Comedy...? And National Pride

Kim Hyun-Syeok's 2002 film YMCA Baseball Team stands in stark contrast to the films we've watched previously in class--particularly because of its genre; it is technically considered a comedy. The film features American-inspired slapstick comedy, but also gets much of its humor from another source: In the beginning, Lee Ho-chang discovers baseball in a very comedic sequence of events, picking up the ball with an overly-animated face, snooping around someone's yard in a dramatic and elongated shot, etc. However goofy, the scenes are also uncomfortable; we are making a spectacle of a person who is "discovering modernity" and "western life" in a way so over-the-top that it is almost satirical. The style of filming and the humor lead us to feel as if we are watching someone from another planet discover earth and ultimately become 'civilized.' Something about it felt unfair and uncomfortable.

Secondly, it is interesting to notice the ways in which the film could be considered a meeting point of the "traditional" Korean life and values and the "modern," globalized world. Lee Ho-chang himself perhaps best epitomizes this intersection: he is destined to take over his father's academic life as a school owner (traditional job), but loses interest when he discovers baseball--a sport introduced to him by new American neighbors. Here, Ho-chang's two very different life path options are a clear analogy to "resisting" modernization and "accepting" it.

Something that interested me in particular was a sort of watchmaker role on the part of the American baseball players. They introduce the sport, invite the native Koreans to participate, and then step back--watching it all unfold from a distance. After the Americans' first interactions with the Koreans, there was little interference from them. The baseball team excels on their own, ultimately using their skill to battle the neighboring Japan in a dramatic game. Here, baseball has transitioned from a symbol of foreign modernity to a means of expressing national pride.