[KS] spies and thrillers

[johnfrankl at yahoo.com]

First, let me say I completely empathize with being raked over the coals for what I thought were quite innocent questions/statements. About half the time I reread my posts and regret having written without more thought; the other half I conclude that some people just like to argue:)
  
To these statements: "I just wanted something short and relatively easy to assign to my students here who have only a vague idea of where or what NK is. I do agree that these thriller movies do not give at all a balanced perspective of the scope and complexity of the NK regime in all its surreal manifestations ....  however these movies have now become the visual images being circulated around the world- be it fiction or fantasy. Therefore, I feel that we should address some of these issues even in a film class." 
   
  I understand the logic, to a point. But I can't help feeling that "Shwiri" and "JSA" tell us way more about South Korean fears and fantasies (as you mentioned) regarding North Korea than they do about NK itself. These are SK products. In the former, a handful of NK agents handily wipes out what appears to be half the SK army, while in the latter the "common people" of NK and SK would get along without a hitch if it weren't for all that pesky foreign ideology and interference. Also interesting in "JSA" are the twin assumptions surrounding the character played by Yi YOng-ae. The first is that she is at all convincing as a half-Korean, half-Swiss (?), and one raised outside Korea, at that. The second, and more significant IMHO, is that the UN military higher-ups either understand or care so little about both Koreas as to send a 30-something, half-Korean woman to deal with a bunch of 60-something Korean generals.
   
  So I do think that these movies are good for getting at certain SK ideas about the outside world, including NK. 
   
  John Frankl  

		
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