Volume 8 | Issue 5 | Number 5 | Article ID 3298 | Feb 01, 2010 The Asia-Pacific Journal | Japan Focus The New Korean Cinema, Kwangju and the Art of Political Violence 韓国の新しい映画製作、光州、および政治的暴力 Mark Morris The New Korean Cinema, Kwangju and the Art of Political Violence The New Korean Cinema, Kwangju and the Art of Political Violence Mark Morris In 2007 two South Korean films debuted which Mark Morris place the May 1980 Kwangju Uprising at the heart of their stories. The Old Garden This is part two of a supplement on South (Oraedoen chǒngwǒn) was released in January. Korea’s Kwangju Uprising: Fiction and Film. It is a rather free adaptation of one of the most Part one is Ch’oe Yun and Mark Morris, South significant works of fiction to appear in the last Korea’s Kwangju Uprising: Fiction and Film. decade, the novel of that name by Hwang Sǒg- yǒng. The second film, May 18 (Hwaryǒhan 2010 will be a year of commemorations in hyuga), which appeared in July, was the first South Korea. The 25th of June will mark the big-budget narrative film to propose to tackle sixtieth anniversary of the beginning of the the May uprising head-on. Mixing elements of Korea War. Midway between 2010 and 1950 romance and comedy, the film tries to recreate was 1980. The Kwangju Uprising of May of that in the form of a docu-drama the extraordinary year was an event almost as significant as the period between 18 and 27 May almost three US-Korean War in framing the contemporary decades ago. This essay will look in some detail at the films to consider the artistic and nation. commercial choices made by these two very different productions. It will briefly take into We have brought together in this section two account as well two other cinematic visions of articles, both of which look at how South insurrection: Luo Ye’s Summer Palace and Paul Korean artists have attempted to describe, Greenglass’ Bloody Sunday. understand and represent the impact of Kwangju in the form of words, images and The Kwangju Uprising sound. The essay by author Ch’oe Yun looks back over her career and gives fresh insight The assassination of Pak Chǒng-hŭi in October of 1979 was followed by a coup-d’état into her novella, ‘There a Petal Silently Falls’, engineered by another military figure, Chǒn Tu- perhaps the single most eloquent literary hwan, in December of the same year. Yet the attempt to make sense of the massacre at forces for change and democratization which Kwangju. [link] The present article examines had been building through the long years of recent films which approach Kwangju and its Pak’s regime, one characterized by its mix of aftermath in very different ways. forced economic development and suppression of political and human rights, carried on organizing and protesting. By the time 1 8 | 5 | 5 APJ | JF university campuses reopened in March of 1980, the situation was still volatile in the wake of waves of arrests of students and their teachers. After mass demonstrations in the capital on May 15 brought out some 150,000 people, leaders of the Seoul protests decided to pull back temporarily and see how the new regime would respond to such a massive show of solidarity on the part of ordinary citizens. The new regime chose Kwangju to show its intentions. Protests had continued after 15 May inWhen protestors reassembled closer to the city Kwangju. As news of the hardening of current centre, the troops went after them there. The martial law restrictions became known by the unprovoked violence continued over the next morning of 18 May, students protesting outside two days, leading to a confrontation before the gates of Chǒnnam University challenged Province Hall on 21 May. Although it has never the soldiers occupying the university. been made clear who gave the order, on this occasion the soldiers opened fire on the crowd massed in front of them, then hunted down survivors. Some people, students but also significant numbers of young working-class men, seized arms where they could and began to fight back. Troops were pulled out of the city centre to its outer perimeter, from where they continued to fire on unfortunate individuals while sealing Kwangju off from the outside world. From 22 to 25 May the battered citizens of Kwangju engaged in an exhilarating if frantic Student demonstrators experiment in grassroots political and defensive organizing, while senior members of Troops like these had been sent to occupy the community tried to negotiate a settlement university campuses elsewhere, but thewith the military. It was clear after a few days students and citizens of Kwangju foundthe new regime had no intention of making themselves facing shock troops especially deals with people labelled hooligans and reds trained for combat against North Korea, not by the media it controlled. A small group of civilian crowd control. The soldiers waded into young men from the hastily organized citizens’ the students with long-handled clubs, boots and militia defiantly remained in Province Hall bayonets. when the troops returned in the early hours of 27 May to retake the city. Gi-Wook Shin has called the ten days between 18 and 27 May ‘the single most important event that shaped the political landscape of South Korea in the 1980s and 1990s’ (Shin and Hwang 2003: xi). 2 8 | 5 | 5 APJ | JF In 2007 two South Korean films debuted which place the May 1980 Kwangju Uprising at the heart of their stories. The Old Garden (Oraedoen chǒngwǒn) was released in January. A scene from May 18 Before considering some of the artistic and commercial choices made by these two very different productions, it should be worth a brief look at the immediate context in which they were made: the South Korean film industry. South Korean film in 2007 The South Korean film industry seemed to continue on its upward curve during 2007, at least as regards output. A record number of films were released, 112, and almost 159 million admissions recorded at the box offices. The average cost of production, around KRW 5 billion (3.7 billion production costs plus 1.2 promotion and advertising/USD 4.7 million+), had not changed significantly from previous years. However there was a widely held Film poster for The Old Garden consensus that ‘the film industry is currently facing a “knife wind” due to the drastic It is a rather free adaptation of one of the most negative profitability levels last year’ and significant works of fiction to appear in the last production companies began to have serious decade, the novel of that name by Hwang Sǒg- worries about how to slim-down costs while yǒng. The second film, May 18 (Hwaryǒhan maintaining quality (Han 2007:10). To add to industry woes, a predicted down-turn in the hyuga), which appeared in July, was the first Korean Wave of cultural exports seemed to be big-budget narrative film to propose to tackle taking hold: whereas in 2005 the South Korea the May events directly. Mixing elements of film industry had exported films worth some romance and comedy, the film tries to recreate USD 76 million abroad, a full 79% to Japan, the in the form of a docu-drama on thefigures for 2007 were down to a total below extraordinary period between 18 and 27 May USD 13 million and Japan’s share of 27% almost three decades ago. seemed to reflect a chill in the Hallyu air.1 3 8 | 5 | 5 APJ | JF Within a less than confident financial mood this year, but only five of them . surpassed gradually came more bad news from the part of break-even point’ (KC 2007: 5). ordinary film-goers and the critics: ‘with fewer strong films than in previous years, local The Old Garden audiences beginning to cool on Korean film, exports showing a continued decline, and the Adapting a well-known work of literature can film industry suffering through a recession of be both a blessing and a curse. Almost all sorts. The first half of the year was particularly Koreans will know of Hwang Sǒg-yǒng. He is tough, with hardly any Korean films stirring up widely considered the country’s most likely any excitement among viewers’ (Paquet 2007). candidate for the Nobel Prize and, in the eyes If in 2005 almost 59% of tickets sold were for of readers and critics in many countries Korean rather than imported films, the(reading translations in English and French), domestic market share would eventually slip to Hwang’s short stories and epic-scale novels just over 50% for 2007.The Old Garden seem, if anything, overdue for their place in the appeared on 4 January, making it the first sun. The Old Garden was seen as a return to major release in what would prove to be a form upon its publication in 2000, even if many disappointing year. readers would come to prefer the next work in his twentieth-century trilogy,The Guest May 18 opened in late July. It was one of two (Sonnim 2001). (A French translation of the blockbuster-scale films which would be the third, Shim Ch’ǒng [2004], will appear soon.) major commercial successes of the year. Box office success and critical success/artistic A film carrying the title The Old Garden can achievement do, of course, often seem to thus hope to attract audiences via the novel’s inhabit different planets. The Old Garden was success and the esteem many hold for its made for a modest budget (KRW 3.7writer.