In January 2024, Asian creators achieved remarkable results at the 81st Golden Globe Awards. The TV series "Beer" about Asian Americans won awards including Best Limited Series Series, Best Actor, Awards including Best Actress. This is another film and television work about overseas Koreans. Just two days before the Golden Globe Awards ceremony, another film about overseas Koreans, "Past Lives", won the 2023 National Film Critics Award Association's Best Film.
"The Angry Life" poster
"The Past Life" poster
Two works about "life", telling the truth about the life of overseas Koreans, one is the painful reminiscence after being separated from the past homeland, and the other is about the life of overseas Koreans. The anger of the new country is suppressed, and it seems that no matter where they are, Koreans have no chance of stability and freedom.
"Korean overseas" has become a hot topic in Korean film and television in recent years, and Korean film and television have also used this topic to break into the international mainstream film and television circles. In 2022, "Mogadishu" (모가디슈), South Korea's contender for the Oscar for the best foreign language film, tells the story of Koreans and North Koreans living abroad; in the same year, Apple TV, Chennai American production companies such as Netflix and A24 have also produced Korean dramas about overseas Koreans, "Pinball" and "Suriname", which were created by Korean creators. In 2023, South Korea released a series of movies such as "Unofficial Action", "Boston 1947", and "Negotiations", focusing on the status of Koreans outside the country's borders.
These film and television works may start from diplomacy and homeland security, involving government-level diplomacy, national sports events and Ministry of National Security agents; there are also people at the bottom who are forced to make choices in the context of the times; there are people who travel to foreign lands and enter the unknown out of personal survival choices. There are little people in a land of governmental chaos; there are also immigrants who are hesitant between personal development and emotional destination in the era of globalization. The story takes place either in a small African country that is prone to war, in the Middle East with sectarian conflicts, or in South America where warlords are fighting, or in Japan with deep national hatred and colonial aggression, or in the United States, a superpower with dual political and economic ties. In these spaces, there are official espionage campaigns to gain diplomatic status within the Korean state system, as well as the political detachment and self-assertion of individual Koreans outside the state system.
South Korean diplomacy in images, between micro individuals and macro international relations
There are about 9 million people of Korean descent living outside the Korean Peninsula in the world. Outside the peninsula, the Korean nation is scattered overseas, forming a very distinctive branch of the world's dispersed nations. Overseas Koreans in
's film and television works interact with different groups in different countries and regions. From microscopic individual encounters, we can get a glimpse of South Korea's diplomatic relations and the world pattern.
The United States often appears in plots as the image of unshakable authority and the most credible force. In dealing with drug trafficking groups and warlords in Suriname, South America, South Korean intelligence personnel with the support of the US military and the CIA can successfully carry out special operations. The purpose of the operations of South Korean intelligence agencies is more for the national security interests of the United States.
In South Korea, which was still under the occupation of the US military in 1947, Korean athletes participated in international events and were required to participate as representatives of the US team. Korean athletes were not only sports professionals, but also negotiators with diplomatic responsibilities. This reflects that South Korea is tightly controlled by the United States in military diplomacy. It not only regards the United States as an authoritative force, but also strives for the dignity of a small country in a limited space.
The movie "Negotiations" is adapted from the true incident of the Korean hostage kidnapping that occurred in Afghanistan in 2007. The South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs and national intelligence agents launched a joint operation to rescue the hostages in Afghanistan. The relationship between South Korea and the United States in the play is more complicated. The Taliban threatened to massacre South Korean hostages and not only demanded that South Korea withdraw its troops from Afghanistan, but also demanded the release of more than 300 Taliban militants imprisoned by the United States and its allies. The Taliban hopes to use South Korea to leverage the United States and its allies, which they cannot control. This is obviously impossible for South Korea. South Korea is unable to persuade the US military to release Taliban prisoners of war in order to rescue South Korean hostages.
Stills from "Negotiations"
South Korea participated in the war as an ally of the United States, but it was not a NATO country, and it was not the main force of the American allies in the Afghan war. It can be said that while it relied on the United States, it was marginalized by the United States. It was very difficult to negotiate with the Taliban. Passively, the only weight that South Korean diplomats have in competing with the Taliban is the support of the US military behind them. They threaten to send additional troops and US bombings to act as a deterrent to the Taliban. The reason why the Taliban caused the Korean hostage incident was also selective. The reason for choosing South Korea is that South Korea is an ally of the United States and an economically developed country, and has certain utilization value; but South Korea is also an ally marginalized by the United States. Even if a hostage massacre occurs, the US military will not violently retaliate against the Taliban. Behind the accidental political crisis is the inevitable embarrassment caused by South Korea's passive position in South Korea-US relations.
In its interactions with Japan, South Korea has a completely different mentality. As a former colonial invader, South Korea, which has suffered historical humiliation, has a strong national resentment towards Japan, which has never been reconciled to this day. This is reflected in the "Korean people in Japan" depicted in the Korean drama "Pinball Game". They were oppressed on the Korean Peninsula during the Japanese occupation at the beginning of the 20th century. They drifted to Japan as forced laborers and became the lower-class coolies of Japanese society. They were also victims of the war. Even though they later became Japanese nationals one after another, they were still uninvited guests on Japanese territory. He does not belong here, and has been burdened with national hatred and family hatred for Japan all his life.
The character "Go Hansu" played by Korean actor Lee Min Ho in "Pinball Game" is a "Japanese" Korean. After the Tokyo Earthquake, the death of his father, and adoption by Japanese gangsters, he has completely changed from his original kindness and simplicity. He became a cunning, vicious and philistine speculator. He prospered in Japan. After returning to the Korean Peninsula, he relied on seafood trade to accumulate money and changed the life of the heroine Jin Shanci. But the essence of Gao Hanshui is a deep attachment to his hometown in North Korea. Its name is full of metaphors of "water of the Han River", which is a longing for his homeland and is also reflected in his deep love for Kim Sun-ci. Kim Seon-chi is the image of "Mother of the Earth" and the symbol of "Mother Korea". She is strong, tough and stable, and has the weight of the earth. In the play, the three generations of Koreans in Japan always hate Japan and are unwilling to change the habits and dignity of Koreans. This is something that has never appeared in South Korea-US relations, implying that South Korea has a completely different stance in South Korea-US relations and South Korea-Japan relations.
Stills from "The Pinball Game"
In the third world such as Africa, the Middle East, and South America, South Korea is an "angry little country" that lacks discourse status and is in urgent need of diplomatic recognition. South Korean diplomats are not part of the elegant world where no one comes and goes, but victims who have been robbed, held hostage or even held hostage, and whose whereabouts are unknown. Their survival is in danger and they have to seek help from the "Western camp" in which South Korea is located, such as Italy and the United States. Rescue, or even cooperation with North Korea, can escape from danger.
Escape from the peninsula, overseas dispersion of people within the system
Even in official diplomatic actions related to homeland security, Korean movies boldly express doubts, satire and dissatisfaction with the Korean government and authoritative power. In "Mogadishu", even the diplomats of the Republic of Korea are still very passive at the diplomatic level and are in a weak position in the competition between North and South Korea, lacking human support and international advantages; in "Boston 1947", South Korea was a sovereign country at the time The legitimacy of its existence has been questioned, and its "semi-colonial" status has not changed; "Unofficial Action" raised more thorough questions about South Korea's system and government management. The organization behind the diplomats not only did not support it, but instead delayed and erected obstacles to embarrass it. , as an official, only by breaking away from the system and taking unofficial actions can the task be completed.
Korean movies have repeatedly shown the status of civil servants overseas. Although these civil servants in the system with official and state support are not immigrants in the strict sense, they are also de facto overseas dispersers. During overseas operations, even if there is a guarantee from the system of the home country, they are still in an institutional vacuum and outsiders are struggling for survival, just like new immigrants.In Somalia, East Africa, Han Xinsheng, the ambassador of South Korea, used "violations" and "absolute prohibitions" outside the system to gain a chance of survival by cooperating with the enemy and even providing asylum to the enemy. The continuation of his personal life is also the continuation of South Korea's Continuation of Government. In their interactions with North Korean diplomats, the two sides were at war with each other on the peninsula, but they found a space for reconciliation and coexistence in a distant and chaotic African country. The identity of being fellow Koreans is more reliable than the country and system.
In Lebanon, where sects are fighting, Korean diplomats discovered that a Korean with unknown origins and suspicious identity was far more reliable than the Ministry of National Security and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which were caught up in bureaucracy and power struggles behind him. Compatriots overseas helped each other more than the country. The system is stronger. In "Unofficial Action", South Korean diplomats rescued the hostages with the support of a local Korean overseas Chinese who was proficient in Arabic and had been "Lebanese".
Stills of "Unofficial Action"
The movie also reveals the complex contradictions within the Korean bureaucracy, such as the infighting and bureaucracy in the civil service department, and the fact that different agencies such as the Ministry of National Security, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Presidential Office, and the Ministry of Intelligence are not affiliated with each other and have their own factions. , they are not coordinated with each other, each faction competes for power, and is full of "mountain culture". In "Unofficial Operations", "Mogadishu" and "Negotiations", there is a symbiotic relationship between the Ministry of National Security and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where they compete to undermine each other, take credit from each other, and both shirk and support each other.
Korean movies show distrust of huge bureaucracies, and focus more on the heroism and human brilliance of individual officials within the system. Officials have outstanding personal qualities and noble moral character, but the system behind them is too decadent. In overseas spaces, , individualism is more respected by Koreans than collectivism.
Survival in a vacuum, Korean experiments in anarchy
When the ethnic boundaries of their home countries are blurred and their identity is in crisis, Koreans who come to a foreign country feel like they have entered the vacuum zone of national power, and after being freed from the constraints of political relations and geographical limitations, It shows a more realistic relationship between human nature and identity. The nation of the Korean peninsula, which is facing intense tensions and frequent nuclear weapons crises on its homeland, has found a warm space of peaceful coexistence and mutual help in a chaotic and turbulent foreign country. Although Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia, is described in "Mogadishu" as an anarchic zone of death and violence, for the Korean nation in it, it is a paradise of peace that is almost impossible under a state of government. This is a great irony for the characters in the film who are civil servants from both countries.
"Mogadishu" stills
Korean film and television boldly chose to use a marginalized and unfamiliar area in the world as a testing ground for "anarchy". "Mogadishu" and "Suriname" are both named after the places of the two countries. The name is an unfamiliar or even strange noun to most viewers, and it is curious. These terms can be any title or code name, pointing to an alienated place without established institutions and systems. It is a space for Koreans to express themselves freely.
It is worth noting that when ordinary Korean people outside the system came to the war-torn Middle East, Afghanistan and other places, they became an important pillar for the Korean government to carry out local work, and even became a hostile force that the Korean government could not resist. The total population of South Korea is only 51 million, but it can spread all over the world. It is also distributed in small countries in the corners of the world such as Suriname, Lebanon, and Afghanistan. People can’t help but sigh at the wide reach of Koreans around the world. This long-range radiating power is driven by South Korea's own internal forces, and there are deep internal causes when traced back to its origin.
In both Lebanon in "Unofficial Action" and Afghanistan in "Negotiations", there is a local Korean, wearing Arab or Afghan national costumes, wearing a Muslim hat, and speaking fluent Arabic or Afghan Pashto. , confusing and indistinguishable among locals, has been deeply "Middle Easternized" or "Central Asianized". These little people are very familiar with the local religions and religions. They are mixed in a mixed society. They are far better at dealing with local people and more familiar with local conditions than Korean diplomats. The settings of these little characters cannot simply be understood as exaggerations, but have a certain basis in reality.These "localized" Korean people are an allusion to the "Central Asian Koreans" group, that is, the Koreans who immigrated to the former Soviet Union, lived in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and other regions, and were familiar with Islam and China. subculture.
"Unofficial Action" is adapted from the Korean diplomat hostage case that took place in Lebanon in 1986. Kim Bansoo was a Korean who came to work in Lebanon. In troubled places such as Afghanistan and Suriname, Koreans have demonstrated a strong sense of self that breaks free from the constraints of state institutions. The real kidnapping of a Korean Catholic missionary in Afghanistan in 2007 is the historical prototype of the movie "Negotiation". This group of fanatical Catholic believers came to Afghanistan under the control of the Taliban alone. Their persistence and recklessness are astonishing. It was not until he was kidnapped by the Taliban that he sought rescue from the South Korean government, causing a catastrophic diplomatic crisis for the South Korean government.
South Korea is a secular country and has never officially recognized Catholicism as the state religion. However, for overseas Koreans, Catholicism has become the basis of group identity. Korean folk's enthusiasm for Catholicism can be traced back to the past, and Catholicism appears in most works about overseas Koreans. The Korean gangsters in the Korean drama "Suriname" use the Catholic Church and priests to pray to recruit gang believers overseas, identify available compatriots through the church, and control their minds through cult-like missionary methods.
"Suriname" stills
In "Pinball Game", Catholicism is the spiritual sustenance of three generations of Korean immigrants. By getting to know the missionary husband, the heroine is freed from the helplessness of unwed pregnancy and rumors, and obtains God-like salvation. The husband shows mercy to the heroine with "Christ's love". Three generations of Korean immigrants all have biblical Christian names, including husband Isaac, brother Joseph, son Moses and grandson Solomon. Catholicism is the spiritual pillar for three generations of Koreans to survive in Japan.
In the small South American country of Suriname, Korean immigrants are becoming more and more arrogant. The Korean drug cartel, represented by Korean pastor Quan Yaohuan, can be said to have completely separated from the Korean Peninsula and established a brand new small Korean kingdom in the unknown small country of Suriname in South America, with its own army, weapons and communities under its rule. It manipulated the National Intelligence Service of South Korea, bribed the military government of Suriname to obtain an umbrella, fought with the local Chinese gangs, and played hide-and-seek with the CIA, becoming a powerful drug cartel in South America and fighting with the major drug lords in Mexico, Brazil, and Colombia. Sit on equal footing.
In a state of anarchy, the people of the Korean peninsula launched a group experiment of their own. Among them were the "Korean people" in Central Asia who provided assistance and support to the South Korean government, and the "Chinese Koreans" in Suriname and South Korea. There is mutual distrust between people; there are North and South Korea who have turned from enemies to friends overseas to find a tacit understanding of survival together; there are prison criminals who dare not say anything at home and submit to the country's laws, but they challenge the official government abroad.
Confucian values and gender issues
In recent years, Korean film and television has actively moved towards the international mainstream film and television market, beginning to appear in the form of "American dramas" and "American movies". Local Korean movies are based on real events and characters that happened overseas. In these American dramas and American movies, the script writers and characters are mainly Korean Americans, focusing on the individual choices and living conditions of Korean Americans.
"Pachinko" is adapted from the novel "Pachinko" by Korean-American writer Lee Min-jin and produced by Apple. It overlaps in three spaces: Busan, South Korea, Tokyo, Japan, and New York, the United States. It is based on four generations of the 1900s, The 1960s and the late 1980s are three time points, telling the past of three generations of Korean immigrants intertwined in time and space. The story ranges from the first generation of poor fishermen during the Japanese occupation of Korea, to the second generation of mafia families who took root in Tokyo, Japan, and opened game arcades to get rich, to the third generation of investors who went to Ivy League schools in the United States and were proficient in English, Japanese and Korean. Banking elites form a story line of Koreans who improve their social status and living conditions through three immigrations. However, the series is different from the East Asian narratives of "changing destiny" and "turning over and succeeding" in general Korean dramas. Instead, it gives in-depth consideration to the existence of each generation of immigrants. The improvement of the economic status of Koreans has not changed their marginalized identity and relationship with mainstream society. The Sense of Distance is an epic story of persistently searching for oneself and questioning the roots of culture.
Confucian values and East Asian culture permeate the destiny codes of overseas Koreans. The Korean Americans in "The Angry Life" live in anger and powerlessness. Even though they have been mixed in American society for many years, they are still bound by Korean family values. Male responsibility is a mountain that is shouldered by the male protagonist Danny Zhao. The idea that "men should be promising and able to make money" troubles Danny. He can't afford a house in the United States, doesn't make any money, has unstable jobs, and has no guarantee of his job. These are all the reasons why Danny is ridiculed by the heroine Amy. . On the other hand, as the eldest son of the family, Danny is also responsible for the growth of his younger brother as the "head of the family", entertaining his parents who came from Korea, and being filial to them in order to realize the American dream of owning a house, a car, and Marrying a qualified daughter-in-law and carrying on the family line is the criterion for success in life. Even in the free country of the United States, the spiritual shackles have never gone away.
Compared to the Japanese who are also East Asians, Korean immigrants have more mental and material burdens. The character setting of "A Life of Anger" is a metaphor for the immigrants' home country. Compared with the heroine Amy's husband, the lazy, mommy, relaxed and wealthy Japanese artist George Nakai, the male protagonist Danny Zhao is obviously more troublesome. He struggles to survive and serves the rich. People come to make a living. Compared with the comfortable and comfortable Japanese and the silent and conservative Chinese, the Koreans, who are also East Asians, are angry and active. Dangerous Koreans like those in the drama who have been in prison and committed murder and robbery cannot be applied to the "good people" Chinese who are content with the status quo and do not cause trouble. Korean Americans are aggressive, reckless, hot-tempered, and rebellious. They are different from most East Asian immigrants. For example, in the "Los Angeles Riots" that occurred in Koreatown, Los Angeles in 1992, Korean Americans united and defended themselves with guns, and they were different from the "noisy" Americans. African Americans and Latinos engaged in street fighting and became a "difficult" group that caused headaches for the U.S. government. This was almost impossible for Japanese and Chinese Americans.
Korean local films focus on showing Koreans in real political and criminal events, while works included in American dramas or American movies more reflect the individual culture and spiritual belonging of Koreans. Like "Pinball Game", "Past Life" is also the work of a female creator. Both use life memories as the starting point to calmly trace the past and recall changes in geography and time. In this movie, a woman as an immigrant is wandering between her first love in Korea and her American husband. After two immigrations and two identity changes from Korea to Canada and Canada to the United States, she gradually breaks away from her mother country, Korea, and integrates into the American cultural circle. Her old first love is treated as a "typical" Korean boy, which is a metaphor for Korea's overall social value and the past as memory; her American husband is also a "typical" American, not born and raised in the United States, but a fellow American. Immigrant Jews are a small ethnic group in the United States, but they are by no means a "minority". The Jews can be described as the "mainstream ethnic group" in all aspects of American politics, economy and culture. On one side is the Jewish husband who "successfully immigrated", and on the other is the Korean first love living in the past, living on the East Asian order and established track, symbolizing the new world and the mother country respectively. The heroine Naying shows the Korean female immigrants wandering between the two countries. The process of psychological change.
For overseas Koreans, it is easier for women than men to move their families and integrate into unfamiliar new societies. Women who have been disciplined and deprived of their rights for a long time in East Asian Confucian societies are more accustomed to passive adaptation and accommodation. These are the qualities that a standard immigrant must possess. They are also used to controlling power and maintaining their status as masters. What East Asian men lack. It is difficult for East Asian men to accept that when they immigrate to a strange country, they lose the power resources they naturally possess in the society of their home country and become a weak, speechless, powerless and powerless group.
The heroine Na-young of "My Past Life"
In "My Past Life", the heroine Na-young in the United States has a sense of relaxation: she expands her career in the art world, gains economic status and social recognition, and realizes her self-worth; and Obtaining a green card and identity through marriage. Marriage to an American husband is based on both material and emotional factors.The male protagonist Hae Ling feels a sense of embarrassment and insecurity whether he is in the familiar South Korea or the unfamiliar United States. Like the immigration path that Na Young has taken, if Hae Ling takes the same path, I am afraid that he will not be as good as Na Ying. As a result, he can only follow the script of East Asian men, study, enter higher education, and work. However, when he reaches the marriageable age, he still cannot afford to buy an independent house and live with his parents, and he cannot get married due to material conditions.
At the beginning and end of the plot, the Korean first love, the American husband and the immigrant sitting between them had an interesting conversation. Korean first love said that in Korea, you have to work hard, work overtime for free, and obey your boss and leadership. This is unbelievable to American husbands, but Korean first love thinks it is unbelievable not to work overtime. This is a combination of Korean workplace culture and American individualism. The collision of values and labor protection systems.
Hailing is a "typical Korean boy" in Naying's eyes. He does not go abroad and refuses to make a living abroad. But what will be the result if he flies overseas and pursues personal development like Naying? This open-ended question does not seem to be difficult to answer, because "The Life of Anger", another award-winning work at the same time as "The Past Life", has already told the audience the answer: After going to the United States, Hailing will become Danny Zhao , also exhausted physically and mentally, but was ridiculed as "unable" by the Chinese women in road rage. Will Hailing at that time still be Naying's "Korean first love"?
