"Teachers exposed to Korean history and culture often want to learn more. Most teachers are amazed that Koreans not only invented metal movable type before Gutenberg, but also the world’s first iron-clad ship, known as a “Turtle Ship.” The beauty of ancient palaces, the spirituality of Buddhist sculpture, and the technical achievements of Koryŏ celadon potters inspire educators to learn more so they will be better able to teach about Asia. They will discover that the Silk Road did not end in China, but extended into Korea and Japan and that early Koreans had an enormous influence on Japanese culture. Students are led to make comparisons—how was it possible for Korea to have a tradition of peace, stability, and long, stable dynasties when China had more than ten dynasties during approximately the same period?"
South Korea’s achievements during the past sixty years are extraordinary. For example, in 1945, it was estimated that only one out of every three Koreans was literate. Now Koreans are one of the most literate and best-educated people in the world. Even in impoverished North Korea, the literacy rate is ninety-nine percent. In South Korea, eighty percent of Koreans graduate from high school and go on to tertiary education. Students will take note of the importance of an educated work force in achieving rapid economic growth. American students might be interested to learn how student activists advanced democracy in South Korea.
Aside from being an appealing love story, audiences will enjoy the beautiful Korean landscapes, magnificent architecture, extravagant sets, and distinctive and colorful Korean native dress. The film takes place during the Chosŏn dynasty, revealing Confucian values, a rigid class system, restrictions on women, the importance of scholarship, good governance, and the richness of Korea’s musical traditions. Structured as a story within a concert performance, a p’ansori singer narrates the story. One gradually becomes familiar with the distinctive rhythms and vocal range of this ancient operatic form. In Chunhyang the p’ansori (a genre of Korean traditional music that is usually performed by two people—one plays the drum while the other chants a song in a folk style) is moving as we follow the courting, separation, and torture of the heroine.
The film takes place during the Chosŏn dynasty, revealing Confucian values, a rigid class system, restrictions on women, the importance of scholarship, good governance, and the richness of Korea’s musical traditions.
The unhappy lovers vow to remain loyal to each other until he can return. Their separation lasts three years. When Myon-nyong does return, he learns that the new governor is a cruel tyrant who brutalizes his subjects, especially Chunhyang. She refuses to accept her legal position as one of his courtesans by declaring loyalty to her husband. She is brutally beaten and sentenced to die. Her actions convey the Confucian tenet that a woman’s greatest virtue is loyalty to her husband. Myon-nyong vows revenge and Chunhyang becomes a heroine, admired for her beauty, her loyalty to her husband, and her resistance to corrupt authority.
Some viewers may struggle with the sounds of p’ansori, but the hypnotizing rhythms of this musical form can be fascinating. Secondary teachers should preview the film and fast-forward one of the particularly passionate sex scenes.
My students were deeply moved by Tae Guk Gi and showed more interest in the Korean War than had any previous class. It was no longer material for a test. They were caught up in the drama and the plight of two young brothers. Because the film is violent and long (148 minutes), I chose to show only a few segments. One selection establishes the closeness of the two brothers, close family ties, and the sudden shock of hearing of the outbreak of war. Immediately the brothers are forced to board a train and go off to fight the communists. About one quarter of my students elected to write reviews of the film, rated it as excellent, and most said, I did not know war was so terrible. An excellent companion to selections from the Tae Guk Gi is Hwang Sunwon’s Cranes (1953), a touching short story about childhood friends and their brief encounter with one another when on opposite sides of the war.
My students were deeply moved by Tae Guk Gi and showed more interest in the Korean War than had any previous class. It was no longer material for a test. They were caught up in the drama and the plight of two young brothers.
Until the 1990s, strict anti-communism was an absolute principle of censorship. With the end of authoritarian rule and Kim Dae Jung’s introduction of the Sunshine Policy, the hostile North-South relationship was reexamined. This film was a “reunification movie, one that acknowledged the reality of division and the human suffering it caused, but criticized the ideological conviction underlying the division, and explored the possible reconciliation between North and South.”1
Other recent films reflect nostalgia for simpler times and Confucian values of honor, family, and respect, which seem to be disappearing in a society undergoing radical change. The Way Home, released by Korea’s most commercially successful female director, Lee Jeong-hyang, highlights aspects of rural life that have been lost in the course of rapid economic growth. The film captures the differences between rural and urban Korea by showing the relationship between a very spoiled seven-year-old city boy and his seventy-seven year old grandmother, who has spent her entire life in a remote mountain village. It also conveys the gap between the older generation who experienced war, poverty, and authoritarian government, and the young who are growing up in a democracy with material comforts that include cell phones, Internet access, and music videos. Most importantly, the film is about the unconditional love that grows between a young boy and his grandmother.
The opening scene of The Way Home introduces Sang Woo, who is traveling from Seoul with his single mother, who has fallen on hard times and needs to leave her child with her elderly mother in a mountainous region of South Korea while she finds a job. The grandmother is hunchbacked, mute, and illiterate, but works tirelessly without complaining to care for her grandson. Her home has no electricity, no indoor plumbing, and no access to fast-food restaurants. Sang Woo immediately dislikes the place, spends most of his time playing his Game Boy, and treats his grandmother with disrespect. He refuses to eat anything except the food and drink his mother has left for him.
The film is deliberately slow-paced to imitate life in the countryside. The Way Home is a simple and very touching drama about the healing power of love. Sang Woo desperately misses everything about what he took for granted in Seoul, but in time, the unconditional love of his grandmother touches the boy’s heart. The film will lead to interesting classrooms discussions about family life, to which every student can relate.
The film dramatically conveys how a totalitarian regime has shaped the minds of people and how individuals subordinate their own needs to those of society as a whole.
Gordon’s documentary provides an exceptional opportunity to engage students. For a generation that does not easily understand communism, this film provides an opportunity to grasp the ideology, its implications, and its hold on the people of North Korea. In order to allow sufficient time for discussion of the film, showing the first ten minutes of the documentary and the last chapter is recommended. To supplement the study of North Korea one might assign “The Son,” a North Korean propaganda piece that may be found in Modern Korean Fiction: An Anthology, edited by Bruce Fulton and Youngmin Kwon.
All of the films mentioned in this essay are available to purchase from Amazon.com or to rent from Netflix or local video stores.
Harvard-Style Citation
Connor,
M.
(2009) 'Bring Korean Films into the Classroom',
Education About Asia.
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