I. Political influences on film in Korea (continued)

Film under Japanese colonial rule 1940 - 1945

Korea has a long history of political contact with its closest neighbour Japan. However, the first films shown in 1903 were sponsored by an American-owned cigarette company, which offered admission in exchange for package wrappers. Afterwards, Japanese capital moved in and the film business in Korea expanded. The Japanese launched the first big production studio called the Chosen Cinema Company in 1922 which failed because the small domestic market could not support a company of such size. The films produced during this time were copies of Japanese films which themselves were copies of American films. Therefore, the Japanese and American dominated and controlled Korean film production. However, it was already in this early stage, that Korean film-makers made films that dealt with the repressed situation of the Korean people. Under the Japanese domination from 1910 to 1945, films became the vehicle for political resistance. These films were silent, but used a storyteller as a guide for the Korean audiences. The Japanese police and authorities could not understand what the narrators were saying. This was the first attempt of making opposition films with a political content.

Japanese colonialism had a large effect on the Korean industry. When the colonial government confiscated all film stock and equipment as well as closing more than ten production companies by 1940, production and distribution were placed under strict control. In 1942, Japan interfered into Korean film-making by uniting many small production companies into one big concern. The Japanese were in complete control of production, although some Koreans occupied managerial positions.

Most of the Korean actors had been trained in Japan and film-makers used techniques that they borrowed from Japan. With the beginning of World War II raw stock and film equipment became rare and movies made only for the purpose of entertaining were completely banned. In a proclamation which was issued in April 1939, the Japanese government demanded that all movie industries and their personnel must support the Japanese war effort. This proclamation concerned Japan as well as its colonies. The colonial government required all people working within the movie industry to join the Korean Movie Industry Association (Chosun Yonghwain Huphwoe). Membership was supposedly voluntary. However, no one was allowed to work in the industry without a membership card. One could either join the association or not make films at all. In addition to this, the military police of the Japanese occupation army exercised surveillance and supervision of the Korean film industry.

After January 1940, the Japanese government issued a law governing movie production in Korea. The law was called Chosun Yonghwar Ryung and came into force in October 1940. It established the Korean Movie Producers Association which was designed to control movie producers in Korea. Initially, there were nine charter members of the Association. The nine company owners became registered representatives for their companies in the association. In 1942, all producers within this group were forced to be part of a single company named Chosun Yonghwa Jejak Jushikhwoesa which was led by Tanaka Saburo, a Japanese official.

All movie production companies which had been run by Koreans were disjoined. After this, the colonial government controlled and operated all movie production in Korea. It was only after August 1945, the surrender of the Japanese and liberation of Korea, that Korean movie producers would recover their artistic freedom.

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Liberation from the Japanese

Generally, the movies that were produced during this time reflected the national euphoria over independence. They are remembered as technically and artistically clumsy, although one of them, an anti-Japanese story which appeared in 1946, started a cycle of patriotic films. By making films that were dealing with liberation the directors of the time captured the country's jubilation over its liberation from Japanese rule. Through decades of suppression of film and the arts in general, it had been difficult to develop a cinema of their own which would reflect the sentiments of the nation and provide information and education through film. Instead it was the Japanese which had employed motion pictures as a tool to transform the cultural consciousness of the Korean people.

This idea of cultural imperialism continued and film was used as a propaganda tool to conduct the cultural invasion. The film-makers, however, reacted to this invasion by adopting film from western technology. Their aim was to retain Korean national identity. In so doing, they concentrated their efforts on educating the public. They felt the need to maintain control of Korea's own national and cultural identity. However, they believed that motion pictures were a useful instrument to show advanced cities, customs and cultures of industrialised western nations. There followed a fast popularisation of film in what was at that time otherwise a very conservative and tradition bound Korean society. This marked a turning point and departure from the traditional Korean view. Film was not associated anymore with un-educational or immoral behaviour as displayed in films from western nations.

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From liberation to the Korean War

After the liberation the government of the Republic of Korea was founded. Film-makers started to enjoy a more 'free' film environment. However, this freedom was short lived. Other than bringing freedom to the Korean movie industry, liberation from Japanese rule brought on the division of the country into a communist North and a democracy in the South. Two film organisations formed and competed with each other on the level of ideology. The rightist Korean Movie Construction Headquarters (Chosun Yonghwa Keonseol Bonbu) and the leftist Korean Movie Confederation (Chosun Yonghwa Dongmaeng). This phenomenon of splitting along ideological lines reflected divisions Korean society at large and created conflict and confusion within the movie industry. It was this ideological and political friction which pervaded Korean society during the inter-war years and ultimately contributed to the outbreak of the Korean War. In June 1950, the Communist invasion into South Korea took place. Again film facilities and equipment including film prints were in the hands of an invading power and films had to represent another foreign ideology. Following this, the Korean movie industry lost its momentum and much of the film stock was either confiscated or destroyed by the North Korean Army.

After the war, the Korean film industry re-established itself. In 1955, legislation was passed exempting admission taxes from all domestically produced films. This triggered a boom in mass film production during the late 1950's and 1960's. In 1955, films were made again and some became extremely popular and grew to be great commercial successes. As well as the number of films produced, audiences increased rapidly. During this time movies were used as entertainment for the public who had struggled through the Korean War and the reconstruction of the country. Movies were becoming increasingly popular after the war and films were the predominant form of entertainment which resulted in the increasing profitability of the production companies. The subject of most of these films portrayed Koreans' experiences and struggles during the war and the ideological change, as well as the transforming social reality which Koreans were subject to at the time.

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The 1960's and the change in government

To gain a greater understanding of Korean politics and society since the Korean War, two factors must be considered: one, the economic development which led to a degree of affluence and two, the gradual suppression of political freedoms. A degree of economic affluence grew out of a policy of industrialisation which was based on low wages and the suppression of labour. The trend to urbanisation was closely tied to this development. Economic growth was also in part responsible for the gradual dissolving of the old agrarian-based class structures and the creation of new social groups.

Asian societies were being rapidly modernised as a consequence of the impact of the West and technology. This brought about a questioning of traditional values. The impact of speedy industrialisation and western lifestyles created large-scale disturbances upon the older more agrarian-based ways of life and values in South Korea, as well as upon modes of aesthetic representation.

Between 1945 and 1960, the proportion of South Koreans living in cities doubled to almost one third of the population . Employment in the cities and the pressure of rural overpopulation drew citizens in large numbers to the urban areas. There was an accompanying boom in education and by the 1960's the number of universities had doubled since 1940. Newspaper circulation after the war rose as well. These newspapers were critical of the American-imposed government of Syngman Rhee and helped to stimulate the already existing urban discontent. Opposition increased when students graduating from university found it almost impossible to find a job. They were at the heart of Korea's new urban discontent. They saw themselves as 'guardians of state virtue'. Many of their ideas of constitutional democracy which they had been taught since 1945 had never been practised by their governments. It was student riots of 1960 which forced the Syngman Rhee administration out of office. After Rhee's resignation the restraints on political activity were removed and new political reforms brought in a new system of government which gave film-makers a far greater degree of freedom.

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May Revolution 1961

This freedom did not last very long. On May 16th, 1961 a military coup took place under General Park Chung Hee. It was during this time that political influences were most visible within the film product. To change the consciousness of the Korean people the new military government obtained control of all film institutions. Park's first act after assuming control was to establish an Economic Planning Board which would put Korea on the road to capitalism and bring about equality with Western industrialised nations. Shortly after the establishment of the Economic Planning Board, a five year plan was implemented which would begin with the process of overcoming Korea's poverty. Park's economic plan succeeded and resulted in a rapid rise of the Gross National Product. This new economic growth gave the Korean people a sense of pride in their country. Park continued this process of economic development and was re-elected for the next 18 years.

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Motion Picture Law 1962

To change the consciousness of the Korean people the new military government obtained control of the film institutions. Under the five year plan, the Motion Picture Law was enacted for the first time to "assist the promotion of the motion picture industry" . This law became the institutional background for film-making. It lasted for 10 years and introduced extremely difficult criteria to establish film companies. Many of the creative film-makers could not establish production companies that would meet the requirements of this new law. They therefore lost the opportunity to make films. The government prohibited movie content which sympathised with communism, films portraying negative aspects of Korean society and films that would harm public morality such as those showing sexually explicit scenes. Before the enforcement of this law there were over 70 movie production companies in Korea. Afterwards only 16 were left. All financially unstable and unsound production companies were closed while the major companies were protected and assisted under the Motion Picture Law.

The first initiative of the government was the establishment of a strong system of control. All film companies had to register with the authorities. It was stated that a registered company should produce about 15 films per year. All movie companies were further required to obtain government permission to produce or import any film. The key point of the Motion Picture Law was the protection and fostering of Korean films. The film production companies which were registered under the new law were given a special benefit of a quota with which they could import foreign films in an attempt to raise the film companies to profit making enterprises. Public interest in film decreased during this time due to government efforts to use Korean movies as a propaganda tool. Bureaucrats trained under dictatorial regimes were responsible for this effort. The main point of this promotion plan was to encourage films that showed events in national history. Films should "contribute to a fuller awareness of the greatness of the national past and to enhancing the sense of the national industry." One of the characteristics of the film policy after the enactment of the Motion Picture Law was that censorship became very strict.

Under Park's radical military government, art had to be kept within its boundaries and not threaten the political ideology at work. The Motion Picture Law also required all motion pictures to receive prior approval by the Minister of Culture and Information before exhibition. It was feared that films could damage the authority of the state, violate good morals and the social order or weaken international friendship. In 1962, the government disorganised the Motion Picture Ethics Committee which existed before the May 16 Revolution. They reorganised the Censorship Board censoring very strictly. Right after the May Revolution many films were confiscated on the suspicion of being 'pro-communist' by the authorities or on the charge of being obscene.

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Government regulation in the 1970's

In 1972, the government started to practice stronger censorship putting into practice the goals of the Revitalisation Reform Programme. Three years later, the Performance Ethics Commission was created to 'ma intain the public order' : It consisted of 13 members including the president to be appointed by the Minister of Culture and Information from among the "qualified persons that are active in the field of art, broadcasting and education" . This Commission was responsible for self-screening, including rating and selection of good 'quality' films. By practising censorship, the government regulated film through direct intervention.

Regulation led to the artistic product losing out on an aesthetic level. In the government's efforts to mediate a certain political awareness, film not only changed in aesthetics but also on the level of content. Ever since, strong censorship regulations have been a problem for Korean film-making. To this day the government has a very dominant and strict influence on deciding which films can be shown and which films are not suitable for the Korean people.

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Revised Motion Picture Law 1973

The Motion Picture Law was revised to raise the quality of domestic film production and to foster the domestic film industry. A system of simple registration was changed to that of licensing for domestic film producers which gave the government more control over film production. The new law also required that the import of foreign films was restricted to producers of Korean films. It also replaced the Motion Picture Promotion Association with the Motion Picture Promotion Corporation in 1973. The new Corporation was a government agency which strictly carried out the film policy which the government could not perform directly due to an organisation law. With stricter constraints on the industry, Korean films in the 1970's began to fall into a deep decline. Possible reasons for this were the modernised social background in Korea and the development of mass media, television and the leisure industry. Changes such as this, resulted from Korea's rapid economic development and contributed to the decline in popularity and interest in movies among the public.

Other reasons why audiences had turned away from the films produced in the 1970's came from severe censorship and the government forcing producers to inspire an ideology of government policy into films. Films portraying life experiences or practising criticism were eliminated and plain social or policy propaganda films were overdone. For the government it was literary films that were considered as 'quality' films. It was the Korean government that decided how many films were to be made annually and how many production companies were to participate in the film industry. The government allowed 20 feature film production companies to make about 200 films. Co-productions with other companies was limited to 4 or 5 films a year.

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