Prejudice In North Korean Film

Use of an epic introduction into the film

The filmmakers’ prejudice can be observed right at the start of the film through their use of absolute narrations and the visuals that complement it. The documentary starts of with 3 extreme statements (Fig. 1.), “North Korea is the least visited, North Korea is the least known, North Korea is the least understood…” - all of which are far from the facts (a simple search will yield that while North Korea is one of the least visited countries in the world, there are a handful of other countries which many do not even know exist). Furthermore, the idea of “least” is also very subjective and differs from person to person; for instance, a South Korean probably would not think of North Korea as the least known country to him. However, these biased commentary may come across as factual narration to the less informed viewers.

Figure 2

Figure 1

2.). By isolating that statement, with no image or sound in the background, gathers the viewers attention and places a strong visual emphasis on it. The filmmakers seem to be implying how the Mass Games is a microcosm of the North Korea governance, that everything in the state is planned, designed and followed according to a “choreographer”, Kim Jong Il, just for “spectators”, the international community, to see. Along with these narrations, the visuals of the black backdrop with the girl gymnast doing a solo performance and the background white noise instantly sets the ominous, negative tone of the film and gives viewers the idea of an isolated, dark North