Concurrent with the theme of this week’s lecture, the film ‘Couleur de peau: Miel’ revolves around the childhood of the protagonist, Jung, his family, his childhood, as well as his inner world and imaginations.
Torn apart by the Korean war, hundreds and thousands of infants were abandoned and shipped to Europe as adopted children. Having been rescued by an officer while wandering on the streets and brought into a Belgian household with four children, Jung soon transformed from the outsider into an integral part of the family as the years went on. Anecdotes filled Jung’s life, such as accidentally shooting an arrow towards his sister, or falling in love secretly with his eldest sister. Yet these all never diminishes his family’s love for him.
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Jung himself had explained the name of the film came from the notion that his yellow Asian skin was like honey in Europeans’ eyes. He also mentioned that adopting a Korean child was seen as a ‘chic’ in his small town. He did not mention his feeling towards this fact, yet it is heart-wrenching to know that your family adopted you not for who you really are, but just because it seemed like a fashionable act. Under such premise, coupled with the ache that came with their own abandonment, it is no wonder that he would be filled with self-doubt and have a hard time building his self recognition. Regrettably, Jung’s case is hardly uncommon. In fact, about 200,000 orphans were put up for adoption. All these orphan must have gone through the same process as well. It is very sorrowful to realise that there are still countless people in this world who are still haunted by the direct aftermaths of war, especially here in Asia, which feels more closely related to ourselves. Indeed, those orphans now have grown up into successful adults, but the horrid images left from their childhood will never be washed