Taegukgi is a film following two brothers, Jintae and
Jinseok, who become divided during the Korean war. Discussed in Kim’s article
is the distancing technique used in the film in order to better create a film
that is more relatable to a ‘once-removed audience’, an audience that no longer
has a lived relationship with the war.
At first, while reading the article, I had one question. Kim
states that by placing a South Korean flag on the recovered bodies, even though
the person may have been fighting for the North, it removes the “political
complexities and shifts the focus on memorializing a tragedy that befell one
nation, not a divided one”. Wouldn’t placing a South Korean flag exemplify the
complexities of the situation and shouldn’t a flag be placed that was of the
nation before the war? I understand that placing a flag that is not South
Korean may bring up the issues that we discussed earlier concerning loyalty to
the nation (eg. Blue Swallow), it’s just something I was thinking about.
And based off of other works that we’ve watched or read,
there are still great ties to Choseon dynasty as it was the last time the peninsula
was not only united, but also not under occupation by an external superpower.
Kim does end up addressing this question in a way at the end
of the article. Kim calls South Korea a success story, and describes the film
as a validation of the title. This title, in a way, demonstrates the evolution
of the nations on the peninsula. Korea (Choseon) à
Occupied Korea à
South Korea. While demonstrating all the negatives that occurred from the
southern side, the film still remains true to where it was produced. This
brings up an important question, does the film essentially eliminate North
Korea from a post-armistice perspective, especially considering the placing of
South Korean flags on some North Korean coffins?
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