Transnational Korean Cinema: Cultural Politics, Film Genres, and Digital Technologies

205 Pages·2019·1.854 MB·English

by  Dal Yong Jin

TRANSNATIONAL KOREAN CINEMA

TR A NSN ATI O N A L
KO RE A N CI N E M A
Cultural Politics, Film Genres,
and Digital Technologies
Dal Yong Jin
Rutgers University Press
New Brunswick, Camden, and Newark, New Jersey, and London
Library of Congress in Publication Control Number 2019006595
ISBN 978-1-9788-0789-1 (cloth)
ISBN 978-1-9788-0788-4 (paper)
A British Cataloging- in- Publication record for this book is available from the British
Library.
Copyright © 2020 by Dal Yong Jin
All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means,
electronic or mechanical, or by any information storage and retrieval system,
without written permission from the publisher. Please contact Rutgers University
Press, 106 Somerset Street, New Brunswick, NJ 08901. The only exception to this
prohibition is “fair use” as defined by U.S. copyright law.
♾
The paper used in this publication meets the requirements of the American
National Standard for Information Sciences— Permanence of Paper for Printed
Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48- 1992.
www .rutgersuniversitypress .org
Manufactured in the United States of America
CONTENTS
Preface vii
1 The Emergence of Contemporary Korean Cinema 1
2 State Film Policy and the Politicization of Censorship 15
3 Screen Quotas in the Era of the U.S.- Korea FTA 35
4 Conglomeration, Screen Oligopoly, and Cultural Diversity 53
5 Public Film Funding and Transnational Production 72
6 Coproduction and Transnationalization of Korean Cinema 89
7 Transnationalization of Film Genres 106
8 Transmedia Storytelling of Webtoons in
Films in the Digital Era 129
9 Conclusion: Korean Cinema’s Future in Digital Technologies 146
Notes 159
References 165
Index 185
v

PREFACE
Korean cinema has experienced a roller- coaster ride over the past several
decades. Since the adoption of neoliberal cultural reforms by the military
regimes of the 1980s, the Korean film industry’s market share domestically and
exports abroad have both plummeted. However, Korean cinema has recuperated
since the mid- 1990s. With the elimination of severe censorship and with finan-
cial support from democratic governments, Korean cinema has rapidly grown
to become one of the most significant forms of culture in the early “Korean
Wave”— the rapid growth of local cultural industries and sudden increase in the
exportation of Korean popular culture that began in the late 1990s. It has since
become the sixth- largest box office of the 2010s, and Hollywood continues to
work with the Korean film industry and to invest in the Korean film market.
These fluctuations have historically depended on shifting media environments
surrounding the film industry, and several players have competed to control the
domestic market— one that is seemingly small, yet significant.
As Korean cinema has rapidly changed, it is vital to learn about it. Several
film scholars have produced interesting and valuable research, but in focus-
ing on the analysis of film texts, they often only address the uniqueness of
local films— which is commendable. However, these existing works some-
what miss several focal points. First, they do not concentrate on the history
of Korean cinema, which is crucial to understanding the recent rise and fall of
the Korean film industry. Second, there has been a lack of context in compre-
hending Korean cinema, meaning they did not emphasize the role of the socio-
economic milieu surrounding the film industry. Third, they do not reflect on
the significance of digital technologies and culture embedded in contemporary
Korean cinema. Last but not least, as the majority of recently published books
focus on the cultural aspects of domestic films, they do not emphasize the sig-
nificance of the transnationalization of Korean cinema— in particular, in relation
to Hollywood.
To fill the gap, I want to explore and historicize the major characteristics
of Korean cinema in a socioeconomic and cultural politics context. Cultural
policy and industry studies embrace broad areas embedded in cultural produc-
tion and consumption; therefore, I do not want to treat them as isolated from
cultural texts. Censorship, screen quotas, cultural diversity, and public funding
have greatly shaped film content, encouraging me to look at Korean cinema
from a historical, political- economy perspective. I also plan to map out the close
vii
viii Preface
interplay between local and global forces to analyze the power relationships
between them, paying particular attention to the interactions at the nexus of
the U.S. government, Hollywood studios, and local forces— which includes the
complex relationship between the Korean government and the film industry.
Since Korean cinema has been impacted by Hollywood, I analyze these trans-
national influences from the West in the production of local films, which have
eventually resulted in the global sensation that is Korean film. However, I also
attempt to determine whether Korean cinema stands as a meaningful cultural
force in the global film market. Of course, I emphasize the historicization of
Korean cinema by focusing on the analysis of film genres and the convergence
of digital technologies and films through transnational storytelling.
This book is a continuation of my study on Korean cinema, which began in
the early 2000s. The ideas in it originally appeared in a few academic publications,
although I have extensively developed my ideas and debates to a new level in this
book. This has been a long journey, and I really want to express my sincere grati-
tude to Rutgers University Press, who effectively dealt with the production pro-
cess. My special thanks also go to a number of film scholars with whom I have
talked about Korean cinema in this book, as well as their guidance, knowledge,
and vision. Kyu Hyun Kim, Darcy Parquet, KwangWoo Noh, and Sangjoon Lee
are some of the leaders in this field, and their insightful knowledge and thoughts
have been very helpful.
TRANSNATIONAL KOREAN CINEMA