teaching a Japan. The President vows not to allow Japan to group of middle-class women about a history in violate Korean sovereignty again. which they manifestly have no interest. Choi challenges one of the women to tell him about The President is played by Ahn Seong-gi (b. the Empress Myeongseong: the film always 1952), the most respected male actor in the favours this more exalted, posthumous title for Korean film industry.