Hye Seung Chung

Movie Migrations: Transnational Genre Flows and South Korean Cinema

As the two billion YouTube views for oGangnam Styleo would indicate, South Korean popular culture has begun to enjoy new prominence on the global stage. Yet, as this timely new study reveals, the nations film industry has long been a hub for transnational exchange, producing movies that put a unique spin on familiar genres, while influencing world cinema from Hollywood to Bollywood. Movie Migrations is not only an introduction to one of the worlds most vibrant national cinemas, but also a provocative call to reimagine the very concepts of onational cinemaso and ofilm genreo. Challenging traditional critical assumptions that place Hollywood at the center of genre production, Hye Seung Chung and David Scott Diffrient bring South Korean cinema to the forefront of recent and ongoing debates about globalization and transnationalism. In each chapter they track a different way that South Korean filmmakers have adapted material from foreign sources, resulting in everything from the Manchurian Western to The Host s reinvention of the Godzilla mythos. Spanning a wide range of genres, the book introduces readers to classics from the 1950s and 1960s Golden Age of South Korean cinema, while offering fresh perspectives on recent favorites like Oldboy and Thirst . Perfect not only for fans of Korean film, but for anyone curious about media in an era of globalization, Movie Migrations will give readers a new appreciation for the creative act of cross-cultural adaptation.

The omnibus film as message picture: cold war politics and the myth of national unity in It’s a Big Country (1951)

This essay uncovers the production and reception history of It’s a Big Country (1951), a multi-director M-G-M film that explores the interwoven issues of nationhood, citizenship and cultural diversity during the cold war era. Produced by the liberal studio chief Dore Schary, who referred to the film as a ‘propaganda picture’ and a ‘message picture,’ It’s a Big Country is a contradictory text that explicitly upholds the cold war mandate of inclusive representations (with episodes focusing on different racial/ethnic groups including African-Americans, Italians, the Irish, Greeks, Hungarians and Jews) and implicitly challenges the myth of national unity through subtle textual maneuvers. We argue that the imperfections and shortcomings of Schary’s ambitious project (which received negative reviews upon its original release) are indicative of the national failings of a segregated, Cold War America. To a certain extent, the film was ahead of its time and its potential as a meaningful social statement had to be significantly tempered due to industrial and ideological constraints. Its underlying message, however, still has the power to spark conversations about the dialectic of social fragmentation and national belonging as well as the omnibus-like assembly of identities that go into making a nation.

From Saviors to Rapists

The end of World War II (WWII) saw the emergence of the United States as a neocolonial power on the Korean peninsula, the former Japanese colony from 1910 to1945. In agreement with the Soviet Union, the US government initiated the division of Korea at the 38th parallel into zones of military occupation. Korea became a captive of the Cold War as the two superpowers failed to agree on terms for reunification, perpetuating the division. In 1948, two separate, ideologically opposing regimes were established in the divided peninsula: The Republic of Korea (ROK, South Korea) through the initiative of the United States and the United Nations and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK, North Korea) supported by the Soviet Union. The US occupation forces withdrew from South Korea in 1949, followed by Secretary of State Dean Acheson’s exclusion of the ROK from the US defensive perimeter in January 1950. On June 25, 1950, the North Korean army led by Stalin-supported Kim Il Sung crossed the 38th parallel, invading defenseless South Korea. The United States and sixteen other UN nations committed forces to support South Korea’s resistance of the communist aggression. The Korean War ended on July 27, 1953, with the signing of the armistice agreement between the UN side and the communist side.

TV Hybridity: Genre Mixing and Narrative Complexity in M*A*S*H

Few television series have become such a well-established part of American popular culture as M∗A∗S∗H (CBS, 1972–1983), a Korean War medical comedy-drama whose genre hybridity and unconventional approaches to adult subject matter contributed to a shift not only in societal attitudes toward the United States’ political and military adventures abroad, but also in the public’s awareness of the medium’s narrative and thematic possibilities. Produced by Larry Gelbart, Gene Reynolds, and Burt Metcalfe for Twentieth Century-Fox Television, this CBS series was unprecedented in many ways and deserves scrutiny for its creators’ willingness to tackle serious topics, such as warfare, sexism, racism, xenophobia, homophobia, generational polarization, and alcoholism. That they consistently did so over a period of eleven seasons while also making groundbreaking experiments in televisual style and narrative structure (in such episodes as “Deluge” [4.22], “The Interview” [4.23], “Point of View” [7.10], “Life Time” [8.11], and “Dreams” [8.22]) makes M∗A∗S∗H all the more impressive as a cultural production that expanded the boundaries of the medium. Of course, the show’s relevance has not been ignored by contemporary media scholars, many of whom have focused on its links to both Richard Hornberger’s original novel