Two decades ago, with the aim of diversifying its economy, South Korea set its sights on developing its cultural industries. In 1994, a government white paper famously noted that a single blockbuster movie, Jurassic Park, earned the equivalent of selling 1.5 million Hyundai cars. The government also abolished strict censorship rules, established a new commercial broadcasting system and developed legislation like the Korean Film Promotion Act of 1995.
Creators in the private sector played a “pivotal role” by developing popular content, he said. For example, MBC and KBS, the country’s two biggest network broadcasters, had by then set up their own agencies to deal with foreign exports of their dramas. Several large conglomerates, including Samsung, Hyundai and Lotte, also started investing in films.
In the realm of music, singer Lee Soo-man established entertainment house SM Studio in 1989 before renaming it as SM Entertainment in early 1995. Lee was an instrumental figure in changing the Korean music landscape, turning “a very primitive way of music creation into an industry”, said Assoc Prof Heo. This later paved the way for other music agencies, such as JYP and YG, which collectively contributed to the boom of K-pop...
Thank you for posting.
Ping
The content coming out of that country is refreshingly free of woke propaganda, and is often of decent quality and quite engaging.
They Koreans sure have exported some good pro women golfers.
No wokeness in Korean (or Japanese) entertainment. They are already full on for real in your face racists. Lol.
I’ve been watching Squid Game. On the one hand it is disturbing, on the other it directly addresses human nature and how we handle situations. The mix of the two make it compelling.
Just watched The Wailing, a really creepy curse/ghost story being solved by a country cop. Also Memories of Murder, about the first confirmed serial killings in South Korea during the 80s. The same guy who directed Parasite did this while the killer was still at large in rural South Korea.
Freegards
Thanks for the find. Korea has put itself on the map. I gather that the business there is still being run by movie people, as opposed to people selling subscriptions to streaming platforms. And they’re not worried about DEI committees and twitter mobs. Looping in the movie list.
My favorite Korean film clip:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGjIN8Pxxeg
And of course, my recurring recommendation for the best American movie you probably haven’t seen was written and directed by a Korean American director:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3dcnV6Z9Zs
Kogonada was born in Seoul, but his family immigrated when he was young. He grew up in the U.S. and speaks uninflected English. Kogonada is a workname. He prefers to guard his private life and let his work speak for itself. The name is taken from a Japanese screenwriter, Kogo Noda, who worked often with Ozu, one of Kogonada’s favorite directors.
The story mentions Parasite and Squid Game, both of which have made a splash in the U.S. I’ve not seen either. They’re on my kinda, sorta, maybe someday list, but neither rings my chimes.
Has anyone here seen them?
This may be of interest:
This story paints a pessimistic picture for anyone interested in retaining diversity and independent voices in the U.S. film industry. The streamers control distribution and they are content to vacuum up low cost content from around the world. The money quote:
“Liesl Copland, executive vp of content and platform strategy at Participant, pointed to the transformative impact of the major streamers — from Netflix, Amazon Prime and AppleTV+ to newcomers HBO Max, Peacock, Paramount+ and others — in shaping the kind of indie films that get made and what sort of financing is possible for them.
“It’s not really about ‘what format is it? Film or episodic? Or a genre?’ It’s about ‘Is it subscriber acquisition or subscriber retention content’?” she noted. “And I think we have to blend that into our thinking when we’re dealing with the streamers, and then I think what the big problem becomes — they don’t have to recoup because they’re a revenue line and their cost bases and their revenue bases are two different things — and they don’t get revenue per film.””
The industry is being taken over by people selling subscriptions, not movies.
I don’t like U.S. movies or entertainment and I wouldn’t like South Korean movies or entertainment and certainly not food.
bookmark