Urban Landscapes and National Visions in Post-Millennial South Korean Cinema: From Seoul to Soul

Description

This book explores South Korean cinema’s inimitable relationship with the urban landscape and identifies the ways in which Seoul is utilised as a celluloid canvas, national artefact and, above all else, a distinctive cultural backdrop. Using five different approaches to urban space, from five distinctive and contrasting theoretical perspectives, Urban Landscapes in Post-Millennial South Korean Cinema investigates and seeks to understand why the cinematic representation, identity and presence of Seoul have been central to the preservation and recognition of the South Korean film industry as an independent, autonomous and nationally unique institution. Acknowledgements About the Book Contents About the Author Chapter 1: Introduction An Exclusive Club: Issues with the ‘East Asian’ Paradigm Place, Space and the Urban Landscape: Identifying the Comparative Boundaries of South Korean Film References Chapter 2: The Psycho-geographical City Seoul: The People’s City Diegetic and Non-diegetic Identities: Rethinking the Relationship Between Audience and Character Reinstating the Self: 3-Iron’s Challenge to Collective Postmodern Thought Frames Within Frames: The Photographic Narrative 3-Iron’s Important Role in Our Broader Understanding of South Korean Cinema and Its Engagement with Seoul/the Cityscape References Chapter 3: The Generic City Adoption and Inheritance: The Question of Cinematic Ownership Monster Metropolis: Ambivalent Conventionality in Korean Blockbuster Horror Society on Screen: Magnifying Urban ‘Reality’ Postmodern Vistas: Reflections, Reproductions and the Dual Nature of Identity The Domination of the Korean Blockbuster Conclusion References Chapter 4: The Hyper-masculine City Troubled Beginnings: Questioning Post-war Masculinity The Next Phase: Korean Gangster Film and the Ultimate ‘Anti-hero’ Fragile Figures: Identity and Place in The Man from Nowhere Violent Spaces: Re-examining the ‘Fight Scene’ Conclusion: A Return to Confucian Sensibility? References Chapter 5: The Suppressive City Transgression and a Threat to the Confucian Order: Representations of the Korean Woman in the mid- to late Twentieth Century New Beginnings: The Revival of Gender Heterogeneity Goodbye to ‘Seoul’: Questioning Urban Paradigms and Reading National Identity as Myth A Different Kind of Girlhood? Reevaluating the Functionality and Relevance of ‘Sonyeo’ Narratives in Korean Cinema Conclusion References Chapter 6: The Oppositional City Adversarial Cities: Utopian and Dystopian Representations of Urban Space Conflicted Sentiments: Attachment, Antipathy and the Urban West The Trouble with Difference: Okja and the Dilemma of National Cinema Conclusion References Chapter 7: Conclusion Final Word References Filmography Index