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FEMALE ISSUES IN KOREAN ART-HOUSE CINEMA

R. Tangalycheva

Abstract

The purpose of the article is a sociological analysis of female issues in modern Korean art-house cinema. The ultimate goal is to study films of Lee Chang-dong, a South Korean film director, on the basis of the theoretical and methodological opportunities provided by sociology of culture. The attention is focused on “Poetry”, which won the prize for the best script at the Cannes Film Festival in 2010. The theoretical sources for interpretations include the ideas of the Birmingham School for Cultural Studies and the representatives of the critical theory - Jurgen Habermas and Hannah Arendt. In Lee Chang-dong’s films one can see not only those difficult life situations in which his heroines find themselves. Korean film director takes females side, forcing the viewer to empathize with what is happening on the screen. He conveys his author's vision through the prism of the female point of view, that is why many experts and critics consider his films as a manifesto of the new wave in Korean cinema. Lee Chan-dong in his films does not follow the politicization of the plot and the growth of self-consciousness of his heroines, but he follows the search for their unique personal identity. The director contrasts with social stereotypical ways of responding to difficult life situations set up by patriarchal forms of relations in Korean society with a personal search for a way out of the tragic distortions. Individual reaction is a unique, special way to interact with the external world, not often significant from the point of “typical behavior”. The article focuses on the critical analysis of the female characters of Lee Chang-dong's films by constructing their personal completeness, integral identity, or using the terminology of H. Arendt, “disclosing an identity in an action”.

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