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AnonymousCatherine, just read the Korean history readings. Highly informative but from a distinctly Korean perspective. Is this to inform our deeper understanding of Korean cinema and their views on the events of their history or will we be needing to get up to speed on Japanese and Chinese perceptions of Korea? Thanks for getting this together,
Rich
AnonymousI will be interested in seeing how they refer to Japan, considering their historic relationship with Korea.
AnonymousKorea's relationship with Japan seems almost cut and dried (just ceaseless bullying/enslavement/destructive behavior) compared to the more complex Korea-China ties. My class focuses on medieval history so I loved envisioning how their connection ranged from adversarial to allied depending on the circumstance. Japan's aggressive emergence in the 19th and 20th centuries obviously acted as an impetus to some big transitions; it's interesting to try imagining where China and Korea end up in an alternate universe where Japan is less proactive from about 1875-1945.
AnonymousThe relationship is well defined, my question is how much embellishment vs fact.
AnonymousLooking from Korea's perspective, one cannot ignore their geographic location and how they are surrounded by very powerful neighboring countries of China, Russia, and Japan. For many years, they had to combat against many invasions from both China and Japan.
However, the main difference between the two countries in dealing with Korea was many Chinese dynasties were satisfied with recognizing Korea as a tributary state and worked to maintain some what of a good relationship with Korea. While, Japan when they took territorial control of Korea, they were much more vicious and had the objective of taking over Korea's entire territory and people.
edited by akwon on 7/29/2014
AnonymousI was surprised Mr. Hwang admitted that Korean film sometimes sacrifice “historical accuracies” for the sake of “portraying history with a popular consciousness”. Like the example of the woman fighting side by side with the men against the Japanese invasion. Should Korean films be viewed as historical propaganda or factual accounts?
AnonymousPersonally, I see it as a more of historical propaganda that uses some factual accounts to tell their side of story to possibly build pride and unity among Koreans. Especially those films that cover Korean dynasties.
edited by akwon on 7/29/2014
AnonymousI thought it interesting the perpetuation of Western stereotypes in the movie clip on the Korean War. It was a black guy who was exploiting the Korean women for sex. This promoted the stereotype of “the over sexed black male” in my opinion. Remember in 1950 blacks were still fighting for civil rights in the US, and the army was forced to integrated in 1948.
AnonymousFilm is truly the universal art form. Based on the clips, I'd like to see both Taegukgi and Spring in my Hometown. They would serve not only to provide historical insight, but also as an introduction and study of cinematic styles and choices of prominent Korean film makers. The clips put faces on historical events and makes them real for all.
AnonymousAny feature film will have a biased message in it, else we would be watching a documentary. I think both forms could be used alternately to compliment one another.
AnonymousRegarding the clip of Spring in My Hometown, I caught on immediately what's going on when I saw the soldier coming out of the shed (not sure whether it was my woman intuitive or historic knowledge). Other clues are the Korean girl trying to fix her clothes as she comes out and the rich man saying, "That's a good girl." I wonder this clip can be used to teach students how to make inference.
AnonymousI appreciate the list of resources that Professor Hwang gave during his lecture. I know very little about Korean history and culture and have added his book to my reading list. As a middle school teacher, I feel like perhaps the resources I would draw from and the topics that I'd address would be a little lighter. I would be interested in taking my students through a comparison and contrast of ancient and modern Asian civilizations, paying particularly close attention to the social classes and how they've changed over time. The film clips that he showed in class give us a glimpse of what they are like presently, I'll have to research and see if there are any that address ancient civilizations...
AnonymousCieng, I didn't notice that! I'm sure that that clip could be used for that purpose, assuming of course that you teach high school...
AnonymousI'm not sure how I would use the films with the gay relationships. I feel that the gay relationship would be distracting from the historical content. Any ideas?
AnonymousOlympic games are not just big sport events anymore. The hosting countries, such as South Korea, China more intend to use them as a stage to show the world their unique culture, tradition, economic success and strength. It is a great resource for teaching East Asian culture and tradition in our classroom. For example, I may show students a few video clips of the opening ceremony of the 24th and 29th Olympic Games in Seoul and Beijing, and then guide student to observe and compare the languages, clothes, music of two countries as well as technology developments during the twenty years. As a summary, some hand-on group work may be assigned such as making posters and crafts.