LTEA 142 Lecture Notes - Lecture 17: Kim Il-Sung, List Of North Korean Films, The Flower Girl
Lecture 17, 05.09.2018
● Popular Cinema between the North and the South
○ Shin Sang-ok ad Cheo Uhees Noth Koea esapade (-1986)
■ Kidnapping of Choe Eun-hee and then Shin (1983) in Hong Kong
■ 7 films directed, a dozen produced, number of projects which were eventually
completed in the North after they had returned to the South
■ Transformation of North Korean film in terms of production/directing (Shin) and
acting (Choe)
■ Speak in dialects to add realism to a scene
● North Korean cinema in brief
○ First filme: My Hometown (1949) with Soviet technical guidance and capital but also
colonial legacies (KAPF, propaganda films)
○ 1973, Kim Jong-ils On the art of the cinema
■ Film still heavily dependent upon literature
■ Socialist realism meets enlightenment discourse and melodrama
○ Film is a very popular media. North Koreans are among the most avid moviegoers
worldwide (13 films per year, as opposed to 5 for the US).
○ In the 1980s, KJI calls for the modernization of Korean cinema in order to bring it to a
old stadad
● Noth Koeas lassi oie The Floe Gil
● Deus ex machina
● Kaiju (monster) movies are not new. The first Godzilla movie is made in 1954 but the franchise
suessfully eoots i ealy s
● There might be a simple will to compete with Japan in terms of special effects out of national
pride
● But the traditional political dimension of the kaiju genre may have been a stronger factor for its
adoption in the North
● Despite being popular entertainment, kaiju movies always came with strong political
commentary
○ Criticism of nuclear power/nuclear weapons
○ Environmental commentary
○ Nationalist undertones
● Pulgasai follos the aste plot of Noth Koea eolutioay fitio
○ Opposition of
● Trop of the common people hiding in the mountains and resisting against the powerful
● Their resistance movement is facing hardships (more display of pain) but is eventually helped by
a deus ex machina( Soviet Union and Kim Il Sung, Kim Il Sung only, communist guerillas, or
mysterious unnamed force)
○ Paektusan, My Hometown, revolutionary operas
● The trope is a-historical (colonial period, premodern period)
● Pulgasari plays the role of the deus ex machina liberating the people
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Document Summary
Popular cinema between the north and the south. Shin sang-ok a(cid:374)d cheo u(cid:374)hee(cid:859)s no(cid:396)th ko(cid:396)ea(cid:374) (cid:858)es(cid:272)apade(cid:859) ((cid:1005)(cid:1013)(cid:1011)(cid:1012)-1986) Kidnapping of choe eun-hee and then shin (1983) in hong kong. 7 films directed, a dozen produced, number of projects which were eventually completed in the north after they had returned to the south. Transformation of north korean film in terms of production/directing (shin) and acting (choe) Speak in dialects to add realism to a scene. First filme: my hometown (1949) with soviet technical guidance and capital but also colonial legacies (kapf, propaganda films) 1973, kim jong-il(cid:859)s on the art of the cinema. Socialist realism meets enlightenment discourse and melodrama. North koreans are among the most avid moviegoers worldwide (13 films per year, as opposed to 5 for the us). In the 1980s, kji calls for the modernization of korean cinema in order to bring it to a (cid:858)(cid:449)o(cid:396)ld sta(cid:374)da(cid:396)d(cid:859) No(cid:396)th ko(cid:396)ea(cid:859)s (cid:272)lassi(cid:272) (cid:373)o(cid:448)ie (cid:858)the flo(cid:449)e(cid:396) gi(cid:396)l(cid:859)
