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bongjoonhot · 5 years

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The Popularity of Bong Joon Ho

Background

Bong Joon Ho is one of South Korea’s most famous directors, and has been named by Ilgan Sports as one of the five “Power People” in the Korean entertainment industry [1]. He directed films such as Memories of Murder (2003), The Host (2006), Mother (2009), Snowpiercer (2013), Okja (2017) and Parasite (2019). By analysing these six films, I will assess Bong’s popularity as a film director in both South Korean and international markets, and the possible reasons for his success.

Popularity in South Korea

Memories of Murder was a box office hit in South Korea, and was the most watched Korean film in the country in 2003 [2]. This is unsurprising, as the movie was based on South Korea’s first serial murders, which undoubtedly left deep scars in the South Korean psyche. It is possible that the film’s popularity can be attributed to the desire to archive this event in history (Jeon, 2011), as the case went unsolved for more than 30 years. However, on 18th September 2019, the Korean police identified a suspect in the murders. Thus, some buzz about the movie was generated again:

A theme that was strongly represented in both Memories of Murder and Mother is the unreliability and brutality of police forces. In Memories of Murder, Detective Cho is seen kicking the suspects and abusing his power as a police officer. He later receives symbolic retribution when his leg has to be amputated. In both films, there is a scene wherein a mentally disabled person is forced to reenact the crime. This is a common practice in South Korea, but it has been criticised for creating unfair prejudice against the defendant (Hennes, 1993).

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A video of a suspect reenacting a crime in South Korea.

Mentally disabled people are made the scapegoats in the crimes due to their inability to defend themselves – in Mother, Do-joon is released, only for the police to accuse another mentally disabled person without hard evidence.

The brutality and unreliability of police forces could have resonated with the South Korean people due to events such as the Gwangju Massacre, during which troops killed hundreds of civilians. Parallels can be drawn, as in both cases, authority figures abused the people they are meant to protect.

The Host was the highest grossing film in South Korea in 2006. The film’s success can be attributed in part to its political satire, as it was based on an incident where a Korean mortician working for US forces in Korea was ordered to dispose of copious amounts of formaldehyde down the drain – an incident which understandably caused some antagonism towards the United States. The film was released when news of the incident was in the press.

Bong was embroiled in a controversy this year, when an article was released alleging that he had ordered Won Bin to touch Kim Hye Ja’s breasts during the filming of Mother without her knowledge. This article was released in June, when the #MeToo movement had gained significant traction due to the large-scale investigation of male K-pop idols, who were accused of circulating spycam porn, amongst other illicit activities. Netizens also scrutinized a past interview in which Bong made explicit comments regarding sexual imagery in his films [3].

The top voted comment on the original Korean article, titled “Director Bong Joon Ho sparks controversy for allegedly ordering actor to touch an actress’s breast during filming”. The comment received 4,572 upvotes.

Kim Hye Ja later clarified her comment, saying there was no sexual assault and apologizing to Bong and Won Bin. Netizens expressed their anger at the situation and the media, as this news marred the announcement that Parasite had clinched the Palme D’Or at the Cannes Film Festival.

Netizen’s reaction to the article that announced Kim Hye Ja’s clarification.

Thus, while netizens are unwilling to condone seemingly immoral actions by the director, they are angered by the marring of Bong’s reputation when it comes to light that the issue is a misunderstanding. After all, he is a well-respected director who has done much to place South Korea on the global stage.

International Popularity

Snowpiercer and Okja were very well-received internationally, with Snowpiercer doing well in the US, Korean and Chinese markets, and Okja receiving a four minute-long standing ovation after its screening at the Cannes Film Festival. While it can be argued that having top stars like Chris Evans, Jake Gyllenhaal and Tilda Swinton act in the above films, definitely helped to put Bong on the map in terms of a mainstream international audience, Bong’s prowess as a director is clearly exemplified in the success of Parasite, which showcased a fully Korean cast and won the Palme D’Or at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.

It can also be argued that Snowpiercer and Okja being mostly in English helped with the accessibility of both films, which is true. However, Parasite was shot entirely in Korean and was incredibly successful in the global box office, which attests to Bong’s popularity as a director in his own right.

Comments on the official trailer of Parasite on Youtube

Okja also had to overcome the bias of the audience at Cannes, some of whom boo-ed when the Netflix title card appeared on screen, as some believe that the releasing of movies primarily on streaming platforms delegitimizes their standing as cinematic works.

I believe that the success of Bong’s films in international markets may be in part due to his strongly relatable themes, such as animal rights and the ethical production of meat in Okja. In a world where plant-based substitutes for meat are becoming increasingly readily available, and the mass production of meat is taking a toll on the environment, Bong’s messaging appeals to the emotions of the audience to encourage them to make more responsible food choices.

Another theme Bong explores is class differences and social hierarchy in Snowpiercer and Parasite. In Snowpiercer, the social hierarchy is shown in the literal separation of the train cars, and how the rights of those in the tail end of the train are negligible while those at the front of the train live in luxury. Very few of the occupants of the tail end make it to the front of the train car, creating an obvious metaphor for the hardship of upward social mobility.

This juxtaposition is also apparent in the differences of the living conditions of the Kim and Park families in Parasite, and the reactions of the Park family, who literally turn their noses up in revulsion at the smell of the Kims, to show the class gap between the families.

These aren’t Korea-centric themes, and these problems are present in every society to varying degrees, which makes them understandable and appealing to an international audience.

Conclusion

In my opinion, the magic of Bong Joon Ho’s films lie in that they are understandable and relatable to a large audience. I also feel that Bong’s fame was propelled by the fact that many of his themes are topics on which people tend to have very strong opinions.

I believe that, while Bong may not have the same reach as a Hollywood director for now, he is a force to be reckoned with and has the potential to bring even more international attention to the Korean film industry. The recent award at Cannes also played a big part in placing Korean cinema on the map, and I’m sure that many people will be anticipating Bong’s next project.

[1] Bong shared first place with Cho Yong-pil. The survey was conducted among 100 industry insiders.

[2] Memories of Murder was eventually beat by Silmido, which was released near the end of 2003. However, most of Silmido’s audience watched the movie in 2004. Source: http://www.koreanfilm.org/kfilm03.html

[3] Said Bong: “I really like narrow and long images. So when I thought about filming Snowpiercer, I was so aroused. I was going crazy over the sexual arousal. From the outside, the train is the male’s genitals and from the inside, it is the female’s genitals. The tunnel is the vagina and the train becomes the penis and when it is inside, the inside of the train then becomes the vagina. It speeds through inside the train and so I was so aroused by it.”

References:

https://n.news.naver.com/entertain/article/241/0002960973?

http://www.koreanfilm.org/kfilm03.html

Jeon, J. J. (2011). Memories of Memories: Historicity, Nostalgia, and Archive in Bong Joon-ho's" Memories of Murder". Cinema Journal, 75-95.

http://world.kbs.co.kr/service/news_view.htm?lang=e&Seq_Code=148119

Hennes, D. B. (1993). Manufacturing evidence for trial: The prejudicial implications of videotaped crime scene reenactments. U. Pa. L. Rev., 142, 2125.

https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/2172098/gwanju-apology-south-korea-sorry-rape-and-torture-committed

http://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/news/boxOffice_Yearly.jsp?mode=BOXOFFICE_YEAR&selectDt=2006&category=ALL&country=ALL

http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2006/08/11/2006081161014.html

https://news.nate.com/view/20190605n07044

https://www.koreaboo.com/news/director-bong-joon-ho-controversy-actress-breast-touch-actor-mother/

https://www.soompi.com/article/1330119wpp/kim-hye-ja-clarifies-comments-about-director-bong-joon-ho-after-controversy-says-there-was-no-sexual-assault

https://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=snowpiercer.htm

http://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/news/reports.jsp?pageIndex=2&blbdComCd=601008&seq=257&mode=VIEW

https://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=intl&id=snowpiercer.htm

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/okja-netflixs-cannes-premiere-gets-four-minute-standing-ovation-press-screening-snafu-1005530

https://www.screendaily.com/news/will-parasite-deliver-the-biggest-box-office-ever-of-any-palme-dor-winner-/5140228.article

https://www.theverge.com/2017/5/19/15662542/netflix-cannes-film-festival-booed-okja-premiere

https://akajustmerry.tumblr.com/post/162394406757/vegans-out-here-claiming-that-okja-is-a-pro-vegan

https://www.engadget.com/2019/09/25/impossible-burger-is-now-available-at-east-coast-grocery-stores/

https://www.israel21c.org/18-israeli-startups-that-can-improve-our-diet-and-help-save-the-planet/

https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/art/2019/06/689_269700.html

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qwedfas · 7 years

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what was the process you went through to choose your subjects for vce?

Hi there,

FAM Leader 1: I was already doing Methods ½ in Year 10 so I wanted to do ¾ in Year 11, especially because it’s a prerequisite into many courses and I don’t enjoy Maths so I wanted to get it over and done with. I also tried Biology Unit 1 out in Year 10 and I thought it was interesting so I worked to keep my GPA up to do 2 3/4s in Year 11. I also thought of any prerequisites I needed for any courses I was interested in, and chose those as part of my subject selection. I had 2 more subject slots available, and I wanted to have a good balance between my sciences and humanities, also because I found humanities subjects really interesting so I chose Economics and Global Politics. My tips would be to look at any prerequisites you may need for any courses you’re interested in, and then look at subjects that you would enjoy and also subjects you would do well in. VCE is the time to play to your personal strengths - do the things you love and excel in.

FAM leader 2: I have a really long complicated story ahead but pretty much I am quite indecisive and I never knew exactly what subjects I wanted to do. So in year 10 my first round choices were ½ Spesh, Chem, English language, Methods and ¾ accounting + bio. Then changes came about and I decided no I didn’t want to do spesh I’ll try further instead, I also decided I did not want to do chem as I had no interest with doing medicine or anything chemistry related so my new subject choices were: ¾ enviro science, ¾ bio, ½ accounting, further, eng lang and methods. I am literally the most indecisive person ever so in the summer holidays I actually contacted Mr Zwack and asked to be changed into ½ English and out of Language. So semester 1 happened in year 11 and i decided I did not enjoy further so in sem 2 i switched into unit 2 english language. At the start of year 12 I also decided I no longer enjoyed accounting so I wanted to move into further ¾ but there was no room so i randomly chose psych because I did bio the previous year and i really enjoyed science after year 11. Because I didn’t want to do both english and eng lang I picked up ¾ health so my subjects this year are: english, psych, health and methods. I’d describe my subject selection process as like trial and error. Moral of the story is really don’t stress about subjects because you can always change. The only setback I feel from my subject choices was not doing chemistry, because this year I did feel like it’d be nice to have more options open and also because I guess I changed my mind about science. So unless you are 100% sure I guess feel free to drop chem :)

Hope this helps!

Love, FAM xx

#answered #macrobsubjectselection #macrobvce

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