Welcome to Reality.

I’m a die-hard fan of Gi-Wook Shin.

His writings always turn on the “here-we-go” bulb above my head. Feels like every time there are some fresh insights and reflections retrieved, particularly I enjoyed this week’s Division and Politics of National Representation, but I’ll briefly talk about the agrarianism presented in Welcome to Panmujeom for now.

Beside the expected themes of humanitarianism/nationalism/Anti-modernism, there is a third narrative in the film – Agrarianism. It is presented as the utopian world presenting the best of Communism and Capitalism, totally egalitarian in labor and equal in politics (if there is a solid political system at all). And most appealingly, the villagers are heart-breakingly innocent and kind – uncontaminated by the modern world gradually taken by both sides.

There is certainly a nostalgia of the good old days, and a touch of “restoring and developing the spiritual and moral power expressed in creeds (shin)” – but not trying to be too cynical here, I do find it naïve to over-generalize the peasant/agrarian life being the warm, intrapersonal condition that the modern and callous people (Here ironically represented by the UN troop) crave.

Surely modernity is not inherently good or historically necessary, but if anything, it does bring out the open mindedness onto the scene, which is especially crucial for women. Shin mentions female chastity being one of the creeds that the agrarianists promote, which is rather alarming. I believe that the most appealing aspect of agrarianism is its promise of close human relationship and simple life style because otherwise most people would not, generally speaking, work in the field ten hours a day and have their food as well as shelter completely dependent on the nature’s will. Yet even that promise could not be dutifully met: I’m quite skeptical of how open and welcoming the real peasants could be, particular to the foreign concepts, let alone a ”big nose” guy climbing out of a gargantuan machine. Lack of education and worldly interaction easily falls into the trap of narrow-mindedness and ethnocentrism – I could be wrong, but I genuinely believe women as a whole benefit more from modernity than agrarianism.