Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Ya-ta Boy]

The part of the article that disturbed me was that the government is now getting involved. A few years ago the market was partially opened to more foreign films and as a result Korean films improved. Some of them are even good enough to be exported. Let the film companies build their own studios.

[Canuckophile]

Korean films are like any other major nation's film industry - there's the (few) good, the (many) bad, and the (sometimes) ugly. I've seen a whackload of Korean films and some are fabulous. But interestingly, Kim Ki-Duk (certainly their most interesting film maker) isn't much watched in SK. They find him way weird. Well, he is way weird but films like "Bad Guy" and "Coast Guard" are memorable, very original films, although film noir has to be your shtick or you won't like 'em.

A lot of Korean blockbusters are straight rip-offs of the west. Can't remember the name now, but there was one about a Korean baseball team that defeated the evil Japanese that was a complete melding of A League of Their Own and the one with Kevin Costner in a baseball field (If you build it they will come). But Hollywood does this too.

Forget his name but director of OASIS (a fabulous film - see it if you can) is clearly brilliant director. And one of the funniest films I've ever seen is Save the Green Planet (optioned by HHHHHollywood, the real one.)

No matter what we may say on this board, anyone who thinks there are not some really brilliant Koreans here in Kimchi-land is either too dim to see it or never leaves his hogwon (and it's true if you don't leave your hogwon - Koreans will look pretty stupid. Sometimes your Korean co-teachers will even tell you that!)

A friend of mine who travels worldwide on biz says Koreans are among the very smartest people he knows. But of course, he knows the smartest because of the nature of his business.

The problem with the Hallyuwood scheme is that it's a typically stupid idea that should not see the light of day. In the West, lotsa stupid ideas get developed but don't see the light of day. In Korea, it's a different matter - common sense critiques like Seoul Searcher's get overruled by this giant bureaucracy of incompetence.

(Hmmmm, well, I guess you could say that's happening in the US of A now too - but that's on various political issues, like wars and social security - but no one would launch a biz scheme like Hallyuwood... it would never see the light of day... get the investment money needed... simply because it's clearly dumb.)

CANUCKOPHILE

[komtengi]

[Canuckophile]

Koreans don't like Kim Ki Duk - film noir is not exactly their gig. The French adore his films. I don't know if you know his history (I don't know much) but he was a grade school drop-out who drifted to France sometime in his late teens ... so he has a French cultural connection.

It's not that unusual for the best, most innovative film directors (or anyone else in the arts/humanities) to get little appreciation in their own country if they go against its cultural norms. So it's not surprising that this is true of Kim Ki Duk. (I heard some gossip about KKD from a Korean friend that I won't repeat in a public forum... but I can see that he would both puzzle and alarm Koreans.)

Koreans didn't like OASIS either (by another, and I think more mainstream director) - and it's a truly superb film.

But on the RARE occasions when Hollywood has given the nod to the more unusual film (rather than Titanic blockbuster type movies), it's the Oscar awards that have brought these "small" films a wider viewership. Typically any odd/unusual film in the west also has a limited audience UNLESS it gets some kind of publicity/award that sends people to see what it's all about.

Mostly Koreans seem to like the same dreck that the rest of the world does - sappy romances, hammy comedies with a lot of slapstick, and predictable action movies. Yawn.

CANUCKOPHILE

[komtengi]

Kim Ki Duk is only really appreciated in France, the rest of the world arent much in the way of fans. Most of his financial backing also comes from there.
Personally he is a *beep*, I've met him before and he is really stuck up. A friend of mine took his photo at the PIFF and about 6 months later had a exhibition. When he asked Kim Ki Duk for a release to use his photo as part of the exhibit, he demanded 10 million won. The result was that photo never saw the light of day.

[Canuckophile]

Interesting sidelight on Kim Ki Duk... a lot of people with specialized genius are jerks, n'est-ce-pas? I have read that the great Alfred Hitchcock terrorized his female leads...
CANUCKOPHILE

[itaewonguy]

[Canuckophile]

Anyone wanna submit t heir favorite Korean flicks?

I nominate OASIS and SAVE THE GREEN PLANET, plus the 2 Kim Ki Duk films I've seen - COAST GUARD and BAD GUY. Also CHIHWAESAN (spelling?) a well done biopic that would hold up in comparison to (for ex.) this year's American film RAY, which I loved.

I think all are world class films (this doesn't mean they're my favorite films of all time, but all certainly memorable), though Kim Ki Duk's require more than a bit of understanding of K culture.

I also saw some outstanding older Korean films by the director and wife who were kidnapped by the North Koreans back in the 70's. Can't remember the titles anymore - it was a film festival that had maybe a half dozen and I saw maybe 3 -- all excellent.

CANUCKOPHILE

[JongnoGuru]

Not really too far off the topic, but get a load of this from a Korean middle school reading book I found. The title is "Film"... Let's take a peek, shall we?

Okay, they start off with a two-page intro: what is a movie?,
who invented motion pictures? (Lumiere brothers)...
They discuss international film festivals for two pages (predictable emphasis on Venice & Cannes where Koreans won)...

Alright, I'll start translating some of this here...

Part 5: Academy Awards is not a Film Festival (nice friendly subtitle, that )

In addition to the three top international film festivals, (Cannes, Venice, Berlin) there is also one very influential movie awards ceremony. It is the Academy Awards, held every March in Los Angeles, U.S.A. At the Academy Awards, prizes in 25 different categories are awarded for (blah, blah, blah... until we come to this bit:) The Academy Awards do not introduce films from around the world like the three international festivals do, but film people and average citizens around the world pay a lot of attention to it. But the Academy almost never picks a black winner, and it is cricitised because commercial interests determine the who the winners will be. (Just like that. No qualification, no hedging. "In Yankee Town, money talks and everything else -- Art, Talent, Vision, Integrity, Technical Ability, Performance -- they all walk.")

Part 6: Hollywood movies

The city of Hollywood is the center of the American movie industry. "Hollywood movies" aren't just those made in Hollywood, but all for-profit films made in the USA. One of the main characteristics of Hollywood movies is, they are thoroughly commercial. They actually make movies just to make money. (Oh yeah, I'm loving this... really I am... especially when they go on & on about what money-spinners their TV shows & movies are in China & Japan & the rest of Asia ... but that's just fine, of course. For example, the film Titanic earned $1.83 billion in profits. That's about 2.2 trillion Won in our money.

What do you think when you watch movies like Armageddon and Independence Day? These movies make us think, "America is the world's defender of peace." The flood of Hollywood movies has probably brainwashed us without our knowing it into thinking that America is best.

And how about Hollywood movies' product advertisements? What do you think when you see all kinds of state-of-the-art weapons in Terminator, Alien and Men in Black? Doesn't it make you think, "American has the best technology"?

The appearance of high-tech weapons in action movies is just advertising for advanced weapons manufacturers under the pretext of a movie. (remember, the kids reading this are ... what? 10? 11?)

Another example is candy Reese's Pieces candy in E.T. directed by Steven Spielberg in 1982. In the film, the kids used this candy to lure E.T. out of hiding. After the success of the film, sales of the candy rose 66%.

We're not saying you shouldn't watch Hollywood movies. We're just saying that we all have to know these facts about Hollywood movies in order not to be brainwashed by American product advertisements or into thinking America is best.

I'm half expecting to find a 3-chapter tribute to the "Dear Leader and Fearless Film Director" later on in the book. Of course there's nary a mention of Korea's 50-year cultural import ban on anything from Japan...

Okay, I don't care if anyone agrees with the points this book makes. But is this the sort of crap teachers in Canada or New Zealand or Japan are using? For pre-teens, almost?!!!

[thebum]

Many Korean films are way too childish. I don't mind childish or silly humor, but there are too many Korean films like this, imo. For example, I recently saw ������� because a friend of mine wanted to, and last night I had to watch �޸��� ���ﰡ�� in a class of mine.

I also saw �±ر� �ֳ����� recently. I enjoyed it, and while it wasn't childish, it was way too biased.

[Canuckophile]

There are some way off base comments in what you quoted from the K middle school text on Hollywood/the Academy Awards, but some of it is right on.

"Product placement" in movies/TV was pretty much launched with ET -- and with sales increasing by 66% for Reese's pieces, hey... Madison Avenue noticed. Since then product placement a BIG MARKETING area for cars, junk food, etc.

The Academy Awards are a funny mix. They are not in fact voted in by commercial interests. One of the complaints I've read is that the Academies are strictly determined by vote of those who are in the Academy (whatever it is and however you get into it - I dunno) which includes a lot of 70+ geezers who are completely retired from their former industry. So big film companies try like blazes to get their films noticed - and only the big guys can afford the moollah for this publicity effort.

So the "small film" industry is generally neglected by the Academies. The blockbusters like Titanic (from the ancient genus Soap Opera Film) have a much better chance, although even here, it seems the Academies occasionally "self-correct" and give awards to films like the NZ one back in the 90's (memory fails) and the one about the guy with schizophrenia (fails again).

It's certainly true that Korean film industry attempts to be profitable - but I don't see why that negates what the textbook was saying about the American film industry.

I thought it was a fairly benign warning to kids: Watch out - someone's trying to influence you. And that's absolutely true. That's why child psychologists and educators recommend NO TV for kids under age of 6, if possible. Most of what young kids get out of TV is the commercial pitches.

I'm rather surprised (pleasantly so, in fact) that the K textbook went into matters like this. Wish North American texts did this! (And again, every syllable was not a pearl of wisdom, but I thought some of it was useful for kids to think about.)

CANUCKOPHILE

[JongnoGuru]

I'm with you as far as the consumer product placement argument goes. Had this book stopped there, I'd not even bother posting about it.

But to look at this thing as a whole (sorry, I just can't be bothered to translate or describe it any further here) it's sufficiently clear to me the writer(s) were simply using Hollywood movies as the most convenient stick with which to beat their favourite dog. Again.

Really... to the extent that Alien was a defence hardware commercial masquerading as a movie, this badly disguised polemic was a typical America-bashing screed hashed out by some frustrated *beepity-beeps* masquerading as middle-school textbook authors.

They can discuss European film festivals, the Lumiere brothers, award-winning Korean directors & films, and film industries in other parts of the world (France, Italy, Germany, India, China/Hong Kong) in the most glowing terms.... And yet when it comes to the U.S. film industry... where is everyone? The directors? The stars? The studios? The history and advancement, technical & otherwise? Nowhere... It's all "big bad America brainwashing us"...

Phooey. I know rot when I see it.

[dogbert]

Kim Ki-duk puts striking naked Korean women in his films. What's not to appreciate?

[Canuckophile]

Kim Ki Duk (and others) also put some pretty hot Korean guys in their films - although (cultural issues here, I guess) they don't take as many of their clothes off as the girls do. Sigh - life is SO unfair

CANUCKOPHILE

[teachmeenglish]

A couple of things:

Sparkles, you mentioned Bollywood, and I saw that term on the cover of magazines in India last year, so it is used in India. just as I am told Lollywood beign Pakistan's (Lahore) opposite. Perhaps ____wood has come to be a bit like Klenex. Rather like a generic name.

On Indian movies for indians only..NOT. I have seen them in Korea and am living in Beijing and I can by pirated Indian movies on the street.

Also, Korean Drama is big here in China. All my students know some of the shows and many love it. It is seen as being asian without being from the hateful Japanese (yes they hate japan here as much as Korea or more. Ever hear about Nanjing...)

For the middle school book, I agree it is over the top. While the ideas may be valid, that needs more of a discussion on socail values and culture, not like the text book which TELLS students it is true. And that is the issue, middle school students are usually not interested or able to have sucha discussion.

Cheers