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Compared to previous movies we watched for last week, it seems more advanced cinematic technologies. By focusing on people’s face, the director might try to emphasize their facial expression and he might want audiences to understand the emotion of the people at the situation more easily. Not only this, when Mr. Song had conflicts with his younger brother, by showing all of 3 people, older / younger brothers and old mother in one angle, the conflict between the sibling seemed more serious and miserable, as they were shown that they were fighting in front of the old, weak mother. In the movie, there were many factors symbolizing something special. For example, old mother were out of her mind and thus, she always mumbled like “Let’s get out of here.” At first, even though it sounded like just insane words, when Mr. Song cried this sentence at the last part of the movie, I found that he might have wanted to escape his poor situation inherently. Eventually, his justice and conscience were of no use to make him live better. With many bad situations being overlapped, his feeling went to the extreme extent and he tried to overcome the emotional agony with physical pain by pulling off the wisdom tooth.
ReplyDeleteIn Abelmann's article she points out that during the Golden Age of cinema in Korea, women must conform to secure the bourgeois home and the masculine project (Ablemann Section 5 paragraph 1). The projection of women in these films are in direct contrast to the weakened husband/patriarch. Ablemann discusses that in the cinema of the time there is a direct distinction between the dangerous woman who are sexually liberated and what is to be expected of the normal Korean woman. These sexually active women lead to the destabilization of the family and only a male can hope to correct their mistakes.
ReplyDelete-James Seiling
William’s article, “Film Bodies: Gender, Genre, and Excess”, comparatively explored the three genres: “Pornography, horror, and melodrama.” The introduction to William’s article conveyed a mother-like tone as she established the three “gross” categories her son calls. It was fascinating to admit that sex, violence, and emotion can be described by the word “gross.” As confusing as it might be to draw a line between those three genres, Williams states, that there seems to be excessive amount of violence in pornography and too much sex in horror films. A question came to my mind that, “does the amount of blood shown in a horror film directly relate to its success?” Williams provides answers to the question through the idea of gendered and generic cultural forms. Williams’ table “An anatomy of film bodies” supported her idea of the difficulty in comprehending the relation between gender, genre, fantasy, and structure of perversion. I found her courage to explore explicitly through the “gross” genres rather applaud able.
ReplyDeleteThe article "Gender, Genre, and Nation" by Nancy Abelmann has pointed out interesting fact about South Korean Golden Age Melodrama. Two movies presented as anecdotes are both from the time while South Korea was recovering from 6.25 Korean War. At this time people were still bombarded with media tension which promoted pro-democracy, and capitalism. More to the point, even after the war, there were nationalist movements that were extremely against Japanese imperialism, and communism. I agree with Abelmann's view of how Korean movies at the time were so complex and demonstrate gender and genre trouble, but perhaps this may be due to heavy censorship since anything affiliated with communism or pro-Japan were monitor by the state under authoritarian regime. Therefore, the movie it self could not project the same image of Hollywood, but instead show the reality and the status of Korea as developing and modernizing country. This is why women is used as main motive by dressing up with western clothes, using Jazz as background. However, because of so many nationalist at the time, since Korea was subjected to colonization of Japan, and skepticism of US aid, the movie was never able to project true Korean traditions. Hence it lacked popularity unlike the Neo-realism, French New Wave, and New German Cinema. Why? simply because the story about war, and modernization has already been project by Hollywood before. Korean movies using details, that of boutiques, cafes, restaurants, parks, and nightclub/dance hall, as Abelmann said, is not unique to westerners, thus the Golden Age melodrama is not efficient to promote real Korea. Instead, Korea is portrayed as devastated country, with women who are sexually active, and man losing the family hood. Abelmann's main idea of the complexity of Golden Age Korean cinema is thefore very evident.
ReplyDeleteIt is fairly apparent that the technology of bridging sound to films has made audiences perceive the story closer to the director's aim and enjoy both the visual and the auditory senses. However, silent films in the past provided audiences to actually imagine the picture and set a broad range of canvas, filling each and every one of them with their own different plots. It is as if to acknowledge the silent film to some kind of art on its own. There may be no clear standard answer whether one of them are preferable over one another, but to clarify it, silent films were the ones where the images induced what the director wanted to say. On the other hand, sound films are the ones where the director actually writes in films, transferring his detailed story completely to the audiences.
ReplyDeleteThe article "Gender, Genre, and excess" by Linda Williams diffrenciates Pornography, Horror, and Melodrama which overlape and include one another in some ways. However Williams does a good job explaining the diffence of the three genres by describing the relationship between 'gender, genre, and excess.' Also the article provides the table that explains Williams' point at one glance. As we think, the three genres are similar in some ways, but how a female roles and seen('female body genres'); sex, violence, and emotion(bodily excess); and the time of temporality of fantasy are diffrent catagories we can easily separate. Therefore reguarding the elements the author suggested, we can catagorize movies into the three genres without difficulty.
ReplyDeleteIn the article "Gender, Genre, and Nation: South Korean Golden Age Melodrama" by Abelmann and McHugh the section about the bitter legacy leaves a very strong impression. In retrospect, the Korean people went through many political problems, which then in turn caused economic and social problems. Colonization and war devastated Korea and left the peninsula with poverty and instability. With the films viewed in class, the influences can strongly be seen. In the films there is a strong sense of colonization with Japanese banners to American mass consumption and culture. Seoul is described as being a "city of the walking wounded". This is such an accurate description of seeing so many children struggling to survive, veterans unable to reintegrate themselves into society, women selling there bodies to support there families, and such problems in the private lives. This reading really provides great insight into the influences behind the films.
ReplyDelete"Indeed while South Korean melodrama does betray some of the generic features delineated by Western critics, it differs in its use" (introduction, Abelmann and McHugh).
ReplyDeleteIn "Gender, Genre, and Nation: South Korean Golden Age Melodrama" by Nancy Abelmann and Kathleen McHugh, the authors emphasize the distinct use of melodrama throughout Korean films. Many of Korean films used melodrama as a way to distinguish between Korean and western films. It was a way to create originality and significance in its own genre. Furthermore, the film Stray Bullet became a mark of the Golden Age era. A few years after the Korean war and after the Rhee regime, Golden age films were made to reflect and portray the "extreme privation and degradation" (II, Abelmann and McHugh) South Korea had to face.
I have to admit that before reading Bazin's "From What is Cinema?" article, I had previously given little thought to the progression of film, simply making major junctions between no sound/sound, and black and white/color. I feel like the article did a great job of describing how the addition of sound was not a key player in the progression of cinema. Bazin instead draws the line between the usage of montages and the desire to portray realism, and notes this as a shift in cinema. The introduction of sound is simply needed to add to the overall realism of the production. Bazin also does a good job of relating realism to ambiguity in interpretation. I never thought of the importance of depth and focus, and really how active and unique a role the viewer has in his analysis of a shot/scene. However, I thought it would have been interesting if Bazin had touched on the usage of music in interpretation, and how two scenes that show the exact same images with the same depth and focus could have opposite meanings pending the type of music playing in the background.
ReplyDeleteThe Abelmann and Bazin articles both grapple with the complex question of the true nature of “realism.” They elucidate the paradoxical “construction” of realism: Abelmann points out the “‘heightened dramatic utterance and gesture’” of Korean melodramas and Bazin emphasizes Orson Welles’ carefully planned “dramatic checkerboard” of figures in Citizen Kane. It seems that a more apt term, particularly in Bazin’s article, would be “naturalism” because Bazin focuses on that film experience for the viewer that most resembles the everyday experience and perception of life itself. The “evolution” of cinema from the montage’s imposition of a certain message to the allowance of viewers to create their own meanings from a single take interestingly implies a gradual liberation of the spectator's movie-watching experience during the first half of the 20th century.
ReplyDeleteIn Abelmann and McHugh's article, the influence of American film through Hollywood is said to show through in the mash-up of conventional film genres in Korean film. For example, the Housewife incorporates elements of horror, suspense, and also of "domestic women's film". The Stray Bullet takes on the action-oriented plot of a bank heist when it suits the film's purpose, but soon lets it collapse and return to "the gritty world of immediate post-war South Korea". Although Korean Golden-age cinema can be described as melodrama, it is rooted in the real, local experiences of the time. Instead of creating genre films, Golden age directors employed Hollywood-inspired genre devices to further their films, which were rooted in reality.
ReplyDeleteIn Abelmann's article she talks about Korea's golden age for melo drama and westernization. Korea was in the hands of Japan at that time, but radical changes were happening in Korea. Women were in the western movement and they played a huge role in the melodramas. Women were making a name for themselves, but at the same time they were sexual deviants and showed acts of viloence in films, which degraded the Korean women in that period. This has often led to destabilization in families. The Korean Golden Age has been one of the ways people expressed their feelings about the government and the war.
ReplyDeleteIn "The Evolution of the Language of Cinema", Bazin sheds light on a stage of progression of cinema I have taken for granted. Despite people may take the fact that addition of sound to films was a natural progression of cinema as technology became more advanced, it wasn't so simple. The first stage of adding sound was a dilemma between keeping the images of the film more pure from other sounds that may add to the aesthetics of the film. After all, film was intended to be something that was to be watched rather than listened to in early days of cinema. Also, directors of film in 1920s feared that other elements would hurt the realism they were trying to accomplish in their films. Instead of sound, they were more focused on portraying a message through the images and montages that were created. Eventually, the 'evolution' took place not as a development in the aesthetics but in ways of storytelling.
ReplyDeleteIn Andre Bazin’s article, “The Evolution of the Language of Cinema”, he addresses the evidential progress of the motion picture from silent films to the first cinematic images with sound. I found it most interesting that silent films are considered to be a bridge that helped to advance sound films. I previously assumed that each would be categorized into different groups having nothing to do with each other. However, Bazin writes, “Certain cinematic values actually carry over from the silent to the sound film…” (124). The introduction of various types of montages was a new concept for me. From parallel montage to montage of attraction, each are used to better express what the director would like for the audience to see in the scene. Ultimately, montages have been used as a cinematic technique since the days of silent films and are still used to this very day. The difference is how montages are used. It seems that with the passing of each decade, montages are communicated in completely different ways.
ReplyDeleteAbelmann's article argues that in South Korean cinema, melodrama is the most efficacious mode of realism. At first, I was reluctant to believe in this statement wholeheartedly. The article’s description of “The Stray Bullet” convinced me that the film was too melodramatic. However, upon viewing the film, I realized that the melodrama was realistic and captured the state of Korea in the post-war period. Conflicts such as the Korean War, division, U.S. presence, economic troubles, and Westernization contributed to the chaotic times experienced by Koreans. This made me open to the truth that genre can vary across national cinemas due to the unique histories that influence the storytelling process.
ReplyDeleteIn the article “Gender, Genre, and Nation: South Korean Golden Age Melodrama” by Nancy Abelmann and Kathleen McHugh, many different aspects of post-war Korean melodramas are discussed. One of the main topics that stood out was the problem with categorizing and defining Golden Age cinema as a pure genre. Many films producing during the Golden Age have “generic hybridity,” or the borrowing of different plots, mise-en-scene, themes, styles, and cinematic citation with definite Hollywood influences. This creates a problem when trying to lay down the boundaries on defining Golden Age melodramas. Although Korean melodramas are an integral part of Korea's history and culture, there is no easy way to define the complexities of Golden Age cinema.
ReplyDeleteIn Nancy Abelmann’s article she argues that “it is the masculinity of ‘fallen’ men that drives these films’ narratives and symbolic economy” (9). I would like to argue that instead, it is the spirit of the times that molds different characters to contribute to films’ narratives. I would use a contemporary example such as the housing crisis in 2008 to support my claim that narratives come from the zeitgeist that determines how people would act and react in a time of (financial) crisis. Since the housing crisis the fluctuating of the market resulted in high unemployment rates, and the dire situations in which people suddenly find themselves cause them to act a certain way, may it be protesting or sabotaging another’s economic opportunity. It is through a variety of actions being transcribed onto film or television that we have stories to tell, but it is ultimately because of the changes in his or her surroundings that trigger these actions in the first place, which in turn fuel film narratives.
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ReplyDeleteIn Andre Bazin’s article, I was quite astounded by the fact that the integration of sound in films was not readily accepted when it was first introduced. If I were to watch a movie present-day in the theaters, I feel I would automatically lose interest in the motion picture if it had no music or dialogue. It’s intriguing to see how far the film industry has come and how the general public interest has shifted to a more auditory dependency from the pure appreciation of visual images. We live in a very digital era that it is hard to imagine film without auditory support; never did I view the addition of sound as a distraction or an interruption to the quality of the film.
ReplyDeleteIn Andre Bazin's essay he gives the example the soft focus of the background as an effect of montage and therefore only an accessory of the style of photography. I wonder where the line is drawn between visual aesthetic, montage, dramatic spaces, and composition in depth. Bazin writes that the modern action sequence such as exemplified in Welles' "The Magnificent Ambersons" is "far superior to anything that could be achieved by classical cut(133)." Here I disagree with Bazin. What's more of an effective way of capturing anything on film is purely an individual subjective opinion.
ReplyDeleteAs an art form, film is a venue by which political, economic, and social commentary can be boldly made. The articles by Andre Bazin, Nancy Abelmann, and Kathleen McHugh explore the technical uses of the camera and point out the way the camera is a tool of expression and mode of communication. Abelmann and McHugh’s article especially examines South Korean Golden Age film as representative of the identity confusion of the time. It was illuminating to view these films through the critical lens and be made aware of the breakdown of typical Korean social structure within these plotlines as a parallel of the confusion of post-war Korea. Consequently, what appears to be intensified, heightened melodrama to the 2009 viewer without special knowledge of Korean history is revealed to be closer to reality than one would originally suppose.
ReplyDeleteAndre Bazin's "The Evolution of the Language of Cinema" critically analyzes the differences between silent and sound films. Personally, I've always believed that sounds films would be better suited to convey a director’s ideas. However, Bazin's analysis of silent films almost gives readers a better appreciation of soundless films. Bazin's use of rhetoric seems to guide readers into believing that silent films are a more authentic form of cinema rather than sound films: “will anyone deny that [silent films] is thereby much more moving than a montage by attraction?” and silent films “rejects photographic expressionism and the tricks of montage.” Bazin’s use of the word “trick” seems to give sound film a negative connotation. However, Bazin ultimately admits the success of talking films as this form of cinema is the current prevailing trend.
ReplyDeleteIn the article "Gender, Genre, and Nation: South Korean Golden Age Melodrama" by Nancy Abelmann and Kathleen McHugh, the authors collaborate on how the "Golden Age" has emerged, what exactly it is, and how it has affected Korea.
ReplyDelete"These same conflicts - among them, national division, U.S. military occupation -- gave rise to, while simultaneously unsettling, the identity and coherence of South Korea as a nation."
I believe that without the Golden Age film era, the Korea we know today would be completely different. These melodramatic films show the historical events of Korea while Hollywood was more or less filming for money. The Korean films depict the then-current issues of the nation ranging from female prostitution to mass orphanage which I feel helped Korea grow and solve its problems while also magnifying the issues to the world. I feel that without the "Golden Age" melodramatic films, the Korea we know today would all but be a luxurious dream.
In the article "Film Bodies: Gender, Genre, and Excess," Linda Williams analyzes three genres of film: pornography, horror, and melodrama. Among these genres, she observes that women are the main figures used to deliver the sensation of pleasure, fear, and emotion in pornographic, horror, and melodramatic films, respectively. Personally, it never came to my mind that specifically women have been used in such films rather than men; it makes sense in that the audience is more apt to experience powerful sensations through sensational sights – the body excess – offered by the woman.
ReplyDeleteWhen reading Abelmann and McHugh's article, "Gender, Genre, and Nation: South Korean Golden Age Melodrama," I found it interesting how Hollywood cinema and Korean cinema had significant differences, yet almost equally powerful in their own distinctions. Even though Hollywood cinema attracts a more effective amount of viewers to its industry, Korean cinema has a rather stronger effect on its audience due to its nationalistic ideals, bringing its people together. It made me believe that films, besides their main purpose to entertain, do play an important role in shaping the population of a nation.
ReplyDeleteAbelmann and McHugh present an extremely interesting argument, that the melodrama of the Golden Age of South Korean film was, in its own way, a method of portraying reality. That is, contrary to Hollywood and contemporary assumptions, melodrama equaled realism. The article argues that postwar Korea was in such turmoil, and in the midst of such radical transformations an movements, that melodrama did not offer a glimpse into a more exciting life, but rather portrayed South Korea of its day.
ReplyDeleteKeeping in mind that an interesting and unorthodox view is not necessarily true (as our minds sometimes like to think), I found this argument fascinating. When I rave about Korean dramas to my American friends, I'm sure they think of Korean dramas as something akeen to American soap operas, both unrealistic and overly melodramatic. Yet while we occasionally make fun of the prevalent themes of amnesia/cancer, forbidden love, rich-boy-loves-poor-girl, etc. plotlines in Korean dramas, Korean dramas with such plotlines still remain part of the mainstream entertainment culture in Korea. Why is such melodrama so rooted in Korean TV? (If I may make the assumption that Korean dramas are at least faintly associated with Korean cinema.) According to this article, it all stems from the turbulent years after the Korean War. From this perspective, the argument explains precisely why Korean dramas still remain popular, despite their melodramatic themes.
McHugh also explains this prevalence of melodrama in early Korean films by pointing out that Korean cinema tended to emphasize "the fallibility of human social and political systems and their sometimes nefarious effects on human relations and communities." This, I interpret to mean that Koreans (or, at least, Korean cinema) tend to focus on the individuals, or rather, the effect of societal and political changes/conditions on specific individuals, whereas other nations tend to focus on general groups. This individualistic focus, then, revealed itself in the melodramatic nature of the films of that time, as melodrama is personal in nature.
In the article while its can be argued that Korean films and Hollywood films were different in intention and motivation for subject matter because Hollywood was more profit driven and Korea was driven by pent up emotion and stifled creativity; they are similar in a large way. They both portrayed women in a very, by modern standards, sexist light. Women were out of control and seemed to need a man to help them act "correctly" . It is interesting how sexism appears in cultures so far apart from each other; American and Korean. I wonder if it was a coincidence or if the cultures got mixed?
ReplyDeleteThe article "Gender Genre and Nation" by Nancy Abelman and Kathleen MacHugh brings up a very interesting point regarding South Korea's cultural identity. First it was the Korean War that wrecked havoc on South Korea's cultural identity; from being passed from Japan rule to U.S rule its cultural identity was cut short in it's development. This is one of the reasons I believe that movies from this era were so melodramatic and held such sadness or were very lieral. Post War was a time for South Korea to find it's identity and try to begin to find it's cinematic stance once again. Korean directors either chose to show the harsh realities of the time rather then strive for Hollywood standards or they made a film that was very controversial and spoke to the youths protesting at the time.
ReplyDeleteA point in the Abelmann and Mchugh article titled "Gender, Genre, and Nation" that caught my attention was the differences in historical specificity of films between American and Korean studios. American studios avoided getting too specific in historical details in order to be able to appeal to a larger audience while Korean studios provided historical nationalistic details. These tendencies to either avoid or include historical details must have been passed down since the 1960s and affected not only how characters are composed but also how the entire atmospheres differ between the movies made in Korea and the States today.
ReplyDeleteAndre Bazin's "The Evolution of the Language of Cinema" highlighted the idea that silent films are more authentic because of the usage of images to achieve what sound usually would be used to achieve. Montages and other techniques in silent films cause them to be more aesthetically appealing. I agree with the idea that in order for a movie to be "good," the viewer should be able to know exactly what is happening even if the sound is removed.
The article “Gender, genre, and Nation : South Korean Golden Age Melodrama” by Nancy Abelmann and Kathleen McHugh pointed out the fact about South Korean Golden Age Melodrama. Melodrama during this period was mostly about expressing their feelings about government and war. For example, The Stray Bullet released while South Korea was recovering from 6.25 Korean War, and it contains the realism that how people were going through hardships and privations about living in small income, also it appeared people’s feeling about government and war. Plus, Golden Age movies have images of people and places were so influenced by the western culture.
ReplyDeleteAs the author address that "melodrama is a "mode of imagination" consonant with South Korean "popular reasoning", I think Golden Age melodrama films help 2009 viewer to know about history and this period movies were the starting point of developing a film industry and building film study in South Korea.
Melodramas, especially recent Korean ones, are often much dramatized with repetitive coincidences, and striking advent of the lost family members or of fatal illnesses. South Korean Golden Age melodrama is, however, known for its “stark realism” and historical specificity. With no use of exaggeration and figment, South Korean Golden Age melodrama is truly unique and genuine. I strongly agree with Abelman’s analysis that South Korean Golden Age film has its own “distinctive features…within this specific national context”. Because of its basis on the true story and true feelings, South Korean Golden Age melodrama is not merely affecting but truly impressive and touching.
ReplyDelete"Gender, Genre, and Nation" by Nancy Abelmann discusses the validity of melodrama and strengthens her views with examples. She sets out the tone by introducing two Korean melodramas and delve into the Golden Age. Nancy argues that Korea had no choice but to develop movies that involved numerous issues- role of women, importance of money and others. Moreover, she discusses the complexity of Golden Age cinema- horror (The Housemaid), realism (The Stray Bullet & Til the End of My Life), and others such as Madame Freedom. Nancy argues that because Korea went through so much pain and change during Japanese colonization, the Golden Age cinema was doomed to be involved in the complexity of a true genre. I agree to this because the emotions- anger or resentment- the Koreans must have felt were probably beyond my mere understanding. To relieve their low spirits and harsh economic conditions, the Golden Age cinema had to present films that either gave them sympathy, a moral, hope, or all of these. This is precisely the reason as to why the genre complexity roamed during this age, and it was so for a good reason.
ReplyDeleteIn “Gender, Genre, and Nation: South Korean Golden Age Melodrama,” the suggestion that for Korea, melodrama IS reality depicts modern Korea succinctly – for both North and South. “Compressed,” “dislocated,” “displaced,” describe Korea. These ideas are manifest in “Homeless Angels,” “The Housemaid,” and “The Stray Bullet” although in varying ways – a broken Korea, gendered and socioeconomic disorder, and an impoverished, lost nation’s turmoil are respectively portrayed (though these descriptions are overgeneralizations). Interestingly enough, these three films are connected by socioeconomic difficulties – impoverishment, as well as Westernization. /// The inextricability of class from gender seems to be a truism; in all the films we have watched thus far, every different level of class portrayed has had gender disparities and problems, each time the women conforming, adjusting, and self-sacrificing – the housemaid sacrificed everything, even her honor and respect, to earn the love of a man who was too weak to decline, and although the husband in “The Stray Bullet” is extremely conscientious and rather ascetic, it is notable that his wife, who also faced an unbearable life, was hardly given a few lines to express herself before disappearing in death. The dual concept of this nation; a “violated female body” along with the “damaged man as allegorical for the colonized, war-ravaged, finally partitioned nation,” as suggested in this article seems to speak of the highly sexualized position of women compared to men – gender is perhaps inextricable from the conflicts and problems of Korea itself.
ReplyDeleteSouth Korea has distinct historical backgrounds which reflect on many of the film. The article by Abelmann and McHugh speaks Korea has its own qualities of melodrama which leads the films to have a bitter legacy, trouble with genre, and gender. Also, the different kinds of melodrama such as social melodrama and family melodrama improved the qualities of the films during South Korean Golden Age Melodrama. Furthermore, the article mentions “… complicating any straightforward sense of nation identity” due to the modernization, westernization and Americanization. For example, Stray Bullets reflect the complexity of the national context and westernization which leads the conflicts of women and men’s role.
ReplyDeleteWithout any knowledge about films, it is hard to tell the genre of Stray Bullet. The film, Stray Bullet spread more than one person's life stories (which may possibly happen rather than just imginative) and moreover the director contained the portrayal of society as well. Nancy Abelmann & Kathleen McHugh's “Gender, genre, and Nation : South Korean Golden Age Melodrama" indicates that the melodrama in South Korean Golden Age has a distinctive feature. Comparing to "the melodrama" we consider (from the Hollywood norm) in these days, Korean melodrama is not dramatized like
ReplyDeletefairy tales and "politically or socially" specified. The article pointed out "South Korean cinema construes melodrama as the most efficacious mode of realism." This definition helped me re-consider the genre of Stray Bullet.
Abelmann's and McHugh's article makes valid points about the Golden Age Melodrama era of Korea in the 1950's-1960's. At that time, Korean People were enduring many problems stemming from economic issues and social issues that led to the difficult lives and poverty. From that, Korean film makers during that era were almost obliged to make films describing the harshness of the lives of Korean people through the problems they faced such as from financial difficulties to unemployment to the role of women and so forth. The Golden Age soared during the 1950's and 1960's because of the films that were made in that post war time period. These films, such as "The Housemaid" and "Stray Bullet," had those themes that described the harsh conditions that the people faced during that time because the audience could relate to them.
ReplyDeleteWith several descriptions of movies, the article titled Gender, Genre, and Nation: South Korean Golden Age Melodrama written by Abelmoun and Mchogh analyzes Korean movies especially in melodrama. According to the writers, Korean movies have been significantly influenced by the phase of times. Specifically, in South Korea, there have been so many social, economical and political events such as partition of peninsula, 4.19 student revolutions and IMF crisis. Therefore, with experiencing and reflecting those events, movies have changed a lot. Among the movies, the writers mainly focus on the melodrama and the golden age of cinema in Korea. In addition, it was especially impressive at the part of the explanation of change in act of the women in Korean movie. With Korea suffered by several economical crises, women have started going out to work and movies have been made based on this material. Also, sexual desires to women have shown in the screen. In fact, in Housemaid, women work at the factory and they wear western clothes. The women in the movie had a tendency to express their sexuality compared to the older movies which are more conservative in dealing women in a movie. Those factors can be a good example of change of position of women in society and also in the movie. With this article, with Korean history, it was very precious time that I could perceive the change of the Korean movie.
ReplyDeleteFor an art piece to be regarded valuable and preserved for a long time, there is something lacking just with great technical features. The reason that Picasso’s “Guernica” is considered as one of the best masterpieces is not merely because it has aesthetic value, but it also has historical value. Similar logic can be applied for movies: Nancy Abelmann and Kathleen McHugh talked about diverse values of South Korean Golden Age melodrama other than amusement or technique in their article. These values include the depiction of Korea after the war, changes in gender roles and women’s status, and women themselves seeking for change. In the article, along with the prediction of rediscovery of Golden Age movies, we can see the writers’ devotion to the Golden Age movies, indeed melodramas, which hold historical and social sense.
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ReplyDeleteIn Andre Bazin's 'The evolution of the language of Cinema', it describes sound film and soundless film. I felt soundless film would be boring. However soundless film was really important at that time and was a bridge that connected the current sound film.
ReplyDeleteAccording to 'Gender, Genre, andNation: South Korean oldenAge lodrama' by Nancy Abelmann and Kathleen McHugh, Korean Melodrama in the past is highly affected by Korean history. During the 1950s and the 1960s, many historical facts had been existed such as 4.19 student revolutions which was a campaign to come forword to make democratic country. And this kind of events make the country 'compressed and dislocation' and reveal in the movie. The melodrama movie in the time combined 'economic, political, aesthetic and complexity' factors, which is distinguished from Western melodrama movie.
In film making, differing styles go between representation of image and reality, but sometimes the lines between the two are blurred. In Andre Bazin's "The Evolution of the Language of Cinema", Bazin acknowledges that after sound was introduced, and silent films came to an end, it didn't necessarily establish realism. With the addition of sound in cinema, it added more to interpretation of imagery, and different concepts of cinematographic expression. Yet, when silent films were being produced, there was more body language, and a universal language that developed between performers and audience. Although silent films did put limitations on a film, it did tend to dramatize through body language and simplified communication on a universal appeal. The early works of Orson Welles and William Wyler did prove to blend realism and image representation well after the fact that sound was incorporated. In the film "Citizen Kane", there are many moments of symbolic cinematography, but at the same time, the camera was set in place, in order for a montage to occur. So actors were to preform in a set area, where the camera did not have to continuously move or cut do angles quickly, which dealt a more realistic view, because everything was shot in one place. So in a dark room, the actors were shot in a realistic manner,but had to dramatize their actions with sound, while the camera remained motionless. No cuts, but just pure acting in a scene where it was almost like watching theater unveil itself in a light adjusted setting, which would create a certain tone for the film.
ReplyDeleteIn the Golden Age, south Korean film got in trouble for manifest it self in gender and genre. So that was not familiar with Hollywood film which is mostly focusing on regional, national and international marckets. The Golden Age south Korean film foscused on both between melodrama and realism, also between melodrama and history. South Korean melodrama has unique insinuations of gender and the national imaginerary. That was the main reason that South Korean film didn't have renown largely in the west during Golden Age period.
ReplyDeleteIn 'Gender, Genre, and Nation,' the author states that the purpose of his work is to "generate a poirtrait of Golden age melodrama." I think the the author, Nancy Abelmann andKathleen McHugh, did a great job conveying the Korean cinema during the post war time. The provided sufficient amount of historical background information and appropriate examples from the actual movie plots to describe the characteristic of the cinema at the time.
ReplyDeleteOne of the main point that the author is making in the essay is that the gender issue is very strong in the Korean Golden Age Cinema. This breakdown of male/female role shows the crumbling society values and confusion among the people during the period. Another point she makes is that she compares Korean cinema with Holywood movies. She points out that it is unique to korean film that it has a very specific historical and political context to it. Yes, i found that korean film is different from Hollyywood films but i think it should be rather said that "It is the Hollywood film that is unique in that it usually has no specific historical or political context." due to the fact that the movie in Hollywood is made for universal projection. Although i am not an expe4rrt on film cinema, as far as i know, most of movies made outside of huge movie companies like holywood actually set specific political or social backghround for its film.
Abelmann and McHugh seem to be suggesting that the allusions to American culture and other Western (esp. Hollywood) elements in the Korean films are out of place. However, I thought that this indeed mirrored what Korean culture was like at the time; thus, there is no need to "get out of the United States."
ReplyDeleteIt is the same with Christian redemption: although the ideal of Christian redemption does seem forced upon the films, this awkwardness seems to exactly portray how Western ideas and Christianity clashed with the Korean culture.
Thus, I think that both the efforts to try to add Hollywood elements and Christian redemption in the Golden Age films seem to be "suitably" awkward.
The "Gender, Genre, Nation" article by Abelmann and McHugh cite the use of a particularly Korean type of melodrama as a defining characteristic of Korean films. I used to think that Korean movies were campy and overdramatized, but this article and the films we have seen have shown me that though the methods to convey melodramatic plot were overdramatic the plots themselves were very relatable to the Korean public. As a representation of a Korean "national" cinema, this sort of melodrama seems to be most prolific. As gender trouble and genre trouble are demonstrated through film texts, they give rise to an overall observation of the troubles of a nation. The difficulty of establishing a national cinematic identity is found in the multitudes of hybrid genres (The Housemaid was described as "melodramatic horror" for example). Women were particularly popular as familial saviors and as a metaphor for both the nation as well as the direction of the film. Many female roles are representative of the nation through their martyrdom or their forced/willing public sexualization.
ReplyDeleteIn Nancy Abelmann and Kathleen McHugh's "Gender, Genre, and Nation: South Korean Golden Age Melodrama," it depicts how movie was influenced thematically by the economic and political conditions in Korea during the postwar period. For instance, as shown in "the Stray Bullet," most men were unemployed and women are forced to sell their sexuality to American GIs to support a family, which was prevalent in the 1960s.
ReplyDeleteFrankly, before taking this class, I knew nothing about Korean movies that were released before 1990s. Of course, I have not heard the term "the Golden Age of South Korean Cinema" either. However, from reading this article and watching "Homeless Angel," "the Housemaid," and "the Stray Bullet," I can relate myself much more with the movies and the dark periods of Korean history.
"Gender, Genre, and Nation: South Korean Golden Age Melodrama" by Abelmann and McHugh highlights an interesting point about Korean melodrama during the Golden Age of South Korean Films. I agree with Abelmann that Korean melodramas during the period were hugely based on realism because The Stray Bullet, one of the movies which represent the Golden Age of South Korean Films, clearly presents a realistic portrait of post-war South Korea by focusing on personal lives of ordinary people. Such an important role of realism in Korean melodramas differentiated Korean melodramas from Western melodramas and established Korean meldramas' unique style. However, because of the focus on realism, Korean films during the period had genre problems. They often can be categorized into more than one genre just like The Housemaid which can be either a melodrama or a horror movie. Such hybridity of genre of the films during that period shows the confusion of people and unstability of the post-war South Korea.
ReplyDeleteThe Economy, politics, and culture has played a significant role in defining the concept of national cinema (golden age) and has been able to sustain a star system on the scale of Hollywood for long periods of time. In the article "The Concept of National Cinema", Andrew Higson makes an argument that "National Cinema . . . is inadequate to reduce the study of national Cinemas only to consideration of the films produced by and within a particular nation state. It is important to take into account the film culture as a whole, and the overall insitution of cinema (44)". As viewed in our preivious films such as "housewife" and "Stray Bullet", the concept of Korean culturen is fully developed, and it would be inaccurate to ignore the culture because it consists of the behaviors of the actors, the costumes, the history of Korea, and etc. Each of the film projects a national character who offers a great influence or a national message the citizens of Korea can take into account. There may be some textual-based approach to national cinema, however, the text is based on many people's perspectives, and it his very difficult to select which point of view to create a film on. Therefore, the culture, and other aspects in National Cinema is specifically used to create an actual story combining some textual evidence, and to convince the viwers in seeing the particular film by making it more suspenseful and entertaining. To do this, the production of an art cinema has played a central role, where it viewed the detailed image of the culture, the quality of the film consistimg good sound and nice filming techniques, and national identity (depending on which country), in this case, South korea. Film was solely created to achieve in the fiming industry, where it aimed to make profit by drawing its viewers to watch their films. Higson ultimately concludes his article by reiterating his argument " For what is a national cinema if it doesn't have a national audeience (46)?"
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