How Times Have Changed!

I’ve very much enjoyed the first installment of reviews of World War Two-era Korean films at Gusts of Popular Feeling, and look forward to the next ones.  The first film reviewed was made in 1941, a pro-Japanese propaganda film called “The Volunteer,” surprising not only for its cinematic technique and  moments of artistry, but also for its mention of discriminatory treatment of Koreans by the Japanese.

The Japanese character (the one who told Choon-ho about the opening of the military to Korean volunteers) would likely be termed a caricature of a Japanese person today, except that this film was made at the height of the Japanese military control over every aspect of society in the Japanese empire. What the censors missed was this: in the final shot showing the Japanese character, he’s standing next to the crafty Kim Deok-sam and his sons, who were so clearly identified as the “˜bad guys’. Perhaps, in 1941, that was as much resistance as anyone could hope for. 

The post contains many screen shots and is well worth reading. 

It never fails to stun me what a continuum history is, and how much insight the past gives us into the present.  In those days,  Korean films might have been artistically advanced for their time on a micro level, but on a macro level, they were still shills for a propaganda machine supporting a fascist system.  Not at all  like now, of course. 

Korean films in those days didn’t mention comfort women or forced labor, but we all know that  Japanese censorship wouldn’t have permitted that.  Korean film makers today don’t have such a convenient excuse for ignoring Camp 22, as modern-day South Korean censorship is far less effective than Imperial Japan’s.  History will be less forgiving of that omission.