Movie Migrations: Transnational Genre Flows and South Korean Cinema

306 Pages·2015·7.42 MB·english

by  Hye Seung Chung

Movie Migrations
New Directions in International Studies
Patrice Petro, Series Editor
The New Directions in International Studies series focuses on transculturalism,
technology, media, and representation, and features the innovative work of
scholars who explore various components and consequences of globalization,
such as the increasing flow of peoples, ideas, images, information, and capital
across borders. Under the direction of Patrice Petro, the series is sponsored
by the Center for International Education at the University of Wisconsin–
Milwaukee. The center seeks to foster interdisciplinary and collaborative
research that probes the political, economic, artistic, and social processes and
practices of our time.
For a list of titles in the series, see the last page of the book.
Movie Migrations
Transnational Genre Flows
and South Korean Cinema
HYE SEUNG CHUNG AND
DAVID SCOTT DIFFRIENT
Rutgers University Press
New Brunswick, New Jersey, and London
This publication project was supported by the Korea Foundation.
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Chung, Hye Seung
Movie migrations : transnational genre flows and South Korean cinema / Hye Seung
Chung and David Scott Diffrient.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978–0 - 8135–6 998– 7 (hardcover : alk. paper)— ISBN 978– 0- 8135– 6997– 0 (pbk. :
alk. paper)— ISBN 978– 0- 8135– 6999– 4 (e- book (web pdf))
1. Motion pictures— Korea (South)— History— 20th century. 2. Motion pictures— Korea
(South)— History— 21st century. 3. Culture in motion pictures. 4. Motion pictures and trans-
nationalism. 5. Motion pictures and globalization. I. Diffrient, David Scott, 1972- II. Title.
PN1993.5.K6C545 2015
791.43095195— dc23
2014035987
A British Cataloging- in- Publication record for this book is available from the British Library.
Copyright © 2015 by Hye Seung Chung and David Scott Diffrient
All rights reserved
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or mechanical, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permis-
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copyright law.
Visit our website: http://r utgerspress .rutgers .edu
Manufactured in the United States of America
Contents
Acknowledgments vii
Introduction: South Korean Cinema’s
Transnational Trajectories 1
Part I From Classical Hollywood to the Korean Golden Age:
Cinephilia, Modernization, and Postcolonial Genre Flows
1 Toward a Strategic Korean Cinephilia:
A Transnational Détournement of Hollywood Melodrama 19
2 The Mamas and the Papas: Cross- Cultural Remakes, Literary
Adaptations, and Cinematic “Parent” Texts 44
3 The Nervous Laughter of Vanishing Fathers:
Modernization Comedies of the 1960s 70
4 Once upon a Time in Manchuria: Classic and
Contemporary Korean Westerns 96
Part II From Cinematic Seoul to Global Hollywood:
Cosmopolitanism, Empire, and Transnational Genre Flows
5 Reinventing the Historical Drama, De- Westernizing
a French Classic: Genre, Gender, and the Transnational
Imaginary in Untold Scandal 125
6 From Gojira to Goemul: “Host” Cities and “Post”
Histories in East Asian Monster Movies 148
vi • Contents
7 Extraordinarily Rendered: Oldboy, Transmedia
Adaptation, and the US War on Terror 177
8 A Thirst for Diversity: Recent Trends in Korean
“Multicultural Films,” from Bandhobi to Where is Ronny? 208
Conclusion: Into “Spreadable” Spaces: Netflix,
YouTube, and the Question of Cultural Translatability 240
Notes 255
Index 279
Acknowledgments
We wish to thank a number of individuals who have read various parts of
the book and helped us improve it with their thoughtful comments and
suggestions: Nancy Abelmann, Robert Cagle, David Desser, Ted Hughes,
Kelly Jeong, Kathleen McHugh, Michael Pettid, and Tim Tangherlini. We
would also like to extend our gratitude to Jinsoo An (UC– Berkeley), Andrew
Jackson (SOAS, University of London), David Kang (USC), Christina Klein
(Boston College), and Hyung- Sook Lee (Ewha Womans University) for invit-
ing us to their campuses to present early drafts of chapters. A generous Pro-
fessional Development Award from the College of Liberal Arts at Colorado
State University made our field trip to Seoul possible in the summer of 2012.
We are particularly grateful for the research support from Chung Chong- hwa
and Jang Kwang- heon in the Korean Film Archive, who provided invaluable
insights into the data presented in the Conclusion. We are also indebted to
director Shin Dong- il and actor/activist Mahbum Alam who shared with us
not only the backstory of Bandhobi (a case study in Chapter Eight) but also
their thoughts on the state of multicultural media productions in South Korea.
Last but not least, we remain thankful for the love and support of our families
in South Korea (Chung Sang Ho, Shim Eunok, Jung Hyeuk, and Kang Taesu)
and in the United States (Harry and Donna Diffrient).
The authors and the publisher express their sincere gratitude to the Korea
Foundation for awarding a generous publication grant and supporting this
project financially.
Chapters One, Four, and Five are expanded and revised versions of Hye
Seung Chung’s previously published essays: “Toward a Strategic Korean Cine-
philia: A Transnational Détournement of Hollywood Melodrama,” Kathleen
McHugh and Nancy Abelmann, eds., South Korean Golden Age Melodrama:
Gender, Genre, and National Cinema (Wayne State University Press, 2005),
vii
viii • Acknowledgments
117–1 50; “The Man with No Home: Shane Comes Back in a Korean ‘Manchu-
rian Western,’” Journal of Popular Film and Television, Vol. 39, No. 2 (Sum-
mer 2011): 71– 83; and “Reinventing the Historical Drama, De- westernizing
a French Classic: Genre, Gender, and the Transnational Imaginary in Untold
Scandal,” Post Script, Vol. 27, No. 3 (Summer 2008): 98–1 14. Chapter Two is
an adapted and revised version of David Scott Diffrient’s previously published
essay “Over that Hill: Cinematic Adaptations and Cross- Cultural Remakes,
from Depression- Era America to Post- war Korea,” Journal of Japanese and
Korean Cinema, Vol. 1, No. 2 (Spring 2010): 105–1 27.
Note: The Romanization of Korean names in this book follows the McCune-
Reischauer system, which is the academic standard endorsed by the Library of
Congress. Exceptions to this rule are names of filmmakers, actors, and politi-
cal leaders whose spellings are known to English- speaking readers, such as
Bong Jun- ho, Chun Doo Hwan, Im Kwon- taek, Lee Byung- hyun, Park Chan-
wook, and Park Chung Hee. Whenever Korean authors’ works that have been
published in English are cited, their names are presented the way that they
are printed in source materials. Korean and other East Asian names appear
in their native standard, with surname first (except for names printed other-
wise in English- language publications). Finally, all quotations from Korean-
language sources have been translated by Hye Seung Chung.
Movie Migrations