DOL-I and sense of justice

“Dol-I” was the first movie we watched that the background was not during the Japanese colonization and according to professor Cho, the movie was produced in 1985 which was right after the censorship law in Korea. I thought that the ending of censorship law leads to lots of crimes in Korea since people have freedom to speak and behave. The protagonist was described as crazy boy and I thought he tries to fight against the corruption in Korea. His real name is Hwang Suk-ah and he is the manager of the band called “Thriller” which is composed by 5 women. In the beginning of the movie he seems like very quiet and passionate for his job. However, when two robbers try to steal drunken person’s wallet and his valuable stuffs such as watch, Suk-ah fights to take everything back for drunken person. Also, when the boss of the night club tries to Suk-ah to make unfair deal in which the boss will raise their pay if he can go to sleep with one of the band members. He cannot control himself after he hears that and he beats him up so badly. In addition, when he finds out that Seung-mi’s boyfriend is drug dealer and tries to rape her, he gets so mad and revenge on him. As I watch this movie, I thought this movie actually depicted some crimes that possibly happened in Korea after the ending of censorship law in 1980s. Of course, Dol-I is not a real character, but I believe that Dol-I is the people’s hope to defeat this corrupted world because they were scared to live in dangerous world.

As I watch this movie, I thought that Crazy boy’s action reminded me Burce Lee who is the famous Hong Kong action actor. My father told me that Hong Kong action movie was very influential in Korea and I thought Dol-I was probably influenced by Hong Kong action movies. The reading also confirmed that “Hong Kong action itself resurfaced in the Korean market toward the end of the 1980s” (97. Kim). Also, “Korean action movies provide a space contested by Japanese swordplay, Hong Kong action, and Hollywood action” (100. Kim).