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Acknowledgment
An earlier version of this article was presented at the SOAS Conference on Korean Screen Culture, SOAS, University of London on June 1, 2013, and at the 8th Colloquium of the Comparative Socio-Cultural Research Council (Bigyo Sahoe Munhwa Yeonguso) at Yonsei University on December 13, 2013. I would like to thank Professor Helen Lee for inviting me to present my work at the Yonsei colloquium.
Notes
Notes
Notes
1 Buruma, “Mr. Vengeance,” in New York Times Magazine. Also cited in An, “Manju aeksyeon yeonghwa ui mohohan minjokjuui” [The Ambiguous Nationalism in the Manchurian Action Films], in Manju Yeongu, pp. 199–200.
2 Hahm and Kim, “Remembering Japan and North Korea: The Politics of Memory in South Korea,” in Memory and History in East and Southeast Asia: Issues of Identity in International Relations, p. 101.
3 According to An Jin-su, not all the previous cinematic depictions of colonialism were one-dimensional. See An, “Manju aeksyeon yeonghwa.”
4 Once Upon a Time (Dir. Jeong Yong-gi, 2008); Radio Dayz (Dir. Ha Gi-ho, 2008); The Good, the Bad, the Weird (Dir. Kim Jee-woon, 2010); Dachimawa Lee (Dir. Ryu Seung-wan, 2008) and Modern Boy (Dir. Jeong Ji-u, 2008). See Kyung Hyun Kim, Virtual Hallyu: Korean Cinema of the Global Era, p. xi, and Yu, “Ilje gangjeomgi yeonghwa ‘heunghaeng champae jingkeuseu’ kkaelkka” [Will the Films Set in the Colonial Era Break the ‘Box-Office Flop Jinx’], in Hangyeore.
5 Kweon, “Cheongyeon: ‘Sinyeoseong’ jaehyeon eseo ui minjokjuui wa peminijeum ui gyeonghap” [Blue Swallow: A Study on the Relation of Nationalism and Feminism in the Representation of “New Woman”], in Yeongsang Yesul Yeongu.
6 Kim, Virtual Hallyu, pp. 75–80.
7 Chung and Diffrient, Movie Migrations: Transnational Genre Flows and South Korean Cinema, pp. 117–122. While also analyzing genre intertextuality in Kim’s film, however, Michelle Cho interprets its narrative ambivalence as a result of loyalty to multiple generic codes associated with multiple audiences (“Genre, Translation, and Transnational Cinema: Kim Jee-woon’s The Good, the Bad, the Weird,” in Cinema Journal.
8 An, Parameters of Disavowal: Colonial Representation in South Korean Cinema, pp. 125–132.
9 Ibid., p. 128.
10 For a comprehensive review of the debates, see Cho, “Colonial Modernity Matters? Debates on Colonial Past in South Korea,” in Cultural Studies, and Ahn, “The Colonial Past in Post-colonial South Korea: Colonialism, Modernity and Gender,” in Contested Views of a Common Past: Revisions of History in Contemporary East Asia.
11 Kim, Geundaeseong ui hyeongseong: Seoul e ttanseuhol eul heohara [The Formation of Modernity: Allow Dance Halls in Seoul].
12 Numerous studies of colonial culture have been published outside the disciplinary venue of historiography, including a number of works from literature: Sin, Modeon ppoi, Gyeongseong eul geonilda: manmun manhwa ro boneun geundae ui eolgul [A Modern Boy Strolls in Gyeongseong: The Face of Modern Seen Through Newspaper Comic Strips]; Kweon, Yeonae sidae [Age of Love]; and Cheon, Geundae ui chaek ilkki [Reading in the Modern Era]. Other interdisciplinary works include Kong and Jeong, Singminji ui ilsang: jibae wa gyunyeol [Everyday Life of the Colony: Control and Rupture], and Yun et al., Geundae reul dasi ilneunda: Hanguk geundae insik ui saeroun paereodaim eul wihayeo [Rereading Modernity: Toward a New Paradigm for Korean Modernity].
13 Shin and Robinson, Colonial Modernity in Korea.
14 Barlow, Formations of Colonial Modernity in East Asia.
15 Cho, “Colonial Modernity,”, pp. 651–3.
16 Kim, Geundaeseong, pp. 41–8.
17 Cho, “Colonial Modernity,” pp. 654–60.
18 Shin and Robinson, Colonial Modernity, p. 12.
19 Along with the Korean publications, there has also been a notable increase in English-language studies of colonial modernity. See Yoo, The Politics of Gender in Colonial Korea: Education, Labor, and Health, 1910–1945; Jeong, Crisis of Nation and Gender in Korean Cinema and Literature: Modernity Arrives Again, pp. 1–30; and Kwon, Intimate Empire: Collaboration and Colonial Modernity in Korea and Japan. Although not focusing on colonial modernity, several other works complicate the dominant narrative of Japanese colonialism: Kang, Under the Black Umbrella: Voices from Colonial Korea 1910–1945; Lee, “Writing Colonial Relations of Everyday Life in Senryu,” in Positions; and Uchida, Brokers of Empire: Japanese Settler Colonialism in Korea, 1876-1945.
20 Kim, Geundaeseong, pp. 41–8.
21 Hahm and Kim, “Remembering,” pp. 102–6.
22 Examples include Gyeongseong aesa [Gyeongseong Love Story] (Dir. Yi Seon-mi, 2001) and its television series adaptation, Gyeongseong seukaendeul [Gyeonseong Scandal] (KBS, June 6–August 1, 2007).
23 The 2015 decision by the Park Geun-hye administration to “replace the… history textbooks produced by private publishers with government-issued ones” was criticized by many Koreans, who believed that it would “harm the attempt to hold Japan accountable for its wartime conduct.” Indeed, the Park government in December 2015 agreed with Japan to resolve the dispute over the Korean “comfort women,” who had been lured or coerced to serve as sexual labor for Japan’s Imperial Army. The deal rekindled anti-Japanese sentiments across the country. See Koo, “South Korea’s History Whitewash,” in New York Times; Choe, “Japan and South Korea Settle Dispute Over Wartime ‘Comfort Women’,” in New York Times; and McCurry, “South Korea Warns Japan Over ‘Comfort Women’ Accord After Claims of No Proof,” in Guardian.
24 This point does not mean that ethnic nationalism has entirely disappeared in Korea, for it still underlies the country’s multicultural policy. See Watson, “Paradoxical Multiculturalism in South Korea,” in Asian Politics & Policy.
25 See Maliangkay, “The Popularity of Individualism: The Seo Taiji Phenomenon in the 1990s,” in The Korean Popular Culture Reader, and Abelmann and Choi, “‘Just Because:’ Comedy, Melodrama and Youth Violence in Attack the Gas Station,” in New Korean Cinema.
26 Robinson, “Contemporary Cultural Production in South Korea: Vanishing Meta-Narrative of Nation,” in New Korean Cinema.
27 Under the 1905 Eulsa Treaty, Korea lost its diplomatic sovereignty, although its official colonization started in 1910.
28 Pak, Maehok ui jilju, geundae ui hoengdan: cheoldo ro dorabon geundae ui punggyeong [Fascinating Race Crossing Modernity: Envisioning Modern Landscapes Through Railroads], p. 7; Yi et al., Hanguk cheoldo ui yeoksa wa baljeon I [The History and Development of Korean Railroads I], p. 17.
29 Jeong, Crisis of Nation and Gender, p. 23.
30 Daehan Yagu Hyeophoe and Hanguk Yagu Wiweonhoe, Hanguk Yagusa [History of Baseball in Korea], pp. 5–6.
31 De Ceuster, “Wholesome Education, Sound Leisure: The YMCA Sports Programme in Colonial Korea,” in European Journal of East Asian Studies, p. 56, pp. 62–9.
32 Daehan yagu hyeophoe and Hanguk yagu wiweonhoe, Hanguk yagusa, pp. 9-11.
33 An, Parameters of Disavowal, p. 109.
34 Ha, “Gukhwakkot geunyeo, yeongi nalgae reul dalda” [Former Heroine of Gukhwakkot Hyanggi (Scent of Chrysanthemum) Has Given a Superb Acting Performance], in Jugan Donga.
35 Kweon, Cheongyeon, pp. 97–9.
36 See Choi, New Women in Colonial Korea: A Sourcebook, pp. 26–47, and Yoo, Politics of Gender, pp. 58–94.
37 Choi, New Women, pp. 10–11.
38 The real Pak studied nursing in Korea, and automobile driving in Japan, believing that the former could be financial support while she was in aviation school, and the latter would help her understand airplanes. In fact, she partly financed her early aviation training by working as a nurse and a chauffeur. See Kim, “Haneul eul kkumkkun yeoja Pak Gyeongweon” [Pak Gyeongweon, the Woman Who Dreamed of the Sky], in Ilbon sogui hanguk geundaesa hyeonjang [Sites of Korean Modern History in Japan], pp. 39, 41.
39 I would like to thank Michael Robinson for bringing this class issue to my attention. See Uchida, Brokers of Empire, p. 84. For an equally unconventional account of colonial dynamics focusing on the experiences of working class Japanese settlers, see Lee, “Writing Colonial Relations.”
40 Kweon, Cheongyeon, p. 99.
41 Ibid., p. 100.
42 Sin, “Cheongyeon, chinil nollan euro heunghaeng tagyeok” [Blue Swallow Flops at the Box-Office due to its Pro-Japanese Controversy], in Peuresian.com.
43 Jeong, “Jeguk juui ui chieogeol, nuga mihwa haneunga?” [The Cheer Girl of the Empire, Who Glorifies Her?], in O Mai Nyuseu.
44 The novel won the 2000 Munhak Tongnae Award for Best New Writer.
45 The “departed” beloved is a common analogy used in Korean literature for the (lost) Korean nation under occupation. The difference in this film, however, is the comic tone that trivializes the link between the lover and the nation, thus ultimately belittling the national issue.
46 The film is also more sympathetic toward the characters than the novel, which maintains a level of emotional detachment throughout. This is particularly true regarding Nansil, whose dilemma is portrayed with much more emotion in the second half of the film.
47 According to Hong Kal, the major streets of Gyeongseong in the 1930s were as ostentatious as those of Tokyo and other major world capitals (Kal, “Seoul and the Time in Motion: Urban Form and Political Consciousness,” in Inter-Asia Cultural Studies, p. 365).
48 “Seoul ui geundae gonggan bogweon dijiteol keontentseu: 1930 nyeondae Gyeongseong ui yuheung munhwa vs. yeonghwa Modeon boi” [Digitally Recreated Modern Space of Seoul: The Entertainment Culture in 1930s Gyeongsong vs. the Film Modern Boy], in culturecontent.com.
49 Kim, Geundaeseong, pp. 41–8.
50 Pointing out that the intellectuals invited to participate in the 1927 “Modern Girl and Modern Boy” debate organized by the Byeolgeongon magazine were all male, Hyaeweol Choi noted that “the male perspective… generally predominated [in] the discourse on the Modern Girl in Korea” at the time. Choi, New Women, p. 73.
51 Yoo, Politics of Gender, pp. 58–94.
52 Jeong, Crisis of Nation and Gender, p. 2
53 Ibid., p. 11. Jeong draws on Chungmoo Choi’s discussion of gendered nationalism based on sexualized metaphors. See Choi, “Nationalism and Construction of Gender in Korea,” in Dangerous Women: Gender and Korean Nationalism, p. 28.
54 Another biopic, Rikidozan (Dir. Song Hae-seong, 2004) depicts the life of Yeokdosan, a founder of professional wrestling and a national hero in Japan. Being a similar portrayal of a Korean who desired to live as an independent individual rather than a national subject, and who chose Japan as a place to achieve his personal ambition, the film received a poor reception at the domestic box-office, but never became the target of vicious attacks, as was the fate of Blue Swallow.
55 Doenjang-nyeo is a derogatory term referring to Korean women who slavishly pursue foreign designer goods, and a joke poking fun at Korean women spending more than they can afford. Doenjang means (smelly) soybean paste in Korean, so the joke implies that buying expensive foreign designer goods or drinking Starbucks coffee does not make a Korean woman elegant. The word first appeared on the Internet in the early 2000s and has since generated much debate in Korea. The relative lack of male counterparts suggests gender bias in the moral criticism of excessive transnational consumption and engagement. See Han and Kweon, “ ‘Doenjang-nyeo’ sahoehak” [Sociology of ‘Soybean Paste Women’], in Jungang Ilbo.
56 Mapae were used by secret royal emissaries to acquire horses in carrying out their missions, while also proving their identity. Jeongrim gives her uncle’s mapae to Hochang as a gift. Hochang uses it twice: when he tries to return to Hwangseong for the rematch with the Japanese team, and when he helps Jeongrim and Daehyeon escape from the Japanese soldier pointing his gun at them.
57 The film includes a scene in which the protagonist (an undercover independence activist) gets dressed and undressed in a secret dressing room to disguise himself as a treasure collector.
58 Kkonminam (flower handsome man) refers to good-looking men who display “feminine” qualities through an emphasis on style and fashion. This soft masculinity has recently become prominent in Korean popular culture. For a brief discussion of kkonminam, see Shin, “Male Homosexuality in The King and the Clown: Hybrid Construction and Contested Meanings,” in Journal of Korean Studies, pp. 98–99.
59 Kim Haboush, “In Search of HISTORY in Democratic Korea: The Discourse of Modernity in Contemporary Historical Fiction,” in Constructing Nationhood in Modern East Asia; Raymond Williams, Marxism and Literature, p. 162.
60 In December 1992, Kim Young-sam was elected, establishing a democratically elected civilian government after three decades of military rule.
61 Kim, “Gwageoneun natseon narada [The Past is a Foreign Country],” in Hanguk Sahaksa Hakbo.
62 De Ceuster, “The Nation Exorcised: Historiography of Collaboration in South Korea,” in Korean Studies.
63 For example, we find Japanese characters who are critical of Japanese militaristic imperialism, or sympathize with or even directly support Korean resistance, in Assassin, Jeong Ji-u’s The Last Princess (2016), and Yi Jun-ik’s Anarchist from Colony (2017). Kim Ji-woon’s The Age of Shadows (2016) draws a contrast between two types of conversion, a nationalist who becomes a Japanese spy and a collaborator who becomes a patriot.
64 For example, films such as The Age of Shadows emphasize the colony as a dark, negative space of colonial suffering and in Assassin and The Age of Shadows, the most fashionable modern buildings and streets often serve as the site of anticolonial activities.
65 As Sunyoung Park has noted, leftist culture in colonial Korea provided such an alternative conception of modernity, and leftist literature was one of its clearest manifestations. Park, The Proletarian Movement: Literature and Leftist Culture in Colonial Korea, 1910–1945.
66 Along with Haemyeong in Modern Boy, the protagonists in two other films of the 2000s—Once Upon a Time and Radio Dayz—are also modern boys.
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Jeeyoung Shin
Jeeyoung Shin is a lecturer at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST).