With works such as " Parasite " and " Burning " winning multiple international awards, colorful and dynamic Korean movies are quickly known and recognized by movie fans around the world. Since the 21st century, Korean movies have quickly stood out.
So, what is the power of Korean movies? Faced with Hollywood's "survival" moment, what helps it achieve a "jedi counterattack"? As an outside researcher, Fan Xiaoqing gave an answer from the perspective of the "other" in "100 Years of Korean Film".
"100 Years of Korean Films" by Fan Xiaoqing, Shanghai Sanlian Bookstore
I was the only Chinese student in the class
"During the Busan Film Festival, the school was suspended for 2 weeks, and we chatted with famous filmmakers."
South Korea's support for the film industry continues to grow. With policy support and capital investment, it has been more effectively integrated into urban cultural activities.
Reading Weekly: With the popularity of Korean movies such as "Parasite" on a global scale, related research has also soared. Many media have called you "the first person to study Korean movies." How did you become the "first person"? "people"?
Fan Xiaoqing (Associate Professor at the School of Drama, Film and Television, Communication University of China): In 2003, I resigned from Beijing Communications Broadcasting and took three years of savings to study film in South Korea. This was a relatively bold decision at the time. But my reason is very simple. I like the movies of Xu Qinhao and Li Changdong very much, and I want to go to Korea to check them out.
At that time, Korean movies had just made some international noise, but they had very few followers. The exchange rate in South Korea is also high, and studying abroad is not cheap, so I am the only international student in the class. Around 2005, I was fortunate enough to become a columnist for Movie Watch magazine and began writing film reviews. In this way, I became the so-called "first person to study Korean films", not because of any greatness, but because I was older and left early.
Fan Xiaoqing, Ph.D., associate professor at the School of Drama, Film and Television, Communication University of China, consultant to the Busan International Film Festival, director of the China Film Critics Society, and chief planner of the Asian College Student Film Festival
Reading Weekly: But in recent years, everyone has suddenly discovered that the presence of Korean movies is too great Stronger.
Fan Xiaoqing: Today, everyone has seen the fact that Korean movies are making rapid progress and are unstoppable. The domestic box office and overseas reputation go hand in hand, and the flowers inside and outside the walls are fragrant. But more than ten years ago, all this was unimaginable. Just like when I told my father that I was going to Korea to study film, he immediately asked: "What movies are there in Korea?" It can be seen that in their era, Korean movies had no sense of existence. And this just shows that in a short period of time, the once weak Korean movies have undergone earth-shaking changes, from obscurity to great success. This really makes people curious: What have Korean movies done right?
Reading Weekly: What did you do right?
Fan Xiaoqing: This is exactly the question that "100 Years of Korean Film" wants to answer. When we look back at the development of Korean films, we will find that there are countless threads - for example, the aesthetic inheritance between creative generations, the impact of the industrial era on films, the shaping of Korean screen images and overseas dissemination... In addition, China Filmmakers represented by Bong Joon-ho, Lee Chang-dong, Park Chan-wook, Kim Ki-duk, etc., which the audience is generally concerned about, as well as the interactive relationship between the Korean film system and creators, have become important topics to answer this question.
Under such complicated clues, in order to clearly present the development and exploration practice of Korean films, we need to find a suitable historical incision and open up the "growth history" of Korean films with different ideas and methods.
Reading Weekly: In the book, you spend a lot of time describing the "386 Generation" of filmmakers represented by Bong Joon-ho, Lee Chang-dong, Park Chan-wook, Kim Ki-duk, etc. (specifically those born in the 1960s and active in the 1980s) A generation that participates in social movements and enters the workplace at around 30 years old after graduating from college), can this be seen as one of your openings in the century-old history of Korean cinema?
Fan Xiaoqing: You can say that. In the book, I used "three dimensions" to position Korean movies, and hoped to present the "richness" of Korean movies through writing based on the industry and oriented to the public.
First of all, on the temporal level, I use generational genealogy to discuss the development of film, and present the evolution of Korean film national aesthetics from a vertical perspective. Among them, the fourth generation of filmmakers, mainly the "386 Generation", is particularly important. They are not only the most familiar people to contemporary audiences, but also the backbone of the modern development of Korean films. They changed the foundation of South Korea's backward film industry and opened up a new creative system for Korean films.
Secondly, at the spatial level, the Korean film industry shows the characteristics of a shift from Chungmuro to Gangnam, which reflects the deep changes in the creative population and industrial structure. It is the "386 Generation" that has opened the "New-Chungmuro Era" and announced the formation of Korean modern aesthetics. This can be used to sort out the development of the industrial context and serve as a supplement to the intergenerational genealogy.
Finally, at the industry and industry level, it quoted the oral records of 30 senior people in the Korean industry and art circles. Film art is a new art form developed on new technologies, so it must be based on two-way communication between the industry and the art world. Among them, directors with strong styles such as Lee Chang-dong, Lim Chang-shu, and Kim Ki-duk are also important representatives of the "Fourth Generation".
Reading Weekly: Speaking of oral records, you met many filmmakers through the Busan International Film Festival. What kind of film festival is this?
Fan Xiaoqing: The Busan International Film Festival is a very friendly and contagious film festival. It has preferential treatment policies for all professional movie fans, such as film majors in various schools. As long as any student applies, he will get a "cinema card". With this card, each person can receive four free movie tickets for the film festival every day, and can watch from morning to night.
During the film festival, many schools in Seoul, South Korea will be closed. In this way, we have two weeks to go to the film festival with our "cinephile cards" to learn about movies. We can also watch and discuss movies with our seniors and juniors, and even go to various movie parties. , chatting with filmmakers of all colors from around the world.
From today's perspective, this not only cultivates a diverse movie-watching atmosphere and strengthens the team of professional movie fans, it is also a booster for the "reservists" in the industry, where everyone has more collisions and creative ideas. Connecting with resources and seeing the larger cultural world and different energies have allowed more people to strengthen their ideals of film creation.
The staff prepares the Busan Film Festival exhibition board
Reading Weekly: From your description, I feel that the Busan Film Festival has a very unique temperament.
Fan Xiaoqing: Indeed. Three of the founders of the Busan Film Festival are all university professors. It can be said that the content of intellectuals at the film festival is quite high, a bit "academic".
But this kind of "academicism" is not condescending. The Busan Film Festival took the initiative to apply to become a Category B film festival. This is because the founders believe that the "highlight" of the film festival is not the awards, but the audience watching and watching the films. The most important thing about film exchange is to activate film culture, because culture can influence more people and the next generation, and can bring a steady stream of creators, observers and audiences to the entire industry.
We should make cold things sparkle.
"They seem to be telling the story of their own nation, but in the final analysis, they are communicating the emotions of the whole world."
The filmmakers of the "386 Generation" opened up the national narrative and the world The two-wheel drive of expression not only captures the interests of the public, but also does not give up self-examination and artistic individuality. This is the secret of its success.
Reading Weekly: We have found that whether it is the previous award-winning "Parasite" or the recently popular "Tomb", Korean movies can always trigger extensive discussions among global audiences. What "traffic password" is hidden in it?
Fan Xiaoqing: I believe that the directors of South Korea’s “386 Generation”, especially the “Four Kings”, are not only able to connect with the world in terms of presentation of visual language, but also resonate with the world in terms of emotional expression and depth of thought. Their movies seem to be telling the stories of their own nation, but in the final analysis they communicate the emotions of the whole world.
So, what to use to communicate? At this time, "language" becomes particularly important. At the age of 40, Lee Chang-dong had won almost all literary awards in Korea, but he still chose to devote himself to movies. One of the important reasons was that the number of Korean readers was very limited. When Lee Chang-dong transformed such texts into film language, the situation changed. It opened immediately.
In addition, in the era of globalization, American popular culture does not dominate as expected, because national narratives have their own unique emotional value. This is also the reason why the influence of Korean Wave culture has been continuously expanding in the past 30 years, not only affecting the surrounding Asian regions, but also affecting Europe and the United States. It can be said that national narrative and world language are indispensable.
"Parasite" poster
Reading Weekly: But at present, there are still many national narratives that are still aphasic in the film field. Why is South Korea’s national narrative so unique?
Fan Xiaoqing: This is largely due to the growth environment of the "386 Generation" filmmakers. The unique social atmosphere not only gave them strong national introspection, allowing them to further think and explore the possibility of national aesthetics, but also allowed them to "open up "Seeing the World" has been baptized by various literary and artistic forms from European, American, Japanese films and films by Chinese fifth-generation directors.
Reading Weekly: What was the social atmosphere like at that time?
Fan Xiaoqing: Most of the "386 Generation" filmmakers are Koreans born during the baby boom in the 1960s. They usually went to college in the 1980s. College students at that time had ample time to review and think about the history and future of their nation. Therefore, this era has cultivated a large number of intellectuals who are extremely capable of thinking and acting.
South Korean (former) President Roh Moo-hyun once said: "The 386 generation is the most important generation to change South Korea." Because on the one hand, these people are good at thinking and can complete the examination of the nation; on the other hand, they are exposed to popular culture and can see Hollywood has had a huge impact on national culture. At the same time, it also knows how to convey this kind of introspective thinking and use the shell of popular culture to attract the public, without giving up mass fun, self-examination and artistic personality, thus creating A kind of "both sides" film aesthetics.
Reading Weekly: Does this also mean that despite the complex social conditions at that time, they still lived in an environment rich in cultural resources?
Fan Xiaoqing: When Bong Joon-ho accepted the award at the Cannes Film Festival, he said: "I am just a genre film director. I am just a child who has been sitting next to the TV late at night watching those old movies with great interest since I was 15 years old. A movie fanatic. "
This passage is very representative. Almost all filmmakers of the "386 Generation" are intellectuals, but at the same time they love to "play", so I call them "old boys". When they were growing up, they were exposed to Hollywood classical genre films, Japanese comics, European art films, Hong Kong kung fu films, and oriental narratives from mainland fifth-generation directors... These all gave them a great aesthetic shock. In such an era, People who have grown up with diverse aesthetics can use their familiar film techniques more freely to support their film thoughts.
" Old Boy " poster
Reading Weekly: Therefore, compared to Hollywood, Korean movies seem to be richer in terms of narrative style and image expression.
Fan Xiaoqing: I often say that among the "Four Heavenly Kings" of Korea, Bong Joon-ho is a fable, Lee Chang-dong is a poem, Park Chan-wook is a novel, and Hong Sang-soo is a prose with scattered form and spirit. They each have their own characteristics, allowing Korean films to present a diversified development pattern, making it difficult for audiences to experience aesthetic fatigue.
Reading Weekly: In addition to the uniqueness of audio-visual language, the richness of genre films must also require diversified sources of scripts.
Fan Xiaoqing: Indeed. South Korea is the country with the highest original film rate in the world, with almost 80% of its films being original. Of course, there are also many directors who are famous for their adaptations. For example, Park Chan-wook, his works are almost half original and half adapted.
But his adaptation is completely different from what we call IP thinking today.There are actually not many remakes of Chinese movies today, but Park Chan-wook's ideas are very unique. He pays more attention to "recreation" based on the original work. For example, "Miss " is adapted from the British Victorian novel "Flowers of Thorns", while "The Bat" is adapted from Zola's "The Red Apricot". He put these niche classics into Korean tradition for creation, and created an international path with a unique aesthetic audience.
"Miss" poster
Reading Weekly: It sounds quite difficult.
Fan Xiaoqing: Such a path is difficult for most people to repeat. On the one hand, Park Chan-wook is a fan of B-level movies, which determines that his movies will definitely contain the "favorite" niche elements of human nature such as romance, revenge, violence, ultimate conspiracy, and desire. On the other hand, the aesthetic elements of China, Japan and South Korea are vividly displayed in his films. Due to the huge number of movie viewers, he can mix and match aesthetics to the extreme. This makes fuzzy aesthetics + novelization the unique label of his films.
Park Chan-wook once said: "Don't make cold things frozen, but make cold things sparkle." Therefore, his movies can become popular "fashion items" among specific groups of people. "Although the subject matter and style are niche, they can become the pursuit targets of people with high aesthetic standards and quickly become popular commodities. Because of this, some more literary and artistic genre films can also make money, and the film industry can enter a diversified positive cycle.
The United States has Hollywood, and South Korea has Chungmuro
"The film is an industry that can rival the automobile industry and has huge potential economic capacity."
After 1993, the nature of the film industry in South Korea changed drastically, from an entertainment service industry to a " "Manufacturing Industry", the Korean government has a clear goal: to produce cultural goods with global competitiveness.
Reading Weekly: In the past few years, Korean movies were labeled as "large-scale", but in recent years, more genre works containing artistic and critical consciousness, such as "Burning" and "Determination to Break Up", have begun to enter the public eye. Compared with Hollywood, there don’t seem to be many “blockbusters” in Korean movies?
Fan Xiaoqing: This is because South Korea’s domestic market is very limited, and its population of 50 million objectively restricts the cost investment of movies. They are very cautious about investing in movies, because once they invest too much to make ends meet, it may lead to the depletion of industrial capital. However, the production process of the Korean film industry is very clear and scientific. They adhere to the principle of "the size of the land, the size of the output" and calculate it very clearly. Therefore, the income of Korean stars and directors is very restrained compared to other countries.
Reading Weekly: So, where does the motivation for actors and directors come from?
Fan Xiaoqing: In South Korea, if a star actor or director wants to live a decent life, it is not the salary but the dividends. During the film preparation period, actors or directors usually only receive a small salary, and most of the budget is invested in production. After the film is released, once the box office exceeds the dividend line agreed upon by all parties, dividends can begin. Therefore, the more viewers, the better the reputation, and the more substantial dividends you get.
Take "Parasite" as an example. The production cost of this film totaled 80 million yuan, which is average for a commercial film in China. But "Parasite" not only built its own set, but actually built a house, and also mobilized a lot of star actors.
Bong Joon-ho's movie budgets are very accurate, so producers whether in Korea or Hollywood like to invest in him. As a director, he can not only draw the storyboard himself, but also restore the storyboard almost 1:1 during filming. How many days it takes to shoot a movie, how much it costs, and how much return you can get are all very clear and controllable.
On February 9, 2020, in Los Angeles, the United States, director Bong Joon-ho, who won the Oscar for Best Picture, Best Director, Best International Film, and Best Original Screenplay for his film "Parasite", showed his trophy
Book Weekly : What is the relationship between producers and directors like in Korea?
Fan Xiaoqing: The producer and director work "hand in hand", and no one is in an absolute dominant position. On the set, it is definitely not the director who has the final say. The director must shoot according to the shooting plan formulated in the early stage. Bong Joon-ho is a good example. Two of his "Capital Trilogy", "Snowpiercer ", "Okja " and "Parasite" are international projects, although the production costs are different between them. It's huge, but it was shot for almost the same length of time, three months. This also reflects the producer's precise control over the film production process. Therefore, I call this film production model the "director-producer dual-track system."
Reading Weekly: We have observed that young Korean directors have a high commercial success rate. Is this related to the dual-track director-producer system?
Fan Xiaoqing: Of course. The young directors are creative and motivated, while the senior producers have enough experience in project management, funding sources and the ability to manage funds, which can protect them and make both sides achieve mutual success.
Reading Weekly: Where does Korea’s unique producer system come from?
Fan Xiaoqing: This actually involves the appearance of the “386 generation”. In the 1990s, South Korea's home appliance manufacturing industry was very developed and developed rapidly, especially home video recorders. In the beginning, large companies like Samsung, Daewoo, and LG started producing content in order to sell home video recorders, because video content was their most important promotional tool.
As a result, the advertising departments of these large companies found relevant filmmakers. One party had management experience and financial resources and became a producer; the other party had film goals and film pursuits and became a content creator. The two hit it off immediately, and the first generation of producers was born. Subsequently, with the continued support of the industry, these professional producers not only led the vigorous development of Korean films, but also showed great control in discovering new directors and actors, developing Korean stories to satisfy local audiences, and attracting industry funds. , creating a new-Zhongwu Road model.
Reading Weekly: At the 93rd Academy Awards, Han Jin-won, the co-screenwriter of "Parasite" said: "The United States has Hollywood, and South Korea has Chungmuro. I hope to share this with all the filmmakers and storytellers in Chungmuro. "It's an honor." Can we say that the success of this film is a representative of the new Chungmuro model?
Fan Xiaoqing: "Parasite" is a masterpiece. In fact, whether it is the film creators who gathered in Chungmuro or the producers who created the modern industrial foundation of New Chungmuro, it is their joint efforts that straightened out the planning-investment-production-distribution industrial system and achieved We hired star directors and actors to ensure the completion of the work. It was they who, together with capital that abided by commercial logic, built the modern and rationalized industrial system of Korean films, and they truly became what Godard called "businessmen in the morning, poets in the afternoon."
Text/Shangguan News Reporter Xiao Yawen
Editor/Cui Wei
