Context
South Korea's most prolific film-maker Park Chan-wook has earned a reputation in the West for making extremely violent films, most notably in his: 'Vengeance' trilogy consisting of: Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002), Oldboy (2003) and Sympathy for Lady Vengeance (2005). Oldboy is the most well-known of Park's films: championed by Quentin Tarantino at the Cannes Film Festival in 2004 (Lawson, The Seattle Times, 17.04.05), winning that year's Grand Prix and achieving cult status amongst film lovers. Oldboy and Park Chan-wook himself have been marketed to Westerners as part of 'Asian extreme cinema'. Other directors who are placed in this category include Miike Takashi and Fukasaku Kinji: Miike for Audition (1999) and Ichi the Killer (2001), Fukasaku for Battle Royale (2000) (Choi and Wada-Marciano 2009: 5). As a consequence of this branding and the violent content of Park's Vengeance trilogy, one criticism aimed at these films was one of hollowness. Some critics felt that Park Chan-wook was more concerned with style than substance. New York Times' film critic Manohla Dargis believed Oldboy was:
Peter Bradshaw, whilst reviewing Sympathy for Lady Vengeance, stated that:....symptomatic of a bankrupt, reductive postmodernism: one that promotes a spurious aesthetic relativism....In this world, aesthetic and moral judgments - much less philosophical and political inquiries - are rejected in favor of a vague taxonomy of cool that principally involves ever more florid spectacles of violence (25.03.05).
....there is no serious intent in this "trilogy" to consider revenge in any but the most stylised way. The idea of revenge being messy or futile or counter-productive, as it tends to be in the real world, has not played a serious part. (The Guardian, 10.02.06)
I would like to challenge the opinion the Vengeance trilogy is an insubstantial series of films as critics like Dargis, and to a lesser degree Bradshaw, suggest, but argue rather they are highly political and certainly do not condone revenge. I will be looking at the Vengeance trilogy in depth, starting with Sympathy for Mr Vengeance, to analyse how they critique modern society in South Korea and how revenge is ultimately portrayed as a futile endeavour. However, in order to best understand these films, some historical and social context is required.
The last century of South Korea's history has been very turbulent. From 1910-45, Korea was under the colonial rule of Japan. Japan tried to make the Korean population assimilate Japanese culture, the most notable example was the mass change of names from Korean to Japanese. 450,000 Korean men were sent to Japan as forced labourers and an unknown amount of Korean women were taken as 'comfort women'. After the defeat of Japan at the end of WWII, the UN decided to split Korea into North Korea and South Korea in 1948. This lead to a civil war between North and South Korea which lasted from 1950 to 1953, ending after the Korean Armistice Agreement was signed, although no official peace agreement has ever been agreed to.
In 1960, a protest was held as a reaction to electoral corruption. The April Revolution, as it became know, had over 100,00 students in Seoul protesting. The police opened fire on the protest, killing over 140 students and injuring thousands. During this time of political instability, a military coup was held, overthrowing the government and placing military general Park Chung-hee as President. From 1961 to 1993, South Korea was under a military regime, which each President succeeded by a member of the military authority. During this time, there was heavy censorship and limited freedoms for the Korean population. One notorious event which occurred during this period of military rule was the Gwangju Massacre of 1980, where at least 165 protesters were killed by soldiers, under the orders of the current President at the time, Chun Doo-wan.
1993 brought the first election of a civilian President, Kim Young-san, in over 30 years. The democratic government also increased the gradual removal of censorship in cinema, which began in the late 1980s. However, the new democracy was struck by a financial crisis and were forced to turn to the IMF (International Monetary Fund) to bail them out. The IMF loaned them the necessary money but it came with strict conditions, causing many local businesses to collapse and the economy to shrink.
This is a very brief summary of recent events in South Korea's history, but it demonstrates the sheer amount of social disruption and violence the Korean population has been exposed to. Film critic Darcy Paquet has noted that the nature of these extreme and bloody events have, '...arguably carried over into many Korean films' (2009: 4). It is important to note that Park Chan-wook was born in 1963
and Park believes that his films are a reflection of his upbringing in South Korea. In an interview, Park stated:
"...I guess I probably make violent films partly because I can't express my anger in my real life very well. There are always times in your life where people have humiliated you and you haven't been able to stand up for yourself." Park attributes his slightly desensitised attitude [towards violence] to a youth influenced by his protesting, academic parents, and becoming a student protester himself...in the 1980s... (Hubert, The Guardian, 17.10.09)Although his films are violent in nature, it belies the deep political subtext of his films. It is hard to believe that Park, who was actively political and surrounded by political parents, could discard any form of politics in his films. Most Western critics might not be aware of South Korea's history and its cultural background, thus the more political elements of Park's films may go by completely undetected. These upcoming essays will analyse Park Chan-wook's films and the political commentary going on within them, in hope of shedding some light on the inner workings of his films.
(Note: This is a continuation from a presentation on Revenge Tragedy and Oldboy, created by myself and Miss A. Izatt)
Sources
The historical facts about South Korea were gleaned from Wikipedia
Bradhsaw, P. (2006) 'Lady Vengeance' The Guardian [online] Friday 10th February. Available from: http://www.theguardian.com/culture/2006/feb/10/8 [accessed 21st December 2014]
Choi, J. and Wada-Marciano, M. (2009) 'Introduction.' In: Choi, J. and Wada-Marciano, M. (eds.) Horror to the Extreme: Changing Boundaries in Asian Cinema. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press: 1-12
Dargis, M (2005) 'The Violence (and the Seafood) Is More Than Raw' The New York Times [online] Friday 25th March. Available from: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/25/movies/25boy.html?ex=1143262800&en [accessed 21st December 2014]
http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/archives/2004/awardCompetition.html
Hubert, A. (2009) 'Shock horror! Park Chan-wook is refreshingly normal' The Guardian [online] Saturday 17th October. Available from: http://www.theguardian.com/film/2009/oct/17/park-chan-wook-thirst [accessed 22nd December 2014]
Lawson, T. (2005) 'Tarantino opens doors for graphic Korean director' The Seattle Times [online]. Sunday 17th April. Available from: http://seattletimes.com/html/movies/2002242446_oldboy17.html [accessed 21st December 2014]
Paquet, D. (2009) New Korean Cinema: Breaking the Waves. New York: Wallflower.
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