Preparing for this paper, I examined about 20 North Korean films for the last decade. Apart from this intention, I watched more than 40 North Korean ones including the ones which were far earlier than the middle of the 1980s. But I chose 4 films that ...
Preparing for this paper, I examined about 20 North Korean films for the last decade. Apart from this intention, I watched more than 40 North Korean ones including the ones which were far earlier than the middle of the 1980s. But I chose 4 films that were suitable for the subject of my paper; Father's Sentiment(1988), The Filly in My Hometown(1991), Mother Was Hunter(1994), and My Family(1999), which were treated as conflict between generations.
In this paper, I inquired into some books of the film theory. That was about the uniqueness of North Korean film theory based upon the "CHUCHE Idea", for example, Theory of Film Art, Theory of CHUCHE Literature by Kim Jungil, and Creation of Scenario by Kim Sook, and others.
The difference of the South Korean firm (theory) from the North Korean one is, first of all, mission, motif, or ideology that contains the measure of esthetic value. In the case of the South Korean film theory, the art (in the general sense) is not always suitable for the dominant value of the period and the society. In addition, the art doesn't always have any kind of value of social hegemony, Rather, the South Korean film theory has a tendency to search for motif(raison d' etre) in the effort of breaking taboo and authoritative power of the period. And this provides art with diversity and potentiality.
On the other hand, the North Korean film theory is focused on the idea that is a tool for the creation of film art itself. In the case of the North Korean films, many films have similar stories with the similar process(plot) of party politics, idolatry for the chief magistrate. And the story goes into service with the value of totalitarianism, or confession for the erroneous doctrine. It is really not a simple problem to overcome the fundamental differences between the South and North Korea after reunification, even though we use the same language.
In a word, while we(the South Korean) versatilely create and use the visual image and enjoy it to the full extent, they(the North Korean) accept and use the visual image only as means for propaganda and strategical convention for regime maintenance.