Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Korea: war time Propaganda movie

Gusts Of Popular Feeling
It was an interesting post. You might want to take a look at it.
And also interesing was the comments.
n the final shot of the film, Bun-ok’s face is just as mysterious. Again, she’s neither happy nor sad, though perhaps the beginning of a smile can be discerned. Is this failure to cheer of bemoan his departure an example of sullen resistance to the Japanese propaganda effort (and censorship)? Or does it reflect a time when people were less likely to show emotion in public?

Iguess the blogger is young. Or may he is projecting his hope that Koreans did resist into the woman's face. My reading is that the woman had a mixed feelings: she'll miss the man, but she cannot express it at the time. That all happened to Japanese women at the time.

Whatever might explain the above shot, this shot is worth looking at:
The Japanese character (the one who told Choon-ho about the opening of the military to Korean volunteers) would likely be termed a caricature of a Japanese person today, except that this film was made at the height of the Japanese military control over every aspect of society in the Japanese empire. What the censors missed was this: in the final shot showing the Japanese character, he’s standing next to the crafty Kim Deok-sam and his sons, who were so clearly identified as the ‘bad guys’. Perhaps, in 1941, that was as much resistance as anyone could hope for.

Here again probably the blogger is reading too much.

The films are all so full of aspects and nuances that are fascinating from a historical perspecitve. For instance, did you notice that all the characters have Korean names. Except for a few in HOMELESS ANGELS who have Western names (Baptized names, I guess). Whatever happened to the Japanese forcing Koreans to change their names?

Right . What happened to the Japanese forcing Koreans to change their names?

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