Can Western people be individuals?
Feb. 15th, 2007 11:57 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
imomusBerlin's big event right now is the Berlinale, the annual film festival famous for its golden bear awards. I'm not the world's biggest cinephile, but there have been a few things I've been keen to see. Photographer Mika Ninagawa is showing her first full-length feature, Sakuran (her first short, Cheap Trip, featured the original Momus demo for "Journey to the Centre of Me"). Sakuran features Funky Forest star Anna Tsuchiya as a Yoshiwara oiran, a high class prostitute. Alas, I wasn't able to get tickets (though I'm sure, with the music connection, I could have blagged some if I'd really tried).
Another Asian film that looks interesting is Korean movie I'm A Cyborg, But That's Okay, in which director Park Chan-wook teams up the beautiful, fringed Lim Soo Jung with K-pop star Rain. They basically play charming lunatics -- one uses her grandmother's dentures to communicate with lights and vending machines, the other dons a mask in order to transfer emotional energy between the other inmates of the asylum he's incarcerated in. It's tempting to see this quirkfest (and, again, I wasn't able to get tickets) as a light meditation on conformity versus individuality -- the first trailer begins in a factory straight out of Lang's Metropolis or Wells's The Trial:
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And the second delves more into the bizarre sanatorium hijinks of the protagonists, as they discover their (paradoxically robotic) individuality amongst the freaks on the far margins of society:
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Watching these trailers, I had two thoughts. First, this Cyborg movie just seems way fresher than anything coming out of the West, and presents characters who are much more interesting and individualistic (just as Ishii's Funky Forest does). Now, cinema is a mirror of society in the sense that it replicates but also reverses it, so it may be that this individuality is precisely what's lacking from Korean society right now. The film does imply that it can only exist amongst the mad and the marginal. But it's also worth thinking about whether we in the West aren't just a teensy bit complacent about our fully-developed individuality. Hollywood films present a much more cookie-cutter view of human personality than these Asian romantic comedies do.
Which leads to the other thought I had. Funky Forest and I'm A Cyborg, But That's Okay are mainstream products that also manage to be intelligent, stylish and quirky. And I can't help thinking that this might only be possible in societies where the majority of film consumers are bright and well-educated. And, as this BBC article covering an OECD league table of educational attainment explains, South Korea has "leapfrogged" many Western countries in the past twenty years. "Young people in South Korea's workforce are more likely to have achieved an upper secondary education than anywhere else in the developed world. They are also among the most likely to have university degrees." Surely, in this context, it should be no surprise that mainstream cultural products -- at least those directed at the young -- would be slightly more intelligent than those from nations lower down the league table?
My native Scotland was long ago overtaken, educationally, by Asian countries. One film I will see this Berlinale is David Mackenzie's Hallam Foe. Set in my hometown of Edinburgh, and employing the off-kilter graphics and cartoons of David Shrigley (yet more apotheosis for the successful scribbler), this is the tale of a boy who's "frankly, a little odd". The trailer does all it can to establish Hallam as a crank before bursting into a song that goes "I am a lone horse rider". Quirky individualism, it seems, is not yet dead. Even in the West.
Another Asian film that looks interesting is Korean movie I'm A Cyborg, But That's Okay, in which director Park Chan-wook teams up the beautiful, fringed Lim Soo Jung with K-pop star Rain. They basically play charming lunatics -- one uses her grandmother's dentures to communicate with lights and vending machines, the other dons a mask in order to transfer emotional energy between the other inmates of the asylum he's incarcerated in. It's tempting to see this quirkfest (and, again, I wasn't able to get tickets) as a light meditation on conformity versus individuality -- the first trailer begins in a factory straight out of Lang's Metropolis or Wells's The Trial:
[Error: unknown template video]
And the second delves more into the bizarre sanatorium hijinks of the protagonists, as they discover their (paradoxically robotic) individuality amongst the freaks on the far margins of society:
[Error: unknown template video]
Watching these trailers, I had two thoughts. First, this Cyborg movie just seems way fresher than anything coming out of the West, and presents characters who are much more interesting and individualistic (just as Ishii's Funky Forest does). Now, cinema is a mirror of society in the sense that it replicates but also reverses it, so it may be that this individuality is precisely what's lacking from Korean society right now. The film does imply that it can only exist amongst the mad and the marginal. But it's also worth thinking about whether we in the West aren't just a teensy bit complacent about our fully-developed individuality. Hollywood films present a much more cookie-cutter view of human personality than these Asian romantic comedies do.
Which leads to the other thought I had. Funky Forest and I'm A Cyborg, But That's Okay are mainstream products that also manage to be intelligent, stylish and quirky. And I can't help thinking that this might only be possible in societies where the majority of film consumers are bright and well-educated. And, as this BBC article covering an OECD league table of educational attainment explains, South Korea has "leapfrogged" many Western countries in the past twenty years. "Young people in South Korea's workforce are more likely to have achieved an upper secondary education than anywhere else in the developed world. They are also among the most likely to have university degrees." Surely, in this context, it should be no surprise that mainstream cultural products -- at least those directed at the young -- would be slightly more intelligent than those from nations lower down the league table?
My native Scotland was long ago overtaken, educationally, by Asian countries. One film I will see this Berlinale is David Mackenzie's Hallam Foe. Set in my hometown of Edinburgh, and employing the off-kilter graphics and cartoons of David Shrigley (yet more apotheosis for the successful scribbler), this is the tale of a boy who's "frankly, a little odd". The trailer does all it can to establish Hallam as a crank before bursting into a song that goes "I am a lone horse rider". Quirky individualism, it seems, is not yet dead. Even in the West.
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off topic!
Date: 2007-02-15 12:10 pm (UTC)-Stephanie
Re: off topic!
Date: 2007-02-15 12:47 pm (UTC)"Appropriation, mimicry, quotation, allusion, and sublimated collaboration consist of a kind of sine qua non of the creative act, cutting across all forms and genres in the realm of cultural production."
I'm down with that message. Or, as Dizzy Gillespie put it, "You can't steal a gift". And speaking of gift culture, Laurie Taylor examines the phenomenon here (http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/aod/networks/radio4/aod.shtml?radio4/thinkingallowed).
Re: off topic!
Date: 2007-02-16 12:49 am (UTC)Marxy
Re: off topic!
Date: 2007-02-16 09:37 am (UTC)Re: off topic!
Date: 2007-02-19 04:57 am (UTC)Marxy
Re: off topic!
Date: 2007-02-15 07:14 pm (UTC)an interesting theory
Date: 2007-02-15 12:10 pm (UTC)William Thirteen
Re: an interesting theory
Date: 2007-02-16 03:49 pm (UTC)Then, if you (like me) can't get enough of the Dasepo stuff, there is a TV series as well, available on 4 DVDs with around 13 hours of material. I'm halfway through those now, and it's the the funniest thing I've seen for years.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-02-15 01:21 pm (UTC)We should be willing to devote the same % of our GDP on education as South Korea and Japan. If only we could do that, the problem would be solved.
Oh...wait a minute, the US spends 5% and those other two countries only spend 3.5%. Hm.. but... er...
(no subject)
Date: 2007-02-15 01:31 pm (UTC)Well, I´m working hard enough for it, ffs. Though I think being quirky is perhaps too conformist...
(no subject)
Date: 2007-02-15 01:39 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-02-15 01:48 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-02-15 02:32 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-02-15 03:44 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-02-16 08:21 am (UTC)michael
re: cyborg and i'm not ok
Date: 2007-02-15 01:55 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-02-15 02:04 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-02-15 02:21 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-02-15 02:24 pm (UTC)Property is theft
Silence is music
Soul itself is the longing of the soul-less for redemption
But I only say this because I, too, am a rosbif.
btw
Date: 2007-02-15 02:30 pm (UTC)Re: btw
Date: 2007-02-15 03:01 pm (UTC)And what happens when this "esoteric" thing becomes domestic (say, for instance, we live with a Japanese person)?
Also, who is the "proprietor" of East-West relations, the person qualified to say exactly what they are?
Re: btw
Date: 2007-02-15 04:53 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-02-15 06:50 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-02-15 02:40 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-02-15 03:45 pm (UTC)Fish and beer the alternative!
Date: 2007-02-15 04:36 pm (UTC)OUI!
Ringo Shiina did the sound tracks for Sakuran and she kicks.Bigtime.
Nick you need to get tickets!
(no subject)
Date: 2007-02-15 05:02 pm (UTC)That, or invite him over to make a movie in America, a la My Blueberry Nights (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Blueberry_Nights).
More than individualism, I'd be curious to hear your thoughts on the lack of romance in American cinema and pop culture right now.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-02-15 05:21 pm (UTC)It's all tied up with sociology, and with a general feelgood factor that comes with economic boomtime combined with the rapid social change brought by increasing consumerism, and the escape from the straitjacket of traditional society. We had that, in the West, in the 60s. It's now happening in Asia. Hence this playful, Godardian tone that many of these films have. (Godard without the critique, perhaps.)
(no subject)
Date: 2007-02-15 05:54 pm (UTC)20 minute trailer for his DVD "ALERT!".
(http://video.google.com/url?docid=-4713922768731328121&esrc=sr2&ev=v&q=alert!+jim+ether&vidurl=http://video.google.com/videoplay%3Fdocid%3D-4713922768731328121%26q%3Dalert%2521%2Bjim%2Bether&usg=AL29H20tOaOSfbBRxKUatN6qABaseapcVQ)
(no subject)
Date: 2007-02-15 06:42 pm (UTC)While I am generally the last person to say a bad thing about Korea, I loathe this sort of statistic. If 100% of people graduate from high school, all that means is high school is really easy; easy enough that even people who are very much below average can graduate. Their university system is abysmal; mostly due to confucianist ideas. And, finally, it was the previous uneducated generation who built Korea's economy into what it is today. There is also no culture of respectable small businessman there (beyond people selling socks on the subway and stuff); unfortunately, most of the economy is made up of enormous daibatsu corporations. When was the last time Westinghouse had a good idea?
I won't argue though about their TV and movies. It is presently in a golden age. And I hope for the best for Korea, and think they will ultimately succeed. They have a lot to teach the world, even though they probably don't realize what their real strengths are. They're the Florentines of Asia; happy, artistic, dramatic and hard working.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-02-15 09:52 pm (UTC)Particularly enjoyed your post on post-materialism and Berlin.
Belated birthday congrats.
Thomas S.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-02-15 11:18 pm (UTC)I'd say this puts one ball in the economic growth bucket.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-02-16 07:37 am (UTC)Besides, Korea has one of the highest suicide rates in the OECD countries. What's the spurious correlation to be drawn from that, eh?
(no subject)
Date: 2007-02-16 08:34 am (UTC)So, that's my recently memorised bit of disturbing trivia about Korea.
And here's just what we've come to expect about Britain:
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/14022007/140/uk-worst-place-child-welfare.html
(no subject)
Date: 2007-02-16 10:38 am (UTC)But as for originality or experimentalism, I haven't seen or heard anything (film-wise or music-wise) done in my lifetime that isn't basically based on - or a copy of - (even if unintentionally) something done before my birth. It would be safe to wager that "true" experimentalism simply hasn't existed since the mid-20th century in those mediums. There's nothing wrong with that per se, as long as quality (and the aesthetics involved, really) doesn't flag - and it definitely has.
And quirkiness can be a lot of fun.
My Korean boyfriend's too busy playing his MMORPG...
Date: 2007-02-17 02:08 am (UTC)Yes Korea has produced some brilliant films in recent years (despite the fact 90% of them are romantic comedies/tragedies). But that's largely due to political protectionism, requiring that a certain percentage of all films and music in Korea be Korean. At times Korea can be extremely anti-foreign - western imports were strictly limited, and until 1999 Japanese films were banned completely (although Koreans arguably had good reason to hate the Japanese).
As a whole, most Korean films aren't particularly original or innovative - although I love lots of Korean films, and Dasepo Naughty Girls is particularly quirky, most are just cloned romantic comedies.
If Korea has any overriding trait at the moment, it could be clone culture. Many identikit romantic comedy films. Music heavily inspired by American RnB. Electronics and car companies 'lifting' both US and Japanese products. Giant corporate culture. Even worringly common eyelid plastic surgery to look more ideal.
It's all a bit confusing though - one minute Koreans are cursing the Japanese/Americans, the next they're copying gangster rap and playing Japanese videogames. There's a large divide between the older and younger generations there.
You can't say Koreans are more intelligent and happier than people in Europe (well, ignoring the depressing places like Scotland, Scandanavia and Eastern Europe for now). Korea has a high rate of education, but that really says very little about the quality of the education. If 99% of people finish a higher education, that just suggests that it's too lenient. In Korea's case however, it has a lot to do with it being a very strict and regimed education (strong in maths and science, not exactly focused on the arts). All you can surmise from that, is that the average Korean is better at mathematics than the average European.
As for happiness... Seoul is the most depressing developed city in Asia. As much as I love the Koreans, they have a tendancy for suicide matched only by the Finnish. It doesn't help that Seoul can at times be a rather grey and extremely cold and bleak place, just a hundred miles or so from North Korean missiles. Koreans certainly aren't the happiest people in Asia. Not to mention many Korean women being rather down-hearted by the chauvinistic society - in certain regards Korea matches Saudi Arabia for its treatment of women.
What can you conclude from all this? Nothing really, cause it's mostly just stereotypes and statistics, and its bearing on the quality of Korean films is pretty irrelevant. Every country has its own creative geniuses - for all the tat that Hong Kong throws out, out pops a Wong Kar-Wai film too.
It's not worth making pointless over analysis, like I just have... Oh.
But I've probably just got it in for you since the time you likened Hong Kong to Birmingham...
Re: My Korean boyfriend's too busy playing his MMORPG...
Date: 2007-02-19 08:02 am (UTC)-since when has the weather affected individuality? are people less creative in scandinavia because it's cold there? incidentally, you should go to korea in the autumn - korea has the most beautiful autumns you'll see anywhere.
-the most depressing developed city in asia? i've been to korea, japan, and china, and don't see how seoul merits such a title. pyongyang might, but seoul is where the party is happening, at least while the economic outlook looks good. call it irrational, but koreans have long gone numb to the threat from north korea. besides, koreans are notoriously fond of entertainment and having a good time. they bitch and moan a lot, but that's because they don't keep things bubbling inside.
-in what regards does korea match saudi arabia in its treatment of women? korea matches many of its confucian neighbors in asia in male chauvinism. but i've never heard of women being banned from certain professions or being killed for honor by their relatives.
since you posted anonymously, i realize you might never see my questions to answer them, but if you do, i'd appreciate it.
Re: My Korean boyfriend's too busy playing his MMORPG...
Date: 2007-02-19 08:21 am (UTC)re: the suicide rates, i suspect it has something to do with the tendency of koreans to be violently emotional and spiteful. a suicide is a final statement that often casts blame on someone besides yourself. perhaps it's not a coincidence that park chan-wook's films feature highly emotional characters in extreme situations with themes of revenge.
Re: My Korean boyfriend's too busy playing his MMORPG...
Date: 2007-02-19 08:27 pm (UTC)* I think weather does have a real effect on the happiness of a nation. When you consider that Finland is almost in perpetual darkness for half the year, it's no surprise to hear they have one of the highest suicide rates in the world.
Seoul doesn't suffer from everlasting days/nights in quite the same way, but it is just about the harshest climate of the developed cities in Asia (obviously, being furthest north). That's not a terrible thing - like Britain, Seoul has four defined seasons, and all the beauty that comes along with that. But winter in Seoul is just plain depressing - sub-zero, perma rain/snow, everyone dressed in black without a smile on their face. It's certainly not conductive to being happy.
Then, however unspoken it is, there is the hidden threat of North Korean missiles being pointed right at Seoul. "No one minds, we've got over it" doesn't answer the whole story. Everytime I'm in Seoul I feel it in the back of my mind, thinking this must be a close as we can get to experiencing a Cold War threat today. I don't think it's something you can just dismiss.
Compared to the rest of Asia, I suppose "most depressing developed city" is all relative. I'm comparing it directly to Hong Kong and Tokyo - and yes, in comparison to those cities, Seoul is often at times a dull, grey depressing place (full of lovely, emotional people who I love though!). There are definitely worse places in mainland China, but I'm not sure if they qualify as developed, or first world. Beijing's such a hard place to quantify - on the one hand, it's modernising into a grey, soulless monstrosity, on the other hand, it has thousands of years of visible history and culture.
As for Korean male chauvinism - comparing it directly to Saudi Arabia was an over statement, but something I remember from an expat friend of mine who said he hadn't seen such blatent chauvinistic behavior since he was in Saudi Arabia. Korea is a very sexist place. It is much more chauvinistic than Japan or Hong Kong (and much of the western world). I know many Korean girls who hate 'typical' Korean men, for either treating them badly, being too conservative, old fashioned and/or chauvinistic.
I like a certain degree of chauvinism myself - Britain in comparison is sometimes too politically correct, equality for the sake of equality. Don't get me wrong, certain equality's good, but at the same time, a man shouldn't get strange looks for holding a door open for a woman.
I need to think about that one more though. It's hard to describe really how Korea is chauvinistic - just that is really is extremely chauvinistic. Nothing compared to some extreme Islamic states though, admittedly. And some things I might call chauvinistic, are really just old fashioned (in comparison to the US/UK), which isn't really a bad thing.
I don't dislike all of these things though, they make Korea typically Korean. Korean's remind me of the Irish of Asia (once oppressed, a country split in two, modern tiger economies, hardy emotional people in a cold and wet landscape, a fondness for alcohol and potatoes), which is entirely a good thing.
"The same could be said for all countries."
Date: 2007-02-21 05:35 am (UTC)Re: My Korean boyfriend's too busy playing his MMORPG...
Date: 2007-02-21 01:29 pm (UTC)I find all these opinions about Korea so shockingly generalized, simple, and obvious. Wait, I lied. I don't even find them so shocking anymore.
1) 'Korea has produced some brilliant films in recent years...that's largely due to political protectionism'
First, the screen quota has existed long before the boom. It's been a safety net for the industry, but not the direct cause of its renaissance. Second, the screen quota has been recently reduced to 73 days, and those who agreed with it argued that the screen quota encouraged low-quality productions (protection -> less competition -> relaxed standard)
2) "It's all a bit confusing though - one minute Koreans are cursing the Japanese/Americans, the next they're copying gangster rap and playing Japanese videogames. There's a large divide between the older and younger generations there."
Leonard Bernstein conducted Richard Strauss's Don Quixote in his debut in 1943.
I don't think the division is so large, because for some things, regardless of age, most people don't make strong connection in between - such as certain historic events 60+ years ago and the brand of your digital camera. That said, I won't say that there won't be a boycott movement if some conflict happens between Korea and another country in the future. But for most cases, it is either the country's products and culture are too much integrated into Korea's own, or their presence is insignificant, that such movement will be limited in its size, impact, and durability. We'll see how FTA goes though.
3)"In Korea's case however,...(strong in maths and science, not exactly focused on the arts). All you can surmise from that, is that the average Korean is better at mathematics than the average European."
Comparing hundreds of Koreans and non-Koreans that I've met, I find that overall Koreans are more knowledgeable in the arts also. Most of them have read the classics, learned the world history, political ideas and whatnot. What is considered "basic, common knowledge" is not here, and I think Canadian education system doesn't fare too badly among OECDs, either.
But it's just that the education system forces kids to study and the society requires you to obtain post-secondary education because otherwise you are considered to be a failure. I doubt that kind of forced education will have much benefit in a long run other than providing an impressive spec and the public having more of general but shallow knowledge and skills in math. I will stop here on Korean education before it becomes a emotionally over-charged essay.
4) "As for happiness... Seoul is the most depressing developed city in Asia."
I am sorry that you felt that way, but the vast majority of Seoulians wouldn't agree with you, including myself. In fact, this is my first time hearing such remark. Seoul is the busiest, liveliest city that I've ever been both in Asia and North America.
NK Attack & weather: everybody is simply too busy to think about North Korea even for half a day out of entire year. It might sound weird considering Seoul is within an hour's reach from the 36th line, but the situation between SK and NK is rather complex, as you might expect. And think about it - we've been living with them for 57 years now, and if we were in such constant fear, we would have become freakin lunatics by now. About the weather, it's rainy and grey 10 times more so here in Vancouver than in Seoul, and I don't find myself or my friends struggling with depression.
And lastly about the chauvinism remark: please don't underrate + generalize + simplify Korean society and especially us Korean females so! Korea is a relatively chauvinistic society compared to the Western world, but please, "Saudi Arabia for its treatment of women"? Not even close.
Re: My Korean boyfriend's too busy playing his MMORPG...
Date: 2007-02-22 06:04 am (UTC)