미국 개봉 한국영화의 문화 담론 연구

A Study of Cultural Discourse of Korean Films in U.S.A.

The purpose of this research is to find an answer to a question: “What kind of cultural discourse is present as result of recent openings of Korean movies in the U.S.?” In statistical perspective, the presence of Korean movies in the U.S. is minimal, yet. However, the interests of Korean film makers and audiences regarding showing of Korean movies in the U.S. are very high. In fact, some of Korean movies are introduced thru international film festivals and various film markets. Recent Korean movies are being produced not only for the domestic audiences but also for international ones. Most Korean movies released in the U.S. are also as result of award winnings from international film festivals or domestic successes. Therefore, the recent U.S. opening Korean movies can be categorized in art movies or Hollywood style genre movies. This research deals with <D-War> produced for the purpose of being released in the U.S. and ones already shown in the U.S. The reason is to aggressively find cultural discourses involved with those productions that aim at releasing in the U.S.. Also, this research predisposes that the cultural discourses do exist in various forms and processes. This paper does not intend to judge right or wrong but to peruse how various cultural discourses compete or co-exist in or out of the movies. Not only production processes like a uniqueness of narrative and purpose of a production but also marketing intention and method and responses of media has been analyzed and the result indicates that Korean movies which have been shown in the U.S. has not formed any significant cultural discourses. However, domestically, in the process of production, industry-central cultural discourses and technology-central ones have been strongly present. Both discourses are involved with ‘patriotism,’ Instead of realistic analysis of the movies’ quality, patriotism and self satisfaction are prevalent and are the focus of the audience’s interest. Since visible results and self satisfying meanings of movies are stressed, the creative efforts for narrative itself tend to be slighted. The enhancement of identity of Korean movies in a long run seems a weak possibility when the effective and realistic efforts are overlooked. These are the reasons being pessimistic about releasing of Korean movies in the U.S. making any positive progress. It is questionable whether movies filled with origin indistinctive narratives can be recognized as a Korean movie. We must escape from just simply copying the Hollywood style genre movies.