A follow-up to Jonathan Wright's response to my question:
Thank you, dear Jonathan, for the help. I actually work mainly in the area
of East Asian cinema, mainly that produced in South Korea. I am focusing on
three to four recent blockbuster films produced within that part of the
peninsula, and how they directly reveal the obsession with
'Korean-ness'.("Shiri," "Musa/ The Warrior,"
"Joint Security Area," and lastly either "Sympathy for Mr Vengeance"
directed by Park Chan-Uk who also directed "Joint Security Area" OR
"Comrade", a recent film screened in 2003 about political espionage
practised by North Korean spies, to first feign defection and then use that
defection as a cover for the terrorist activities against South Korea.).
The main issue I am however dealing with is mainly that in the light of
Anderson, the use of violence and punitive action against individuals and
groups (even to encompass nations and ideological parties) is highly
enforced by the "imagined communities" endorsing it. That is, terrorism--as
portrayed in some of these films pertaining to North Korea--is simply
'right' for no reason other than that it is the way to make Korea 'one land'
through its forceful and coercive quality; conversely, action against
terrorist groups and potential groups harbouring anarchic motives is
justified using nothing other than simply the safeguarding of one's--the
democratic South Korea's--interests. It does not therefore polarize the
situation into a case of "North Korea is evil, South Korea is good", but
rather, precisely because of the position from which these "imagined
communities" are taught to think, the use of violence on either side is
highly ambivalent and can become catastrophic in its extremes.
Because the focus is specifically on the tensions shown between North and
South Korea, and secondarily between China and Korea(as shown in the film,
"Musa", which is set in Ming dynasty China and Koryo times in the 14th
century), I would be thinking along the lines of the construction of an East
Asian Korean identity, something which would require strong links to be
forged between Anderson and the regional cinema itself. Other than Bhaba,
has there been any other Asian or Asian diasporic writers writing along that
line? I can only conjure Rey Chow's highly controversial essay, "The Fascist
Longings in Our Midst", which I read in my undergraduate days, and which
still haunts me considerably with its implications. Any further suggestions
along this direction would be appreciated.
Sincerely,
Kevin Zhang Jiajun
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