http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0810-5133
The current issue marks the tenth year of the publication of the Journal of Japanese and Korean Cinema. This Journal has been shaped and reshaped since it was founded by David Desser and Francis Gateward. It has witnessed a transfer of publishing house and changes in editorship, first to Hye Seung Chung and David Scott Diffrient, most recently to Jinhee Choi and Michael Raine. We have also established a record of working with guest editors to produce special issues. The Journal has indeed contributed to widening the scope and depth of scholarship on Japanese and Korean cinema. Topics include well- and lesser-known film authors, genres, experimental and documentary films, regulations and censorship in the film industry, exhibition, adaptation, space, and more.
The following three pieces in this special section will examine the changes and transformation of scholarship on Korean cinema, focusing, in particular, on the shifting methodologies in the study of Korean film, an emerging area in Korean language film studies (colonial cinema), and a neglected area of study (Korean animation).
Steve Choe artfully traces some of the key concepts and methodologies employed in the development and widening the scope of Korean film studies, which is still an emerging area of study compared to other national cinemas in the global scene. His contribution shows how the dominant paradigm has shifted from an idea of national psyche that is closely tied to the historiography of modern Korea, to transnationalism and globalization, and to ideas of affect and (extreme) expressivity that raise and invite philosophical consideration on the (pro-)filmic reality as well as spectatorship.
Moonim Baek introduces the vibrant postcolonial study of Korean/Joseon cinema in Korean language film studies that is inspired both by the discovery of the prints of Joseon cinema (the official name of Korean cinema during the colonial era (1910–1945)), which had long been presumed to be lost, and the postcolonial turn in Korean Humanities among scholars residing in Korea. Archiving, digitizing, and compilation of film prints and primary discursive sources necessary for the rigorous study of Korean cinema, culture and Korean film theories during the colonial era, have resulted in a substantial body of study on the local specificity of that cinema as well as the negotiation required for local filmmakers and producers in order to survive and navigate through the complex regulations and constraints imposed by the empire. A supplementary list of scholarship on the colonial cinema of Korea in Korean language compiled by Baek indeed will further initiate fruitful dialogues among scholars in and outside of Korea, with shared research interests in the colonial Korea/Joseon cinema or depiction of colonial Korea.
The Journal has published a wide range of scholarship on and analysis of genres such as Korean action, crime films, blockbusters, horror films and romantic comedy, as well as internationally acknowledged auteurs, including Park Chan-wook. Yet, Korean animation, despite its productivity in terms of its outsourcing capacity, bridging national and global cinemas, has not been the primary area of research in the field. Daniel Martin examines the relationship between national identity and animation, which has been promoted or still haunting the box office success or failure of Korean animation. Contrasting Robot Taekwon V (1976) to contemporary animation, which has not reached the popularity of the former at the national level, Martin explores some of the constraints and limitations that the Korean animation industry faces.
The editors hope to continue to publish similar pieces on the state of the field in Japanese film studies in a future issue.