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ASIAN AMERICAN ISSUES
Is Corean (Korean) Cinema the New HK Cinema?
t the peak of its Golden Era between the mid-80s and early-90s Hong Kong cinema was defending nearly half its domestic box office turf against Hollywood imports, thanks to an unusual concentration of mega-talents like John Woo, Chow Yun-Fat, Jackie Chan and Tsui Hark. No other film industry in the world had been able to claim that for a half century. What's more, some HK kung-fu and gangster flicks outdrew Hollywood thrillers in many international markets.
Corean heartthrob Won Bin
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Hollywood's strategy for coping with the HK threat? Simple and devastatingly effective -- buy up the biggest box-office draws. The result has been an epic shift: the top HK talents have been reduced mostly to coolie-ing on Hollywood formulaics while HK cinema has become a parched gulch with bounding tumbleweeds and half-hinged screen doors banging forlornly with every hot gust.
Corean American Shiri star Kim Yoon-jin
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But just as Asian Americans resigned themselves to having screen images hijacked by a remarkably Asian-unfriendly Hollywood, Corean cinema began throwing off heat. Beginning in the early 90s a hardy new generation of Corean filmmakers made themselves fixtures at the award ceremonies of Cannes, Venice and other international film festivals. By the turn of the century Corea's Pusan Film Festival emerged as Asia's premiere celluloid bazaar. But that was small potatoes, not enough to catch the notice of an industry whose real lifeblood is box office.
Then came Shiri (1999), Kang Jae-gyu's lovingly-wrought, haunting thriller about a deadly North Corean female terrorist who falls in love with exactly the wrong guy. It became the first domestic film in history to break the 2 million ticket mark for the Seoul metropolitan area (which accounts for about 25% of the Corean market), and went on to outgross Hollywood blockbusters like The Mummy, The Matrix, Titanic, Star Wars Episode One and Toy Story. Its $5 million budget is less than a tenth of what Hollywood spends at the drop of a dime but was considered a daring gamble. It paid off. Domestic box office receipts ultimately spiked past $60 million, ensuring an unexpected profit for the film's backer Samsung Entertainment -- and more importantly, whetting the appetites of investors for more "big-budget" projects.
Director Kang took pains to point out that Shiri's success was founded on a painstakingly crafted screenplay -- something few Corean directors had bothered with before then.
In 2000 and 2001 alone, two Corean films surpassed Shiri's box office benchmarks: Joint Security Area (DMZ military mystery/drama, 2000) and Friend (male-bonding, 2001). These blockbusters have stimulated a general upsurge of interest in domestic films. Films like Friend and My Sassy Girl (romantic comedy) outgrossed Hollywood megapics like Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings. They helped make Corea the only market in which domestic films captured over 50% of box office receipts, with Hollywood fare attracting 40%.
As the saga of Hong Kong cinema has shown, nothing yanks Hollywood's chain like being kicked at the box office. Major studios have begun importing Shiri, Musa (co-starring Zhang Zhiyi as a Ming princess rescued by Corean swordsmen) and other Corean films for limited U.S. theatrical release and video distribution. More significantly -- or ominously, depending on your perspective -- they have begun signing Corean talent. One is actress Shin Eun-kyung who starred in the popular comedy My Wife Is a Gangster (2001) which outgrossed Lord of the Rings. Shin will play the female lead opposite Andy Garcia. Miramax even paid $1.1 million for the remake rights to My Wife Is a Gangster.
Is Corean cinema the new Hong Kong cinema? Or will an Asian version of Hollywood ultimately emerge in Corea?
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WHAT YOU SAY
[This page is closed to new input. --Ed.]
(Updated
Tuesday, Apr 1, 2008, 06:07:18 PM)
Yeah, Korean Soap Operas are popular in Taiwan (dubbed in Mandarin) such as "All About Eve" or "Law Firm" (Being a lawyer, I find it somewhat intriguing).
Taiwanese-American
Tuesday, April 09, 2002 at 10:00:57 (PDT)
Sonagi--
I have to respectfully disagree. Yes you are right, Jacky Chan and Bruce Lee are very popular in Korea like in the rest of the world. Which simply proves my point--Chinese pop culture has been around in Korea for a long time. Currently, Chinese pop culture is not very strong in Korea, that I agree--but my point was that there were a lot of Korean fans in the past for some time, who loved Chinese pop culture.
I think a lot of Korean people have a tendency to forget about certain aspects of Chinese culture, because it's so ingrained in Korean culture now.
I mean, what about "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon?" Here you can say, "Yes, but it's popular all over the world." It's true, but my point is that doesn't change the fact that Chinese pop-culture has affected Korean tastes.
If you watch the Korean movie "My Sassy Girl" (korean tilte, "yupki juk in guh nyuh"), SPOILERS AHEAD
there is a scene where the actress daydreams of making a chinese style wuxia movie. Again, in korean movie, "Bi-Chun-Moo," that's clearly influenced by 1970's Hong Kong kung fu flicks. So, you still think Chinese pop-culture was never very popular in Korea?
Korea HAS been showing Hong Kong Kung fu films for some time. AND Hong Kong movies have been rented out and watched in the theatres in Korea. I know. I watched them when I lived there. AND I can tell you, that I watched far more Hong kong movies in Korea then when I moved here. MOREOVER, while Korean government DID ban Japanese popular culture, Chinese popular culture never faced the same wall.
Think for a moment the Korean fanaticism for ggangpeh related films and dramas. Soo Ho Chun Sa, Mo Reh Shi Geh, Soon Jung, they all had Gangsters in the dramas. Korean films like Friends and Jang Gun eh Ah deul are all about gangsters too. Have you ever wondered since when did Korean people started to glorify scum of the earth who are responsible for extortion, prostitution, racketeering, drug trafficking? Think about it. You think when your grandparents were living during Japanese occupation, Korean people regularly glorified gangsters in popular films and novels? This is a Hong Kong influence.
Fads come and go--again, I'm simply saying that Chinese pop-culture has been very popular in Korea, and has been around way back before the Han dynasty. What do you want me to say, "Korean pop-culture is so SUPERIOR, that these Chinese people bow 3 times a day facing east?"
Well to close, let's see, even if we were to discount Jacky Chen, Bruce Lee, Chow Yun Fat, and Zhang Ziyi, I suspect that the average Korean might know of the existence of other Chinese celebrities? Afterall, Song Seung Hun is appearing in a Hong Kong movie called So-Close, people are bound to find out about the co-stars. Oh and one more thing, Wong Kar-Wai is well known in Korean movie circles, because he is in Korea filming. As much as Korea influences Wong Kar-Wai, Wong Kar-Wai influences Korea. This should not be feared, but embraced.
(Is it me or am I the most liberal person posting on this thing? Why do everyone advocate fascism even when talking about films?)
P.S. I agree with you completely that Canto-pop is only marginally popular, and does not appear to have potential for further growth in Korea.
ka
Friday, April 05, 2002 at 10:51:31 (PST)
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