nanoomi

I discovered Ju-Hwan Kim’s dissertation “Relocating the Alliance: The U.S.-South Korea Military Alliance in Cultural Representations” (downloadable here) while looking for more information about Nam Jeong-hyeon’s 1965 novella Bunji [Land of Excrement], which Kim describes:

In an epistolary format, the story of Bunji is narrated by Hong Mansu [a direct descendent of Hong Gil-dong] addressing to his deceased mother. Several days after the 1945 liberation of Korea, Mansu’s mother who came out to welcome the U.S. forces with hand-made Korean and star-spangled flags in her hand gets raped on the way by American GIs. Back home, she exposes her defiled body to her son and daughter, Mansu and Buni. Unable to overcome her shame, Mansu’s mother refuses to eat and dies in a few days after a convulsion. Upon his discharge from the military, Mansu, unable to find a job, begins black-market trading with American goods that his sister Buni obtains from Sergeant Speed, an American soldier she lives with. Buni also ends up in misfortune as she experiences sexual torment by Mr. Speed who often disparages the “lower half of her body” comparing that with his wife’s. In resentment of the sergeant’s abuse of his sister, Mansu determines to see Mrs. Speed or Mrs. Bitch as he names her, for himself.

By this time, Mrs. Speed leaves the U.S. to make an unexpected visit to see her husband in South Korea. Mansu, not to miss this God-sent chance, tricks Mrs. Speed to accompany him for tour during which he rapes her in a mountain. Learning the news, the U.S. government mobilizes a mass-scale retaliation dispatching “as many as ten thousand missiles and artillery pieces” including a nuclear bomb to destroy the whole mountain where Mansu is hiding.

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Snakes are a popular choice for movies. In recent years we have had at least four Anaconda movies, Snakes on a Plane, King Cobra and the Python series. Earlier decades gave us movies such as Venom and Mamba.  Way back in 1974, Hollywood treated us to a movie simply called Snakes in which an elderly man sent his pet snakes out to take revenge on his enemies rather like the better known film Willard which featured Rats. Both of these could be seen as part of a sub-genre of the ‘Nature-Gone-Wild’ category of disaster films. In Nature-Gone-Wild movies, a species– or sometimes an entire family comprised of various, related species– of animals would rise up against humanity. Hitchcock presented us with The Birds and the feathered fiends were quickly followed by many other animals from rabbits (Night of the Lepus), frogs (Frogs) and even worms (Squirm)!

The nature-gone-wild films and disaster films in general never really caught on in Korea. However, during the late sixties throughout the early 80s, Korean filmmakers frequently teamed up with Hong Kong and Taiwanese production companies. Most of the films made through these collaborations were action ‘kung-fu’ flicks but there was some variety. Here we will briefly look at two movies featuring reptiles of revenge that were co-produced with Hong Kong. The first is a film known as Calamity of Snakes (1983). This one follows the usual pattern of nature-gone-wild films where a greedy corporate executive does something to destroy the natural habitat of the animal of the day and they rise up to indiscriminately take vengeance. In this case, the snakes seem justified as their brethren have just been horribly slaughtered by a construction crew who are building a new resort hotel. In retaliation, the snakes invade a luxury, high-rise and attack all the residents living there. Mind you, this is not just one species of snake– it is quite an unusual mix. And they are led by a gigantic boa with kung-fu ability.  Yes– you read that last part right. The snake, suspended from the sky, becomes involved in a wire-fu battle with a team of exterminators.  Sounds like it might be fun, right? Well, not really. For many of the scenes, the snakes are real (unlike the one in the photo above) and so are their deaths.

The other co-production is The Magic Curse (1975).  A trip to Borneo takes a bizarre turn when the travellers encounter a snake cult who make human sacrifices to their serpent god. Taekwondo instructor Im Moon-yeong escapes the clutches of the bizarre witch doctor Adulla and runs straight into the arms of a mysterious woman who turns out to be a high priestess of the snake god. She falls in love with Moon-yeong and sends him safely on his way, but with a little gift. When kissing him goodbye, she bites him and imparts to him a curse. She warns him that if he meets any other woman, her rival for his love will die a horrible death. Instead of taking her seriously, Moon-yeong makes a stop over to Hong Kong and proceeds to screw — I’m sorry– I meant ‘make love to’ as many woman as he can.  After he leaves, each of these comely lasses are terrorized by snakes until they can bear it no more and suffer from heart failure. I’m sure there is something Freudian going on here…  Anyway, Moon-yeong soon finds that the curse has another aspect.  When he is assaulted by a gang of thieves, he transforms into a scaly man-snake with enormous teeth.  With dead street punks on his hands and a trail of dead women behind him, it is not long before the police track Moon-yeong down. Fortunately for our hero, the police believe his story of the curse and accompany him to Borneo to put an end to it. Meanwhile, in Borneo, the high priestess has fallen victim to a curse herself placed upon her by Adulla.  She is transformed into the green Medusa-like woman in the poster and she too is leaving a trail of havoc in her wake.

We are not quite done with snakes yet. These are not quite supernatural enough. Tomorrow we will look at the Snake Wives.

Take a look at the following trailers from The Ruins (2008), From Hell It Came (1957) and The Maneater of Hydra(1967) – Three Western films that feature man (and woman) eating plants. If you were to watch these films, you would notice that they have something in common, namely that you have to be pretty slow, pretty stupid or a combination of both to get yourself devoured by a plant. Even the lumbering tree monster which is not rooted to the spot once it matured moves at a glacial pace. Let’s face it, plants are not scary and the fact that they can barely move is the primary reason. Alien plants are a little different and make a better impression on the horror enthuiast. The original version of The Thing, Little Shop of Horrors, The Body Snatchers and The Day of the Triffids all feature alien plants that are far more memorable than any of the posies listed earlier in the paragraph.

At first glance the title flora in The Flower of Evil, directed by Lee Yong-min back in 1961, might be suffering from the same problem. It is confined to a flower pot. Even though descriptions state that it can move at night, I don’t think it would get very far with its roots firmly trapped in soil on a pot on an end table. This is especially problamtic as this sinister flower requires a healthy dose of blood to survive. Its stature may be deceptively small, but the amount of blood required to keep this plant alive is surprising. How can it possibly get what it needs?  The answer is simple and follows in the vein of the original Little Shop of Horrors (1960)– the plant simply tells its owner what it wants.  But there is no thin little whisper of “Feed Me” nor the more musical demands as made in the remake of Little Shop of Horrors. No, this plant has an entirely different method. At night, it transforms into a ghost and makes its needs known.

“Now wait just a minute,” you might be thinking, “How can a plant transform into a ghost?” Well, if it were just a plant, I would share your disbelief. After all, a couple of days ago, the One-Eyed Ghost explained that the dying with han in one’s soul was what caused a person to come back as a phantom.  I think most people would agree that a plant does not have a soul and, even if you could convince me that it did, I would never believe that its spirit could carry a grudge that would drive it to revenge. But the ability to transform into a ghost– as well as its lust for human blood — was bestowed on the cursed orchid when the spirit of Baek Ryeong (pictured right) fused with the plant. Baek was a woman deeply in love with Prof. Lee Gwang-soo but he did not return her feelings. She died in an unspecified manner (I suspect suicide) and her spirit joined with a flower creating a new species of plant that Prof. Lee, as a botonist, found irresistable. He now had something unique in the plant world. The fact that it required blood was problematic, but nothing that Lee found too intimidating. He started draining blood from various victims to feed his favorite flower, but he drains too much from one woman and she dies, making him a murderer.

You might think that would be as bad as things could get, but it becomes worse. His frequent nightly expeditions to procur more blood have a startling effect on Dr. Lee.  He is slowly transformed into a vampire himself!  He then proceeds to attack his devoted and loving wife. Will his wife survive or will Baek Ryeong have her revenge and spend eternity as a monster with the vampire she loves? I can’t tell you that, but I can tell you that this movie had everything– a blood guzzling vine, a virgin ghost and now a homicidal vampire!  Ah– but ‘had’ is the operative word. This movie is lost. There are no extact copies known. Given the number of stills that exist, I suspect the final copy deteriorated to the point that it was unsalvagable and the remains were photographed as a way to preserve what remained. That is why the image of the actual star of the film, the Flower of Evil, is not clear.  I did not have a lot of options to choose from. But there are not only stills; the scenario and a poster are still around and serve as evidence of this movie’s existence.

Tomorrow— Snakes!

Not all monsters, ghosts and things that go bump in the night are from horror films. Today’s entry onto the list of Obscure Monsters comes from the children’s fairytale, The Brothers Heungbu and Nolbu directed by Kang Tae-woong in 1967.

Before introducing our feature guest today, I should probably talk a little about the movie.  The Brothers Heungbu and Nolbu was the first feature length film made in Korea to be performed entirely by claymation and dolls not unlike classic holiday favorites such as Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Santa Clause is Coming to Town. This Korean movie was also made for a holiday, May 5th.  No, not Cinco de Mayo– Children’s Day!  In the movie, Heunbu’s hoarde of children sing a happy-ish song while animals and birds play together with them–I think this is right before a huge snake appears and attempts to devour the baby birds still in the nest.  The happy-ish song is a nice change for the kids. Most time when they are onscreen, they are sobbing about how hungry they are and how sorry they are for their parents.  While much time is spent on the kids, the story is really about the kind Heungbu who, along with his wife and children, savagely beat the snake to death. During the battle, one of the birds suffers from a broken leg. Heungbu and family take care of it  and are rewarded by the birds with a magic seed. In the film, when the seed grows, it produces three enormous gourds that Heungbu and his wife saw open. In one gourd are jewels, silks and luxurious clothes. In another gourd are piles of gold and coins. The final gourd transforms the family’s hovel into a palace-like home. And then comes the good part… Read the full story

Inside Chungmuro Station, near the top of the main set of escalators, is a pair of walls covered in old photographs.  The color photos of well-dressed people accepting awards may have faded and aged even more poorly than the black and white film stills around the corner, but this little shrine is the first sign you get of the area’s close association withKorea’s oft-impressive film history. Read the full story

Can you spot the differences between the image on the left and the one on the right? A friend of mine couldn’t earlier this afternoon. He had come into my office, glanced at the promo material for Leafie: A Hen Into the Wild on my desk and asked, “ Didn’t you already see Sympathy for Lady Vengeance?“  The colors and images on the poster of the latter film are so instantly recognizable that he had not even noticed that Lee Yeong-ae had been replaced by a chicken.  (Don’t be embarassed Jae-hong, no one reading this knows you ㅋㅋㅋ) .  The Leafie poster above is an alternate, not the main poster, and will probably not be seen very often. Read the full story

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I woke up to a thunderous storm, rain blasting onto the red-tinted windows and the realization that I didn’t know where I could get breakfast. Stomach growling, I washed, brushed and got myself ready under the sickly green light of the bathroom, and made my way out into the rainy morning. Fortunately the JIFF shuttle bus was waiting for me and I settled myself into one of the faux leather seats as the TV at the head of the bus flickered with footage from the first two days of the festival and the speakers boomed with hideous techno. Dance music at 10 in the morning has never seemed proper.

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One wonders if this film described by the Korea Herald will turn out to be interesting:

When the film adaptation of the popular internet comic “Moss” was announced last year, anticipation for the production was high from legions of loyal fans.

However, that initial excitement soon turned into disappointment when word got out that Kang Woo-suk — director of such straightforward, mainstream fare as the Public Enemy franchise — and his Cinema Service production company was taking on the project.[...]

Since “Moss” was noted for the layered storytelling and the cosmopolitan approach with which its author handled the subtext of social commentary, many had doubted the Kang would be able to do it justice.[...]

Anchored in a classic murder mystery, “Moss” tells the story of one man’s journey into the heart of darkness in a small town deep in the backwoods of the Korean countryside to uncover the truth behind his father’s death. It’s a story full of twists and turns seemingly inspired by American southern gothic literature.

When the original series first began its run two years ago online, the 80-part graphic novel became an Internet sensation — captivating readers with its labyrinthine “whodunnit” plot which was accentuated by the richly detailed illustrations of the decaying village that gave it an ambiance of dread that millions of avid readers praised. [...]

Jung Jae-young, whose casting as the ominous village patriarch garnered just as much criticism from fans said, “My character from the original and the one in the film carry two completely different images.”

Here’s how Jung Jae-young’s character looks in the comic:

Here’s how he looks in the movie:

The posters are from this article, which has a few more photos. Judging from the trailer at the film’s website, it seems like there’s lots of action. One wonders if Kang will be able to make an interesting film, especially since he wants to “overcome” the original. I still chuckle at the memory of a film producer who was a former student telling me how she tried to dodge the question when Kang asked her for her opinion of Hanbando. The original comic Moss can be read here, and the film opens on July 15.

In 2000, Hong Seok-cheon became Korea’s first openly gay celebrity. After coming out, however, he was fired from his broadcasting jobs in TV and radio. This November 2000 article about Hong also interviews gay rights activist Seo Dong Jin, who was nearly kicked out of the elite Yonsei University a few years ago for organizing a support group for gay and lesbian students. In 1997 he tried to convene a gay film festival, but local authorities cut off the electricity. The Queer Film and Video Festival only got the green light in 1998 after censors relaxed their conditions.

By 2005, however, a gay couple was featured in a TV advertisement, and in 2006 Korea’s best-selling movie ever at that point (12 million tickets, meaning 25% of the population saw the film in theaters), The King and Clown, was also its biggest surprise hit – especially considering that the drama centered around a clearly gay relationship. 2006 also saw the release of a film aimed at teens which featured transsexuals, transvestites and gay characters [Dasepo Girls], and another Joseon-era film released in 2008, A Frozen Flower, featured a gay love triangle and was a moderate hit.

An openly gay couple is now focused on in a TV drama for the first time, SBS’s “Beautiful Life,” and in this May 29 interview with the writer of the series, Kim Soo-hyun, she makes clear that her “main goal is to make homosexuality a subject that is no longer taboo.” As this article notes, “Its viewer ratings exceeded 20 percent on May 23 when the two came out of the closet, pointing to Koreans’ growing interests in the once-social taboo.” Not everyone is happy with this, however:

With more soap operas and other entertainment programs shedding light on homosexuality, conservative religious groups have begun stepping up on criticism against what they call the “glamorization of gays and lesbians” by TV program producers seeking to draw a larger viewership.

[According to t]he Korean Association of Church Communication (KACC) … “Everybody knows that homosexual relationships are ‘not a social norm.’” The organization then said it is not right for the society to generalize and approve homosexuality, stressing that a series of recent TV programs have overly beautified gays and homosexual love, negatively affecting the acceptable growth of adolescent sexuality.

“The problem with soap operas featuring gays is that homosexuality concerns only a small number of individuals. Most of us have nothing to do with it,” KACC spokesman Shim Man-sup said. “Gays can pursue their own lifestyle privately. But when homosexuality is highlighted and glamorized by TV programs, it not a private matter anymore. Broadcasters must stop commercially exploiting the issue for the common good.”

I hope they start complaining that many dramas glamorize wealth and greed, since living in mansions “concerns only a small number of individuals.” But then, considering most Protestant (‘Christian’) churches here require that their members pay tithes amounting to 10% of their income, I doubt they have many concerns about widespread avarice.

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On subways and in store windows these days is this poster:

The first part reads: “Speak through a warm smile, ‘Welcome, come well.’ Why, you may ask? 2010-2012 is Visit Korea Year. Speak with a warm smile to foreigners who discover Korea. You are a smiling national representative of Korea.”

I wonder if this campaign to remind people to be polite to foreigners (somehow I doubt the invitation to “come freely” extends to white males) is a national one or if it’s just based in Seoul.

Of course, that poster is just one of ten to fifteen times I saw Kim Yuna’s face today. It’s nice to see her hawking watermelons for Homeplus – in a “Be the Reds” shirt no less:

Yes, it’s that time of (every four) year(s) again. It’s already appearing on beer bottles:

The two people above look really look like the kind of people you’d like to be sitting next to as you cheer for Argentina. The Korea Herald also looks at two soccer-related films coming out soon, both of which seem to suggest that people from other countries in Asia would like to jump on the Korea soccer bandwagon. Unfortunately, one of those films is a JSA-style movie featuring North and South Koreans getting together on friendly terms, and probably couldn’t come out at a worse time.

On the topic of alcohol bottles, this is interesting:

“The theory that Jinro is a Japanese enterprise is a baseless, vicious rumor. Since 1924 Jinro has been a pure minjok (ethnic/national) enterprise and for 86 years one national company, Jinro, has always shared all sorts of emotions together with people.”

There are other companies that I think people would also like to think are pure minjok enterprises, something I was reminded of when I saw this article about Lotte today, which mentioned that

Shin established Lotte in 1948 as a maker of chewing gum and has taken a firm root both in Korea and Japan, expanding its business horizons to beverages, retail, fast food chains and amusement parks.

For some odd reason, the article fails to mention that Lotte was started in 1948 in Japan by a Korean who was raised in there, and didn’t make its way to Korea until 1967.

From Gusts of Popular Feeling.