This thesis intended to examine the Korean film history in the early 1960s in light of political and social situations of Korean society of the time. It is not possible to talk about Korean society in the early 1960s without mentioning two political e...
This thesis intended to examine the Korean film history in the early 1960s in light of political and social situations of Korean society of the time. It is not possible to talk about Korean society in the early 1960s without mentioning two political events: the 4. 19 revolution and the 5.16 military coupe. During the period Korean society was filled with excitement to break up the existing order and establish a new one. The nation took a fresh start and individuals and families who had been fragmented on the ruins of the Korean War were called Korean citizens.
The Korean film industry and Korean films in that period worked in accordance with the dynamics of Korean society. Defining the period from the 4.19 revolution until the time before the establishment of the 3rd Republic of Korea in 1963 as the time of a political upheaval in order to shed light on these issues in the Korean films, this thesis studied the problems of the family, the nation, and the subject based on changes in the historical view of time, family dramas and historical dramas by looking at the relation between the nation and the market shown in the policies and the industry of Korean films and changes of sub-cycles of the historical drama genre.
In the 1950s the film industry and its policies maintained the balance of power. Policies were carried out within the scope where the working order of the market would not be much damaged though they had various means to control the market. Policies of the 2nd Republic of Korea from the 4.19 revolution until the 5.16 military coupe displayed a laissez-faire attitude compared to those in the 1950s even by abolishing overt national censorship. But since the 5.16 coupe policies had experienced gradual changes from 1961 to 1963, which implied that the nation fully intervened in the film industry enough to form a new framework for the industry. It is basically believed that this resulted from expectations of enhanced national capability after the political upheaval and overconfidence in policy makers’ ability to run the country.
Secondly, this study examined changes in the view of time or the view of history between the 1950s and the early 1960s through alternation in sub genre of historical dramas. Based on folklore and ancient history in the mid to late 1950s, historical dramas expressing the custom revivified the past as the time that actually existed in a simple manner, which corresponds to the static time consciousness of the 1950s. In 1959 and 1960, conventional historical dramas focusing on folk dramas started to decline and narratives of heroes against colonialist Japan appeared. Movies describing anti-Japanese struggles were different from the previous historical dramas in that they were based on the actual recent history and while they put an emphasis on a national crisis, at the same time stories of national heroes were made into movies. These films preempted the period after the 4.19 revolution in that the national consciousness which had weakened since the Korean War was aroused. Historical dramas in the early 1960s featured stories of what happened in the royal court of the Joseon Dynasty era. Historical dramas with an royal court setting corresponded to a critical mind of the time when those films were made and reconstructed the past with respect to the critical mind of the present. In particular, in those films, the history of the Joseon era, as the beginning of a tragedy of Korea’s modern history tainted by wars, corruption and dictatorship, was labeled as an object of criticism and contempt. Historical dramas with an royal court setting from the Joseon Dynasty took their place in the stage where the history of the Joseon era was broken up and denied as preparations to reconstruct the state after the revolution.
Lastly, a shift in generations, the issue of the family and the state and the issue of gender segregation were reviewed in the texts of family dramas and historical dramas of the day. These themes are a genre that is clearly described in the texts of family and historical dramas in the early 1960s. To begin with, a shift in generations had been the most noticeable social discourse since the 4.19 revolution. Given the fact that the main agents of the 4.19 revolution and the 5.16 coupe were college students and young soldiers, and the revolution essentially required a new era and new generation, the trend of discourse about a shift in generations could be expected. The discourse about a shift in generations was reflected in the family and historical dramas of the time. When roughly divided, major family dramas of the time embodied the crisis of fathers, and historical dramas, the crisis of sons. In family dramas the crisis of fathers was differently described depending on their social status in the films. For example, for <Mr. Park(Parkseobang)> by Kang, Dae-jin. a father who belongs to the lower class transfers the right as a head of the household at the time of retiring at the end of the film. On the other hand, <A Petty Middle Manager> and <A Salaryman> by Lee, Bong-rae end with the scene where a father is a office worker belonging to the middle class is reinstated after suffering from the crisis. What happened in the films was due to the fact that fathers were different in their ability to adapt to modernization. Meanwhile failed kings mainly depicted in historical dramas with a royal court setting are described as the subject to come into conflict with the laws of their fathers(not just overt orders but tradition, the state and the system of law). In the end, they return to the law of their fathers or take responsibility for their poor performance by being deprived of royal authority. As a result, the state, tradition and the patriarch are reinstated in a new form. This can be said that these movies narratize the process of a new state, order and patriarch being reinstated while the order of the old days collapsing.
The emphasis on gender division of labor is one of the distinctive characteristics of films in this period. Though an argument over gender division of labor is often heard in any period, this period, in particular, was in a different environment compared to the previous time in that new manhood had become strengthened as the public subject of Korean society since the revolution and the political upheaval. In the 1950s, women, who entered the work force instead of men participating in the war and expressed their desire relatively freely though the desire was a target of criticism, became the subject of full-fledged persuasion, enlightenment and criticism. This is not irrelevant to the strengthened nation after the 4.19 revolution and the 5.16 coupe, i.e., the establishment of a male-centered state and society and reinforcing the reproduction function of families. New men, who appeared in the 1950s, partly blaming weak manhood for disorder and corruption rampant in the period of the April revolution, were more stronger, righteous and strong-willed subjects. When these men clamor for the masculinized society and state, arguments of women make them become a wise and clever manager of home. Women who commonly appeared in historical dramas with a royal court setting standing on the border between the private sector and the public sector were always described in a negative manner and were blamed for failed kings and politics. Along with this, as the reproduction of family and reasonable consumption become important, the status of women in the family tends to rise relatively. It seems that the rise of women’s role and status was kind of the price of women’s lowered status in the public area and separation of public and private areas. Films in which a family matriarch and a henpecked husband appeared started to be seen after 1963, which reflects improved women’s status in the family.
This thesis tried to look at the relation between films and society in the early 1960s in a more macroscopic frame of its political and social context. This process is meant not only to examine the character of Korean film history in that period through context but also to reversely redefine the unconsciousness of Korean society through Korean film history of the day.