Text | Linghu Boguang "To tell the truth that may make people feel uncomfortable, the current Korean film market has almost collapsed." Kim Han-min, the director of the movie "Myeongryang Sea Battle" expressed his views on the current situation of the Korean film industry after t

text | Linghu Boguang

"To tell the truth that may make people feel uncomfortable, the current Korean film market has almost collapsed." Kim Han-min, the director of the movie " Myeongryang Haiba " expressed his views on Korean movies after the epidemic Views on the current state of the industry.

At 2 pm on November 6, the Korean Film Promotion Committee and the Korean National Assembly Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee held a symposium titled "Injecting vitality into Korean movies: working together to revitalize movies" in the large conference room of the National Assembly Hall. The event was hosted by Chairman Jeon Jae-soo and members of the National Assembly Lim Oh-kyung and Park Jung-ha. It aimed to change the atmosphere of the Korean film industry, which has declined sharply after the Korean Wave boom subsided, and to understand relevant policy needs.

Leader Yoon Ha said: "Many people in the industry believe that the film industry has ushered in a cold winter. On the contrary, there is also a saying that 'crisis exists all the time.' In other words, before we even realize it, we have already worked together. overcame once There have been many crises. With the rise of the online video service (OTT) industry, the industrial structure has changed, and we are now facing a new crisis. "

Chinese movies are not good, Korean movies are not good, and even Hollywood movies are not good. .

But why, we feel that Korean movies are particularly bad.

"Parasite" is the beginning, but also a curse, the "life and death" of Korean movies

I personally wrote a series of articles last year, basically from the Korean economy and industrial development to the plight of Korean film and television itself, to young talents, etc. I’ve already written about it, but I won’t move here. Why is Hallyu not working anymore?

The answer is very simple, that is, under the general economic environment, the growth of the internal market is limited, and as a result, the external market is supported by the United States. Then Netflix in the United States began to support it as the mainstream media, and it really went out, won awards, and made money. But the result was that local talent, industry was sucked dry, the local market withered, and then suddenly it felt like it was no longer possible.

Of course, you insist on saying which Korean movie has a good foreign box office, Korean dramas have good results, are sold well in the market, and are very profitable, but haven't you considered one thing?

Hong Kong filmmakers in the 2000 era, Jackie Chan The 2001 " Rush Hour 2" had a North American box office of about 226 million US dollars, and the local Chinese film " Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon ", Zhang Yimou " Heroes " were all box office hits in North America, and the results were much better than Korean movies. Then after Stephen Chow's " Kung Fu ", the movie box office continued to decline. Everyone I also came back to the Beidi Market one after another (to take over orders).

Jackie Chan's return to Hollywood was " red zone ", which was released in the United States on February 23, 1996. It took 6 years to reach the peak of "Rush Hour 2". By the time " Rush Hour 3" was released in 2007, it was 11 years. By around 2008, the wave of Hong Kong filmmakers had basically returned to the mainland. The rest was completely dominated by Jackie Chan. There was a bit of aftermath (and the Hong Kong film elite was siphoned off, Later, a large number of Hollywood action films were produced by Hong Kong action design teams).

Korean movies, the real success in Europe and the United States is "Parasite" in 2019, and it has been five years now. Then came the wave of Korean dramas streaming, a little later. In fact, the impact of this commercial performance on the film and television industry is far less than when Hong Kong filmmakers went to Hollywood, but if you insist on success, that's fine.

The problem is that what everyone is discussing is never about the success of Hong Kong movies and the success of Korean movies in Hollywood. It must be better, but isn't the fundamental problem that the local market is declining, talents are being siphoned away, and then the decline of the local market is further aggravated.

At first one or two Hong Kong directors were talking about this, but now one or two Korean directors are talking about this.

Netizens will definitely scold me: How good are Korean movies in Hollywood? Do you really think Americans Will it be like the big resentment in mainland China, which has supported Hong Kong movies for 20 years and was scolded by Hong Kong filmmakers and a group of netizens for delaying it? Will Americans support Korean filmmakers for a lifetime? It’s less than 10 years ago, what’s the situation in the local market?

So what will be the final result if the mainland declines completely?

Being sucked dry by the United States, but unable to integrate into China? Hallyu's "no future"

When it cannot be solved at the political and military levels, it cannot be solved at the economic level, let alone the culture.

Thinking about the China-Japan-Korea Free Trade Area, China has not failed to make efforts. It is also because of this that what you call cooperation has actually happened. The China-Japan-Korea Free Trade Area started in May 2012. I wonder if you still remember that our top officials frequently went to South Korea at that time, and the South Korean female president came to China during the National Day. At the same time, what was the culture around 2012? ? Is it the time when Korean Wave, Korean dramas, and Korean movies enter the Chinese market on a large scale?

The Returned Four Sons from export to domestic sales, from the local release of Korean movies, from "My Love from the Star" became popular in the country (the last Korean drama that was a big hit in the country at that time should be " ghost "), from the variety show From entertainment to clothing to consumer fashion, etc., were Korean brands popular in the country in those few years?

Then the political issue was not resolved, the female president was elected, THAAD was completely withdrawn, and South Korea turned its market to the United States largely because of this. Europe and the United States immediately won awards for "Parasite" and "Squid Game", and the market exploded. Boy groups and girl groups are becoming popular all over the world (are Bulletproof ones really stronger than previous Korean groups?)

Before the political issues are resolved, don’t even think about solving the economic issues, let alone the cultural issues.

Another major issue is that you don’t need to think about it. If you recall for a moment, you will find that when the Korean Wave fully entered the Chinese market, will this kind of cooperation make Chinese pop culture better? Or is it worse? Or are the demons dancing wildly?

This question is quite complicated to explain clearly. If you put it simply: it is probably the mentality of Hong Kong and Taiwan, which is arrogance.

Remember, no matter what disputes there are between Hong Kong and Taiwan and the mainland, they are still part of the Chinese cultural circle, and there has been a sweet period for mutual integration since the reform. Hong Kong and Taiwan culture can be said to be very integrated into China, and everyone respects it, but Hong Kong and Taiwan people That arrogant mentality still cannot be changed.

To put it simply: probably because of modern politics and the ideology brought about by economic development (capitalism takes the lead in modernization), he looks down on you from the bottom of his heart. No matter how big your market is, he just treats you as a local rich man. If you want to make money but don’t want to contribute, there is even a kind of person who will obviously give you 10 yuan to produce special effects for European and American movies, but he will take it as a belief and give you the effect of 11 yuan. If you pay 10 yuan to make special effects for Chinese movies, he only wants to make three or four yuan. effect, then take When the money leaves, he will still laugh at you in private: It’s really xxx

. If you recall again, in those years, the Chinese market was greatly opened, and the Korean Wave came in full force. The Korean people were well fed, and the Korean Wave also broke out in full during that period. (Later, it was supported by Europe and the United States, using capital and powerful media to explode globally. Before 2010, the foundation was laid locally), but are there any high-quality products in pop culture that cooperate with China?

Over the years, I don’t know if you have discovered it. Anyway, I have discovered that if a big country does not have its own strong industry, strength and ideological guarantee for so-called cultural exchanges, especially with those first-mover countries, it is impossible for you to please them. Come for any exchange and cooperation.

Chinese movies may have no future, but Hallyu definitely has no future.

In fact, culture cannot be separated from the economy, and the economy cannot be separated from politics.Many netizens think that Chinese movies are so bad and their performance is not good. Why do they have the face to mock Korean movies? The problem with Chinese movies is that last year the epidemic ended and a wave of outbreaks broke out. This year's works are too bad. Copying, commercial assembly lines, and censorship make the works too boring. No, the audience doesn’t like watching it.

However, China’s market of more than one billion is still there, and its economic development is pretty good. Even if it declines, it will not die as suddenly as a small country.

South Korea was supported by the United States to hedge against China's influence. Just as the United States supported Hong Kong films in the 1970s and 1980s, it was the result of Chinese films sweeping Southeast Asia in the 1950s and 1960s, while American films were not accustomed to the local environment. When Hong Kong's film industry moved north, it was China's old state-owned film industry system that was destroyed.

At that time, the small studio model of Hong Kong movies, which posed no threat to American Hollywood, has been perpetuated to this day.

Only when Guo Fan re-establishes the film industry system does he have real hope.

It is precisely because of this that South Korea is trying every possible means to steal Chinese culture. In the final analysis, it is to gain the right to speak about East Asian culture. It's just that China's soft power is growing day by day, and Chinese culture is so vast and profound that South Korea cannot steal it. It can only deceive its own people and become a joke internationally.

"Zishan Fish Book" fortunately did not develop. If it continued to develop, Chinese landscape painting would have originated in Korea.

However, this is also a means for the United States to drive a wedge between China and South Korea. If you are paying attention to South Korea’s behavior of stealing culture, you will find that this behavior happened after China, Japan and South Korea launched negotiations on the China-Japan-South Korea Free Trade Agreement in 2012. At the same time, the dispute over the Diaoyu Islands broke out, and the China-Japan-Korea Free Trade Agreement came to an end.

In order for Chinese, Japanese and Korean films to unite, Japan and South Korea must get rid of the dominance of the United States, otherwise there will be no hope. Art is not a slave to politics, and upper-level power is not a completely unified whole. Whether Japan and South Korea can escape US control is not something that can be determined by movies, but film workers can expand their cultural influence. If the overall idea is to rely on top-down reform, this idea does not discuss right or wrong.

We discuss practice and what can be done, which is to promote bottom-up cooperation and develop cultural industries.

Those engaged in art are more dispersed than those engaged in politics. Many film people in Japan and South Korea do not buy the Americans' account. This is the classic "Who are our enemies? Who are our friends?" If we blindly pursue top-down efforts and fail to win over civilians or scattered friends, the cultural industry can engage in guerrilla warfare.

Among the rights that are not completely unified, there are leaders who have this attitude. If you don't care about anything, others will develop it, but it will be regarded as a threat. In fact, South Korea has done a lot of stealing, but seeing movies like "Zi Shan Yu Pu" appear, on the one hand, I hate that iron cannot become steel, but on the other hand, I should also have this confidence.

Do you think that the introduction of this kind of Korean film, or what it is, can give a whip to Chinese film workers who are not enterprising, and give some ideas to those who have no talent but occupy a resource position.

But I think I still think too much. Wu Jing and Guo Fan are still Chinese. Have they given Chinese movies a whip?

Generally speaking, Chinese movies have problems with Chinese movies, and Korean movies have problems with Korean movies. It is obvious to the naked eye that Korean movies are about to be unable to survive. Although Chinese movies are better, they cannot be said to be happy.