Final Paper: Representation Of North Koreans In South Korean Cinema

Contemporary Korean Cinema and Society Final Paper:

Representation of North Koreans in South Korean Cinema

This paper will deconstruct the recent representations of North Koreans in various South Koreans films made in the past two decades during the Sunshine Policy period. It will analyse firstly how North Koreans were being portrayed in South Korean films before the implementation of the Sunshine Policy period, and how the Sunshine Policy itself facilitated and led to the creation of several Korean films that featured aspects and struggles of North Korean people. However while South Korean filmmakers were moving away from the ideas of only showing North Koreans in a stereotypical light, some argue that the mass number of films produced about

Kyung Hyun Kim argues that there was a Cold War dichotomy among South Korean filmmakers during the 1960s to 1990s, where North Koreans were continuously depicted in mainstream media as being reprehensibly violent and were conveyed as being villains that were unable to be changed or saved (53-54). This was the collective identity that the North Koreans were given. However during the 1990s South Korea began to shift toward liberalization and the previous depictions of North and South characters were no longer simplistically characterized. The one-dimensional idea that every North Korean communist is a despicable villain and that every South Korean nationalist is a virtuous heroes and victors became unfashionable. Kyung Hyun Kim argues we can see the Kang Che-gyu film Shiri (1999) as one of the last films to rely on this Cold War dichotomy, but also creates some sympathy for the North Korean femme fatale (55). While its manner of addressing political issues was seen as a massive development in South Korean cinema, the film still plays towards the North Korean stereotypes and tropes. It still features a battle against the ruthless North Koreans who attempt to reclaim the South through the destruction of a North Korean femme fatale. There are still aspects and scenes in the film that highlight this previously entrenched perspective. It is seen when the South Korean intelligence officers are questioning and are unable to comprehend why North Koreans would make terrorist threats against them during times of reconciliation. This seems to place the blame of the events being placed solely on the North Korean side without much perspective given. While the film is still deeply entrenched in this perspective, it does provide an unprecedented humanization of a North Korean character in the relationship between