EALC 125 Midterm
According to Kyung Hyun Kim, what is the role of “landscapes” in Korean films of the 1990s and 2000s? Choose one of the Korean films we’ve watched so far (Chihwaseon, Shadows in the Palace, or The Handmaiden) and discuss how the film does or does not fit the pattern described by Kim.
In chapter one of Virtual Hallyu:Korean Cinema of the Global Era, Kyung Hyun Kim tackles the dynamic role of “landscapes” in Korean films, and he defines the dichotomy that exists between certain films of the time period. After the Seoul Olympics in 1988 and the increasingly presence of western and globalization influence, Korea embraced the era of “technological reproducibility” and sheer industrialization (Kim 26). This fact is evident in
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Jiang Wen’s title itself refers to the Japanese as “devils,” since they are the primary reason for the disruption of everyday life. This is evident in the scene where two Japanese soldiers utterly ruin the function and rationality of the village dwellers, especially Ma Dasan who has been burdened with the babysitting of two Japanese prisoners. This satirical scene exhibits how the two soldiers stir chaos and disorder of normality, and the Chinese villagers are forced to comply in such ludicrous circumstances (Wen 0:36:30). The utter fear towards the Japanese military combined with the Empire’s attempt of removing Chinese culture inspire ravenous hate and tension between the two cultures, and the Japanese occupiers in this film are seen as erratic, crude, and …show more content…
The “Japanifying Korea” efforts are depicted as once again detrimental to society; however, it appears that in this film, Korea ultimately saves Japan in a metaphorical stance. The uncle of Lady Hideko adamantly attempts to adopt Japanese styles, culture, and modernization that it brings; this is evident in the Japanese-inspired architecture of the uncle’s property, which incorporates English and Japanese styles in a Korean landscape (Park 0:03:30). The property as a whole is product of the forced infusion of British, Japanese, and Korean styles and culture, which develops the allegorical basis of tension and issues that the film tackles. The uncle is perversing Korea and Korean culture, ultimately making circumstances worse, which is metaphorical for the criticism of Japanese imperialism in Korea. In The Handmaiden, the uncle represents the heinous product of Japanese imperialism, Lady Hideko is the victim, and Sook-hee represents the Korean influence and hero. This film reverses the role of the victimization notion, in which it appears that the Japanese influence and characters, specifically Lady Hideko, are in trouble and need saving from themselves, and Sook-hee is the only catalyst for Lady Hideko’s liberation (Park 0:52:30). In the aspect of conquest and empire, Japan is digging its own grave, and this films
This book reflects the author’s wish of not only remembering what has happened to the Japanese families living in the United States of America at the time of war but also to show its effects and how families made through that storm of problems and insecurities. The story takes in the first turn when the father of Jeanne gets arrested in the accusation of supplying fuel to Japanese parties and takes it last turn when after the passage of several years, Jeanne (writer) is living a contented life with her family and ponders over her past (Wakatsuki Houston and D. Houston 3-78). As we read along the pages
This story that Suyuan Woo tells her daughter shows how deeply the Japanese invasion of China affected the identity of many Chinese people. They were forced to flee their homes and their lives with only a few of their valuables, but eventually they had to give up those up too. Those few items were all that they had left to define themselves and remind them who they were so when they lost them they lost a significant part of who they were. Suyuan Woo lost more than just her past identity, she actually had to leave her twin babies on the side of the road in the hopes that someone could save them. This shaped her identity because throughout the remainder of her life she had to wonder if leaving them behind was the right choice and if they were
The novel Lost Names by Richard Kim gives a glimpse of Korea during the period in which Japan had colonized it and had been conquering a plethora of other Asian countries. It follows the life of a young boy as he and his family live in the colonized country of Korea and speaks of how their lives were effected. The writing is accomplished in giving testimony to the occupation of the Japanese of Korea and its people and the ways in which they enforced allegiance to Japan. By means of policy, law, and everyday practices the Japanese attempted to create an allegiance to themselves from the Koreans; while the majority of these succeeded at some level they also created a deep set hatred by the people because of the oppressive practices used.
Like many children her age, the girl in Julie Otsuka’s novel When the Emperor was Divine had the opportunity to attend a “summer camp.” However, the camps that the girl and her family endured were not like traditional summer getaways but instead state-sponsored prisons designed to keep the populace “safe.” Instead of enjoying the water slides and rope swings that other children her age got to experience, the girl struggled with establishing an identity that fit with the rest of her society. With her use of neutral tone and language, Julie Otsuka explores the creation of the cultural identity that is established by the Japanese-American people as they are confined in Concentration camps designed to keep the nation safe. Pulled from their homes,
The young girl is prevented from entering the church where her grandmother has prayers. As a person from the old world, the young girl is not allowed to play with boys from the new world. On the other hand, “in response to executive order” by Dwight Okita is about Americans of Japanese origins that were supposed to report to relocation
Chang’s retelling of the violence used by Japanese soldiers through the use of interviews of victims and extremely graphic pictures. Interviews with comfort women and other survivors from the event detail the uncurtailed violence that the Japanese Imperial Army used against the Nanking residents. The use of pictures throw the reader right into the event - an event of such brutality that it is hard to interpret through words alone. The ambiguous figure of John Rabe particularly stood out to me when reading the book. A staunch supporter of Hitler and Nazism, John Rabe established the Nanking safety Zone, sheltering chinese residents, particularly women and children from the Japanese army (Chang, 109).
Lost Names is a book that has both the realism of remembered experience and the imagination of a series of stories. It puts a human face on the colonial period that can easily be overlooked in more than academic treatments. Richard Kim paints a grim picture of the height of the Japanese occupation from 1932 to 1945 in Korea. Throughout Lost Names, we are shown seven different scenes from a boyhood and early adolescence. What Richard Kim wants us to learn from Lost Names solely depends on the reader, as everyone can take away something different.
Part III, The War in Japanese Eyes, allows the reader to receive a Japanese perspective and also grasp how devastating the results of war were. Chapter 8, “The Pure Self,” Dower explains the Japanese traditions and culture, along with the humiliation and discrimination the Japanese received. The Japanese believed their culture was unique, and spent this period of time during the war focusing on themselves and their race. Whereas yellow was the color of illness and treason and the Japanese were usually referred to as yellow, the color white symbolized purity which stood for the American race. On the contrary, the Americans were also known as demonic.
Unlike most like the tadeonal approaches, that depict Korea as being saved by Japan by propagating its industrialization, this film reverses the roles of this relationship and Korea being depicted as the saviors of Japan. Throughout the film we see that Lady Hideko is essentially being held captive by her Korean Uncle. She essentially thinks she was no purpose of living because of her autocratic uncle. It is only after she meets Sook-hee, a Korean peasan and thief, and falls in love with her that she finds purpose, happiness and freedom. Thus, Can-wook reverses the roles of Korea and Japan, with Japan being depicted as victims and needing saving thorough the character
Instead of basing it around a Japanese internee, the author chooses Henry as the main character to give a different viewpoint than that of the Japanese victims. By using Henry’s perspective, the author skillfully depicts
The author of “Peace under Heaven” demonstrates how a family of capitalists with falsified idea of social values goes to decline during the Japanese colonial period through depicting the personalities of four generations of Yun’s family. The author uses the satiric literary technic to describe the main protagonist, Master Yun, the typical capitalist living in the Japanese dominated Korean society. Master Yun only concerns his own self interests and discards the real threaten toward his own race and the whole Korean society from Japanese empire. He mistakenly thinks the Japanese dominated society is a peaceful world, which entirely contradicts the pure desire of Korean race. The son of Master Yun, Ch’angsik is a character only chasing
But, unfortunately, her journey to Chungking becomes a nightmare to her. “I packed my things and my two babies into this wheelbarrow and began pushing to Chungking four days before the Japanese marched into Kweilin. On the road I heard news of slaughter from people running past me. It was terrible” (26). At that time, there is no train to leave Kweilin, so she has to carry all of her belongings plus her two babies to Chungking by using a wheelbarrow used to haul coal.
In defiance of his mother’s warning, the boy sometimes walks past the guard towers, pulls his hat down over his head, and whisper the Emperor’s name. The woman knows that if the guards hear the boy say the Emperor’s name, they will be suspicious that the boy and his family are allied with Japan and the divine Emperor. As a small act of resistance, then, the boy repeats the Emperor’s name as a way of holding onto his heritage and cultural identity even as the government tries to demonize it or strip it
The entire Ceremony, while used as a form of reproduction, is a way to strip the Handmaids of their entire sense of self-worth and their humanity. Margaret Atwood also portrayed dehumanization and objectification outside of the
Two films, although created years apart yet have a lot in common, including their content of it’s narrative techniques. Both films, even though black and white with strokes of genius of cinema offer a vast stretch for study. I will be looking at Sir Orson Welles “Citizen Kane” (1941) and Akira Kurosawa’s “Rashomon” (1950). We see in Citizen Kane he values for the American life. The three abstract themes that constantly follow through Citizen Kane are Wealth, Power and Love.