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In the film series If You Were Me sound plays an ineresting part in the film depending on the epsiode. in vol. 1 episode 1. (the weight of her) sound in the film is mainly diegetic and in the form of song/television noise. Outside of the conversations in the film, most of the sound is insignificant to the story of Cho Sun-kyung. this is in direct contrast to episode 6 (Nepal- Never Ending Peace And Love) in which nondiegetic drums and piano music fills the sequence to represent Chandra's isolation and her hope for freedom. This episode relies on sound/noise in the film because it deals with miscommunication. The nondiegetic sound is symbolic of worldwide understanding for (linking the audience to Chandra) because there are no words just sound. Finally, in Vol. 2 episode 2, (title not given in english) the use of diegetic sound is often dialed down to focus the attention of the audience to the argument that Woo-shik has with his friends. Only during the primary fight from another table and when glasses are dropped is the diegetic sound enhanced for the audience to acknowledge. During the argument all of the conversations and noises around the table are reduced in decibal level and there is a clear shift in the soundtrack to emphasize the improtance of the conversation at the table. the long single shot was also breath taking.
ReplyDelete-James Seiling
Although all of the three films were based on the issues of “human rights”, I would like to focus on the first film, “The weight of her”. This film, directed by Lim Soon-Rae, talks about “lookism”, a crucial matter existing in our present daily lives. At first glance, this film may be seen as a female high school student simply trying to make herself up in order to get a good career after graduating high school. However, in the deeper sense, it is the allegory of human nature’s value being trampled under foot due to our external features. Whatever it is, human rights doesn’t seem to be an important issue in our endless competitive society. It is just the conditions for competition that is demanded. That condition is fairly simple. It is just to fit in well into the standard that our society has agreed upon. The society demands Sun-kyung to eliminate the dissimilarity existing between people and therefore, Sun-kyung’s desire is “given” regardless of what her actual desires may be. Therefore, instead of sparing time on what her dreams may be, she is actually devoting her time to look for ways to get rid of the “difference” that exists between people. In this film, it seems that the thing which looks heavy is not her weight but the weight that she has to carry on her back. What’s more frustrating is the response she gets back from the society, that if she can’t fulfill the standard, then at least give up on her virginity.
ReplyDeleteHuman right is a very controversial issue, since the interpretation of what is wrong or right depends on the ideology of an individual. The series, despite the focus on a very sensitive issue, was well illustrated. The first movie was rather comical, and the third movie, I believe was irrelevant to the topic of human rights. The movie "Never Ending Peace and Love" has shown foreign labor, who receives unfair treatment in the factory. The establishing scene at the beginning was very ambiguous and the audience might have lost the interest. It was projected in 1st person’s point of view (Chandra), as if it was a documentary. The establishing scene where it showed native women from Nepal in black and white and ending scene where it showed same people in color was a cultural shock. The use of color in this movie has agitated the audience. As soon as color came on, it was evident that Chandra was not Korean. Using black and white at first was to dramatize the situation, and putting back in color was to clarify the audience that such issue of discrimination, segregation, or ignorance exist in Korea. Watching the scene in 1st person's point of view made the audience feel the same emotional distress as Chandra.
ReplyDeleteThe main theme of the three short films seems to be social issues in Korea. In the film “The Weight of Her,” the social issue addressed is how shallow Korean society is today. In present day Korea, the physical appearance of women is very important, so much so that it affects a girl’s “success” in landing a job and/or a husband. It is a requirement for girls to be tall, skinny and pretty (have double eyelids), whereas there is no such requirement for men. Starting from a young age, girls are strongly encouraged by society (their teachers and the school system) to take diet pills and get double eyelid surgery. Girls are praised for their weight loss and are criticized for their inability to do so. Girls get their eyes done on a regular basis, and for those who can’t afford it, use tape religiously. The great pressure and crazed obsession for girls to look “good” has permeated every crevice in Korean society, creating a phenomenon that is very emotionally damaging to the self-esteem of many girls in Korea.
ReplyDeleteThe entire third film "Hey, man" is essentially composed of two very long shots. Aside from being amazing, it also had a slightly disorienting effect on the audience. Without the presence of cutting, the camera felt like it was constantly on the move. This added to the sense of how drunk the characters were getting in the film. While the tone of the movie was lighthearted and humorous, we find that several serious themes were touched on. We find another commentary on gender roles in Korea. I feel like the main character was supposed to represent the ideal Korean male; one who has higher education, has a job, and is heterosexual. However we see that among his friends, he appears to be the most comical, and least agreeable person in their group. This probably serves to send the message that Korean ideals and beliefs have a lot of room for progression in acceptance. The final sequence perpetuates this confusion of the Korean ideal with the main character pleading his case of ideal masculinity to two strangers who ended up being female.
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ReplyDelete“Never Ending Peace and Love” highlights the importance of time and sound in Chandra’s life. Despite the incredible lapse of time that the short film covers, the director has certain scenes sliced by jump cuts to fully emphasize Chandra’s desperation and panic in an unfamiliar world. The distortion of time is also apparent in scenes in which the characters stop in the middle of action to speak to the camera; this technique creates confusion in which point of view the camera represents. In addition, although names and spoken language seem to be important in the creation of identity, the film uses indigenous music and the sounds of nature to also point to more universal “languages” that embrace color and diversity.
ReplyDeleteWatching the short film, “The Weight of Her”, was quite humorous. Although the exaggerations used throughout the short made the issue of physical appearance seem lighthearted, the director was able to also imply the significance of this social problem in the Korean culture. It really is all about how people carry themselves in the public eye. It seems superficial and vain but double eyelid surgery, facial fixtures, and diet pills are all quite common in South Korea. This is my first time in Korea and I have learned much about how physical appearance tells of one’s social status and fortune. Getting any kind of surgery to look better physically demonstrates to others the ability of one to afford such ‘luxuries’. The other day, I was walking the streets of Sinchon saw a restaurant with a “Hiring Waitresses” sign on the door. Written in bold next to it was, “Looking to hire pretty women.” I honestly cannot believe the superficiality of the Korean culture. This film perfectly portrays how far some people will go to have sex appeal. The extremity of how one of the students in the school went to lose weight was so unnatural. The struggle of the main character to look thin and tall is a real depiction of how many Korean girls exert themselves to look perfect. The director’s use of exaggeration in various scenes like the main character’s sister wrapping herself in plastic really helps to get the message across of how far some people go to look like the latest Korean actress or singer.
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ReplyDeleteThe film "The Weight of Her" reminded me of the cruel reality for women in Korea in the past. In the first scene in the classroom, the victorious smile of the girl who managed to lose weight indicates that for women a way to be successful and be recognized is by having a good physical appearance. The fat girl cannot even get a part-time job and the only place she gets accepted is the karaoke where the old men simply want some girls to play with. It almost seems as if girls have to be thin and pretty in order to achieve some level of success in their social life. In addition, even the fat girl herself never tries to accept her as just the way she is and feels guilty that she is not thin and pretty. It is easily seen in this film that socially constructed norms dominate people's lives and strengthen the constructed norms by treating the exceptions such as fat girls as losers and praising those who conform with the norms. The film purposefully shows such aspects of Korea and criticizes the society which is twisted and biased. However, the film also criticizes the people who never try to challenge the society and find a way to overcome the social norms by focusing the film on the daily life of a fat girl.
ReplyDeleteThe short film "Never Ending Peace and Love" address the discrimination in Korea. It is about a Nepali woman who gets sent to hospitals and mental institutions because no one can communicate with here. The film is shot from a point-of-view of the main actress, Chandra. What the viewers are seeing is what the character Chandra was seeing. The director employed the point-of-view shot to engage the audience with Chandra's story. In this way the viewers would all feel what discrimination felt like and sympathize with Chandra. Also, many of the actors and actresses address the camera directly. These are the only times that the film is not using POV shots. By allowing the characters to address the camera, the audience gets more insight into the minds of the characters who have been showing discrimination. They provide explanations for their choices to discriminate. Also, the film is shot mostly in black and white which shows that the film is being shot in a different time like the past. The black and white part of the film also fits with the topic of discrimination in making the story more sad and depressing. At the beginning and end there are color shots with many different colors which produces more happy emotions and ends the film with a feeling of relief that Chandra finally was able to make it back.
ReplyDeleteDirected by one of my most favorite movie directer, Park Chan-Wook, "NEPAL" depicts the living conditions of foreign laborers. Although this is a serious and a sensitive topic, Park delineates it along with a sense of humor. What I really liked about this film is the viewpoint. For the most of the time, we as an audience look through the eyes of Chandra, the Nepali worker. Just from Chandra's "mumbling," I felt stifled, but it was worsened by constraining the audience's perspective. However, I think it maximized the audience's sympathy for Chandra. I, as a Korean, felt sorry for what Koreans' indifference towards the foreign workers has caused her and I couldn't imagine how she endured those years at psychiatric hospital in Korea.
ReplyDeleteJunHwan Kim
The “If You Were Me” films all featured individuals whose human rights were violated because they were not viewed as worthy in Korean society. These characters were treated negatively because there is little appreciation for people who are not at the top of the social hierarchy. The people who ostracized them did so to make themselves feel more worthy. For example, the teachers in “The Weight of Her” were not attractive themselves and the people Chandra came across could not speak Nepalese so they shrugged her off. This reveals how rejection is an ugly cycle that continues to hurt people. Both “The Weight of Her” and “Never Ending Peace and Love” reveal cameras filming at the end. This induces the effect of making the stories a true reality. The long shots in “Hey Man” also causes spectators to feel like they are actually at the setting as well. The directors incorporate these techniques to have audiences realize that they are a part of violating human rights and it is up to them to either maintain social inequalities and discrimination or make efforts to stop this negative system.
ReplyDeleteWhat I found to be most skillful of "The Weight of Her," was the main character Cho Sun-Kyung's acting and dialogue. With every subtle expression, and every single word or moment of somber silence, the character became truer and more complex -- I felt I could really sympathize with her. The director did a fine job of showing the pressures of outward "beauty" everywhere the protagonist went. At the mall with the perfect mannequins, at school with her ever-changing classmates, and even at home watching the infomercials -- each scene seemed to put more "weight" onto Sun-Kyung's self-conscious. One thing I would have liked to see at the closing of the film is some type of closure for the young character struggling with her self-image. Whether she continued to aim to change herself and actually go through with it, or decide to accept the way she was born into the world -- it would have been nice to have seen at least a glimpse of what would become of Cho Sun-Kyung. However, it was quite clever of the director to include the very last scene at the end of film where the camera captures "behind the scenes" within the movie which aims to sketch a picture of reality. I felt that the director was trying to really get deep into these issues and let the audience know that while this film is a fictional movie with actors and scripts, the dilemmas underlying it are very real.
ReplyDeleteThe short films in class displayed some of the major issues with Korea. The first short film about the appearances of women displayed how shallow Korea is. What I liked about this film is that the main character showed how much of a disadvantage she had just because of her weight and her physical features but in a comedic way. It brought up an important issue but lured the audience with comedy. Also I liked how at the end the owner of the bar assigned a girl to each man because of their looks proving the teacher wrong when he said that men are okay no matter what they look like unlike girls. The second film to me seemed like it was trying to be to serious. The way that the camera was in first person and then suddenly change to show that she dropped her rag was where i felt that the director was trying to over do it. However i enjoyed the black and white that allowed all the characters to seem more of the same race. The last short film showed what most Americans don't know about Korea. The extended shot was what made this short film work because it allowed the audience to focus on the problems with characters more than it would if they had change the background. This really showed what is common in the Korean night life when the strangers fought and a couple of seconds later those far way acted as if nothing had happened. Also it showed just how close minded Korea really is, even though it was his friends he still thought drinking with no job, being a homosexual, and only having a high school degree is not good enough to be considered a "man".
ReplyDeleteThinking about national cinema recently, the film "Weight of her" and "Hey, man" seem to reveal "Korea-ness". The importance of appearance has been emphasised in "The Weight of her". The increasing demand for pleasing look has been a serious problem that cause enormous plastic surgeries and too much efforts on the exterior. The film satirize this symptom. Also some names in this film were mostly how the person look such as the fat woman. The film "Hey, man" also shows one of the Korean features, confucianism. The role of man in confucianism is very conservative. This film contains the traditional role of man and fairly recent issues about unemployemnt, academic clique and the look of homosexuality. These director centered films describe the problems or reality of Korea. In the contextwise these films including "NEPAL" seems to be the latest national cinema.
ReplyDeleteThere is a sad irony in "THe Weight of Her" that may be obvious to everyone, but that I feel I must point out: In order to become pretty, the main character needs money. In order for her to obtain the money (through a job), however, she must be pretty. This simple irony says it all; the film isn't just trying to show us the superficiality of our contemporary society (and let's face it, it's not just Korea) and the pressure we (especially the girls) feel in it to make ourselves beautiful. Rather, the film is telling is that we have trapped ourselves completely. It's no longer a matter of peer pressure, but of survival. Dating, marriage, and jobs are all dependent on one's superficial beauty. We are used to pitying the anorexic and those completely obsessed with their appearance; but this film forces us to wonder if we are not exactly like them -- if we aren't all secretly jealous of those who lose 12 kilograms (for girls) or obtain six-pack abs (for guys, especially those who laugh at girls and then go to the gym for obsessive exercises). Moreover, it makes us wonder if such obsession over our appearances isn't just pitiful anymore, but rather necessary. In the end, we also must wonder: was the teacher's sarcastic declaration, "Your first priority must be body care... and your second must be body care..." really so sarcastic? (Perhaps it wasn't meant to be sarcastic in the first place, but let's admit it, we all laughed and took it to be sarcastic anyway!)
ReplyDeleteMost of "Never Ending Peace and Love" is in black and white. As a matter of fact, it is presented to us at the beginning almost as a historical documentary. It lulls us into thinking, almost on a subconscious level, that the film IS a documentary -- that is, a story of the past. We automatically associate black-and-white films as "in the past," and documentaries especially so. Therefore, we feel comfortable laughing at the inadequacies of the police, doctors, etc. We allow ourselves to think, condescendingly, "Korea (or the general society, as we know it) used to be so biased and inefficient." And so when we suddenly see color at the end of the movie, we are treated to a small shock: the film was in OUR society, in OUR time! This isn't a story of how faulty our society USED TO BE, it's a story of how we still are! We are so used to seeing ourselves as being at the peak of a progressive era in society, as being morally superior to all the times in the past, that sometimes we are completely blind to our existing prejudices and faults. This film, however,attempts to lift that blindfold from our eyes, however momentarily or subtly.
Out of the three films, the first one caught my eye the most. In "The weight of her", the film addresses an issue that I believe many people acknowledge, but dont do anything about it. From a director's perspective, I think that Lim Soon-Rae utilized a unique way to emphasize the paranoia of physical appearance. After the credits were rolling, the camera shoots on set portraying what happens behind the scenes. When a middle aged man (ajushee) comments about the film, he also blatantly refers to a woman as 'fat' (which is typical in Korean society). By capturing this scene, the director intends to emphasize that the issue is real and current in everyday life. Although the short film was presented in a comedic and dramatic manner, the social issue brought up is serious and real. I believe that by showing this scene after credits were rolling arouses a more powerful ending that keeps the audience thinking even after the film has ended.
ReplyDeleteOut of the three short films in “If You Were Me” (2003), I found Park Chan-wook’s production “Believe it or Not” to be the most intriguing and sensible work. There seemed to be two types of shooting: 1. Camera as Chandra’s very own eyes. 2. Interview-like setting where different roles attempt to naively explain situations of Chandra. Using the screen as Chandra’s vision seemed quite appropriate; such technique delivered her experience as authentically as possible to the audience. Scenes like Chandra being tied back into the hospital bed as she struggles to communicate by laying the camera up and down is an example- What I saw was what Chandra saw. The alternative technique was the interview-like shooting where several characters like the doctor, the police and the nurses directly communicate with the audience about Chandra. This is rather common in director Park’s films; however, I felt that such style of shooting had a rather distinctive role in the film. It allowed the audience to understand Chandra being isolated from how others viewed her and being ganged up by them. There was a scene using such technique as a doctor described Chandra’s symptoms while putting a book back on the shelf titled “The Joys of Suffering”, which I found a humor out of.. Another interesting aspect in the film was the sudden appearance of color frames; the first scene is repeated as the last scene but only difference being that first one was black and white and the last one color. As the last scene shows the culture of Chandra’s nationality, it seemed as though director Park wanted the audience to see color in their culture. As Chandra spoke in her language staring at the camera at the last scene, audience did not seem to view it as only “mumbling” any more.
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ReplyDeletein the opening and closing scenes of "never ending peace and love" a series of nepalese women are asked if they are Chandra until one answers "yes". however most of the film is shot from the first-person perspective of Chandra. this serves two of aims: first it emphasizes her sense of isolation. in a sense her body is her prison, since to koreans she appears korean, which is the reason she ends up being put in a mental hospital. secondly the use of a first person perspective literally puts the viewer in Chandra's shoes, deepening the sense of empathy the audience has with Chandra, and with foreign workers in Korea. this film brings to light the insensitivity korea shows to foreign workers within its borders--far from the "peace and love" Chandra could only find in her home country.
ReplyDeleteIn "The Weight of Her" the message of the film implies that women who are physically appealing automatically have a better advantage in the real world. In the scene where a couple of dressed up school girls entertain men at a karaoke bar, the tv's in the background show celebrities like Brittany Spears and Janet Jackson who fulfill and perpetuate the standards of beauty that are held in high regard by Korean women--being tall, skinny, and having double eyelids. Moreover the Director uses these images of thin celebrities to highlight the popular notion that beautiful women deserve attention, that they are more qualified for any given job position, and are more talented whereas the bulkier and shorter girls will never make it to the big time or be taken as serious individuals at job interviews. They are only given one judgmental look, never mind a second glance. The images of female celebrities on tv represent the viewers' power to switch the channel if they deem that the women are unattractive. In other words, people are fickle and shallow. One of the male teachers in the film confirms this unfortunate yet true reality that some companies do not even "interview women who weigh more than 50 kilos." Here the Director uses satire to suggest that as unfair and unfortunate as it is, women are first and foremost judged by their appearance before they have a chance to offer any skills or talents.
ReplyDeleteThe omnibus movie ‘If you were me’, consisted with several short films deals basic human right. Among them, the first movie, ‘The weight of her’, mostly evoked sympathy of me. I could see the problems in Korean society: people have had a tendency to judge people just with external appearance. Actually, I, having spent high school years in Korea, was shocked when I saw the scenes that teachers mocked students of their appearances, and even they weigh students’ weights.(I think it is also a kind of infringement of individual right.) Also, heroine of the movie eventually had plastic surgery even by doing improper things as a student to get money for surgery. Even though I think there might be some exaggerated parts in the movie, I totally agree with the realities in Korea. Why Korea makes chubby / fat or not so much pretty people feel guilty and unconfident? Of course even though taking care of their appearance is important, it is up to people’s decision. There is no any right to make fun of them to anybody. I think even though this movie is very short and seems a little bit incomplete, compared to other longer movies, I’m sure that with this movie, people can have chances to reconsider their attitude to other people and our change required-society.
ReplyDeleteEach film in the series, "if you were me," had own emotional theme. 'The 'weight' of her' dealt with frustration, 'Never ending peace and love' brings sympathy and anxiousness from viewers, and 'hey men?' shows anger. As the viewers engage the film from diffrent perspective, such as seeing from first, second, and third person perspective, the viewers approach the story with themselves. Also considering overactions of the actors and comic senses, we can say the films are trying to show satire of situations in our everyday life. In addition, 'the weight of her' add interst through the blooper, showing real example of lookism by pointing out the over-weighted staff in chaotic envirionment, which also makes statement that Korean society that is overly engaged with lookism is a bit disturbing. Also 'never ending peace and love' being a true story makes the story itself interesting, and the film makes satire about lacking in knowledge and in caring about one's neighbor. During the interviews, everyone says 'Oh, I did not know' and does not admit their mistake. As the interviewees talking to the audience, may be they are reflecting us. The title, 'If you were me,' asks us to look back on us and our society.
ReplyDelete"Never Ending Peace and Love" was especially interesting in that throughout the whole movie, Chandra hardly ever appeared on the screen. Through the view of the camera, the viewers can actually feel as though they are looking through the eyes of Chandra, and experiencing the things that she is doing. The screen actually blurs and sways back and forth in appropriate scenes, making the experience all the more realistic. It was effective to have the other characters direct their short "confessions" to the camera, in that the viewers were recognized as people on Chandra's side. This adds to the viewers' feeling of being in Chandra's shoes, and sharing the feeling of hopelessness.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that Chandra was back in her hometown in Nepal, the place of never ending peace and love, shows that she could no longer find any comfort in Korea. It seems that the peace and love she wished for was only attainable back in her home country, and this setting contrasted with the hardships she had faced in Korea.
All of the three short movies we watched today showed shame of korean society. Even though the messages of those movies were dark and negative parts of korean society, all of them were conveyed by humorous script. I felt irony there. Especially on "남자니까, 아시잖아요 (hey man)," brought up several issues at the same time. Simply by showing korean culture of heavy drinking, director, Rhoo Seung Wan, expresses extreme diplomaism, unemployment problem, sexual discrimination and androcentrism. Plus, the reversal about the identities of two drinkers reminded me who directed the film again.
ReplyDeleteIn the movie "Never Ending Peace and Love", I really liked the first-person perspective where we could see what Chandra saw. This allowed for we, the viewers, to be put in her shoes and witness what she had to go through. The interviews with the Korean officials had to go through allowed viewers to "see" what they were thinking and then we are able to see the outcome. I felt that this was very effective in portraying the message that we all need to put in a little extra effort in helping others. The ending showed Chandra back at home during a native festival or celebration and although she had gone through all the hardships of finally returning home, she forgave the Koreans which I think explains the "never ending peace and love" title. She symbolized what our society needs by not holding a grudge against people of other cultures and also never giving up hope.
ReplyDeleteThe short film, “The Weight of Her” is the most impressive one from the three. A typical Korean woman images were no double eyelid and little chubby look but this face of Korean beauty have been changing into Western look woman. We easily can see women with covering their face (because of plastic surgery) and really skinny people. I am not saying that plastic surgery and diet are obnoxious. I believe that it is so natural of showing interest in beauty but the society changes this unsophisticated mind to be ostentatious. As the film shows, many girls are having pressure and obsession with beauty and society wants good body and perfect face of women. Eyes of society need to change about ideal beauty, because girls never have self-satisfaction on own beauty and people will spend more time on physical appearance if society wants more beautiful women than now.
ReplyDeleteThe third short film viewed in class today used its setting to evoke a slightly claustrophobic feel. Since the entire film takes place within the confines of a restaurant inside a white tent, the story is limited. As a viewer, one wonders what goes on beyond the tent; as soon as a character exits the tent, he ceases involvement in the plot – it is almost as if the camera is chained and cannot move further. Alternatively, this restricted space serves to focus attention on the main character and his interactions with the people in the tent. Perhaps the single setting, along with the long takes, additionally serve to draw out the close-minded one-dimensionality of the main character, and the limited nature of his worldview.
ReplyDeleteFilm "The Weight of Her", sheds light on hardship of being a woman in Korea. For women, good looks is the key to success. In Sun-kyung's high school, teachers directly say that unless you're skinny, you won't get a job. In a society where good look is is treated so seriously, main character Sun-kyung falls victim. She falls into a cycle that leads to self destruction. Sun-kyung wants an eyelid surgery to have double eyelid but doesn't have money to. In order to earn money, she looks for a part-time job but fails to do so because of her looks. The emphasis on external features is ridiculed as Sunkyung sells her body in order to get double eyelids. Even though she sold her morality, perhaps something that may be a bigger part of femininity than looks, she is laughed at in the last scene of the film.
ReplyDelete"Never Ending Peace or Love” was the most intriguing among the three short films on the human rights. The scenes smoothly changes from a documentary form, where viewers are allowed to observe the way others look at Chandra, to the Chandra’s view, which is limited and often shows the ground or the surroundings. (blurring effect suggest her crying, and aimlessly moving lenses suggest that she is lost) . The color of the scenes hints at the flow of the time. The very first scene, in the documentary form, is the interviewing scene of Nepalese women; this scene struck me the most. A number of Nepalese women reply “no” to the question “are you Chandra” until Chandra finally confirms. When this scene repeats at the end of the film, the viewers, with deeper understanding of Chandra’s sufferings, are left with emotional impact. One feels pity, sad, and even upset to finally see people admitting and calling her Chandra. This scene is impressive because it directly contrasts with the previous scenes: people mistreating Chandra as a patient with mental problem without listening, Chandra enunciating “my name is Chandra” in Korean, and people calling her Sun Mi Ya. When the camera portrays the Chandra’s view, there is a great emphasis on her hands. Through her hands, one can feel her nervousness, frustration, fear, and grief. The hands express her feelings: clutching at the handles, her hands helplessly held by the Nepalese translator.
ReplyDeleteThe unconventional approach to the problems addressed in "Hey Man" made me feel much more aware of the problems than conventional methods. We have all seen those commercials where people drive drunk and die, or are arrested, or accidentally kill someone, but those are all such unlikely events compared to what happens to the protagonist in the film. The hyperbole of those commercials in itself marginalizes them, even though those events are possible. They may happen often, but there are far more people than will experiance them in their lifetime. It is far more likely to have a loose tounge and do regretable actions while extreamly drunk than die. The poignant and realistic portrayal of binge drinking offers so much more for the conscience. As far as the other issues addressed in the film, homosexualism and unemployment, I feel that they are addressed in too passing a manner to make a legitamate point.
ReplyDeleteThe short film “Believe it or not” presents us with many different aspects of Korean culture and lifestyle. Issues that revolve around education, sexuality, employment, social behavior, and interaction with foreigners emerge from what seems like a light and comical skit. The main character is obviously intoxicated with alcohol and thus sets the stage for banter, making a parody of social issues that are actually serious issues for his friends. The main character himself is a young working individual, successful with a graduate degree while his friends tackle problems that he approaches without much understanding or insensitivity. The film allows the viewer to empathize with all the friends that he alienates, actually underscoring the importance of human relationship over the understood pertinent pursual of higher education. At the end of the film, I was able to appreciate the subtle social issues that were presented, allowing me to dissect how Korean society may seem much different than what I am used to in the U.S., but is rather similar is how everyone struggles with similar issues.
ReplyDeleteBeing aestetically apealing is not easy. "Weight of Her," shows the hardship women goes through such as being jobless, having no respect, and being unmarried. I had no interest to the angles or lighting of the camera because it was usually centered and had nothing much in particular.
ReplyDeleteAs for "Hey Man" I was very mad, because I just don't appreciate guys being drunk and doing useless things. However, other than the storyline, I felt like the camera was a friend just watching everyone. It was nice to see the camera act along with the actors.
Lastly, "Never Ending Peace and Love,"was the best biblography film I have ever saw. It was very entertaining and touching because it was in a first person perspective. I was very touched when the Nepel guy holded onto her hands tightly. Her hands were the most important aspect to this film because it was the only part of her body we saw throughout the whole film. When I finally saw her face at the end, I was quite honored, although her face was mentioned in the beginning.
Jenny Suh
All 3 of the films that we watched today showed the problems that Korean citizens have today. In the first film the teachers make fun of the students and tell them to lose weight, which gives the girls low self-esteem and stressed. Teachers do not have the authority to tell students to change their physical appearance. In the last film one of the friends calls out the rest of his friends by saying rude remarks to them. In all 3 films it shows Koreans being unhelpful to others that need their help the most in that situation. This shows that Koreans are very bias and homophobic. Koreans need to stop assuming people by their appearance and try to get to know them from the inside-out.
ReplyDeleteThe way that Woo-Shik, in "Hey, Man!" by Ryoo Seung-wan, drunkenly and meticulously digs himself into a large and deep hole as he typecasts his friends and puts them down had me at once distinctly uncomfortable and waiting in anticipation. This scene is not one unfamiliar to bars and popular drinking spots in Korea. I myself have been made uncomfortable by the too-loud, boundary breaking, alcohol induced fights of strangers during my stay here in South Korea. The way that the alcohol unravels Woo-Shik's inhibitions and control, as well as the whole group's inability to say 'no' to more alcohol builds tension without the need for any ominous music or campy dialogue. The viewer naturally anticipates all this uncontrollable truthfullness and highhandedness to explode in Woo-Shik's face somehow. The use of a long shot using only a tracking camera makes the experience more real, as if you were a fifth person in this slowly collapsing group. All the viewer can do is helplessly and awkwardly watch as Woo-Shik alienates and is abandoned by each and every one of his friends in his search to define what creates and defines a man. Though his narrow-mindedness and intolerance is unfortunate, it is not unexpected. Perhaps I am being pretty intolerant myself, but I believe that the generation before ours is far, far less tolerant, despite the liberalization and westernization of the world surrounding them. At the end of the film I felt both pity and resentment toward Woo-Shik, a decidedly uncomfortable combination. I thoughroughly enjoyed this short film.
ReplyDelete“Believe it or not”, based on the true story, by Park Chang Wook portrays the reality of Korea’s treatment to foreign labors through the main character Chandra. Chandra, a Nepalese labor in Korea who actually looks like Korean, is treated as a mentally disordered because of her Korean-like appearance and Nepalese language, which sounds like mumbling in Korean. The Korean society making normal person into mentally disordered seemed so natural. For the camera work, it is captured from Chandra’s point of view of Korea, which makes audience to view the Korean culture in foreigner’s point view. The main character of this movie can be considered as Korea instead of Chandra, because the film vividly delivers how Korean culture and Koreans are appealed to foreigners. This film makes the Koreans to realize how foreign labors are getting painful treatments from Koreans.
ReplyDeleteI loved all three shorts. I wasn't sure what I was expecting from these films, but they turned out to be really inspiring for me because I appreciated a lot of the techniques that were used, as well as their original plots. What I found that all three films had in common was that they all sort of mixed in some light-heartedness and comedy into their stories, yet brought the viewers to a rather serious point in the end. In "The 'Weight' of Her," a lot of laughs were shared about the main character's hopeless efforts to "catch up" to the other girls around her (e.g.,get plastic surgery) but at the same time it delivered a sense of guilt. In "Never Ending Peace and Love," the way people couldn't understand Chandra was sometimes humorous yet frustrating, and we end up feeling sorry for her (another sense of guilt delivered). Lastly, in "Hey, Man," the three drunk men are seen silly and hilarious in the beginning, but as we begin to find out about their backgrounds and their characters, the film moves up to a rather complex level, and again leaves us with a feeling of sorry-ness.
ReplyDeleteFrom quickly scanning other posts about "The Weight of Her" I feel like it may not have been completely understood by some. At the end of the short film, we see that the screening was a film within a film showing the ridiculous vanity that plagues South Korea. It follows a girl who is overweight and ugly, and therefore, deemed unlikely to get a job or even a boyfriend until she spends money she doesn't have on plastic surgery, diet pills, and diet camps. Even the fact that these exist as common practices show the extremity to which this culture has taken on its narcissistic character. With the extremely fast-growing economy, and with the globalization of cinema and media technology, it seems South Korea has also inherited western culture through filtered lenses. In other words, not only did Korea grow economy at an unhealthy pace, but the flashy culture as well. The girl who suffered from this her whole life and who seemed to be more than a step behind the other prettier girls, ends up being a (successful) movie director, while the other girls are shown in a Night receiving orders on who and how to please the men. The last scene was a very clever and well crafted ending to the movie. I look forward to watching the rest of them in this series.
ReplyDeleteThese all three films are dealing with human rights and social issue in South Korea. I like this kind of films, because it make people to have perception about today's social problems in our society. Although all of three movie was impressive for me, especially I like the "NEPAL" which directed by Parkchanwook. This film has kind of documentary style, so we can feel realism while we watch this film. NEPAL tells us the Korean's treatment toward foreigners. I like the view point shot in this film. Most of shot in this movie is view point shot from Chandra. That is effectively make us to feel sympaty to Chandra.
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ReplyDeleteScene at the police station: main character not even in view. Two Korean policemen stand, talking down to a voice that is heard in a cubicle; the audience is led to assume that a person, whoever it is, must be in one of those cubicles. This shot captures the essence of how Chandra was treated in Korea. Because she is not Korean, but Nepali, she is treated as though she is less than human, assumed immediately to be lacking in mental capabilities, and crudely put, as an inferior creature. Throughout the film it is evident that it is actually the converse; Koreans who mistreat Chandra are inferior. There is absolutely nothing that can excuse the deliberation of cursory mistakes and foolishness over the sequence of more than six years. The combination of thoughtless discrimination and unbelievably disorganized, careless bureaucratic organization in South Korea ruins a significant part of Chandra’s life – the problem is, Chandra’s story, although one of the most extreme, is not an isolated case of discrimination in Korea. The film’s documentary approach and deliberate use of sequence of shots which satirically juxtapose the excuses of brainless officials against scenes that depict what had really been the case are well suited to an admirable attempt at uncovering truth and deep problems that run in modern day South Korea. Unfortunately the individual officials cannot be singularly accused of having caused this tragedy for Chandra, for the real underlying cause is greater than the individual’s mistake, and lies in the shape of Korea’s everyday life structures and regulations.
ReplyDelete“The Weight of Her” and “Hey, man” both had to do with Korean culture and social issues and what it has become over the past decades. The first film made Korean people seem very superficial, where every girl had to be pretty or socially accepted to make it in the “real world”. Many times during the film, the teachers would clearly point out that unless that girl loses weight or takes care of her face, she will be able to find a man to marry or find a job after high school. I also found it very ironic that the teachers would say these comments to their students because they are the adults and authority figures and I feel as they are focusing on the wrong aspects of life and making the students more and more insecure. Korea is also known for girls getting plastic surgery and I think this film revealed why these students think the way they do and what desperate measures (such as being escorts for older men) they will take to get what they want. “Never Ending Peace and Love” was shot very differently than the movies that we usually watch because sometimes the camera would be Chandra’s view while other times it was interviewing other people. This technique helps the audience get more into character because it is in the view of his/her eyes. There were a lot of abrupt scene changes as well because it was constantly switching from the past to the present.
ReplyDeleteThe short film, "The Weight of Her" is a satire of the expectations Korean society places on women. Since Yim Soon-rye's intent is fairly obvious,I would like to instead discuss some of the unusual filming techniques that caught my attention. First, the camera angle in the scene in which the overweight girl looks for a job at the convenient store seems to give you the impression that you are watching the scene through a concave mirror. Just as a concave mirror is used in the stores so that the owner is able to monitor his store for criminal behavior, the effect of watching this scene through a concave mirror gives the audience a sense that we in turn get to monitor the convenient store owner's "criminal behavior" in completely denying a job to an overweight girl and giving the position to a more attractive girl. Furthermore, the bathroom scene in which three girls are talking near the stalls while the overweight girl is in front of a mirror applying the eyelid tape is worth mentioning. Initially every thing seems normal. However, it is not until the end of the scene when we realize that the whole scene was shot through the mirror as a reflection. We know this because the camera actually spins around from the mirror to capture the actual position of the girls. This scene says a lot. First the scene is shot through the mirror while the 3 girls are talking about the overweight girl behind her back. It is when the 3 girls directly addresses the overweight girl that the shot reveals that the previous was a mere reflection. I think this two-fold shot attempts to reveal the two-sidedness of girls. The mirror symbolizes the duality of what is fake and what is real. In reality, the girls were talking behind the overweight girl's back. However, when they address her, the 3 girls act somewhat fake as they try to lure her to going out with them.
ReplyDeleteWatching the short film “그녀의 무계”, I found myself so engrossed in the plot and message of the movie, I took no notice of anything else. Personal appearance and its unfortunate impact on a woman’s self confidence is accurately portrayed through this clip. What I enjoyed most about this director is how obvious and ridiculous she made this national flaw appear in the film; a twist that the director made on this unfortunately realistic and current problem present in Korea was turning this issue into a sort of comedy. I feel that the director put some humor into the film in order to lighten the mood when addressing this sensitive topic of weight and make it appear to be something that should not burden an individual. My favorite part of this clip was the ending when a random bystander, who was watching the actual filming of the movie, points out the director to be a portly average woman. Throughout the film, the director emphasized the fact that Korean society puts too much value on weight; the director amplified this observation by taking it a step further and sending a message that weight determines one’s career. However, I thought the film ended in a very positive and uplifting note in the sense that it brought forth hope and even a sense of negligibility towards weight concerning the future career of any woman or individual in general. Having the image of a strong and powerful film director to be a normal, chubby female was the ultimate motivation for women watching the film.
ReplyDeleteIn the movie, "The Weight of Her", the last scene gave a frank look at how women are judged. In Korea, image seems to be weighed heavily amongst societal rules. The film itself was trying to send the message that in order segregate the mass, it had to be based on looks. For a homogenous country like Korea, in order to be on the top of the hierarchy, looks and image do play a huge role for the future of the individual. Even in the classroom setting, the teacher would judge students based on looks. With a nation of 50 million people in a closed off peninsula, the rate of competition between individuals is quite high. The film itself, also the others ("Never Ending Peace and Love" and "Hey, Man") are examples of national cinema, where the film puts on a showcase of the nuances within the society and culture of Korea, but in a slight cynical light.
ReplyDeleteThe portrayal of friendship in Korea in the last film that was shown, gave an impression that it was not only for "Korean" society. The message in this film can be universal. This was more on the scope of friendship, but the atmosphere and tone of the film had evolved around a Korean environment. The culture of the soju house was full of certain traits one would find in a soju house, with random abrupt fights, and drunk Koreans and foreigners alike stumbling around. Yet, the main point of the film was to show how people could change, just by the fact that they are purely drunk, and throughout the course of a friendship, there still could be boundaries that one should not cross. It made me, as an audience member self-analyze myself to see if maybe the characters in the film can be similar to my own friends and experiences. The last film had quite the influence for me, because I thought about the film in hindsight afterwards.
I liked all the short films we watched today, but "The weight of her" shocked me the most. At first, I thought this movie was talking about how hard it is to get a job in Korea, but realized it showed how the society really focuses on the way you look outside. Especially when the main character goes find a job , she was denied because of her weight and when she had to go drink with the guys, she was denied again due to her weight. Korean society judge people extremely by their outside look. I know for sure there are still a lot of people getting plastic surgery just to be accepted for a job, and just by walking around the city there are so many diet centers which shows that Koreans care so much about the way they look. It's very sad for the girl that she can't get her eyes done because her family can't support it. This also shows that maybe people with no money will not have an opportunity to get surgeries (which means hard to get a job) , which shows how unfair the society is.
ReplyDeleteThree different gazes are portrayed in “The Weight of Her.” Society’s discrimination against women by their appearance, people’s gaze on women; rivalry among women themselves, women’s gaze on each other; and reversely, judgment upon men by women, women’s gaze on men. In the period that this movie portrays, it was legal for the companies to require female employee’s bodily figure to fit certain standard that the company gives. So the girls had to change themselves to those standards: they took medicine that has severe side effect to lose weight, insulted by the teacher because they did not lose weight, and judged only by their outer appearance at the job interview. We can even see the atmosphere of judging each other by appearance and only caring about bodily features in the classroom. But the funny part is that the men, who rated the girls’ appearance at the interview, also receive sarcastic remarks from the proprietress through the monitor. This shows the discrimination by appearance is not only limited to women, but it circulates through everybody, making the victim of those “gazes.” At the end, the director also becomes the one who gets the “gaze” from a drunken man. The director is pointing out people’s general prejudice that directors should be, or would be, a nice-looking and charismatic man. Within the short time limit, this movie did a splendid job of showing diverse prejudices in Korean society.
ReplyDeleteThe "The Weight of Her" highlighted aspects of youth image today. By starting the scene out with the quirky music and making it seem lighthearted we laugh and see the movie as a comedy. But when it really comes down to it, self image to girls these days; especially Korean girls who are known for their plastic surgeries, is a major issue. The main character experiences different criticisms wherever she goes. From trying to find job to being judged at school, all her flaws are pointed out. The other thing that I thought was very interesting was the way the director chose to imply that to be thin and lose weight you needed the money. This was especially highlighted with the expensive diet pills to being able to go to diet camp. The part at the end when the director herself gets made fun of clearly shows that as a successful woman today you can't stop people from judging you for your weight. I think this movie somewhat becomes a bit of a biography of the director. She must have faced this sort or pressure growing up in a society where plastic surgery was common. This fact is brought home by the teasing she recieves in the end.
ReplyDeleteThe film "The Weight of Her," explored the social implications of women and their appearance that exist within the Korean culture. Director Lim Soon Rye showed how physical appearance for a girl (height, weight, facial features), determines if they are eligible for job opportunities, successful lives, and marriage in this culture. The film depicted how women have the need to go to extreme measures such as spending a fortune on surgery, weight loss supplements, diet camps etc. just to be up to par with the standards this culture has set for them. This ties in with the theme of a mind set that has been imposed in this society which forces women to be self conscious about themselves. The director does a great job of portraying all this by representing a society that will either commend or reject women solely based on their physical appearance.
ReplyDeleteIn the short film "Believe it or not", the filming techniques are very distinct from the other two films. The Camera is replaced with the main character in this movie, Chandra Kumari Gurung, to emphasize the main focus on this film which is the main character Chandra. Every shot of the camera angle was replaced by human movements of Chandra starting from head knods to the shaking of the camera. Chandra's face is only revealed in the beginning nd end of the film. Her face is not projected throughout the film as if she is filming this short film. The other reason why I think this short movie was filmed through the eyes of Chandra was because she wanted to hide her self-identity,where she is too ashamed of herself to present herself out there with confidence. In addition, her hidden self may have been done purposefully to become more personal, where she is trying to explain her perspective regarding her true life story in Korea.
ReplyDeleteThe movie "The Weight of Her" portrays how women are expected to change their outer appearance in order to gain acceptance or get a job. The scene where about five or six girls go into a job interview clearly shows how people treat people based on their appearance; they actively show interest in the tall, physically attractive girl, and is assumed to be popular among friends while to the short girl with glasses, they don't even ask her name. To the main character, who has what seems to be swelling of her eyes after a double-eyelid surgery, the interviewers are polite at first but eventually laugh in her face. After a few moments of embarrassment, she runs out of the room. This is a perfect portrayal of how often women are made to feel as though they are in a competition with other women with their appearance. The attractive women are showered with more attention and are assumed to have more abilities in their social lives and their careers while unattractive women, in their lowest point, are taken as a joke and laughed at. The director clearly and successfully exhibits how society often praises and encourages, or rejects and laughs at, women based solely on their looks.
ReplyDeleteIn the film, Hey Man, the director touches on numerous issues such as homosexuality, unemployment and poor education by putting the characters into a state of loose consciousness through the use of alcohol. By placing those main characters into a loose state, he uses their tongues and words to address these sensitive yet relevant issues in an indirect, subtle way. Other than discussing these problems in a successful, clever way, he also introduces the meaning of true friendship and problems of alcohol. He shows the eventual abandonment of all three of the main character's friends; one by one, they leave because he's a selfish, prideful, and inconsiderate man who can't take in friends' problems. Rather, he considers them even more belittling when he finds out their problems. The message is that true friends ought to engross friends' problems; he also shows the fragilty of friendship- they were friends for fifteen years. Moreover, the director poses problems concerning alcohol- loose tongue and unnecessarily raised self-esteem. These two aspects not only left the guy abandoned by his friends, but also made folks around him feel uncomfortable. The alcohol, supposedly a friendly device for social purposes, failed as shown in this movie.
ReplyDelete-Luke Song
"NEPAL" is an abbreviation of "Never Ending Peace And Love." Surprisingly, this film was based on a true story which made us re-consider about the human right, especially our views and attitudes toward the foreigners from South-East Asia. Schools educate the students to have a proper manner toward the foreigners instead of weigh them and make a fun of them in classroom. It is shooted in two different perspectives; one from Chandra and the other from us, the audience. In the view of Chandra, since she was not able to communicate with any Korean, she mistreated for so long and imprisoned in a madhouse at last. She was exhausted and she even got afraid when she finally met a Nepali. When a Nepali held her hands, I sincerely couldn't help but feel sorry for her. Watching the perspective from her arouse the sympathy. "Koreans (including police officer, doctors, nurses, etc.)" seemed to help her at first, due to their prejudice toward foreigners and their selfishness refer to "I don't want to be a charge of this issue.", they became ignorant, helpless and careless at last. Police officers couldn't notice the fliers looking for missing Chandra near them, doctors passed over Chandra's case and people at a department of Immigrant Affairs made mistakes inputting Chandra's name and alien ID number to system. Just a drunken guy said in "Hey Man", it exactly represents that Koreans look down upon the foreigners especially from South-East Asia. When we saw again Chandra in Nepali, she never got angry at us. She seemed calm and peaceful there which made us being sorry for the world.
ReplyDeleteAll three movies deal with the current problems of human rights in South Korea. The film, “Weight of Her” shows the main issue of women’s beauty. People’s most interest is in the loss of weight, drug, weight camp, and plastic surgery and audience can clearly see through news, but also even in school that teacher continually talks about the importance of losing weight and facial beauty to students. School is where students have right to be treated equally, but generally people look at the fat people differently. I think at the end the director reflects herself through Cho Sun-Kyung. The second movie discusses how Korea treats the immigrant worker and the condition. It was shocking to know that there is no one to speak Nepalese in embassy and reflects how Korea is not considered for the growth of immigrant workers. Due to its first point of view, audiences are able to easily understand how Chandra would felt and how communication was not working. People are aware of respecting every person equally through these films. The message is clear and publicizes the problems and lack of human rights in Korea.
ReplyDeleteAll three movies deal with social problems in Korea. The first movie "The weight of her" is about the problem of people judging other people by their appearances, not by their abilities. The surprising thing is that teachers in the movie also emphasizes how important women's appearances in the society and teachers often check girl students' appearances and their weights. The last scene ,when a strange man ignores the woman director of this movie, lastly shows most Koreans have bad standard of judgement.
ReplyDeleteThe second movie about Nepalese woman Chandra argues that Koreans has negative view on foreigners, especially foreigners who are laborers in Korea. Koreans do not understand their hard time working in Korea but ignore them and avoid them with the only reason that they are just foreign laborers.
The third movie deals with some problems in Korean society as well. The guy who seems successful in his life ignores people who do not have jobs, people who are not graduated from college and people who are homosexual and insult those kinds of people. The sad thing about him is that he does not know his problems and his wrong thoughts.
Each three movie has strong messages to people and these are very impressive to me.
The film about Chandra used the camera as the point of view of Chandra. This made the viewers think as if they are Chandra and they are the one who's being falsely moved to unfamiliar places. The scenes where Chandra is being interviewed show that Chandra is perfectly normal person in Nepal. Because there were scenes appeared as if the characters are being interviewed, the film was more realistic.
ReplyDeleteAll three of the short films we watched today are satires on some of the most obvious Korean socio-cultural idiosyncrasies and morally flawed/incompetent/ignorant ways of thinking. Going through major technological advances and cultural changes so quickly has made Korea a somewhat deformed culture. Trying to assimilate secular western values and ideas with innate Korean qualities that may or may not clash with the latter exacerbated already incompatible characteristics and has disfigured morale and social priorities for many young Koreans today. The kind of social and administrative incompetence and ignorance demonstrated in each of the three films were certainly the more ugly parts of the Korean character. Obviously not all Koreans are like the ones from these films but these qualities are especially unique to Korean society.
ReplyDeleteThe three movies on "If You were ME" were each addressing human rights issues. The movie that interested me the most was the "Weight of Her." Grown up in Korea until middle school, I partly share the similar experience as the girl in the movie. And watching the school girl's life through the movie screen was quite interesting and humorous. I have seen many movies with school girls in it but this movie was different because in other movies the school seems movie-like but in this film, the scene looked exactly the same as if it was taken from a secret camera. Although there was little exaggeration, mostly the actors seem like they were real students.
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