Understanding Korean Film: A Cross-Cultural Perspective (Routledge Studies in East Asian Translation) [1 ed.] 0367546205, 9780367546205

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Understanding Korean Film

Film viewing presents a unique situation in which the film viewer is unwittingly placed in the role of a multimodal translator, finding themselves entirely responsible for interpreting multifaceted meanings at the mercy of their own semiotic repertoire. Yet, researchers have made little attempt, as they have for literary texts, to explain the gap in translation when it comes to multimodality. It is no wonder then that, in an era of informed consumerism, film viewers have been trying to develop their own toolboxes for the tasks that they are faced with when viewing foreign language films by sharing information online. This is particularly the case with South Korean film, which has drawn the interest of foreign viewers who want to understand these untranslatable meanings and even go so far as learning the Korean language to do so. Understanding Korean Film: A Cross-​Cultural Perspective breaks this long-​awaited ground by explaining the meaning potential of a selection of common Korean verbal and non-​verbal expressions in a range of contexts in South Korean film that are often untranslatable for English-​speaking Western viewers. Through the selection of expressions provided in the text, readers become familiar with a system that can be extended more generally to understanding expressions in South Korean films. Formal analyses are presented in the form of in-​depth discursive deconstructions of verbal and non-​verbal expressions within the context of South Korea’s Confucian traditions. Our case studies thus illustrate, in a more systematic way, how various meaning potentials can be inferred in particular narrative contexts. Jieun Kiaer is professor of Korean Language and Linguistics at the University of Oxford. She publishes widely on East Asian translation, with particular emphasis on Korean translation. Her publications include The Routledge Course in Korean Translation (2018) and Korean Literature through the Korean Wave (with Anna Yates-​ Lu, 2019). Kiaer is also the series editor for Routledge Studies in East Asian Translation. Loli Kim is a DPhil researcher in Korean Studies at the University of Oxford. Her work explores multimodal, semantic, and cross-​cultural communication, particularly from a Korean perspective. Her current research focuses on the translation of multimodal meaning-​making processes in South Korean film that become ‘untranslatable’ for Anglophone European viewers, with special focus on socio-​pragmatic verbal and non-​verbal behavioural expressions.

Routledge Studies in East Asian Translation

Series Editors: Jieun Kiaer, University of Oxford, UK Amy Xiaofan Li, University College London, UK

Routledge Studies in East Asian Translation aims to discuss issues and challenges involved in translation between Chinese, Japanese, and Korean as well as from these languages into European languages with an eye to comparing the cultures of translation within East Asia and tracking some of their complex interrelationships. Most translation theories are built on translation between European languages, with only few exceptions. However, this Eurocentric view on language and translation can be seriously limited in explaining the translation of non-​European literature and scholarship, especially when it comes to translating languages outside the Indo-​European family that have radically different script forms and grammatical categories, and may also be embedded in very different writing traditions and cultures. This series considers possible paradigm shifts in translation theory, arguing that translation theory and practice need to go beyond European languages and encompass a wider range of literature and scholarship. Delicious Words East Asian Food Words in English Jieun Kiaer On Translating Modern Korean Poetry Jieun Kiaer, Anna Yates-​Lu, and Mattho Mandersloot Missionary Translators Translations of Christian Texts in East Asia Jieun Kiaer, Alessandro Bianchi, Giulia Falato, Pia Jolliffe, Kazue Mino, and Kyungmin Yu Understanding Korean Film A Cross-​Cultural Perspective Jieun Kiaer and Loli Kim For more information about this series, please visit: www.routledge.com/​ languages/​series/​RSEAT

Understanding Korean Film A Cross-​Cultural Perspective Jieun Kiaer and Loli Kim

First published 2022 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2022 Jieun Kiaer and Loli Kim The right of Jieun Kiaer and Loli Kim to be identified as authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing-​in-​Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-​in-​Publication Data Names: Kiaer, Jieun, author. | Kim, Loli, author. Title: Understanding Korean film : a cross-cultural perspective / Jieun Kiaer and Loli Kim. Description: Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2022. | Series: Routledge studies in East Asian translation | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2021025105 (print) | LCCN 2021025106 (ebook) | ISBN 9780367546205 (hardback) | ISBN 9780367546212 (paperback) | ISBN 9781003089896 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: Motion pictures, Korean–English-speaking countries. | Korean language–Translating into English–Case studies. | Subtitles (Motion pictures, television, etc.)–English-speaking countries– Case studies. | Nonverbal communication in motion pictures–Case studies. | Nonverbal communication–Korea (South)–Case studies. | Interpersonal relations in motion pictures–Case studies. | Interpersonal relations–Korea (South)– Case studies. | Confucianism–Korea (South)–Case studies. | Sociolinguistics– Korea (South)–Case studies. | Motion pictures and language–Case studies. Classification: LCC PN1993.5.K6 K463 2022 (print) | LCC PN1993.5.K6 (ebook) | DDC 791.43095195–dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021025105 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021025106 ISBN: 978-​0-​367-​54620-​5 (hbk) ISBN: 978-​0-​367-​54621-​2 (pbk) ISBN: 978-​1-​003-​08989-​6 (ebk) DOI: 10.4324/​9781003089896 Typeset in Times New Roman by Newgen Publishing UK

Contents

List of figures  List of tables  Acknowledgements  Preliminaries 

viii xix xx xxi

1 Introduction 

1

1.1  The global age of Korean film  1 1.2  The one-​inch barrier  2 1.3  Film viewers seek visibility  2 1.4  The importance of understanding Korean interactions  3 1.5  What you will find in this book  4

2 Theoretical background 

7

2.1  Calls for visibility  7 2.1.1  Calls for visibility in national film studies  7 2.1.2  Current K-​film literature  10 2.1.3  Defining foreign  13 2.1.4  Invisibility in translation and foreignisation  17 2.1.5  Cultural translation  18 2.1.6  The implications of (in)visibles  19 2.1.7  Cultural appropriation and the problems with anglicisation  21

2.2  Korean communication: a bird’s eye view  24 2.2.1  Interactional dynamics: a socio-​pragmatically rich language  25 2.2.2  Distance matters: respect versus intimacy  26 2.2.3  Speech styles  27 2.2.4  Negotiating respect and intimacy: how to modulate expressions  28 2.2.5  The importance of non-​verbal communication  29 2.2.6  How this culminates in multimodal invisibility in K-​film  32 2.2.7  Summary: socio-​pragmatic invisibles in K-​film translation  33

3 The Korean cultural context  3.1  Five relations: the fundament of neo-​Confucianism  34 3.1.1  Parents and children  35

34

vi Contents 3.1.2  King and subjects  39 3.1.3  Husband and wife  40 3.1.4  Age  41 3.1.5  Siblings  43 3.1.6  Womanhood  44

3.2  Contemporary Confucian context  47 3.2.1  Oryun in contemporary Korea  49

3.3  Additional concepts to familiarise yourself with  62 3.3.1  Han (한)  62 3.3.2  Jeong (정)  62 3.3.3  Ansim (안심)  63 3.3.4  Nunchi (눈치)  63 3.3.5  Chaemyeon (체면)  63

4 Socio-​pragmatic strategies in K-​film 

65

4.1  How to address people: address terms and second-person pronouns  66 4.2  Non-​verbal honourifics  68 4.3  Multimodal modulation hypothesis  69 4.4  How do we define a ‘socio-​pragmatic primitive’?  70 4.4.1  Social factors  70 4.4.2  Classifying the politeness of expressions  71

4.5  Socio-pragmatic primitives in more concrete terms  72 4.5.1  Abbreviations and logical operators  72 4.5.2  Reading conditional and defeasible logic  73

4.6  A socio-​pragmatic toolbox for interpreting K-​film  74 4.6.1  Non-​verbal socio-​pragmatic primitives  74 4.6.2  Verbal socio-​pragmatic primitives  147 4.6.3  Summary: using socio-​pragmatic primitives for film analysis and casual film viewing  164

5 Case studies 

165

5.1  Sado  165 5.1.1  Context  166 5.1.2  Case Study 1: How to irritate your neo-​Confucian father  168 5.1.3  Case Study 2: The girl doesn’t know her place  170

5.2  Gisaengchung  174 5.2.1  Context  175 5.2.2  Case Study 3: Why did Mr. Kim kill Mr. Park?  176

5.3  82 Nyeonsaeng Kim Ji-​young  191 5.3.1  Context  192 5.3.2  Case Study 4: What happened to Ji-​young at Chuseok?  193

5.4  Taeksi Unjeonsa  201 5.4.1  Context  201 5.4.2  Case Study 5: He isn’t just having a hard time, he’s lost all hope  202 5.4.3  Case Study 6: They’re good friends, it’s not just humorous  203

Contents  vii 5.4.4  Case Study 7: He’s not just saying sorry, he genuinely feels guilty  204 5.4.5  Case Study 8: Skinship and the development of Sa-​bok and Jürgen’s bond  205

5.5  Chingu  207 5.5.1  Case Study 9: ‘You wanna die?’  208 5.5.2  Case Study 10: Frenemies  209

5.6  Jopok manura  211 5.6.1  Case Study 11: Who does Eun-​jin respect?  211 5.6.2  Case Study 12: How ‘not’ to meet your Korean in-​laws  213 5.6.3  Case Study 13: 101 on being a woman: uhhh oppa!  215 5.6.4  Case Study 14: From gangster to wife  216

5.7  Hanyeo  219 5.7.1  Case Study 15: He’s losing his temper  219 5.7.2  Case Study 16: Don’t call me crazy!  220 5.7.3  Case Study 17: The Gohs’ insincerity  220 5.7.4  Case Study 18: The housekeeper’s apology  222

5.8  Ai Kaen Seupikeu  223 5.8.1  Case Study 19: Stimulating empathy, Korean style!  223 5.8.2  Case Study 20: Creating poignancy in language use  226 5.8.3  Case Study 21: Defining bad  227 5.8.4  Case Study 22: Chief Park? Forget it, I’ll call you Min-​jae!  228

6 Conclusion 

229

6.1  Beyond the subtitle  229 6.2  The terms for understanding K-​film  229 6.3  Film researchers as translators  230 6.4  The future of this research  231

Basic multimodal glossary for k-​film viewing  Appendix  References  Filmography  Index 

232 235 237 242 243

Figures

2.1 An American employer gives his two new Korean employees a round of applause for joining, in front of his other East Asian employees, in Minari (미나리) (2020). The cross-​cultural misalignment of this expression creates tension between cultures and subsequently awkwardness and humour  2.2 Stéphane trying to order ‘duck’ (using the English word but French pronunciation) from a Korean waitress at Incheon airport who still can’t understand him, in #JeSuisLa ‘#IAmHere’ (2019)  2.3 The mistranslation in the subtitle when K says, ‘Mija! Also, my name is Koo Soon-​bum’, in Okja (옥자) (2017)  2.4 Mrs Park eating ram-​don, in Gisaengchung (기생충) ‘Parasite’ (2019)  3.1 Ja-​hong at the Hell of Filial Piety, in Sin Gwa Hamkke: Joe wa Beol (신과함께: 죄와 벌) ‘Along with the Gods: The Two Worlds’ (2018)  3.2 Bo-​eun’s grandfather asks Sang-​min and Bo-​eun to marry, in Eorin Sinbu (어린 신부) ‘My Little Bride’ (2004)  3.3 Sang-​min’s father smashes up his car, in Eorin Sinbu (어린 신부) ‘My Little Bride’ (2004)  3.4 Hee-​chul protests the truth before his grandfather and parents, in Geunyeoreul midji maseyo (그녀를 믿지 마세요) ‘Too Beautiful to Lie’ (2004)  3.5 Young-​ju feeds Hee-​chul’s grandmother, in Geunyeoreul midji maseyo (그녀를 믿지 마세요) ‘Too Beautiful to Lie’ (2004)  3.6 Mrs Park putting her bare feet on the seat next to Mr Kim, in Gisaengchung (기생충) ‘Parasite’ (2019)  3.7 A high school senior disciplines his junior, in Baram (바람) ‘Wind’ (2009)  3.8 The power of age: In a dynamic of conflicting hierarchies, in Silmido (실미도) (2003), a young soldier expresses the discomfort of speaking down to an older man regardless of him being a convict. 

13

14 16 22 36 37 37 38 38 40 42

43

List of figures  ix 3.9 3.10 3.11 3.12

3.13

3.14

3.15 3.16 3.17 3.18

3.19 3.20 3.21 3.22

Da-​song bows to Ki-​jung, in Gisaengchung (기생충) ‘Parasite’ (2019)  43 Informality in the physical closeness and skinship of siblings while retaining hierarchical address terms, in 82 Nyeonsaeng Gim Jiyeong (82년생 김지영) ‘Kim Ji-​young: Born 1982’ (2019) 44 Women behaving as they would during the Joseon period, depicted in Sado (사도) ‘The Throne’ (2015)  47 Parents look at the bride and groom’s apartment together for the first time. In this case, the groom’s parents prepared the apartment and following the honeymoon they show the bride and her parents the new home, in Eorin Sinbu (어린 신부) ‘My Little Bride’ (2004)  51 Son asks his mother about working abroad in a war zone before discussing the matter with his wife (centre), who observes powerlessly and visibly uncomfortable, in Gukjesijang (국제시장) ‘Ode to my Father’ (2014)  52 An example of how Bujayuchin manifests in the relationships of mothers and children in contemporary Korea: A son feeds his mother to demonstrate how glad he is to have her stay with him when she expresses concern over her intrusion, in Eorin Sinbu (어린 신부) ‘My Little Bride’ (2004)  52 Jae-​mun gives an elderly man a bicycle ride despite it being impractical and exhausting, in Yeolhyeolnama (열혈남아) ‘Cruel Winter Blues’ (2006)  53 Husband comforts wife when she cries over her dissatisfaction with how he treats her, in Naui Sarang Naui Sinbu (나의 사랑 나의 신부) ‘My Love, My Bride’ (2014)  55 Married couple wearing matching jumpers, in Naui Sarang Naui Sinbu (나의 사랑 나의 신부) ‘My Love, My Bride’ (2014) 55 Ji-​young’s father expresses his love and affection using the loophole of an intertext that allows him to do so indirectly rather than breaking Confucian custom by using physical affection or speaking plainly, in 82 Nyeonsaeng Gim Jiyeong ‘Kim Ji-​young: Born 1982’ (2019)  56 Father chooses son’s education over his daughter’s, in Chingu (친구) ‘Friend’ (2001)  58 Geum-​ja’s ‘good girl’ image: compact posture, neutral facial expression, and soft spoken, in Chinjeolhan geumjassi ( 친절한 금자씨) ‘Sympathy for Lady Vengeance’ (2005)  59 Geum-ja’s ‘bad girl’ image: Geum-​ja laughs loudly while smoking, in Chinjeolhan geumjassi (친절한 금자씨) ‘Sympathy for Lady Vengeance’ (2005)  60 Skinship between adult female friends, in Hanyeo (하녀) ‘The Housemaid’ (2010)  61

x  List of figures 3.23 Skinship between adult male friends, in Chingu (친구) ‘Friend’ (2001)  4.1 CEO pats his employee and places a hand on his back when greeting him, in Beterang (베테랑) ‘Veteran’ (2015)  4.2 An elderly woman jovially pats a middle-​aged man, in Yeolhyeolnama (열혈남아) ‘Cruel Winter Blues’ (2006)  4.3 A team leader pats his slightly younger colleague/​friend to reassure him, in Beterang (베테랑) ‘Veteran’ (2015)  4.4 ‘The girl’ breaking hierarchy by pouring her own drinks and facing her senior while drinking, in Yeopgijeogin Geunyeo (엽기적인 그녀) ‘My Sassy Girl’ (2001)  4.5 Dong-​su is angry with Joon-​seok and places his hand on his shoulder to confront him, in Chingu (친구) ‘Friend’ (2001)  4.6 Childhood friends clasp hands for a moment before leaving to join different gangster organisations, in Chingu (친구) ‘Friend’ (2001)  4.7 Skinship used to express insincerity and persuasiveness, in Beterang (베테랑) ‘Veteran’ (2015)  4.8 A woman shakes an object vigorously at close proximity to another as an expression of defiance and anger, in Beterang (베테랑) ‘Veteran’ (2015)  4.9 Invasion of space with an object in a conflicting hierarchy, in Gisaengchung (기생충) ‘Parasite’ (2019)  4.10 The vigorous movement of an object in a conflicting hierarchy, in Gisaengchung (기생충) ‘Parasite’ (2019)  4.11 Giving/​receiving with one hand in a conflicting hierarchy; acceptable and yet uncomfortable, in Hanyeo (하녀) ‘The Housemaid’ (2010)  4.12 The junior (woman) always uses two hands to be polite, while it is acceptable for the senior (man) to use only one, in Chihwaseon (취화선) ‘Painted Fire’ (2002)  4.13 An example of Formula ii: Ji-​young receives a gift from her mother-​in-​law with two hands because she wishes to be in good favour with her, in 82 Nyeonsaeng Gim Jiyeong (82년생 김지영) ‘Kim Ji-​young: Born 1982’ (2019)  4.14 Everyone drinks at the same time, in Jopok Manura (조폭 마누라) ‘My Wife Is a Gangster’ (2001)  4.15 The senior drinks alone and faces towards her junior when drinking, showing her seniority, in Jopok Manura (조폭 마누라) ‘My Wife Is a Gangster’) (2001)  4.16 An example of Formula iv: One-​handed pouring/​receiving drink between two close friends from the same class at school, in Chingu (친구) ‘Friend’ (2001) 

61 76 76 76 80 81 82 82 85 86 86 88 90

92 94 94 96

List of figures  xi 4.17 An example of Formula iv: One-​handed pouring/​receiving drink between two close friends from the same class at school, in Gisaengchung (기생충) ‘Parasite’ (2019)  96 4.18 Eun-​jin pours her rival’s drink one-​handed, in Jopok Manura (조폭 마누라) ‘My Wife Is a Gangster’ (2001)  98 4.19 Example of Formulae i and ii: A senior emphasises his good will towards a junior by pouring him a drink with both hands, while the junior receives with two hands to show that he values the senior, in Yeolhyeolnama (열혈남아) ‘Cruel Winter Blues’ (2006)  99 4.20 Example of Formula ii: a junior pours a senior a drink with two hands and the senior receives with one hand, in Yeopgijeogin Geunyeo (엽기적인 그녀) ‘My Sassy Girl’ (2001)  99 4.21 An example of the ‘high risk’ of expressions with negative connotations in a conflicting hierarchy among males can be seen in the violent ending of Gisaengchung (기생충) ‘Parasite’ (2019)  101 4.22 Sang-​min vigorously ruffles his hair when irritated by a teacher who is treating another student, Bo-​eun, unfairly because she has discovered that she is Sang-​min’s wife, in Eorin sinbu (어린 신부) ‘My Little Bride’ (2004)  102 4.23 Eun-​jin shows her discomfort and lack of respect for those present by scratching her head, in Jopok Manura (조폭 마누라) ‘My Wife Is a Gangster’ (2001)  102 4.24 Members of a gangster organisation clasp their hands as they stand before their boss, in Jopok Manura (조폭 마누라) ‘My Wife Is a Gangster’ (2001)  104 4.25 Senior Mrs Park clasps her hands in her lap after accepting Ki-​woo as her daughter’s tutor, in Gisaengchung (기생충) ‘Parasite’ (2019)  105 4.26 Mrs Kim clasps her hands because, even though she is older, she is an employee and must show respect to Mrs Park, in Gisaengchung (기생충) ‘Parasite’ (2019)  106 4.27 Miss Kim’s posture when she is flirting with Sang-​min, in Eorin sinbu (어린 신부) ‘My Little Bride’ (2004)  109 4.28 Miss Kim’s upright posture when she is angry with Sang-​ min, in Eorin sinbu (어린 신부) ‘My Little Bride’ (2004)  109 4.29 Friends Ji-​soo and Sang-​min chat. Despite Ji-​soo’s seniority and their intimacy, she chooses a neat compact posture compared to Sang-​min, in Eorin sinbu (어린 신부) ‘My Little Bride’ (2004)  110 4.30 Ji-​soo meets Bo-​eun for the first time and again employs compact posture, leaning slightly, in Eorin sinbu (어린 신부) ‘My Little Bride’ (2004)  110

xii  List of figures 4.31 ‘The girl’ employs broad posture when she is being disagreeable, in Yeopgijeogin Geunyeo (엽기적인 그녀) ‘My Sassy Girl’ (2001)  4.32 ‘The girl’ employing compact posture when she is being agreeable, in Yeopgijeogin Geunyeo (엽기적인 그녀) ‘My Sassy Girl’ (2001)  4.33 An older man and woman employ compact posture, along with similarly submissive socio-​pragmatic expressions such as a lowered head and eye gaze, when they feel under threat by Eun-​jin, in Jopok Manura (조폭 마누라) ‘My Wife Is a Gangster’ (2001)  4.34 Mr Goh’s spread posture when he meets the new housemaid Eun-​yi for the first time, in Hanyeo (하녀) ‘The Housemaid’ (2010)  4.35 The highest-​ranking, Director Yang’s posture is the broadest, in 82 Nyeonsaeng Gim Jiyeong (82년생 김지영) ‘Kim Ji-​ young: Born 1982’ (2019)  4.36 Second highest-​ranking colleague Chief Kim’s posture is broad, but slightly less relaxed than Director Yang, in 82 Nyeonsaeng Gim Jiyeong (82년생 김지영) ‘Kim Ji-​ young: Born 1982’ (2019)  4.37 Third-​ranking colleagues’ postures are broader than the lowest-​ranking colleagues, in 82 Nyeonsaeng Gim Jiyeong (82년생 김지영) ‘Kim Ji-​young: Born 1982’ (2019)  4.38 Lowest-​ranking colleagues’ postures are noticeably the most compact and upright, in Nyeonsaeng Gim Jiyeong (82년생 김지영) ‘Kim Ji-​young: Born 1982’ (2019)  4.39 A woman on her wedding day lowers her head as she faces her groom, in Chihwaseon (취화선) ‘Painted Fire’ (2002)  4.40 A junior gang member (left) lowers his head as an expression of respect to remain in good favour with his senior. His ‘new recruit’ friend (right), who is uneducated and unsophisticated, is defined as such by his failure to employ these socio-​pragmatic primitives, in Jopok Manura (조폭 마누라) ‘My Wife Is a Gangster’ (2001)  4.41 Ki-​woo lowers his head and body while persuading the young pizza boss, in Gisaengchung (기생충) ‘Parasite’ (2019)  4.42 A woman lowers her body when making a request to a man, even though he is facing away, in Chihwaseon (취화선) ‘Painted Fire’ (2002)  4.43 An angry widow stands, making her position physically higher than the sitting receiver when refusing his bribe over the wrongful death of her husband, in Beterang (베테랑) ‘Veteran’ (2015)  4.44 The contrast between senior and junior is made clear by Mrs Park’s upright posture and the leaning posture of Ki-​woo, in Gisaengchung (기생충) ‘Parasite’ (2019) 

111 111

112 114 115

115 115 116 117

119 120 120

121 122

List of figures  xiii 4.45 Tae-​oh’s expressions of entitlement and aggression, in Beterang (베테랑) ‘Veteran’ (2015)  123 4.46 A senior crosses his legs while interacting with a junior, in Beoning (버닝) ‘Burning’ (2018)  124 4.47 Senior girls at school intimidate junior Bo-​eun; the leader of the group crosses her arms, in Eorin sinbu (어린 신부) ‘My Little Bride’ (2004)  125 4.48 An example of Formula ii: Eun-​yi meets her new employer, Mr Goh, for the first time, during which she keeps her eye gaze and head lowered to be polite, in Hanyeo (하녀) ‘The Housemaid’ (2010)  126 4.49 Ji-​young only looks up briefly when addressed, otherwise keeping her eye gaze down and focusing on her food preparation, in order to keep in good favour with her mother-​in-​law, in 82 Nyeonsaeng Gim Jiyeong (82년생 김지영) ‘Kim Ji-​young: Born 1982’ (2019)  128 4.50 Direct eye gaze by a junior, in Chingu (친구) ‘Friend’ (2001)  129 4.51 A conflict between Ji-​young and a rude stranger, in 82 Nyeonsaeng Gim Jiyeong (82년생 김지영) ‘Kim Ji-​ young: Born 1982’ (2019)  130 4.52 Miss Cho the housekeeper bows at 90-degrees when saying goodbye to Mr Goh as he leaves for work in the morning, in Hanyeo (하녀) ‘The Housemaid’ (2010)  131 4.53 Bo-​eun nods when responding ‘yes’ to the offer of a soda from senior Ji-​soo, in Eorin Sinbu (어린 신부) ‘My Little Bride’ (2004)  132 4.54 After being scolded by his boss, Kang, Mun-​suk nods silently before leaving, in Dalkomhan Insaeng (달콤한 인생) ‘A Bittersweet Life’ (2005)  133 4.55 A 15-​degree bow from one student to another when passing in the hallway, in Dalkomhan Insaeng (달콤한 인생) ‘A Bittersweet Life’ (2005). In this case, it is accompanied by annyeonghaseyo (안녕하세요) ‘hello’ as it is used as a greeting. 134 4.56 Eun-​jin greets her new husband’s colleagues with a 15-​degree bow, in Jopok Manura (조폭 마누라) ‘My Wife Is a Gangster’ (2001)  136 4.57 A subordinate gang member employs a 15-​degree bow to his senior, in Dalkomhan Insaeng (달콤한 인생) ‘A Bittersweet Life’ (2005). The shallow degree, its unevenness, and the lack of verbal accompaniment express his embarrassment and anger.  136 4.58 Mr Kim bows at 30-degrees to Mr Park through a glass window, in Gisaengchung (기생충) ‘Parasite’ (2019)  137 4.59 Bo-​eun employs a 30-​degree bow to greet her husband’s friends upon meeting them for the first time, in Eorin Sinbu (어린 신부) ‘My Little Bride’ (2004)  138

xiv  List of figures 4.60 The elderly woman (partially obscured in the still) turns and bows to her junior Eun-​jin out of fear when she leaves the table, in Jopok Manura (조폭 마누라) ‘My Wife Is a Gangster’ (2001)  139 4.61 Staff bow at 45-degrees to the CEO as he departs his company in Baekyahaeng: Hayan Eodum Sokeul Geotda (백야행: 하얀 어둠 속을 걷다) ‘White Night’ (2009)  140 4.62 Members of a gangster organisation perform keunjeol at the funeral of their boss, in Sinsegye (신세계) ‘New World’ (2013) 142 4.63 Tae-​oh performs keunjeol to Detective Seo, in Beterang (베테랑) ‘Veteran’ (2015)  143 4.64 Miss Kim uses aegyo nasalisation when flirting with Sang-​ min, in Eorin Sinbu (어린 신부) ‘My Little Bride’ (2004)  145 4.65 Bo-​eun and her classmates watch the scene as Miss Kim flirts with Sang-​min, in Eorin Sinbu (어린 신부) ‘My Little Bride’ (2004)  145 4.66 A reluctant Sang-​min avoids the teacher’s advances, in Eorin Sinbu (어린 신부) ‘My Little Bride’ (2004)  145 4.67 Rising intonation used when Mrs Kim and the young pizza boss argue, in Gisaengchung (기생충) ‘Parasite’ (2019)  146 4.68 Dae-​su sounds like a news reporter as he uses the hapsyoche speech style to explain why he fainted, in Oldeuboi (올드보이) ‘Old Boy’ (2003)  149 4.69 Bo-​eun tells Sang-​min it is time to leave using the haeche speech style, forgetting that his friends are present, in Eorin Sinbu (어린 신부) ‘My Little Bride’ (2004)  151 4.70 Bo-​eun realises that Sang-​min’s friends are present and adds a delayed ‘yo’ to the end of her sentence to make her speech style haeyoche, in Eorin Sinbu (어린 신부) ‘My Little Bride’ (2004)  151 4.71 Woo-​jin aligns his speech style with his true feelings towards Dae-​su by switching to haeche, in Oldeuboi (올드보이) ‘Old Boy’ (2003)  153 4.72 Jeong-​cheong uses haeche to his friend and junior gangsters when he arrives at the airport, in Sinsegye (신세계) ‘New World’ (2013)  154 4.73 Ja-​sung reveals his close relationship with Jeong-​cheong when he switches to haeche when they are alone, in Sinsegye (신세계) ‘New World’ (2013)  154 4.74 Eun-​yi calls her wealthy employer Mrs Goh samonim, in Hanyeo (하녀) ‘The Housemaid’ (2010)  155 4.75 Detective Seo tells his wife that she will be called samonim once he gets promoted, in Beterang (베테랑) ‘Veteran’ (2015)  156

List of figures  xv 4.76 ‘The girl’ addresses Gyeon-​woo using -​ya, meaning ‘hey’, when ordering coffee, in Yeopgijeogin Geunyeo (엽기적인 그녀) ‘My Sassy Girl’ (2001)  4.77 One comedic character in the office (far right) is characterised as comedic by his playful use of -​ya, as in chingu-​ya, in Ai Kaen Seupikeu (아이 캔 스피크) ‘I Can Speak’ (2007)  4.78 Mi-​do strangely uses nae to refer to herself to Dae-​su, who is older and a stranger, in Oldeuboi (올드보이) ‘Old Boy’ (2003)  4.79 The teacher’s quantity of speech is significantly more when having a conversation with students Joo-​ri and Yoon-​ah following their fight, in Miseongnyeon (미성년) ‘Another Child’ (2019)  4.80 The father scolds his younger brother and junior family members for talking too much and too animatedly at the dinner table, in Joyonghan Gajok (조용한 가족) ‘The Quiet Family’ (1998)  4.81 Joo-​ri catches her father visiting his mistress at the hospital and he responds with silence, turning away before hiding and running away, in Miseongnyeon (미성년) ‘Another Child’ (2019)  4.82 Joori’s mother expresses discomfort and anger through silence towards her husband’s mistress, in Miseongnyeon (미성년) ‘Another Child’ (2019)  5.1 King Yeongjo nails the rice chest shut with his son, Crown Prince Sado, inside, in Sado (사도) ‘The Throne’ (2015)  5.2 Sado paints Lady Hye-​gyeong and his puppy, in Sado (사도) ‘The Throne’ (2015)  5.3 As adults, Sado and Lady Hye-​gyeong spend time together with their dog, a mirror image of how they are shown together as children, in Sado (사도) ‘The Throne’ (2015)  5.4 King Yeongjo finds Sado spending leisure time painting Lady Hye-gyeong, in Sado (사도) ‘The Throne’ (2015)  5.5 Sado angers his father when he admits that he is more interested in fictional books than Confucian texts, in Sado (사도) ‘The Throne’ (2015)  5.6 The rude concubine: direct eye gaze, spread posture, and lack of lowering head, in Sado (사도) ‘The Throne’ (2015)  5.7 The king directs his annoyance to everyone in the room rather than giving an appropriate reprimand to the young concubine, in Sado (사도) ‘The Throne’ (2015)  5.8 Sado’s mother switches from downward eye gaze and leaning forward to raising slightly and employing direct and

158

158 160

162

162

163 164 166 168 169 169 170 171 172

xvi  List of figures

5.9 5.10 5.11 5.12 5.13 5.14 5.15

5.16

5.17 5.18 5.19

5.20 5.21

5.22

prolonged eye contact when insulted, in Sado (사도) ‘The Throne’ (2015)  Reaction of Sado and Lady Hye-​gyeong to the young concubine’s rudeness to Sado’s mother, in Sado (사도) ‘The Throne’ (2015)  Mr Kim kills Mr Park, in Gisaengchung (기생충) ‘Parasite’ (2019)  Da-​song sniffs Mr Kim, in Gisaengchung (기생충) ‘Parasite’ (2019)  Breakdown of the multimodal expressions in Mr Park and Mr Kim’s interaction, in Gisaengchung (기생충) ‘Parasite’ (2019)  Mr Park holds his nose to conceal the smell of Mun-​kwang’s husband, in Gisaengchung (기생충) ‘Parasite’ (2019)  Mr Kim’s emotion towards Mr Park begins to show as he observes him holding his nose, in Gisaengchung (기생충) ‘Parasite’ (2019)  Above, mothers-​in-​law hold their heads high in Sado (사도) ‘The Throne’ (2015). Below, they do the same in 82 Nyeonsaeng Gim Jiyeong (82년생 김지영) ‘Kim Ji-young: Born 1982’ (2019)  Above, daughters-​in-​law lower their heads in Sado (사도) ‘The Throne’ (2015) Below, they do the same in 82 Nyeonsaeng Gim Jiyeong (82년생 김지영) ‘Kim Ji-​young: Born 1982’ (2019)  The moment Ji-​young modulates her verbal and non-​verbal expressions, in 82 Nyeonsaeng Gim Jiyeong (82년생 김지영) ‘Kim Ji-​young: Born 1982’ (2019)  Ji-​young’s family in-​law’s reaction to her outburst, in 82 Nyeonsaeng Gim Jiyeong (82년생 김지영) ‘Kim Ji-young: Born 1982’ (2019)  Mother-​in-​law passes items with one hand without facing, looking at, or speaking to her daughter-​in-​law Ji-​young, in 82 Nyeonsaeng Gim Jiyeong (82년생 김지영) ‘Kim Ji-young: Born 1982’ (2019)  Sa-​bok lowers his head, eye gaze directed downward, posture compact, and speaks politely, in Taeksi Unjeonsa (택시운전사) ‘A Taxi Driver’ (2017)  Sa-​bok bows at around 30-degrees, pausing for a moment with his head lowered, far more respectful than he would employ had he not experienced his recent misfortunes, in Taeksi Unjeonsa (택시운전사) ‘A Taxi Driver’ (2017)  Sa-​bok and the mechanic use haeche speech style and use one hand to give and receive, in Taeksi Unjeonsa (택시운전사) ‘A Taxi Driver’ (2017) 

173 174 175 184 189 191 191

194

195 196 199

200 202

203 204

List of figures  xvii 5.23 Sa-​bok uses the hapsyoche speech style to convey his guilt over leaving Gwangju, in Taeksi Unjeonsa (택시운전사) ‘A Taxi Driver’ (2017)  5.24 Sa-​bok leads Jürgen to the taxi by his hand, excited to earn such a large fare, in Taeksi Unjeonsa (택시운전사) ‘A Taxi Driver’ (2017)  5.25 Sa-​bok pats Jürgen on the thigh, in Taeksi Unjeonsa (택시운전사) ‘A Taxi Driver’ (2017)  5.26 Jürgen places his hand on Sa-​bok’s arm, in Taeksi Unjeonsa (택시운전사) ‘A Taxi Driver’ (2017)  5.27 Friends Joon-​seok, Dong-​su, Jung-​ho, and Sang-​taek as children, in Chingu (친구) ‘Friend’ (2001)  5.28 Joon-​seok reacts to Dong-​su placing his hand on his shoulder by saying ‘Jukgo sipna?’ (죽을래) ‘you wanna die?’, in Chingu (친구) ‘Friend’ (2001)  5.29 Dong-​su switches to a polite speech style, which misaligns with his non-​verbal expressions, when he tells a lie, in Chingu (친구) ‘Friend’ (2001)  5.30 Dong-​su’s and Joon-​seok’s posture, position of their hands, and uprightedness can be seen in clear contrast, in Chingu (친구) ‘Friend’ (2001)  5.31 Clasped hands show who is senior and who is junior (and who is socially competent and who is not!), in Jopok Manura (조폭 마누라) ‘My Wife Is a Gangster’ (2001)  5.32 Eun-​jin with her boss, Jopok Manura (조폭 마누라) ‘My Wife Is a Gangster’ (2001)  5.33 Eun-​jin’s emotional reaction to Junior’s death, in Jopok Manura (조폭 마누라) ‘My Wife Is a Gangster’ (2001)  5.34 Eun-​jin meets a prospective husband and his family with the matchmaker, in Jopok Manura (조폭 마누라) ‘My Wife Is a Gangster’ (2001)  5.35 Sherry teaches Eun-​jin how to be feminine in order to attract a Korean man, in Jopok Manura (조폭 마누라) ‘My Wife Is a Gangster’ (2001)  5.36 Eun-​jin’s male juniors also try to teach her how to be feminine –​demonstrating in doing so that they find the same behaviours feminine and attractive also, in Jopok Manura (조폭 마누라) ‘My Wife Is a Gangster’ (2001)  5.37 Before Eun-​jin’s feminine development, Soo-​ill opens the cupboard to find only instant ramyeon, in Jopok Manura (조폭 마누라) ‘My Wife Is a Gangster’ (2001)  5.38 Eun-​jin after her feminine development cooking with fresh ingredients for her husband and donning an apron, in Jopok Manura (조폭 마누라) ‘My Wife Is a Gangster’ (2001) 

205 205 206 206 207 208 210 210 212 212 213 214 216

216 217 218

xviii  List of figures 5.39 Eun-​jin changes from haeche to haeyoche for the first time when speaking to Soo-​ill, in Jopok Manura (조폭 마누라) ‘My Wife Is a Gangster’ (2001)  5.40 Mr Goh shifts from an honourific address term for his mother-​in-​law to Dangsin, which is not, in Hanyeo (하녀) ‘The Housemaid’ (2010)  5.41 Mr Goh’s mother-​in-​law’s shift in non-​verbal socio-​ pragmatic primitives when Mr Goh asks if she is crazy, in Hanyeo (하녀) ‘The Housemaid’ (2010)  5.42 Mrs Goh says ‘gomawoyo’ using the haeyoche to the housemaid, in Hanyeo (하녀) ‘The Housemaid’ (2010)  5.43 Miss Cho employs the expressions used by juniors when expressing shame and apologising to the housemaid (her junior), Hanyeo (하녀) ‘The Housemaid’ (2010)  5.44 Ok-​boon, in Ai Kaen Seupikeu (아이 캔 스피크) ‘I Can Speak’ (2007)  5.45 Ok-​boon asks the teacher to speak more slowly, in Ai Kaen Seupikeu (아이 캔 스피크) ‘I Can Speak’ (2007)  5.46 The teacher speaks in haeche and uses confrontational impolite non-​verbal expressions, in Ai Kaen Seupikeu (아이 캔 스피크) ‘I Can Speak’ (2007)  5.47 Intimidating non-​verbal expressions by the thug, in Ai Kaen Seupikeu (아이 캔 스피크) ‘I Can Speak’ (2007) 

218 219 221 222 223 224 225 225 227

Tables

1.1 Key films we use to demonstrate invisibility and how to deconstruct it in our case studies in Chapter 5  3.1 The five relations in contemporary Korea  4.1 Speech styles and second-​person pronouns  4.2 Kinship terms in Korean  4.3 Overview of non-​verbal socio-​pragmatic primitives  4.4 Overview of verbal socio-​pragmatic primitives  5.1 Examples of speech style-​related violence in Korea taken from Korean newspapers 

6 50 66 67 75 75 190

Acknowledgements

We decided to write this book in February of 2020, shortly after Parasite won best picture at the Oscars. Soon, however, the pandemic started, upending everything. Now, just a year later, South Korean cinema reached another milestone when Yuh-​jung Youn won the Oscar for best supporting actress for her role in Minari, becoming the first Korean actor to win an Academy Award. What a year we have had! We wish to express our gratitude first and foremost to our friends, colleagues, and families, who bore with us during 2020 while we persevered with this book in spite of the disruptions caused by the global pandemic. We are particularly grateful to Dr. Janina Wildfeuer and Dr. John Bateman, whose work on multimodal film analysis and the semantics of film has been instrumental in our research, underpinning much of this book. We are also grateful to those who attended talks we gave at the Korean Education Centre and Korean Cultural Centre. Thanks also to Frank Davey, Derek Driggs, and Sophie Hwang for their help at various stages, providing wonderful editorial help and helpful comments, and to Professor Taehoon Kim, whose insights and feedback were incredibly helpful. We are also grateful to our publishers at Routledge, and especially to Ellie Auton and Andrea Hartill, for giving us the opportunity to publish this book, and for their ongoing patience throughout the chaos of 2020 and the first half of 2021. Jieun Kiaer and Loli Kim would also like to express their gratitude towards their husbands, who have always supported them, and their children, who have endured omma’s absence. Jieun wishes to dedicate this book to her late father, Taehoon Joe, and her late father-​in-​law, Stanley Kiaer. Loli wishes to thank her father-​in-​law, Taehoon Kim, and mother-​in-​law, Hyekyung Cho, who have been pillars of support and kindness over the years. This work was supported by the Core University Program for Korean Studies of the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Korea and Korean Studies Promotion Service at the Academy of Korean Studies (AKS-2021-OLU-2250004).

Preliminaries

i.  Romanisation conventions There have been a vast number of attempts at finding a system which effectively romanises the Korean language, and as a result more than 20 different romanisation systems have appeared in printed media. Currently, there are three main romanisation systems in place, and it is important that we explain our choice for prioritising certain systems of romanisation over others and what purpose this serves in making this book accessible beyond academia. The longest standing amongst them is the McCune–​Reischauer system (MR), which was the first official romanisation system in Korea and was the most popular of the twentieth century. However, in recent years, the system has fallen out of favour mainly because of the use of diacritic marks (which also present challenges when typing), and consequently difficulty when pronouncing certain words. Furthermore, an apostrophe (’) is used to differentiate between consonants, as read in k, t, p, ch, and k’, t’, p’, ch’. For this reason, the main users of this system are historians for academic purposes. Then there is the Yale system, which presents Korean in a morphophonemic structure. This system is useful in the linguistic evaluation of morphemes, and thus makes the system popular among academics in linguistic publications. However, again, it is not as useful when attempting to pronounce Korean words. Finally, the Revised Romanisation system (RR) was developed by the National Academy of Korean language with the intention to redress the problems mentioned in the McCune-​Reischauer system, namely using diacritic marks. The system succeeded in distinguishing between certain vowels and consonants when reading hangeul (한글) without the reliance of said diacritic marks. The (RR) is currently the official romanisation system used in Korea. Along with these three methods developed by non-​Koreans, there is now another romanisation method established by non-​Korean fandoms, which rather than being systematically ‘worked out’, has evolved through popular use and can therefore be understood as being a more natural and intuitive solution. This is becoming increasingly popular. Out of the three systems already mentioned, it is closest to (RR).

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xxii Preliminaries In this book we have used (RR), wherever possible, which we have then joined with the forms of romanisation popularised by Korean pop culture fandom. We have taken this route to make Korean words and phrases pronounceable for readers or viewers, regardless of their knowledge of the Korean language. Hence, when they view Korean films, these words can be easily recognised without need for an academic foundation or a prior level of fluency. We follow the romanisation of Korean words with the hangeul in brackets followed by the English translation, on every first occasion of a given word or phrase’s use. We take a similar approach when it comes to film titles and film directors. In the main text, a film title will only be referred to by its romanised Korean after its first full mention. The only exception is with film still captions, where the titles are presented on every occasion with the romanised Korean title first, followed by the title in hangeul in brackets, and then the English title. The glossary tables also use the order of romanised Korean, hangeul, English, and then the explanation for use (e.g., for prefixes and suffixes). In one of the case studies, there are a limited number of Japanese words used. These are again presented first with romanised Japanese, followed by the word or phrase written in the Japanese syllabary hiragana in brackets (which is also labelled as hiragana to avoid confusion with the Korean), and then by the English translation. Confucian cultural concepts and titles of Confucian texts that were originally written in Classical Chinese, in this book are presented in Korean. Finally, when referring to Korean film directors and actors, we place their family name first before their forename, as is the norm in Korea.

1  Introduction

1.1  The global age of Korean film In February 2020, Bong Joon-​ho’s1 2019 film Gisaengchung (기생충), popularly known by its English film title Parasite, made Academy Awards history by becoming the first foreign language film to win the prestigious Best Picture Award. The moment signified an important shift in the South Korean (hereafter Korean) film (K-​film) industry from marginal to global phenomenon, serving to confirm K-​film’s move into the global mainstream and thus into the daily lives of many English-​speaking viewers. It was not a move out of the blue; only two years earlier, Park Chan-​wook’s 2016 film Agassi (아가씨), popularly known outside of Korea as The Handmaiden, was the first Korean film to win a BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) Award. Also, in recent years, K-​films have become increasingly accessible via a wide range of streaming services, Netflix being the most significant. In 2019, it was reported that 61 million Netflix viewers were registered in the US, and out of the remaining 63% of viewers across the globe five million were registered in the UK and 14.4 million in Australia (Iqbal, 2020). This is a remarkable feat considering the K-​film industry’s infamous self-​ isolation from international film markets until the 1980s and the global dominance of Hollywood since early in film history (An et al., 2006). It is no wonder that K-​film’s dramatic transformation in respect to both its product and rising global popularity has fittingly come to be known as the ‘Korean Film Wave’ (Yecies & Shim, 2016; Dal, 2016; Choi, 2010), a faction of the popular culture phenomenon the ‘Korean Wave’ (K-​Wave), which is an English translation of the Sinitic-​origin neologism hallyu (한류). The K-​Wave is a blanket term that encompasses numerous cultural products which increased in international popularity when the Korean government strategically opted for the globalisation of its popular culture in order to generate soft power. This has been the only popular culture movement outside of the US to be successful in exporting the majority of its major cultural products simultaneously (Korean pop music (K-​Pop), television dramas (K-​Drama), food (K-​ Food) and cosmetics (K-​Beauty)) (Lee, 2011). Among K-​Wave factions, film has been one of the most important, with its soft power evidently increasing DOI: 10.4324/9781003089896-1

2 Introduction since the K-​Wave first broke and today the faction that has gained the most formal, global recognition.

1.2  The one-​inch barrier K-​film’s shift into the global mainstream makes now a prime time to start moving towards a richer understanding of meaning in K-​film, as with more fans worldwide there is less of a need to domesticate the English subtitles to attract foreign viewers. The Korea Foundation recently estimated the number of fans of Korean popular culture to be around 89 million across 113 countries (Elfving-​Hwang, 2019), and in actuality the number in social media seems to be even greater. In his acceptance speech for the Academy Award for Gisaengchung, Bong Joon-​ho referred to the barrier of subtitles when he stated, ‘once you overcome the one-​inch-​tall barrier of subtitles, you will be introduced to so many more amazing films’. His statement, aimed at the continued ‘transnationalism’ of Korean cinema (Dal, 2019), and indeed all foreign language films, encouraged viewers to give subtitled films a chance. However, issues regarding foreign films are more than merely the inconvenience of having to read subtitles. For non-​Korean, particularly English-​ speaking audiences, K-​ films bring considerable challenges due to their vast differences in linguistic and cultural heritage, and as a result, subtitles cannot realistically provide definitions of all the meanings expressed. There simply isn’t equivalent linguistic or cultural means nor the capacity in the English subtitle for their explanation in every case. Thus, we may ask, what are audiences who lack knowledge of Korean language and culture missing? What exactly does this one-​inch barrier consist of, and what tools are needed to break through it?

1.3  Film viewers seek visibility Untranslatable meanings are not only an issue for researchers but increasingly a matter that interests the public, who in a time of informed consumerism want to know exactly what they are watching. The subject has been raised in numerous online articles and blogs, many of the most recent of which having been stimulated by the release of Gisaengchung due to foreignisation in its English subtitles and the symbolism in the film (e.g., Yang, 2020; Cho, 2020; ZenKimchi, 2020; Maffei, 2020; York, 2019). Articles by Korean K-​film viewers appear keen to help foreign fans’ understanding of K-​film rather than allowing meaning to be misinterpreted, used to justify broad generalisations about East Asian cultures, or missed entirely. For example, in an online article Cho (2020) describes the invisibility she encountered viewing Parasite as a bilingual Korean American. Cho immediately noticed what she describes as ‘the peculiarity of translating Korean into English text’, followed by her realisation that ‘The subtitles are not for me, […] they’re for American audiences’. Cho writes:

Introduction  3 I wanted to tap my boyfriend on the shoulder to explain this in the theatre. I wanted to pause the film and explain to this mostly white audience in the (un-​ironically named) Oriental Theatre that this film isn’t just funny and unconventional when characters call each other ‘sis’ in the middle of a violent argument. Further, the proactivity of K-​film viewers hasn’t merely involved blogs and articles. Viewers from around the world have even been learning the Korean language in order to understand the meanings beyond the subtitle, often using K-​film as a means of doing so. It has become so prevalent among Korean film (and also Korean drama) fans that streaming sights have caught on to this and begun providing services for it. For example, Viki.com, which focuses on Asian content, provides a range of features to cater to K-​film viewers’ desire to learn both the languages and the cultures of the films they are viewing: Many of Viki’s viewers aren’t native speakers of the languages of the programs they watch, and Viki also engages these users by offering them the chance to pick up the languages. In LEARN mode they can study Chinese, Korean, Japanese, by referring to dual English and foreign-​language subtitles, by pausing programs to repeat words, and also searching for words and phrases so they can hear them in different ways, in different languages. Movies and TV are one of the most important and potent ways students can employ for learning about language and culture, and Viki makes the most of the opportunity. (Cain, 2017)2 The motivation of K-​film fans to understand what they are viewing is also evident in the increase of Korean words that are being absorbed into World Englishes, which makes K-​fandoms stand out amongst fandoms in general as particularly semiotically productive. Fandoms select and use Korean words to create an environment that is stylised by Korean culture, through which they create empathic solidarity between members. Moreover, these words are not limited to nouns or unknown concepts in English (e.g., chaebol, bibimbap, doenjang, gochujang, soju), and their usage is becoming increasingly formalised with some words now even appearing in the Oxford English Dictionary.

1.4  The importance of understanding Korean interactions The invisible meanings that are the subject of online articles like Cho’s are often socio-​pragmatic ones, which are unavoidable in K-​films as they are fundamental in Korean interactions. English-​speaking viewers neither have the repertoire nor the cultural context for interpreting these meanings. While Korean is a socio-​pragmatically rich language, highly sensitive to the relationship between speaker and hearer, the English language and ‘Western’ culture

4 Introduction in general is not. Korean expressions are multifaceted in how they encode layers of information, such as the hierarchy between interlocutors, the basis of their relationship, and what they think or feel towards each other. This sensitivity is present at every moment of Korean interactions, for interlocutors are required to constantly modulate their expressions as the relationship develops (Kiaer, 2017 and 2019). Non-​verbal expressions are no exception to this; from posture and eye gaze to haptic gestures, touch, and traditions such as bowing, they play a primary role in expressing these socio-​pragmatic meanings in Korean. This means that in Korean film English-​speaking viewers encounter multimodal invisibility (Kiaer & Kim, 2021). The socio-​pragmatic differences in the English and Korean languages and non-​verbal expressions can be demonstrated using a simple scenario. Suppose a Korean child hears a knock on the door and is about to ask who it is. The child will first consider whether the person outside of the door is an adult or a child of the same age. In Korea, even for the simplest of utterances one must be mindful of whom they are addressing. One must determine their relationship to the other party before interacting, and in order to do so often the most important criteria for determining interpersonal relations are the dimensions of power and intimacy. Balancing the two is not easy and misjudging them can result in tension and even conflict. In the situation described above, for instance, the child knows they can say the interrogative pronoun nugu (‘who’), but can’t decide whether it is appropriate to say nugu-​ya (‘who is it?’ for friends or siblings) or nugu-​seyo (‘who is it?’ for adults) without knowing who is behind the door. Even for Koreans, who are used to this system, establishing the correct interpersonal relations and consequently finding the appropriate verbal and non-​verbal tools can be challenging. Therefore, these expressions are incredibly difficult for English-​speaking viewers, because English is much less sensitive to hierarchy and intimacy. In English, basic phrases like ‘Who is it?’, ‘It is raining’, ‘It is 2 o’clock’, or ‘I need to eat’ do not need to be altered depending on the hearer. For instance, in English, when answering the door, the child would not need to make the same considerations as the Korean child did in our example. The English-​speaking child would simply ask ‘Who is it?’ Thus, Korean socio-​pragmatic expressions cause considerable untranslatability and require a cross-​cultural approach to translation.

1.5  What you will find in this book This book provides a starting point for English-​speaking Western viewers who wish to reach beyond the one-​inch barrier of subtitles to explore what’s really happening in K-​films. Whether they be researchers requiring a framework to analyse K-​films or fans, this book provides the tools needed to translate the often-​untranslatable Korean multimodal expressions. While this book can be helpful for English-​speaking viewers in general, it is important to clarify from the offset that the invisibility addressed in this

Introduction  5 book will not necessarily always apply to English speakers who are not from Western cultures. English is now widely spoken, even by large numbers of people in non-​Western regions such as Singapore and South Africa. While these viewers may encounter some of the same invisibiles when it comes to linguistics, due to their cultural differences form Western regions the forms of invisibility they experience can vary. In this regard, there is a clear limitation in defining Anglophone (Anglo) readership and even in the use of terms that refer to English speakers, because it is not simple to address the cultural diversity that accompanies the use of the English language. Here, we aim to provide a foundation, by focusing our attention on Western culture that plays a key role in the Eurocentrism that has traditionally prevented translation, upon which microscales can later be added in order to build a truly cross-​ cultural, international perspective on meaning in world films. This book is organised into four key sections. The first section in Chapter 2 provides the theoretical background of this work, which brings together strands from national film studies, Korean film studies, Korean-​ English translation, Korean linguistic and cultural studies, and multimodal film analysis. In the second section in Chapter 3 we lay out the Korean cultural context –​Confucianism and in particular a key part of its fundament the Samgang Oryun (‘the three bonds and five key relations’) –​which underpin Korea’s system of interpersonal relations, with focus given largely to the Oryun (‘the five key relations’). The main hierarchical factors that we consider are age, position (primarily professional and familial), class (pre-​modern Korea)/​ socio-economic status (SES) (contemporary Korea), and the implication of gender and intimacy on these hierarchies. The third and fourth sections in Chapter 4 provide an inventory of common Korean expressions and the social reasoning behind their usage; a set of socio-​pragmatic primitives that are common in Koreans’ verbal and non-​verbal repertoire that we propose be used as a starting point for understanding Korean films. This is by no means a comprehensive list of expressions, but rather a selection of what we believe to be the most common. Formalisms are provided in Chapter 4 to illustrate more systematically the workings of socio-​pragmatic primitives and lay the groundwork for a framework that can be developed by English-​speaking researchers. Nevertheless, we have sought to make it accessible to keen K-​film fans by providing a key for understanding formulas and considerable examples with film stills. These formalisms are then employed within generous discursive descriptions in the case studies that are presented in Chapter 5. The case studies provide a more detailed look at socio-​pragmatic primitives at work in K-​films and the impact of missing these meanings and the cohesive links that they create within the greater narrative structure. Table 1.1 provides an overview of the core films that we will cover in our case studies. It is important to note that this book focuses on the case of South Korea only, due to the vast differences in political and social ideologies held by North and South Korea. The cultural contexts are different as is the motivation

6 Introduction Table 1.1 Key films we use to demonstrate invisibility and how to deconstruct it in our case studies in Chapter 5 Film Title (Romanisation, Hangeul, English translation)

Director

Year of Release

Sado (사도) ‘The Throne’ Gisaengchung (기생충) ‘Parasite’ 82 Nyeonsaeng Gim Jiyeong (82년생 김지영) ‘Kim Ji-​young Born: 1982’ Taeksi Unjeonsa (택시운전사) ‘A Taxi Driver’ Chingu (친구) ‘Friend’ Jopok Manura (조폭 마누라) ‘My Wife Is a Gangster’ Ai Kaen Seupikeu (아이 캔 스피크) ‘I Can Speak’ Hanyeo (하녀) ‘The Housemaid’

Lee Joon-​ik Bong Joon-​ho Kim Do-​young

2015 2019 2019

Jang Hoon Kwak Kyung-taek Jo Jin-​kyu

2017 2002 2001

Kim Hyun-​seok Im Sang-​soo

2017 2010

behind the films, with North Korean film heavily regulated, censored, and infused with propaganda. Also, since the division of North from South, significant language and cultural variations have occurred between the two countries (Sohn, 2006). A cross-​cultural perspective on North Korean film for English-​speaking viewers would thus require another framework that takes account of these various factors.

Notes 1 Surnames will precede forenames unless otherwise needed. 2 www.viki.com

2  Theoretical background

2.1  Calls for visibility Before we provide a toolbox for understanding K-​films, it is important that we first explain why it is necessary. In this chapter, we will provide an overview of some of the key issues encountered by film researchers and translation studies scholars, and why the singularities in cultures and languages require translation in order to enrich understanding of foreign films. We will discuss how we define ‘foreign’, and what are the dimensions of this invisibility. We will then go on to explain what precisely singularities are in the Korean language and culture and why these are not translatable within an Anglo-​Eurocentric point of view, resulting in invisibility in K-​films. 2.1.1  Calls for visibility in national film studies There has long been a call for visibility in national film studies which, unsurprisingly, runs parallel with issues in both cultural and translation studies. There remains an overwhelming lack of empirical research on precisely what is invisible from cross-​cultural perspectives, and a general tendency to Eurocentricise film rather than contextualise films within their own cultures. From verbal to non-​verbal expressions, there are numerous modes that mean differently when employed in the cultural context of each society. For instance, some meanings that are expressed in a particular way in K-​films may not be expressed that way in Hollywood films, while they may be in Japanese films. Pan-​Asian and microscales of ‘Western’ cross-​cultural perspectives are even essential, to help to de-​generalise Eurocentric commentaries on meaning in non-​Western films. It is such differences in cultures and languages that give them their ‘singularity’ (Deutsch, 1966: 75), and which Bhabha (1994) argues should be the very focus of translation. Cultural contextualisation is the only means for breaking through this invisible barrier because it provides the ideology and reasoning for the singularity. In national film studies, untranslatable elements and the requirement for their contextualisation is referred to often. Higson DOI: 10.4324/9781003089896-2

8  Theoretical background terms them ‘exotic elements’, which he explains will potentially be ‘interpreted according to an indigenous frame of reference’ by viewers who do not have knowledge of them (2000: 69). Precision is difficult to obtain in translation, even concerning literary texts which deal with a single mode rather than the multi-​modes that are required in film interpretation. Higson suggests cultural contextualisation as a solution when he calls for debates about national cinema to ‘take greater account of the diversity of reception, the recognition that the meanings an audience reads into a film are heavily dependent on the cultural context in which they watch it’ (2000: 68–​69). Willemen recommends a cross-​cultural approach as a solution that appears translational, in his suggestion for researchers to keep one eye on the culture of the text at hand and the other eye on their own culture. This is a means of identifying untranslatability, in order to account for it. although it is necessary for Western intellectuals to address, for instance, the cinema in India, with one eye on their own situation, their other eye must remain focused on the potential effects of their discourses within the Indian situation. This uncomfortably cross-​eyed mode of operation is absolutely vital if Western intellectuals, however well intentioned, are to avoid obstructing the work of Indian allies. […] Differences between, say, Ireland and Britain, or Korea and Japan, require a similar approach […] If this cross-​eyed dialectic is forgotten, the term ‘specificity’ loses any meaning and any notion of creative or diagnostic understanding. That would be unfortunate, since a position of double outsideness, that is to say, of in-​between-​ness, is the precondition for any useful engagement with ‘the national’ in film culture. (Willemen, 2006: 41) The need for a cross-​cultural approach is also demonstrated in the experiences of foreign film researchers, particularly those of European researchers of East Asian film. For example, Kaplan (1993: 142) recognises this problem in research on Chinese cinema and states, ‘cross-​cultural analysis, we know, is difficult –​fraught with danger. We are forced to read works produced by the “Other” through the constraints of our own frameworks/​theories/​ideologies’. Matron (2010: 36) also comments on the limitations of analysing the ‘other’ using a local scope to do so in the conclusion of their analysis of the transferability of cultural meanings in selected German and Korean films. Matron reflects, In this article, I drew a line connecting two movies from two very different cultures while always maintaining my own West German point of view. It is obvious that within the limited context of this study it is not possible to undertake a deeper comparison of the movies regarding diverging filmic and narrative traditions and the applicability of symbols specific to the respective culture.

Theoretical background  9 In his argument for cultural contextualisation, Willemen supports these experiences of foreign film researchers and argues that researchers must account for the differences in the films of other cultures. He explains that otherwise films are forced to conform to the cultural practices of those creating or reading the research: If we accept that national boundaries have a significant structuring impact on national socio-​cultural formations […] this has to be accounted for in the way we approach and deal with cultural practices from ‘elsewhere’. Otherwise, reading a Japanese film from within a British film studies framework may in fact be more like a cultural cross-​border raid, or worse, an attempt to annex another culture in a subordinate position by requiring it to conform to the readers cultural practices. (Willemen, 2006: 35) The lack of progress in pursuit of understanding cultural specificities in film is often considered to be propagated by universalism, an argument that ultimately seeks to remove the concept of culture. Ironically, though, it seems to aid Eurocentrism, which has traditionally plagued cultural translation in the translation of texts in general (Kiaer, Yates, & Mandersloot, 2020: 3) and now extends to filmic texts. The seemingly obvious need to define the conventional differences between every two cultures in order for one to understand the other better, has been disregarded as a pointless crusade because of the ‘destabilisation of culture’. This concept is based on the notion that since cultures are destabilised by incoming influences from outside of the culture, then culture isn’t pure to begin with and is constantly in flux, and thus since all cultures are mixed, all cultures are universal. The universalist argument seems to enable a certain laziness when Eurocentric researchers study the ‘other’, what Willemen refers to as an ‘illusion’ created in order ‘to ignore the specific knowledges that may be at work in a text, such as shorthand references to particular, historically accrued modes of making sense (often referred to as cultural traditions)’ (2006: 35). In any case, universalists’ attacks on culture have proven fruitless. According to House, ‘in the empirical social sciences, attempts to “problematise” and “relativise” the concept of “culture” have not as yet prevented solid ethnographic descriptions’ (2002: 94). Thus, in the spirit of productivity, perhaps a way forward for film researchers is to look to linguistics for which dealing with destabilisation has not prevented cultural singularity from being investigated. Translanguaging studies even provide evidence of destabilisation not preventing the identification of singularity. Translanguaging studies actually track language as it moves around the world and how expressions take on new meanings when they enter new cultural spheres (Hua, Li, & Jankowicz-​Pytel, 2020; Li, 2018; Kiaer, 2018). Translanguaging could, in fact, be described as the study of cultural destabilisation itself in this respect, since both the function of the expression in

10  Theoretical background its origin and the new form it takes on in its new environment are made the subject of investigation. Importantly, even though expressions travel, there is no evidence to imply that there is a subtraction from either culture as a result that would make it impossible to identify cultural differences. Rather, expressions and meanings are gained, even creating cultural currency for bridging the two cultures as a by-​product. The Korean address term oppa (오빠) serves as an apt example to demonstrate this point. Oppa, which means ‘older brother’ in Korean and is used by females when they address males who are older and of the same generation, has been adopted internationally by youths. However, words like this have not retained their interpersonal meanings when adopted by other cultures. In the case of oppa, for instance, rather than meaning older brother outside of Korea, it is often used to mean ‘boyfriend’ or ‘handsome guy’. The reason for this particular use of the word is because fans hear oppa frequently used to address young men in Korean dramas, who are typically handsome love interests. This doesn’t mean that there is not an association between oppa and handsome young men for Koreans also, and for the same reasons, however, amongst Koreans the term retains its interpersonal meaning, which it does not elsewhere. Furthermore, just as there is no evidence to suggest oppa has lost its fundamental interpersonal function in Korea as a result of the extension of its use into non-​Korean regions, there is also no evidence that its adoption has impacted on the pre-​existing form of other languages either other than its plus value. When considering the extent of the differences between cultures and languages and the importance of not dismissing singularities, we can perhaps take a lesson from Venuti’s description of the extensive transformation of a text that is involved in translation in order to make it comprehensible for a reader of a different language and culture. It is this process that film viewers undergo when interpreting films, be it for the purpose of research or casual viewing: The foreign text is not only decontextualized, but recontextualized insofar as translating rewrites it in terms that are intelligible and interesting to receptors, situating it in different patterns of language use, in different cultural values, in different literary traditions, in different social institutions, and often in a different historical moment. (Venuti, 2009: 162) 2.1.2  Current K-​fi lm literature There have been considerable (and rapidly increasing) works published in recent years that cover an array of subjects on K-​films. Many of them cover aspects of the K-​Wave and are too numerous to list. There has been limited exploration of meaning in K-​film, especially multimodal and cross-​cultural perspectives. Among these, the concept of invisibility in Korean film has been

Theoretical background  11 approached on one occasion by Kiaer and Kim (2021), which is perhaps why there are also no studies on the socio-​pragmatic meanings in K-​films either, since this would involve addressing K-​films’ invisibility. There has been a degree of cultural contextualisation in a number of works that do not focus specifically on meaning in K-​film. For example, Dal (2019) uses culture to contextualise the development of Korean film, while Shin et al. (2005) provide a cross-​cultural and multi-​dimensional perspective, including a comprehensive overview of contemporary film production, its circulation and reception. Kim (2004), which is one of the earlier writings in English on Korean film, focuses on emasculisation and the expression of social struggles and identity in K-​film. Min et al. (2003) provide a culturally contextualised account of Korean film as a form of expression, considering film as part of Korea’s cultural identity. They propose that Korean films’ narratives and meanings provide evidence of the ways in which the culture makes sense of itself. Of the limited number of studies that investigate ‘meaning’ in K-​films, none of which are monographs, it is primarily symbolic meaning that has been explored. The meaning of colour, costume, and other aspects of aesthetics are common subject matter among them. For example, Kim (2018) analyses the meaning of the colour orange in Korean films; Kim (2017) analyses how colours, particularly red, interact meaningfully in a series of popular Korean films; Yoon & Yim (2015) examine Han Hyung-​mo’s 1956 film Jayu buin (자유부인) ‘Madame Freedom’ and explore the symbolic significance of costumes, makeup, and body awareness; Cameron (2012) explores the meaning of colours in Kim Ji-​woon’s 2003 film Janghwa, Hongryeon (장화, 홍련) ‘A Tale of Two Sisters’, along with French film Haute Tension ‘High Tension’ (Aja, 2003); and Jang and Cho (2006) analyse Park Chan-​ wook’s 2005 film Chinjeolhan geumjassi (친절한 금자씨) ‘Sympathy for Lady Vengeance’, exploring the meaningful use of colour and form in costumes and the symbolic meaning of the film itself. There are also studies which look at how key concepts within Korean culture and national identity are signified in K-​films. Boman (2020), for instance, explores expressions of implicit han (한) –​a concept of emotion often compared to grief and considered an essential element of Korean identity –​in contemporary Korean films. Also, Elfving-​Hwang (2015) examines the signification of national sentiments and identity in K-​films, specifically how the physical soil of the Korean peninsula signifies the continuity of the Korean nation when challenged by political or social disaster. While studies like those aforementioned do look at meanings and their expression in film, they are limited in terms of scope. Few K-​film studies mention film language either directly or indirectly by referring to ‘conventions’ (e.g., Smith, 2013: 188, 189; Han, 2011: 64; Ok, 2009: 38; Kim, 2006: 6, 7). For example, Kim (2006: 7) argues that conventions ‘feed into the ways in which an audience responds to and interprets a film’. Because of the limited focus given to these discussions, inevitably, K-​film remains absent of the needed

12  Theoretical background theoretical background and appropriate terminology within relevant fields of film and communication research (e.g., multimodal film analysis, semiotics, semantics, pragmatics). This is vital in order to discuss the conventionalised usages that studies refer to, which are really the more systematic side of film language (Kim & Kiaer, 2021). Wildfeuer’s description of the processes involved in constructing meaning in film highlights the limited scope of current discussions of meaning in K-​films in this regard: Meaning in film arises out of the multiple interaction of various modalities such as images, sounds, music, gestures, camera effects, etc., which are stringed together by film editing in a chronological, linear order. The interplay of modalities results in a narrative text whose comprehension and interpretation requires the spectator’s active participation. (Wildfeuer, 2014: 1) To elaborate on Wildfeuer, if we consider events in film narrative to constitute types of meaning, then such meanings could be a person ‘starting the day’, ‘meeting a friend’, ‘shopping’, or two people ‘falling in love’. Each of these events has a clearly distinguishable purpose and, in general, relatively well-​ demarcated boundaries. They also commonly exhibit internal structure, constructed from a series of shorter happenings. For instance, starting the day will involve ‘waking up’, ‘taking a shower’, and ‘eating breakfast’. Similarly, ‘waking up’, ‘taking a shower’, and ‘eating breakfast’ will also be composed at even finer levels of discourse by elements associated with those activities rather than others. For instance, ‘eating breakfast’ might include camera shots of the food, a person reading a newspaper, and drinking coffee at the breakfast table, whereas ‘taking a shower’ might include shots of water pouring from the shower head, along with steam on the bathroom mirrors, and a person washing their hair. This is without even beginning to consider the socio-​pragmatic expressions which are engrained into any interactions that might take place using verbal or non-​verbal expressions. Kim & Kiaer (2021) have approached meaning in K-​film as comprehensively as Wildfeuer’s describes, in a pilot study that tested whether a formally specified notion of film discourse, a development of Wildfeuer’s (2014) model, could help identify conventions in meaning-​making processes in K-​films in a reliable fashion. The pilot did not attempt to give a cross-​cultural perspective or account for invisible meanings, though it produced results of patterns significant enough to determine conventions among the events in the selection of films under analysis. Kim and Kiaer did address the need to account for specifically Korean expressions in future studies, stating that the approach would benefit by ‘accounting for Korean social reasoning and how this manifests meaningfully in Korean language and behaviour’ through which the ‘long-​ awaited contextualisation of the meaning systems of Korean culture and language’ could be gained (Kim & Kiaer, 2021: 258).

Theoretical background  13 2.1.3  Defining foreign How do we define elements in a text as ‘foreign’ to begin with? Recent controversy over the categorisation of Korean American film director Lee Isaac Chung’s semi-​autobiographical film Minari (2020) provides a starting point for discussing how ‘foreign’ is currently defined and the flaws in this conceptualisation. Minari was categorised as a foreign language film rather than a drama by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association at the Golden Globe awards, on the basis that a significant portion of the film’s dialogue is spoken in Korean. This is not a first. In 2020, Chinese American director Lulu Wang’s film The Farewell (2019) was also categorised as a foreign language film for the same reason. However, Minari tells the story of a Korean American immigrant family in 1980s Arkansas which, for many, encapsulates the very thing that it means to be an American –​to be an immigrant. Lulu Wang tweeted, ‘I have not seen a more American film than #Minari this year. It’s a story about an immigrant family, IN America, pursuing the American dream. We really need to change these antiquated rules that characterise American as only English-​ speaking’ (Wang, 2020). Further, the combination of Korean with English languages and Korean, American, and Korean American cultures presents cultural contexts and frequently the use of translanguaging, which creates a dimension of foreignness for Koreans just as the Korean dialogue does for English-​speaking Americans. This is where defining foreign complexifies. The combination of multiple languages or cultures in interactions can also present another type of foreignness, created by the particular tensions that occur when certain languages and cultures communicate with each other (Figure 2.1). For this interaction to be local for a viewer, they would require

Figure 2.1 An American employer gives his two new Korean employees a round of applause for joining, in front of his other East Asian employees, in Minari (미나리) (2020). The cross-​cultural misalignment of this expression creates tension between cultures and subsequently awkwardness and humour.

14  Theoretical background knowledge of all languages and cultures present. As we will go on to demonstrate, this is not only to understand either side of the interaction but also because the interaction of multiple languages and cultures in itself can create another dimension of foreignness that requires understanding of how the given languages and cultures relate to each other. Another dimension of foreignness also occurs when bilingual and multicultural individuals communicate (e.g., Korean Americans). This creates foreignness even for people who speak the respective languages, because they do not share the bilingual/​multicultural experience and as a result do not understand the differences in the culture and language use that they encounter. As aforementioned, even the interaction between different languages and cultures in a scene can create foreignness in its own right, because the meanings that arise from the interaction require knowledge of both languages and cultures. Often, humour can be created by particular cross-​ cultural interactions that can be understood by the respective cultures based on the knowledge they have of themselves in relation to the other culture. Those without this knowledge may be partially or wholly excluded from the joke as a result. Éric Lartigau’s French film #JeSuisLa, translated in English as ‘#IAmHere’, provides us with numerous examples of this. The film tells the story of Stéphane, a French chef, who falls in love with Soo, a woman from Korea, whom he met online through Instagram. After having a car accident, he decides life is too short and embarks on an adventure to Korea to meet her. However, when he arrives at the airport, Soo doesn’t come to meet him. Before finally tracking her down, he spends time at the airport and interacts in French with Korean service staff (Figure 2.2). These cross-​cultural interactions are humorous often because of the friction created when Stéphane communicates with Koreans, as a result of the particular pairing of his semiotic repertoire

Figure 2.2 Stéphane trying to order ‘duck’ (using the English word but French pronunciation) from a Korean waitress at Incheon airport who still can’t understand him, in #JeSuisLa ‘#IAmHere’ (2019).

Theoretical background  15 with theirs. He even resorts to using English to get his point across, and in these moments another cross-​cultural dimension is created yet again –​this time that only English and French speakers can fully understand. For instance, in one scene Stéphane attempts to order at a restaurant. He wants to order the duck, but the Korean waitress can’t understand him. He uses the English word ‘duck’ in the hope of gaining her understanding; however, employing the lingua franca doesn’t work because of his French pronunciation, which sounds more like ‘dook’. For speakers of English and French, the moment is filled with humour. This is because they know that the French word for duck is canard, and Stéphane is not using this word. They know that duck is an English word and, clearly, he is using this word in the hopes of being understood. They also are well acquainted with the French pronunciation of English words, firstly, to know that it is indeed ‘duck’ that he is saying and, secondly, to find it funny that after all of his efforts, his pronunciation still makes it impossible for him to be understood by the Korean waitress. When he eventually resorts to translanguaging by literally impersonating a duck, quacking and miming the flapping of wings at the waitress, his desperation to be understood creates humour and also stimulates sympathy for the difficult situation he finds himself in. Bong Joon-​ho’s Okja (옥자) (2017) is another example of a film in which cross-​ cultural interactions cause dimensions of foreignness that require multiple languages in order to understand. In this case, there are jokes that one must speak both Korean and English in order to understand. Okja tells the story of Mija, who cares for a giant pig named Okja in the mountains of Korea for international conglomerate Mirando Corporation. The time comes for Okja to be returned to the corporation, unbeknownst to Mija to be slaughtered. When Mija finds out the intentions of the Mirando Corporation, she travels to New York to find and save Okja. In one scene, the animal-​rights group ALF (Animal Liberation Front) rescue Okja from the Mirando Corporation, with the goal of attaching surveillance equipment to her and using her as a mole to expose Mirando’s animal-​rights abuse. To do this, they have to hack into Okja’s monitoring system and allow her to be taken back to the lab, which Mija does not want. Jay (the group’s leader) won’t go through with the plan without Mija’s consent, but the only way to communicate with her is through fellow ALF member ‘K’, who is a Korean American and can speak Korean and English. When they ask Mija if she will agree, she says that she wants to take Okja home to the mountains in Korea. K ignores this and lies to Jay, saying that Mija has agreed to the plan. With that, the ALF members abandon Mija, with K the last to go. According to the subtitles, K’s final words to Mija are ‘Mija! Try learning English. It opens new doors!’ What he actually says is ‘Mija! Also, my name is Koo Soon-​bum’ (Figure 2.3). It’s a mistranslation that would only be apparent to those who can speak both Korean and English, and a subversion to the supremacy of English in Korean society because to understand what K says, you would need to speak Korean.

16  Theoretical background

Figure 2.3 The mistranslation in the subtitle when K says, ‘Mija! Also, my name is Koo Soon-​bum’, in Okja (옥자) (2017).

The name ‘Koo Soon-​bum’ also creates a layer of meaning, this time that is invisible to viewers without knowledge of Korean culture. The name is actually quite old-​fashioned. In Alex Jung’s article (2017) ‘Did You Catch the Translation Joke in Okja?’ on Vulture.com, actor Steven Yeun who plays K was quoted explaining this: ‘Koo Soon-​bum’ is sort of like a white man saying his name is ‘Buford Attaway’ […] When he says, ‘Koo Soon-​bum’, it’s funny to you if you’re Korean, because that’s a dumb name. There’s no way to translate that. That’s like, the comedy drop-​off, the chasm between countries. Jung’s article also recognises the dimension of foreignness created by the culture and language of second-​generation Korean American character K, which he explains is noticeable for those who have knowledge of the Korean language: Yeun’s performance itself is a nod to that gap; it reads differently if you know Korean. While it’s obvious that he’s a bit of a dolt, if you have the ear for the language, his failures are more apparent, because he speaks with the stiltedness of a second-​generation speaker (Yeun’s actual pronunciation is a lot better). He’s not quite sure of himself, and is trying to fit into both spaces, but can’t. Thus, expressions in film are ‘foreign’ if they are unknown and untranslatable by the viewer, which means that the dimensions of foreign are diverse and far more prolific than the term ‘foreign’ traditionally connotes. There may be multiple types of foreignness occurring within a single interaction, scene, or film, which may be simultaneous. These expressions may be verbal or non-​ verbal. It is also important to note that just because a film is in another

Theoretical background  17 language and culture, this does not mean that no local expressions will occur or that the entire film is foreign. This would have a similar effect on defining foreign, and subsequently identifying invisibility, as only acknowledging the dominant foreign language. What foreign ultimately comes down to is the knowledge, which in large part concerns language and culture, of the viewer. This does not present a clear or easy solution for the classification of films at award ceremonies, like The Farewell or Minari, because award ceremonies simply are not equipped to account for every foreign dimension encountered by every viewer. However, in film research it is both feasible and appropriate to define foreign in this way, and to subsequently identify all the unknown languages and cultures that are encountered in a film analysis. Without conceptualising ‘foreign’ in this way, the problem of invisibility will undoubtably remain since cross-​cultural approaches to the dimensions of foreign being encountered can’t be developed and untranslatability can’t begin to be addressed. 2.1.4  Invisibility in translation and foreignisation In this section we will provide the necessary theoretical background on the concept of invisibility in translation, and specifically how this occurs cross-​ culturally in the translation of Korean language and culture into AngloEuropean (Euro) texts. Since Venuti’s The Translator’s Invisibility (1995), the concept of invisibility has become a focus of critique in translation studies. Whether it involves the invisibility of the translator’s role of co-​author in producing the finished text –​in contrast to the traditional view of translators as subservient to the original text –​or the invisibility of the translation itself through the domestication of the foreign text in order to produce a smooth, comprehensible, and marketable end product, translational invisibility has been criticised for being less ethical and aesthetically interesting than an overt approach to translation. Later critics such as Spivak (2005), Booth (2008), and Coldiron (2012) even established a general critical consensus in translation studies in which making the foreign visible is considered to be a more ethical approach to the cultural other, especially for non-​Western source texts. Nevertheless, these arguments about invisibility and visibility in translation are almost exclusively based on translation between English and non-​ English literary texts and have mainly focused on a specific set of issues: the invisibility and domestication of foreignness, the invisibility of translators and their creativity, and the visibility of the ‘other’. We believe that there are other issues pertinent to thinking about translational (in)visibility. One recent theoretical intervention into translational invisibility takes the phenomenological view of invisibility as the ‘plus-​value’ of objects’ visibility, such as in Scott’s suggestion that the original text’s invisibility is a ‘latent multi-​perspectivalism’ that translators and readers of translated texts ‘can never properly achieve’ (2012: 62). In this way, invisibility is inevitable in

18  Theoretical background translation. This shows that all has not been said about (in)visibility, especially in the East Asian context. 2.1.5  Cultural translation Cultural translation is a term defined by cultural theorist Homi K. Bhabha (1994) as a set of discourses that enact hybridity by crossing cultural borders, revealing the intermediary positions of (figurative or literal) translators in the process. This paradigm enables us to view translation as a broader process responsible for transferring not only semantic meaning but also cultural concepts lacking direct equivalents. Historically, there has been a great imbalance in translation between East Asian languages and English. Direct linguistic interaction between the two areas began in earnest as a result of increasing Western trading expeditions, colonialism, and the colonial mindset which created a perceived superiority of Western, particularly English language, texts. As a result, translation was a one-​sided affair where few East Asian texts were translated into English, while huge numbers of English texts were translated into East Asian languages. The translation of classic English-​language literature and foundational texts into East Asian languages was viewed as a crucial cornerstone in the process of ‘modernising’ East Asian societies. Translation between English and East Asian languages was thus built on a foundation of colonialism. The effects of this are still felt today: according to the LTI Korea archive, only 659 published Korean texts have been translated into English while in 2012 alone over 10,000 foreign texts were translated into Korean (Kiaer, 2017). Entering the postcolonial period, scholars began to recognise the need for a paradigm countering this colonial imbalance between Eastern and Western languages. Colonial and postcolonial processes have complicated the relationships between languages, with implications for the act of translation. It is clear that translation is far more than simply the process of changing the language in which a text is presented. Indeed, ‘translation’ existed as part of a paradigm negotiating the relationships between cultures mediated by verbal languages as well as non-​verbal signs. Bhabha’s notion of ‘cultural translation’ also places focus on the process of translating from one culture to another, removing the necessity for a fixed beginning and end product (such as a written work). In this way, Bhabha’s sense of ‘translation’ encompasses more than just texts. Instead of simply describing the way colonial and postcolonial translations are carried out, Bhabha talks not of a set of translations but rather of translation in a different sense of the word. Despite the emergence of ‘cultural translation’, to use Bhabha’s term, most studies of the concept remain generally Eurocentric, either exclusively discussing European languages and cultures or else seeming to implicitly suggest the superiority of Western languages over those less traditionally studied. There continues to be a great need to embrace further diversity in both translation theory and practice.

Theoretical background  19 The source language audience are often angered when translators ‘naturalise’ or simplify culturally specific expressions and replace them with more accessible terms for the target language audience, accusing the translation of being inaccurate. Yet at the same time, if the translation adheres too strongly to the source text, the translated work often fails to gain traction with readers in the target language. Oftentimes, when translating from East Asian languages into English, translators may find it easier to omit invisibles so as to appease a larger, more prestigious, and often more lucrative English-​speaking audience. What results is the whitewashing of cultural elements present in the source text. Additionally, seen through the lens of cultural appropriation, this kind of anglicisation can take on added significance as another avenue of imperialist cultural expansion. Saglia (2002) defines cultural appropriation as ‘the inclusion and adoption of foreign, other signs into one’s own cultural environment in order to aggrandise, enlarge and reinforce it’, where the diversity of translated material ‘is perceived as naturalised, whilst still importantly retaining its other status’. Saglia also cites Lawrence Venuti (1995: 18), who sees domestication strategies as working to reconstitute ‘the foreign text in accordance with values, beliefs and representations that preexist in the target language’. In other words, by domesticating foreign texts in accordance with the values of one’s own culture, translators may end up contributing to the illusion that one’s own cultural values are therefore universal, based on their supposed reflection in foreign texts. This is the same problem faced in foreign film analysis. Translators, however, are given the choice to either naturalise or foreignise their texts: to either make the text more comfortable and culturally recognisable to readers in the target language or to keep it closer to the original text, often at the risk of readability in the target language. This choice may be less important when translating between relatively similar cultural contexts; however, the vast differences that currently exist between East Asian and English-​ speaking Western cultures mean that naturalisation and foreignisation are a crucial aspect of translation between these cultures. However, historically translators have over-​prioritised naturalisation when translating East Asian texts into English, resulting in translations stripped of nearly all sense of the culture of their origin. 2.1.6  The implications of (in)visibles Invisibles and visibles arise when the source and target languages possess different linguistic features, or ‘feature inventories’. For example, it is not necessary to specify gender in Korean, while in English one is often forced to specify a subject’s gender by English’s gendered third-​person pronouns, such as ‘he’ and ‘she’. (‘They’ is now also widely recognised as a gender-​ neutral alternative, yet this is not always the perfect solution.) Because of this, Korean-​English translators often find themselves in situations where they are

20  Theoretical background effectively forced to add information to a text that went unspecified in the original text, requiring careful interpretation. For instance, they may need to specify a character’s gender, or the number of people present in a scene despite these details not being present in the original text (perhaps even intentionally omitted!). Such situations arise because the differences between feature inventories in Korean and English mean that it is possible to omit elements of a sentence in Korean that would be necessary to specify in English. Thus, for a Korean work to make sense in English, invisibles such as these must be chosen by the translator and added to the text in the target language. Invisibles in Korean include gender and number, as mentioned above, as well as a fine-​ grained system of hierarchical language and speech styles that add nuance to almost every utterance in Korean. These visibles and invisibles mean that translators’ linguistic decisions are not limited merely to word-​level decisions but go beyond to syntactic and pragmatic decisions too (Kiaer, 2017, 2019). The interplay between social hierarchy and language in Korean is incredibly difficult to replicate in English without losing much of the nuance of the original text. In order to properly address somebody of a higher social status in Korean, verbs and names must be changed into a polite form, and certain address terms must be used. Although levels of politeness and formal speech do exist in English, the main difference is that polite speech in English is not as codified or systematic as in Korean. For the most part, polite speech in English is limited to a few lexical terms like ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ and the use of more indirect language. Additionally, the decision of when to use a politer register in English is much vaguer than in Korean; except for certain situations like job interviews or formal emails, one’s tone when speaking English is most often decided on a case-​by-​case basis depending on the personal relationship or closeness between speakers. In comparison, there is little freedom regarding which speech register to use when speaking Korean, as the appropriate speech register strictly depends on the relative age, gender, and social status of speakers. The strict nature of Korean speech styles makes them essential to properly understanding a text, particularly when the context or social relations between characters are often left implicit. Therefore, in order to convey both the surface meaning and implied meaning of the Korean source text, translators must attempt to somehow replicate these fine-​grained social registers in English –​a difficult task to achieve elegantly. Another point of difference in Korean and English is word order. Korean is a subject-​object-​verb (SOV) language, in contrast to English, which uses a subject-​verb-​object (SVO) structure. English is also primarily a head-​initial, or ‘right-​branching’ language, while Korean is primarily head-​final, or left-​ branching. In practice, this means that while in English a modifying clause typically follows the noun being modified, as in ‘the cat [head noun] that ate the rat [modifying clause]’, modifying clauses in Korean usually precede the head noun they modify, creating a structure more like ‘the ate-​the-​rat [modifying clause] cat [head noun]’. In many cases it is irrelevant to a text’s meaning whether a modifying clause comes before or after a head noun. However,

Theoretical background  21 when translating poetry, for instance, the dramatic impact of the poem can often depend on information being revealed in a specific order, and this order can easily be disrupted if a translator is forced to rearrange the order of lines by the differing headedness of the target and source languages. In effect, every point of difference in feature inventories, as seen below, forces the translator to choose whether to attempt to preserve the linguistic information in the source language –​often at the cost of readability or naturalness in the target language –​or whether to accept a loss of linguistic information in exchange for a more readable or natural translation in the target language. Yet if both of these choices result in something lost from the original text, what does this mean for our ideas of ‘faithfulness’, the criterion traditionally held up as the definitive measure of a translation’s quality? One may be tempted to say that the more ‘faithful’ approach would be to sacrifice readability and naturalness in order to preserve as much linguistic information as possible from the original text. Yet even in this case, a clunky and awkward translation can hardly be said to be ‘faithful’ to a natural-​sounding source text, even if one has managed to accurately preserve most of the source’s linguistic subtleties. Given this, we can perhaps assume that the more the linguistic inventories of source and target language differ, the less achievable faithfulness becomes, at least in a conventional sense. In the case of Korean and English, these differences are numerous, tending to be more pragmatic in Korean. We can summarise them as follows: i. Tense (pragmatically driven in Korean) ii. Gender (pragmatically driven in Korean) iii. Number (pragmatically driven in Korean) iv. Optional arguments (pragmatically driven in Korean) v. Flexible word orders (pragmatically driven in Korean) vi. Politeness (rich and sophisticated in Korean) vii. Social hierarchy (rich and sophisticated in Korean) Each one of these linguistic points of difference makes the very possibility of achieving ‘faithfulness’ more and more questionable. Of course, even between closely related languages, there will always exist subtle differences in the nuance or history of certain words that raise similar questions regarding faithfulness. Due to factors like these, we are forced to concede that translation is essentially an imperfect art, and ‘faithfulness’ is thus perhaps best thought of as an impossible ideal that can never be fully attained –​and is even further out of reach in translations between languages as different as Korean and English.

2.1.7  Cultural appropriation and the problems with anglicisation As a result of this traditional preference for naturalness over faithfulness in the West, Asian-​ness and the essence of Asian cultures are often made invisible,

22  Theoretical background

Figure 2.4 Mrs Park eating ram-​don, in Gisaengchung (기생충) ‘Parasite’ (2019).

with translators playing down cultural differences for the sake of producing a more familiar target language text. For instance, the dubbed version of the Pokémon anime that was aired for American audiences attempted to erase any reference to Japanese culture, infamously having one character refer to an onigiri (a Japanese rice ball) as a ‘jelly-​filled doughnut’, despite the fact that the object being displayed on screen was clearly a rice ball (Raes 2018: 123). Even when translators are not explicitly trying to remove a so-​called ‘cultural odour’ from a text, translators can occasionally conflate or confuse different East Asian cultures while trying to foreignise a text. For instance, in Darcey Paquet’s translation of the 2019 film Gisaengchung (2019), Paquet invented the term ram-​don to refer to a Korean noodle dish in the film known by Koreans as jjapaguri; a mixture of two different brands of Korean instant noodles (jjapaghetti and neguri) (Figure 2.4). Although his translation was well received, turning ram-​don/​jjapaguri into a popular dish even outside of Korea, his decision to invent a term for the dish partially made from Japanese morphemes arguably erases some of the word’s linguistic associations with Korea: -​don comes from the Japanese udon, and while ram-​ is taken from the Korean ramyeon, some viewers may mistakenly assume it is from the Japanese ramen. It is easy to see the reason for this translation; however, it is true that transliterating the dish as jjapaguri would likely communicate little information to audiences, while most viewers would likely be familiar with udon, ramyeon, or ramen noodles. In this sense, it is an effective translation, yet the questions about cultural appropriation remain. Given that East Asian cultures are already frequently conflated and confused in Western countries, one could argue this translation only adds to such confusion, despite its effective communication of the nature of the dish to the target audience. That wasn’t the only term to be foreignised in order to make it more palatable for English-​speaking audiences. In one scene, Ki-​Jung is forging a diploma from Korea’s prestigious Yonsei University for her brother Ki-​Woo to

Theoretical background  23 present to the rich Park family. Her father, Ki-​Taek, impressed, quips in the subtitle, ‘Wow, does Oxford have a major in document forgery?’. However, in the Korean dialogue Ki-​Taek actually references Yonsei University, rather than Oxford University. Of course, the humour of this line would have been lost on most of the target audience if it had been translated literally because the prestigious rank of the University would have been invisible. Thus, in this case, Paquet clearly decided that humour should take precedence over faithfulness. Of course, Paquet could have chosen any prestigious university well known to Western audiences; however, apparently Bong Joon-​ho has an affection for England that inspired the final decision (Lee, 2019). In a way, this may sound quite arbitrary. Paquet’s goal was clearly to make the content less foreign and more accessible for English-​speaking audiences, and given Gisaengchung’s (2019) huge global popularity, it is evident that he succeeded. Yet it is interesting to imagine this happening in the opposite direction. Can you imagine a character in a British film set in London referring to a diploma as being from Oxford University, meanwhile the subtitle reads Yonsei University? It would be an odd sight. Perhaps the issue lies in the relative status of English compared to other languages, since English is now used globally as a lingua franca, and American-​and British-​exported media have resulted in a relatively wide understanding of American and British culture and institutions across much of the world. The scenario described above of a British university diploma being localised as being from ‘Yonsei University’ seems absurd in part because ‘Oxford University’ would not need to be localised for Korean audiences, as much of the audience would likely understand the prestigious status of the university and would thus not need a Korean analogue to understand the line. Here, we run into the greater significance of the imbalance in the direction of translation between Western and East Asian countries: perhaps Western audiences would understand the significance of Yonsei University if their cultures had attempted to absorb and understand Korean culture with as much fervour as they had attempted to impose their own values on Koreans. This only serves to exacerbate the prevalence of a naturalising approach to translating East Asian literature into English, creating something of a vicious cycle: Western audiences are unfamiliar with East Asian cultural items, so those cultural items must be naturalised, thus Western audiences are never exposed to those cultural items, perpetuating the need for naturalisation. Occasionally a naturalising approach is even taken for people’s names, despite these needing no translation in theory. For example, in Paquet’s subtitles for Gisaengchung (2019), Ki-​Woo’s friend is referred to simply as ‘Min’ in the subtitles, despite his full name being Min-​hyeok. One could argue that changes like these could help foreign audiences keep track of a film’s characters when there are a large number of unfamiliar foreign names to memorise. However, another likely explanation is that when translating for subtitles specifically, a translator must usually translate lines as succinctly as possible in order to limit each subtitle to only one or two lines of on-​screen text, as well as to keep

24  Theoretical background audiences from feeling overwhelmed by a large volume of text throughout the film. Given such limitations, perhaps seemingly unnecessary changes to names could be justified. In another scene, Paquet also chose to translate the Korean app Kakao Talk –​often shortened as KaTalk in Korea –​as WhatsApp, again choosing to prioritise helping the audience comfortably understand the significance of cultural terms in the script. This is a strategy frequently found in Korean-​ to-​ English translation (Kiaer & Kim, 2021). Yet, will this Westernising approach to translation ultimately hold back Western audiences from contact with Korean culture, resulting in the continuing need to localise any trace of Korean culture from Korean media? Perhaps an approach more similar to Bhaba’s ‘cultural translation’ is needed, even if audiences may need to work harder to understand at first. More recently, there have been many cases of a similar process happening with the opposite goal, too, however. Massive global media corporations like Disney typically wish to present their products as ‘timeless’ and culturally odourless. For instance, Disney would prefer non-​Western audiences to grow attached to their characters without being distracted by cultural barriers or the perception of their films as American and ‘other’. This approach of adapting global products to each target market is often called ‘glocalisation’. For example, one scene in Pixar’s animated film Inside Out was altered in the Japanese release to fit Japanese cultural norms; in the English release, there is a scene where the main character, a young girl, is disgusted by a plate of broccoli, refusing to eat it –​a common trope in Western children’s media. In Japan, however, broccoli is generally considered to be well liked by Japanese children, and the broccoli was replaced with slices of green pepper in the Japanese release; a vegetable that fills a similar stock role in Japan (Baseel, 2015). In some cases, rather than merely altering existing scenes, entirely new content is added to adapt a product for new audiences. In the Chinese release of Iron Man 3, Disney’s Marvel Studios partnered with a Chinese production company, DMG Entertainment, adding new scenes filmed in China, giving more scenes to some of the Chinese actors in the film, and including product placement for Chinese products (Tsui, 2013). Although the film did very well at the Chinese box office, these changes were received poorly by Chinese film critics, who saw them as cheap pandering, and Marvel Studios has not taken this glocalising approach to the Chinese releases of their subsequent films, perhaps indicating a preference for a more culturally odourless approach.

2.2  Korean communication: a bird’s eye view In this section we will present the specific case of Korean invisibility in an overview of verbal and non-​verbal Korean communication, framed within the relevant theoretical work on the subject. We give primary focus to socio-​ pragmatic communication, which is the major object of invisibility faced by foreign viewers of K-​films, highlighting the differences between Korean and

Theoretical background  25 English languages and Western cultures whose interpersonal dynamics are not required to be encoded into verbal and non-​verbal expressions as they are in Korean. 2.2.1  Interactional dynamics: a socio-​pragmatically rich language Korean is a socio-​pragmatically rich language, highly sensitive to the relationship between the speaker and hearer at every moment of interaction. The relationship between speaker and hearer is reflected in the language spoken: most expressions in Korean encode information such as the hierarchical relationship between interlocutors and the speaker’s relationship and attitude towards the hearer, whereas English is much less sensitive to these factors, as are most Western languages (Kiaer, 2020). In Korean, the first hurdle is the question of how the speaker should address the hearer. Koreans almost never call each other by first name alone. Instead, they use an appropriate term of address. Finding the correct term of address is important from the beginning of an interaction, even with a stranger. This is why Koreans often ask each other’s age even just a few minutes after meeting. Sometimes, these questions can continue, covering somewhat personal matters like whether the other person is married or has children. Those unfamiliar with Korean culture may find questions like these imposing and overwhelming, but they are necessary to find the right terms of address and ultimately ensure that the conversation flows smoothly. Although Korean grammar books aimed at learners often provide simple lists of terms of address for various relationships, these terms are not as simple as an orderly list may suggest. Finding the proper term of address for an interaction is often a complex, context-​driven matter, and unlike in a textbook there is not a set rules for which terms of address should be used at a given time. In each instance, one must calculate and juggle various factors to find the right terms to reflect the intended relational dynamics. Hence, it is not only learners of Korean who find this process difficult –​native Korean speakers also struggle. One has to consider multiple factors such as the age and social status of the person to whom one is speaking. In addition, one needs to consider the environment –​whether it is a private or public space. On a very basic level, this can perhaps be compared to choosing clothes to suit the occasion and expected company. Despite the complexity of this process, it is worth the effort as the incorrect use of terms of address could seriously offend or upset someone. There is one more layer of complexity to this system still to discuss, however. It is not always solely the social hierarchy, determined by age or position, that dictates the choice of address terms. Imposition is another important factor. Politeness theorists Brown and Levinson (1987) created an equation to represent what is happening in our minds (in any language) when we are calculating what level of politeness is required in an interaction. The three major variables relevant to those mental calculations are distance, power, and

26  Theoretical background degree of imposition. Distance can relate to age or position in the social hierarchy. Power refers to the relative positions of interlocutors within an existing power structure. Finally, the degree of imposition refers to how imposing the listener will find your utterance. For example, if you were talking to your best friend (low distance, low power), you wouldn’t need to use polite language to comment on the weather or complain about a teacher (low degrees of imposition). However, if you were to ask this same friend to give up her weekend to watch your little brother while you go off and do something else (high degree of imposition), you might need to employ more politeness strategies. In this sense, it is not only the social hierarchy that shapes how we speak –​it is also the content of the speech itself and how that relates to the hearer. 2.2.2  Distance matters: respect versus intimacy The dimension of distance can be a tricky one. Distance is closely related to respect and intimacy: creating a sense of distance can convey respect for the hearer, while removing this distance can convey intimacy. Both of these effects are useful in different situations, yet when speaking Korean one is always forced to choose a position on this spectrum. This is because, unlike many other languages, it is impossible to hide one’s attitude towards the hearer in Korean: one cannot opt out of the address term system as even the decision not to use an address term encodes social meaning. Therefore, when deciding what to say in Korean, one also has to decide whether to put more emphasis on respect or intimacy. Some researchers feel that many East Asian cultures, including Korean, tend to calculate the requisite politeness higher than many Western cultures, particularly with reference to the variable of distance. While an American might calculate a lower amount of distance in order to come across as friendly, a Korean might calculate a higher level of distance to come across as respectful and polite. This can often lead to faux pas in intercultural communication and likewise in the way Westerners interpret emotions and attitudes when they view interactions between Koreans, in real life and indeed in K-​films. Respect and intimacy can be conveyed by one’s choice of address terms. For instance, the use of honourific suffixes or particles –​such as nim or kkeseo –​ reflect the speaker’s respectful attitude towards the addressee. The following examples illustrate various ways a teacher can be respectfully addressed when they are the subject of the sentence. The degree of respect and intimacy is explained for each example. (a) Kim seonsaeng, i-​geo haejueo(yo) ‘Teacher Kim, can you please do this?’ (superior to colleagues) (b) Kim seonsaeng-​nim, i-​geo haejueo(yo) ‘Dear teacher Kim, could you please do this?’ (respectful)

Theoretical background  27 (c) Kim seonsaeng-​nim, i-​geo hae-​jusibsiyo ‘Dear teacher Kim, would you please do this?’ (more respectful) (d) Kim seonsaeng-​nim-​kkeseo, i-​geo hae-​jusiki parabnida ‘Honourable teacher Kim, we humbly implore you to do this’. (extremely respectful) In pre-​modern Korea, politeness and respect were even more important. Strict class and caste systems were in place, and the inappropriate use of terms of address was unforgivable. Address terms reflected the social status of speaker and hearer, and the use of these terms was much more fixed than today. Intimacy was irrelevant –​if one belonged to a different social class to the addressee, the appropriate address terms were determined by fixed social conventions. In this sense, there was no room for negotiation. 2.2.3  Speech styles Unlike honourifics, which express respect towards a subject, speech styles are used to express respect towards the hearer. When it comes to speaking appropriately in Korean, speech styles are equally as important as address terms. There is some dispute over how many Korean speech styles there are, though it is often agreed that there are six (Yeon & Brown 2011: 17). Formal styles (a–​d) a. b. c. d.

Formal style known as hapsyoche Semiformal style known as haoche Familiar style known as hagaeche Plain style known as haerache

Informal styles (e–​f) e. Polite style known as haeyoche f. Half-​talk or intimate style known as panmal/haeche The formal style is used by speakers to those of superior status or age in circumstances where great respect or decorum are needed. These situations include settings like public speeches or presentations, or reports to superiors. This style is also used to show extra respect to elders in settings which otherwise wouldn’t be considered formal. Members of the military often use this form when speaking to those of higher rank. The polite style is also used to those of superior status or age, and is much more commonly used than the formal style. This is the typical style used in discourse between strangers, and is also used to close friends, acquaintances, or family members of greater

28  Theoretical background age than the speaker. Both the semiformal style and the familiar style are used much less commonly in modern Korea, but both can be heard in specific settings. Specifically, these forms are used by adults to lower-​ranking adults with low intimacy. They allow a measure of distance to be maintained and show less superiority than lower styles. Half-​talk is used between very close intimates regardless of age, as well as by superiors to inferiors or adults to children. Plain style is similar, but it is typically only used to inferiors or children. The six-​style system is actually much more complex than this explanation suggests, and the pragmatic meanings and implications of each form are varied and subtle. However, most Koreans conceptualise their language in terms of formal and informal, or high and low, rather than by six different categories. According to Lee and Ramsey (2000: 251), ‘Today […] when Koreans talk about speech styles, the most common […] contrast is between panmal, “informal, intimate speech” and jondaetnmal which, roughly translated, means “polite speech” ’. Thus, the informal half-​talk (we will refer to this style as panmal (반말) and ‘half-​talk’ interchangeably) and the polite –​요 (yo) form ‘have come to be the twin pillars of the speech-​style system of modern Korean’ (Lee & Ramsey, 2000: 260). This difference between high form and low form, or formal and informal styles, is a sensitive one that is frequently discussed by native speakers of Korean. In this simplification of the six systems into two, panmal refers to plain style and half-​talk style, and jondaetnmal refers to polite style and formal style, leaving out familiar style and semiformal style, due to the rarity of their use in contemporary spoken Korean. 2.2.4  Negotiating respect and intimacy: how to modulate expressions Speech styles are not fixed, however, even within the same relationship. As the interpersonal relationship changes, the speech styles used by both parties may also change, conveying different nuances. For instance, when two people first meet, they will typically use the polite ending -​yo with each other, even if they are the same age. This -​yo ending shows respect but also distance, so as two people become closer, they will then often start dropping -​yo to reflect the growing intimacy in the relationship. One must navigate this transition carefully, however. If both parties fail to negotiate this change properly, with both parties happy to drop the -​yo, then one side may feel offended. For this reason, finding the right balance between formal and informal speech is not easy. Furthermore, these rules for balancing intimacy and respect are so culturally engrained that heritage speakers of Korean often obey these rules even when not speaking Korean, feeling that they should use address terms and never call anyone older than themselves by their first names. Despite the importance of age in deciding which address term is appropriate, social status, hierarchy, and gender also matter. Particularly, in the workplace or other contexts like the military, rank matters more than age.

Theoretical background  29 Koreans often feel uneasy when speaking to a younger boss because of the dissonance between rank and age. If they come across each other outside the workplace, they tend to avoid speaking altogether because readjusting relationships could make them feel awkward. This is particularly visible in male-​to-​male interactions (Kiaer, 2019). Of course, relational dynamics change over time. Hence, the two speakers need to adjust their speech styles at the right time and make the necessary adjustments or negotiations in order to make the conversation flow nicely. Likewise, just because you start a relationship with one term of address does not mean you won’t transition to other terms of address as you renegotiate your relationship. 2.2.5  The importance of non-​verbal communication Nonverbal communication refers to interactions between people which do not use words, for example, posture, eye gaze, nodding, or bowing. This type of communication is just as prevalent as spoken language, regardless of culture or nationality, and supports the expression of socio-​pragmatic meanings. The field of nonverbal communication in general is very well established and has been discussed in great detail. It has been approached from a linguistic perspective, though tends to be looked at more broadly. Common discussions include whether non-​verbal communication is linguistic or subconscious. Those who believe non-​verbal communication may be subconscious, often examine kinesics, or the study of body language, and include minute details of human movement, which communicate intendedly or unintendedly about relationships and emotions. Kendon (1988: 132) explains that gesture, unlike words which follow standard forms, can be used in a much more general and less regulated way. He also discusses how gestures can become linguistic. McNeil (1992: 19, 37) believes gestures are fundamentally different from language, for similar reasons as provided by Kendon, and examines a concept introduced by Kendon (1988) called a continuum of gesture. The concept shows how gesture can range from gesticulation –​spontaneous hand motions, which often accompany spoken language; to language-​like gestures, which are employed in sentences and have specific meanings; to pantomimes, which replace speech to describe ideas; to emblems, which have set and standardised forms and always mean the same things (Knapp, Hall, & Horgan 2014: 253); to sign-​languages, which follow all the rules of verbal language (McNeill, 1992: 37, 38). He shows how the types of gestures in this continuum include very non-​linguistic aspects as well as aspects which are identical to spoken language, but nonverbal. One of McNeill’s and other researchers’ main concerns with gesticulation as language is that it is spontaneous and doesn’t follow set rules (McNeill, 1992: 40). Wharton (2009: 153) addresses many of these descriptions of gesture in relation to language. He seems to refute the claim that gesture is not communicative, stating that all kinds of gestures –​ including gesticulation –​‘may be exploited in ostensive-​inferential communication as long as the fact that the speaker is making a special effort is salient

30  Theoretical background enough, and relevant enough, to attract attention and be picked up by the relevance-​theoretic comprehension heuristic’. Researchers and observers often remark on the differences between East and West. However, linguistic differences, though an obvious cause for a perceived divide between East and West, are probably not the primary factor. Rather, these perceptions are often related to commonalities found in non-​ verbal communication. Indeed, what we sometimes refer to as ‘culture’ actually has little to do with traditional belief systems or practices and much more to do with the norms of nonverbal communication. Concepts of ‘culture shock’ are thus far more likely to come from non-​ verbal misunderstandings. This makes sense, because the most crucial parts of socio-​ pragmatic meanings are, in actuality, communicated through the non-​verbal gestural primitives that are learned hand in hand with verbal language. In fact, it is frequently argued whether non-​verbal expressions are linguistic based on the deliberateness of gestural expressions. However, this discussion generally disregards aspects of gesture specific to Asia (Kendon, 2004; Wharton, 2009) because Asian gestures are often related to politeness and not in the traditional sense that is found in the West (Brown & Levinson, 1987). Areas of non-​ verbal communication vary across cultures, the variant factors of which concern individualism versus collectivism and high-​power distance versus low-​ power distance (Moore et al., 2004: 22, 23). These differences need to be accounted for, and in order to do so Asian-​centric perspectives on non-​verbal expressions are sorely needed. Numerous high-​ profile discussions on non-​verbal behaviour have so far failed to recognise the cultural differences between intentional, culturally motivated gestures. Knapp, Hall and Horgan (2014: 448–​456) describe the communication of intimacy and dominance through non-​verbal expressions, making the assumption that dominance rather than subordinance in social situations is always the more desirable. While this may be true in Western social settings, Asian cultures often require interlocutors to express deference, distinct from either dominance or subordinance, and expressing this non-​verbally is often an important ‘face-​saving act’ (Brown & Levinson, 1987). Further, just as the pragmatic aspects of language related to deference are often overlooked in Eurocentric perspectives in linguistics, when explaining the gestures common to Asian languages, pragmatically, deferential gestures do not seem to fit into the categories provided in previous discussions either. Deferential gestures in Korea, such as bowing, the positioning of the hands, posture, or eye gaze, are prevalent and prominent. However, as they are rare in the West, they have hardly been studied in the field until now. This is really needed because in Korea, bowing or repeated nodding, for example, is important in completing an expression of attitudinal deference towards the addressee. To a certain extent, posture, bowing, and eye gaze are all related to how the expression is completed. For instance, compared to the senior, the junior in the social dynamic will tend to have a slightly bent posture, and

Theoretical background  31 will avoid maintained eye contact for this would potentially express anger or intimidation. Non-​verbal studies in East Asian film and semantics remain, however, rare. This is surely required if we are to fully understand the meaning potential of these expressions in films in which there lies a communicative divide of potentially such magnitude. The Korean language, as we mentioned before, is vastly different from English because of the particles that express interpersonal meanings. In Korean interactions, these particles are always accompanied by non-​ verbal expressions or ‘gestures’. The invisibility Westerners face as a result is potentially overwhelming. Even the most basic non-​verbal expressions differ when omitted in Korean society compared to in the West. For instance, the common greeting of waving that is used in the West may cause misunderstandings. Not only is waving to an older person disrespectful in Korea but waving the hand back and forth is often used there as a sign of negation or rejection. The bow that is so common in Eastern greetings is extremely unusual in Western cultures and something reserved only for males in encounters with royalty. Shaking hands is also conducted quite differently. In the West, a handshake often occurs at the beginning of a meeting, can be firm, and is conducted regardless of gender and initiated by either junior or senior. In contrast, in Korea, a younger person does not initiate a handshake with an elder, and the handshake rarely occurs between members of the opposite gender. When the handshake does occur, it often happens at the end of an initial interaction. It is not firm or brief but is usually a light clasp of the hands which may last for several seconds. A handshake conducted in opposition with what is acceptable in Korea would result in rudeness and entirely different meaning potential than if it were conducted in a manner considered to be acceptable. Other gestures, like shrugging the shoulders, have the same meaning in Korea as they do in the West but can have different implications depending upon the social dynamic in which the gesture is used. In Korean culture, a shrug is usually perceived as rude and thoughtless if employed to a senior or employer. In the West, however, it can be appropriate in a variety of contexts, regardless of such hierarchies, and is usually not offensive. Silence is also an example of non-​verbal communication that differs. For instance, in Western classrooms teachers often wish for their students to participate in the class by raising their hands and asserting their ideas. However, Korean students show respect for the teacher and classmates through passivity. They believe that by asserting themselves in class, they would be taking precious time away from the teacher and other students. Therefore, understanding of a scene in which this occurs in a film can be entirely different if the viewer doesn’t possess this knowledge. Like verbal language, social hierarchy is also encoded in non-​ verbal expressions in Korea. Body language, gesture, and other aspects of non-​ verbal communication must therefore also be modulated in accordance with one’s relative position in the social hierarchy for successful communication.

32  Theoretical background One’s non-​verbal expressions coordinate with verbal expressions to create attitudinal meanings, as well as being capable of expressing meanings on their own. For example, one of the easiest and most visible ways to measure relational hierarchy is often posture, since the most powerful participants tend to have straight posture whereas those who are subordinate tend to express this by bending or bowing slightly. Eye contact is another important aspect of communication. In general, Koreans do not maintain eye contact when they talk, particularly in situations in which an inferior is talking to their superior. An inferior maintaining eye contact with their superior is often interpreted as a challenge to the superior’s authority and is therefore extremely rude. This may initially come as a shock to visitors from Western countries, where it is generally seen as polite to maintain eye contact. Please see Chapter 4 for a more comprehensive, detailed description of Korean non-​verbal expressions. 2.2.6  How this culminates in multimodal invisibility in K-​fi lm It is not surprising perhaps that there is a considerable gap between English-​ speaking researchers’ approaches and East Asian film, given the vast differences that we have explained so far between their languages and (often) cultures. We will now demonstrate how verbal and non-​verbal expressions culminate and create invisibility in even the simplest of scenarios in film, using a hypothetical scene which we have devised. Imagine you are watching a Hollywood film, and in one scene a person answers a phone and says, ‘I will meet you at the restaurant in an hour’. What is happening here is quite clear: one person is making an arrangement with another to meet. That is about it. However, if this scene takes place in a Korean film, there will be far more meaning inferable than that since the socio-​pragmatic meanings are unavoidable. The hierarchy of the individuals has to be specified through choice of address terms and speech style, as are these choices implicative of the attitude and emotion of the speaker. For instance, in this case, the use of a polite first-​person pronoun through the humble form of jeo (저) instead of na (나) (a more direct form of ‘I’) indicates more respect towards the hearer. Dropping the jeo or na entirely would be considered even more courteous because it is humbler yet and thus it appeals to the collective and hierarchical sensibilities of the Korean mindset. Use of yo (요) at the end of the sentence is polite and would indicate seniority or social distance from the hearer. Dropping -​yo is informal and would show that the speaker either has a very close relationship with the hearer (most likely also being hierarchical equals), is being rude, or that they themselves are the senior in the conversation. Further clarification can then be gained by observing the non-​ verbal expressions that accompany the Korean dialogue. For example, nodding. Juniors commonly nod, often intermittently, while speaking to seniors on the telephone, particularly when speaking to someone not only senior but who is important to them, such as a teacher, employer, or even parents-​in-​law. Even

Theoretical background  33 without hearing the dialogue, this behaviour alone will inform a Korean who observes the interaction that the person on the telephone is speaking to a senior and someone who they respect. If the hearer is senior but a stranger to the speaker, then it would be less likely that the speaker would nod intermittently, at least, in this scenario. Nodding in this case would indicate a pre-​ existing relationship and that this is a social meeting, rather than that the restaurant is simply a place for two unknown persons to meet for another reason, for example, if two people received each other’s mail by accident and arranged to meet at a restaurant to exchange it. This is not the case for Hollywood films in which nodding would more likely serve to simply show agreement (‘yes, I will meet you at the restaurant’) or perhaps submissiveness (‘yes, I will do what you say’). While these meanings do associate with meanings relating to juniority that are expressed by nodding in Korean communication, in a Western context the layers of interpersonal meaning that would be inferable if the scene took place in a K-​film do not exist. 2.2.7  Summary: socio-​pragmatic invisibles in K-​fi lm translation In this book, we approach the concept of invisibility as put forth by Kiaer (2019): the idea that ‘invisibles’ are systems and contexts that exist in the source language and culture but not in the target language and culture, and therefore cannot be translated. We consider film as a multi-​modal text and film viewers, whether they be a member of the general public or film researchers, as unwitting translators. Translating multimodal expressions in K-​ films presents numerous problems within the context of cultural translation, and film viewers are often entirely unaware of what they are up against socio-​pragmatically. Halliday and Mattiessen (1999) stress such interpersonal functions of language, proposing that language possesses ideational, textual, and interpersonal functions. We propose that significant differences between these interpersonal functions in Korean and English communication (especially Western) thus require understanding in order for K-​films to be understood by viewers who encounter these differences. Although this issue has not yet been widely explored in films, the logical and social nature of film makes socio-​pragmatic invisibles a vital issue of film comprehension, and this should be a focal point of investigation. This is especially urgent when it comes to research of films from vastly different cultures and languages to that of their researchers. Certainly, the translation of K-​films by English-​speaking Westerners is a timely issue, for the fine-​grained hierarchical nature of Korean expressions through which relationships, emotions, attitudes, intentions, motivations, sarcasm, and even humour are inferable by Koreans, remains elusive to these viewers without their having considerable knowledge of Korean language and culture.

3  The Korean cultural context

Confucianism is the primary cultural context for understanding Korean interactions and subsequently for understanding K-​films. In this chapter, we will provide a brief history of Confucianism in Korea –​from the neo-​ Confucianism of the pre-​modern era to its mutation into the Confucianism of contemporary Korea –​focusing throughout on the fundament of the ideology Oryun, which underpins the system of Korean interpersonal relations. We will explain how this ideology continues to function similarly in contemporary Korea as it did during the period of neo-​Confucianism, and how it has changed to be more fitting with the demands of contemporary Korean lives in Korea’s diversifying, globalising society. This provides the Korean context within which K-​films must be placed in order to understand the meanings of verbal and non-​verbal expressions in interactions, illustrated throughout with examples from popular K-​films.

3.1  Five relations: the fundament of neo-​Confucianism Confucianism was first introduced to Korea by China in the fourth century and has been the leading ideology in Korean society since around 1200. In 1392, after witnessing the barbarian Qing regime (1644–​1911) overthrow Korea’s moral big brother, the Ming dynasty, Korean rulers of the newly established Joseon (also known as Yi) dynasty (1392–​1897) were provoked to become even stricter than their Chinese counterparts, and thus neo-​Confucianism was born. The Confucian doctrine promoted hierarchy in social roles, but the neo-​ Confucian ideology emphasised complete obedience in this. The system of interpersonal relations that resulted centred on family, authority, and obedience, most importantly, the Samgang Oryun, which translates as the ‘three bonds and five relations’. The Samgang, or ‘three bonds’, refers to loyalty between ruler and subject, filial piety between father and son, and the devotion of the female between husband and wife. The Oryun, or ‘five relations’, refers to the relationships between king-​subject, father-​son, husband-​wife, between siblings, and elder-​younger. The Samgang Oryun is rooted in the concept of hierarchical order, with respect being a key element of intimacy rather than emotion as it is in Western societies. This vertical perspective of DOI: 10.4324/9781003089896-3

The Korean cultural context  35 relationships in Korean society placed kings over vassal, parents over children, husbands over wives, older siblings over young siblings, and the old over the young. Also, if you pay close attention, although it isn’t clearly specified in each case, you will also notice the vertical relation between genders: male over female. Here, however, we give focus to the Oryun because of its influence across Korean social interactions. The Oryun is as follows: • Bujayuchin (부자유친) means parents and children (e.g., father and son) should have an intimate relationship. • Kunsinyuui (군신유의) means master and servant have order. This refers to the unbreakable hierarchical structure between servant and master, subject and ruler. • Bubuyubyeol (부부유별) means husband and wife are different. This refers to the complementary duties of a husband and a wife, but also implies a hierarchy within the married relationship, where a wife is expected to serve the husband. • Hyeongjeuae (형제우애) means love and affection of siblings. This refers to the respect and affection which should be present between brothers. • Jangyuyuseo (장유유서) means old and young have order. This refers to the hierarchy between the young and the old. These rules for how interpersonal relations should be carried out were considered to be of first importance in pre-​modern Korea, taught to people of all classes, and continue to be so today. In contemporary Korea there have been only a few subtle changes to how these relations are conceptualised. Since the abolition of the monarchy, employer and employee has replaced king over vassal, and customer and server now replace master and servant. In the following sections of this chapter, we will explore each relation in greater depth using scenes from popular K-​films as examples. We also add a sixth relation, the relation between Korean society and women (society over women), in order to give due attention to gender hierarchy, which was key in neo-​Confucian Korea and remains powerful and the subject of much controversy until the present day. Recognising this sixth, unspoken relation between Korean society and women is key for correctly contextualising socio-​ pragmatic meanings, because there are different expressions favoured by or for the specific use of particular genders just as there are for people of different ages, social status, and position. 3.1.1  Parents and children Because Bujayuchin describes a vertical relation between parents (above) and children (below), regardless of how old the children get, the intimacy in the relationship is expressed in the form of filial piety. This means that children must show the utmost respect and service to their parents, during their lifetime and beyond. For example, in Joseon Korea paying respect to parents did

36  The Korean cultural context not end upon the parent’s deaths. Instead, children had to perform ancestral rites for years. In certain cases, they even had to reside in a hut next to the parent’s grave. This practice is known as simyosali, and it follows the disciples of Confucius, who lived next to Confucius’s tomb for the three years following his death. In fact, one of his devoted disciples lived there for six years to commemorate him. Alternatively, after the funeral, the son had to prepare a place for the ancestral table at home and present meals day and night for the dead. Filial piety actually goes back further than Confucianism in Korea, to the Buddhism that was dominant before it, demonstrating the fundamentality and power of particularly Bujayuchin in Korean society. This was recently depicted in Kim Yong-​hwa’s 2018 film Sin Gwa Hamkke: Joe wa Beol (신과함 께: 죄와 벌) ‘Along with the Gods: The Two Worlds’, the first part of a two-​ part film developed from Joo Ho-​min’s smash-​hit comic strip. The film tells the story of a deceased man who is judged in the courts of seven hells over a period of 49 days, guided by paragons. The story comes from the Buddhist ideology that asserts that when someone dies, they must take part in seven trials in 49 days to determine whether they will spend the rest of eternity in the afterlife or have the opportunity to reincarnate. In Buddhism, there is a ritual in which an offering is made by the family of the deceased to Buddha in order to help the person through these trials. The offering involves the recitation of a sutra seven times every seven days for 49 days following the death of the individual. In the film, protagonist Ja-​hong stands trial at each of the seven hells, with the final hell being the Hell of Filial Piety (Figure 3.1). This is the most intense point in the film, and the most difficult of his trials as he must face the crimes that he is accused of committing against his own mother. Caring for and respecting one’s parents, and grandparents also since filial piety extends to them from their grandchildren, is a common theme

Figure 3.1 Ja-​hong at the Hell of Filial Piety, in Sin Gwa Hamkke: Joe wa Beol (신과 함께: 죄와 벌) ‘Along with the Gods: The Two Worlds’ (2018).

The Korean cultural context  37 in K-​films. This is shown particularly in the language and behaviour of the characters, and often centralised in family drama and comedy genre films. For example, the stills in Figures 3.2 and 3.3 were extracted from two scenes in Ho-​joon Kim’s 2004 film Eorin Sinbu (어린 신부) ‘My Little Bride’. The film is a romantic comedy about an arranged marriage between a high-​ school student (Bo-​eun) and a university student (Sang-​min) at the request of Bo-​eun’s grandfather, who was close friends with Sang-​min’s grandfather. Sang-​min and Bo-​eun refuse until their parents demand filial piety in the matter.

Figure 3.2  Bo-​eun’s grandfather asks Sang-​min and Bo-​eun to marry, in Eorin Sinbu (어린 신부) ‘My Little Bride’ (2004).

Figure 3.3  Sang-​min’s father smashes up his car, in Eorin Sinbu (어린 신부) ‘My Little Bride’ (2004).

38  The Korean cultural context The still in Figure 3.2 shows the scene in which Bo-​eun’s grandfather asks Sang-​min and Bo-​eun to marry, and they refuse, to his and their parents’ dismay. The still in Figure 3.3 shows a later scene, in which Sang-​min incurs his father’s wrath for not submitting to the request; Sang-​min and his mother observe as his father smashes up Sang-​min’s car to demonstrate the consequence of his lack of filial piety. Following this, Sang-​min and his mother turn to one another and state that the wedding seems to still be happening. Figures 3.4 and 3.5 show further examples of respect for parents (and, again, also grandparents), this time extracted from Bae Hyeong-​jun’s romantic comedy Geunyeoreul midji maseyo (그녀를 믿지 마세요) ‘Too Beautiful to Lie’ (2004). The film is about ex-​con-​woman Young-​ju, who upon her release decides to give

Figure 3.4 Hee-​ chul protests the truth before his grandfather and parents, in Geunyeoreul midji maseyo (그녀를 믿지 마세요) ‘Too Beautiful to Lie’ (2004).

Figure 3.5 Young-​ju feeds Hee-​chul’s grandmother, in Geunyeoreul midji maseyo (그녀 를 믿지 마세요) ‘Too Beautiful to Lie’ (2004).

The Korean cultural context  39 up her criminal life, but when she finally tries to go straight, she finds herself getting in trouble again. This time she finds herself at the centre of an innocent misunderstanding that gets more and more out of hand, when she attempts to return the lost ring of a stranger (Hee-chul) who she meets on a train. When she goes to his hometown to return the ring, Hee-​chul’s family misunderstand the situation and think that she is his fiancée. Hee-​chul’s family is so kind to Young-​ju that she finds it increasingly hard to correct the misunderstanding and instead goes along with it, getting in deeper and deeper with each lie that she tells. Eventually, they not only think that she is Hee-​chul’s fiancée, but also that she is pregnant with his child and that he is mistreating her. The scene in Figure 3.4 shows Hee-​chul who, after finally arriving home to the chaos, tries to convince his family, to no avail, that none of this is true. He kneels, submissively, before a collection of close family members. Their position as they surround him signifies their seniority in the family hierarchy, with Hee-​ chul’s grandfather front and centre, his parents directly next to his grandfather, and aunts and uncles farther away, along the side of the room. The still in Figure 3.5 is extracted from another scene in which Hee-​chul’s mother observes Young-​ju feeding Hee-​chul’s grandmother when Young-​ju believes that nobody else is watching. On this occasion the Bujayuchin ideal is used –​even though the two women are not blood relatives –​as a strategy to make it appear that Young-​ ju, beneath her criminality, has a heart of gold. It also provides the reasoning for Hee-​chul’s family to love Young-​ju, and to want her in their family; a sentiment that can similarly be shared by Korean audiences for whom Young-​ju’s obvious Bujayuchin makes her likeable in spite of her past misdeeds. 3.1.2  King and subjects Kunsinyuui describes the loyalty and vertical relation between the king (above) and his vassals (below). In Joseon’s highly hereditary class system, this was also translated as absolute respect and obedience of the lower classes to the nobility. Similarly, chunghyo (충효) ‘loyalty to kings and filial piety to parents’ represents the utmost goal of Joseon’s moral system. For the sake of these aims, other personal values and emotions were repressed. While, in contemporary Korea the class system doesn’t exist anymore, the rise of an elite super-​ rich known as chaebol (재벌) has seen the reinstatement of a new class, a sort of alternative yangban, that behaves as if it were an autonomous dynasty. Chaebol have come to be recognised for their status around the world, with many Korean films and dramas depicting their extravagant lifestyles, and the word chaebol even being included in the Oxford English Dictionary (OED). Numerous K-​films show the contrast between chaebol and the working class, with chaebol being able to simply override the age hierarchy by wielding the power of their wealth and SES. For example, there is a scene in Gisaengchung (2019), where Mrs Park, a young woman, puts her bare feet up on the headrest of the car seat next to her older driver, Mr Kim (Figure 3.6). This situation would be completely intolerable if she did not have chaebol status.

40  The Korean cultural context

Figure 3.6 Mrs Park putting her bare feet on the seat next to Mr Kim, in Gisaengchung (기생충) ‘Parasite’ (2019).

The conversational patterns, behaviour, and customs of chaebol and the service people around them are even reminiscent of the Joseon nobility. For instance, when a chaebol CEO gives over his position to his son, the process is called seunggye –​this word is the same used to refer to the succession of the kingship. Like the yangban of Joseon Korea, the chaebol’s lifestyle has had negative effects on the general public and, in recent years, has generated unrest amongst them because of their extravagance and double standards. This is reflected in the use of the Korean word gapjil, which refers to a situation in which the person with more power is somehow abusing or overusing it. The New York Times recently defined gapjil as ‘the abuse of underlings and subcontractors by executives who behave like feudal lords’ (Choe, 2018). Interestingly, the term yangban, to describe the ruling class, literally means ‘double order’ in which the upper class can behave in ways that the lower class cannot, making it quite fitting for the chaebol. Extreme cases of gapjil have been heavily covered by the media. One recent example was the ‘nut rage’ incident in 2014. The daughter of a high-​ranking airline official forced an airline attendant to her knees and made the pilot turn the plane around and drop the attendant off before resuming the flight, over the attendant’s failure to unwrap her peanuts for her. This was possible only because of the power that this woman wielded by virtue of her father’s chaebol position. Furthermore, the fact that nobody was able to respond logically to the situation demonstrates precisely the strength upon which hierarchies govern Koreans and provides grounds to stress the need to understand the interpersonal relations system in order to understand what expressions mean and the contexts of their use in K-​films. 3.1.3  Husband and wife Bubuyubyeol literally means ‘husband and wife are different’, in reference to the vertical relation between husband (above) and wife (below), and to their

The Korean cultural context  41 complementary duties. The basis of the relation between a husband and a wife is again based on respect, rather than love and intimacy. In order to give respect, women in pre-​modern Korea were taught to make themselves useful yet invisible –​verbally and non-​verbally –​and to be submissive, and virtuous in piety and chastity. In Joseon Korea, unlike men, women were punished for behaviours that men were allowed to do, even those that were beyond their control. This concept was formalised in the Chilgeojiak (칠거지악) ‘seven evils’, through which the vertical relation between women and Korean society in pre-​modern and contemporary times is firmly rooted. The seven evils included: i. Not looking after the husband’s parents well ii. Not producing a son iii. Sexually immoral behaviour iv. Jealousy (over husband’s concubines) v. Genetic diseases vi. Talking too much vii. Stealing The seven evils were not only guidelines for acceptable behaviour, but in pre-​ modern times acted as justification for men to officially divorce their wives. This system skewed the balance of power in favour of men, placing absolute authority in their hands, because few of the ‘seven evils’ were actually things within a woman’s control to begin with. For example, a woman’s husband could command her to leave if he found that she was not looking after his parents in the way he saw fit, and how he saw fit might be beyond any consideration for his wife’s most basic needs. Because of her subservient position, however, a daughter-​in-​law could not protest or defend herself. Even after the death of her in-​laws, she was still not liberated from her duties; her only respite came on the day when she herself became a mother-​in-​law when her status would shift from the oppressed to the oppressor and the vicious cycle of victimhood would begin all over again. 3.1.4  Age Jangyuyuseo describes the vertical relation between the old (above) and the young (below), which in pre-​modern and contemporary times has consistently been one of the most crucial and common default factors for deciding seniority. Age is so significant in Korea that it is calculated precisely along with one’s school-​entering year to work out who is senior. Even between identical twins there is age seniority! Moreover, there is no choice in the matter, for the Korean language is designed in such a way that interlocuters must decide and express the rank of themselves and those they interact with. In Figure 3.7, we show an example of age hierarchy between the same generation, using a scene famous for this very reason from Lee Seong-​han’s

42  The Korean cultural context

Figure 3.7 A high school senior disciplines his junior, in Baram (바람) ‘Wind’ (2009).

modern classic Baram (바람) ‘Wind’ (2009). In the scene, a senior in high school disciplines a junior for ‘bad’ behaviour. Who is senior and who is junior in the scene is quite obvious in the contrast of their non-​verbal behaviour. The junior leans forward with compact posture and his arms by his side, while the senior leans backwards, holding himself high, with one hand in his pocket and the other pointing at the junior. The only relations able to override age seniority were class in pre-​modern times and are positional (professional or familial) or SES seniority in contemporary times. However, even though these hierarchies can disable the power of age, this does not mean that no discomfort is incurred for the interlocutor who loses their status due to the ‘conflicting hierarchies’. We show an example in Figure 3.8 of the discomfort caused when positional hierarchy conflicts with age hierarchy, extracted from Woo-​Suk Kang’s film Silmido (2003). In the scene, a young military officer, employed to train Korean criminals from death row for a mission to assassinate the North Korean president, admits to his trainee that he has not been comfortable speaking down to him because there is practically a generational age difference between them. Often the five key relationships can be found overlapping in situations. This is because frequently a person will be senior or junior in more than one regard, and the more people who are present, the more complex matters get. For example, in Figure 3.9 we show a still from a scene in Gisaengchung in which a child (Da-​song) bows to his tutor (Ki-​jung). Ki-​jung is not only his teacher but also his elder. In this case, Ki-​jung’s status as his tutor gives her

The Korean cultural context  43

Figure 3.8  The power of age: In a dynamic of conflicting hierarchies, in Silmido (실미도) (2003), a young soldier expresses the discomfort of speaking down to an older man regardless of him being a convict.

Figure 3.9  Da-​song bows to Ki-​jung, in Gisaengchung (기생충) ‘Parasite’ (2019).

the most power, since due to her low SES, had she just been older and visiting the house of Da-​song’s wealthy parents, she would have little power at all. Note that when Da-​song bows, Ki-​jung does not even glance in his direction to acknowledge the bow. She does not need to because the behaviour is inherent in the communication and, when it is called for, it is employed regardless of who is looking. 3.1.5  Siblings Hyeongjeuae describes the affection and order between siblings. It is a relationship that has perhaps more intimacy than other familial relationships; however, order still remains according to age and often gender. In pre-​modern Korea, this relation even specified males (brothers), not mentioning females (sisters) at all,

44  The Korean cultural context

Figure 3.10 Informality in the physical closeness and skinship of siblings while retaining hierarchical address terms, in 82 Nyeonsaeng Gim Jiyeong (82년 생 김지영) ‘Kim Ji-​young: Born 1982’ (2019).

though in contemporary Korea it now applies to siblings in general. For siblings, age and gender determine how one addresses the other, and from birth they do not call each other by name but rather by these terms. The still in Figure 3.10 shows a scene in Kim Do-young’s’ 82 Nyeonsaeng Gim Jiyeong (82년생 김지영) ‘Kim Ji-​young: Born 1982’ (2019), in which Ji-​young, her older sister, and their younger brother spend time together alone. Without elder family members around, they can truly relax. This is seen in their close proximity to one another, skinship (스킨십), relaxed posture, and use of panmal when speaking to each other. The only indication of their hierarchy that remains in the scene is the use of address terms, which cannot be dispensed with regardless of their intimacy, such as eonni (or unnie) (언니), which Ji-​young uses to address her older sister, the male equivalent of which is oppa. 3.1.6  Womanhood Now we extend our discussion specifically to womanhood in Korean society. In the Sayings of Confucius on Family, Confucius admonished that there are three joys in life: to be born as a person, to be a man, and to live long. He said that among all creatures, humans are most precious, and that among humans, men are superior to women. In neo-Confucian ideology, women were to be submissive to men, and were considered humble and lowly. This thinking was particularly enforced during the seventeenth century, and prior to that rules of conduct regarding Korean women and their behaviour had been significantly less strict. Before the seventeenth century, women and men had almost equal rights in terms of inheritance, and daughters were also able to hold and officiate in ancestor-​worshipping ceremonies and rites. Marriages were held at the bride’s home, and the husband commonly moved in with his wife’s family after marriage

The Korean cultural context  45 and looked after his wife’s parents. Women and men were also regarded quite equally when it came to their rights within the marital relationship. If a woman’s husband was having an affair, the wife could openly quarrel with the mistress and even divorce her husband. However, this all began to change when Korea entered the sphere of neo-​Confucian thought. It is believed that it was with the rise of the sarim (사림), a new group of neo-​Confucian scholars in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, that the disparity between men and women became far more severe. They interpreted the distinction between yin and yang not as a harmonious system but as a hierarchical one, in which yang (representing male) was superior and above yin (representing female). 3.1.6.1  Inequality The new vertical relation between men and women meant that now after marriage, women had to live in the husband’s household instead and look after their husband’s parents, a practice known as the Chinyeong (친영) system. Jeong Dojeon (1342–​1398), known as the architect of Joseon Korea’s legal foundation, argued for the Chinyeong system in his book Sambongjip (삼봉집), in which he states: ‘The tradition of living in wives’ houses after marriage makes the wives foolish and ignorant. They trust their parents’ love and despise their husbands with jealousy and pride. This was the shortcut for family to fall’. And this wasn’t the only thing to change either. In the early Joseon period, men and women were even segregated. Where previously they had shared living space, they now had to construct walls to divide female and male quarters. From this point forward, wives were confined to the Gyubang, meaning ‘inner chamber’, and could seldom pass through the door between the divided areas to meet with their husbands. This separation even extended to how husbands and wives could converse when they did meet; women were not allowed to discuss affairs that occurred outside of the home, whilst men were not supposed to discuss internal affairs related to domestic spaces and the household. This was considered the social norm, instructed by the law of Naewoe (내외), ‘in-​out’, which disallowed intergender contact even between young children. The Book of Rites, one of the canonical Confucian texts, includes the inner rules which state, ‘When one reaches the age of seven, men and women do not sit together and do not eat together’, a rule that is still often cited and observed in contemporary Korea. Further, women were also segregated from the outside world. While men could go inside or outside at will, women were discouraged from leaving their homes altogether. 3.1.6.2  Submission and humility The ideologies aforementioned are well represented in the literature of the day, including Naehun (내훈) ‘Admonishment for Women’ and Gong Ja (공자) ‘The Analects of Confucius’ (c. 500 BC E ). Naehun is a representative text for instructing women in neo-​Confucian ethical codes and virtues, which was written in 1475 by Queen Sohye (1437–​1504), who is also known as Queen

46  The Korean cultural context Mother Insu. There are numerous passages that clearly express the vertical relation between Korean women and society in this text. We have extracted a couple of these teachings below as an example. Confucius said, ‘Women should not do things according to their own thoughts. There are three ways they should follow: Before they are married, they should follow their father’s will; when they are married, they should follow their husband’s will; when their husbands die, they should follow their son’s will. They should never follow their own will […] Their work should never end, except when eating. Women should never do anything of their own will and should never decide anything on their own’. (Kiaer & Yates-​Lu, 2019: 225) It is important to clarify just how this submissiveness and humility was expected to be expressed by women to men and towards their seniors in general. As we already mentioned, in the seven evils, women were discouraged from talking at all unless absolutely necessary. Silence was considered a virtue, so women were expected to speak only when spoken to and to be cautious of what they said when they did speak, and also not to laugh loudly. Like their diminished voices, they were expected to make their physical presence small too. This meant reducing their gestures and keeping their posture compact. Both women and men were expected to control their emotions, but for women this was a particularly difficult task since they were placed in situations that would obviously stimulate emotion (e.g., being expected to be kind to their husband’s concubines). Also, for women suppressing emotions was a basic expectation for which there was no reward, while for men restraining emotion –​hiding expressions of joy or sorrow –​was considered to be a great virtue. These behavioural codes have been taught over the centuries and still exist in the mindset, expressions, and preferences of contemporary Koreans. The still in Figure 3.11 was extracted from Lee Joon-​ik’s film Sado (사도) ‘The Throne’. This scene illustrates well the behaviour required of women within the neo-​Confucian regime. The queen (left); the king’s concubine who is mother of the crown prince (right); the young Lady Hyegyoung, who is to be the future wife of the crown prince (centre, left); and the daughter of one of the king’s less-​favoured concubines (centre, right) meet with the queen dowager (out of view). The women’s behaviour demonstrates the idealised image of women at the time. Even in the company of women, they keep their heads lowered, posture compact, hands hidden beneath their hanboks, eye gaze indirect, and speak little and only when spoken to. Every aspect of their verbal and non-​verbal presence is diminished and is also indicative of the hierarchy between them. The women are especially careful to express respect towards the dowager queen, who is most senior among them, in age and position. This ideology has not changed much in Korea today, and the vital need for interpersonal relations to be correctly fulfilled before all else remains as

The Korean cultural context  47

Figure 3.11 Women behaving as they would during the Joseon period, depicted in Sado (사도) ‘The Throne’ (2015).

binding as ever on Korean people. For women, sayings derived from such ideology can still be heard, such as: Amtalgi ulmyeon jibi manghanda (암탉 이 울면 집이 망한다), which means ‘The house will collapse if the hen crows louder than the cock’, and Yeojasesi moimyeon jeopsiga kkaejyeoyo (여자셋 이 모이면 접시가 깨져요), ‘if three women gather, a plate will be broken’. The former obviously refers to the demise of a household if the woman is more outspoken and powerful than the man, and the latter implies that when women speak, they cause trouble. Likewise, men were encouraged to refrain from involvement in what were deemed women’s areas and activities, with sayings such as Daejangbuga bueokke deureogamyeon gochuga tteoreojinda (대장부가 부엌에 들어가면 고추가 떨어진다), which means ‘If a man enters the kitchen, his penis will fall off ’. Other sayings describe the difficulty of women’s lives, restricted by their lower position with in-​laws, such as ‘three years life of being blind, three years of life being mute, and three years of life of being deaf ’. These also remain relevant in contemporary Korea.

3.2  Contemporary Confucian context While contemporary Korea is a far cry from the extremism seen during the Joseon dynasty, just as Oryun played an important role in shaping the lives of Joseon Koreans, it does so by remaining the mindset of Koreans. The patriarchy and collectivism of this ideology now functions as Korean common sense, a way of thought concerned not with ‘what do I think?’ but firstly, ‘what does my family think?’ then ‘what do my friends think?’ and finally ‘what does the community think?’ Then, based on this reasoning, Korea’s hierarchy-​governed language, cultural practices, and traditions are employed similarly to how they were used in neo-​Confucian society; only with lesser

48  The Korean cultural context speech styles and the introduction of some new address terms into common usage. For instance, the term anneh (아내) is rarely used now to refer to one’s wife and is thought to be somewhat outdated. Terms like jibsaram (집사람), or the English word ‘wife’ (pronounced ‘wa-​ee-​pu’ in Konglish), are now more commonly used. However, even though these changes have been made, in many cases when one looks closely, the original neo-​Confucian ideology appears to remain. For example, just like anneh, jibsaram literally translates as ‘house person’, implying that women’s sole duties lie within the house; hence showing that even in contemporary society, women are still being segregated from the outside world. As Cho Nam-​joo, author of the original novel 82 Nyeonsaeng Gim Ji-​young that inspired the film, writes on contemporary Korean culture: The world had changed a great deal, but the little rules, contracts and customs had not, which meant the world hadn’t actually changed at all. (Cho, 2016) Indeed, the socio-​ pragmatic reasoning for how expressions should be conducted in particular interpersonal dynamics has remained, with the breaking of codes in language and behaviour considered serious and even known to result in fatal violence (Kiaer et al., 2019). While neo-​Confucian ethical codes clearly continue to have an impact on Koreans’ daily lives, there have been some modifications in how they function, and loopholes created increasingly by younger generations who wish to adopt more global lifestyles. To begin, the needs of the five key relations defined in the Oryun are met with less rigidity, as is the female relation to Korean society also. The standard fatalities involved in breaking rules are no longer acceptable, even if they do happen in some cases. For instance, the verbal or physical abuse of a person who goes against Confucian ideology is punishable by law just as is abuse for any other reason. Similarly, women are no longer encouraged to commit suicide if their chastity is believed to be broken. Generally, these ‘rules’ have become an unconscious mindset, a set of preferences and bigotries more than anything else. For example, regarding the woman’s relation to society, while previously the seven evils made it possible for a woman to be divorced if she had difficulty conceiving a son, in contemporary Korea this instead causes wives and husbands to feel under pressure when family members express disappointment and stress the need for a son. Another example is that women speaking can no longer be legal grounds for divorce, while speaking a lot is, however, considered an unattractive quality in a woman. In K-​film, for instance, a woman speaking as much as or more than the men present, loudly, in very direct terms, or taking part in banter with men, can be used as a strategy to characterise a woman as masculine or rude, or to give reasoning for why other people do not find her company congenial.

The Korean cultural context  49 In Western films, in contrast, the quantity or type of speech that is attractive is not often based on gender, because these ideologies are not engrained in gender relations. The main regard in which the Oryun continues to be regimented and considerably unyielding as it was in neo-​Confucian Korea is in verbal and non-​ verbal language. The main difference in how Oryun governs communication in contemporary Korea, is that the class system no longer exists and instead SES is increasingly becoming the parameter to decide the power in social dynamics. The super-​rich chaebol, whom we mentioned before, is one such example. Similarly, intimacy, which in Joseon Korea could not be used to break hierarchy, now not only serves to do precisely this but also is a valued tool for Koreans to let their hair down. Koreans can drop formality to build close relationships when the senior in the dynamic approves it, and so long as both parties are in agreement. Male over female hierarchy has also continued, especially in relationships with in-​laws and generally between husbands and wives. For instance, one Korean survey claims that women prefer to call their husbands oppa, ‘older brother’, regardless of whether they are older than them. This shows that they are more comfortable addressing their husbands as seniors than equals. Korean women also are still required to put their in-​laws first, even before their own families, and to speak and behave subserviently towards them at all times. This is reflected in the tendency of women to use more honourific address terms with their family-​in-​law, regardless of the women’s age. For instance, it is preferred for a married woman not to address the younger sibling of her husband in a casual form but rather to use a formal, respectful address term, whereas the same linguistic obligations are not expected of husbands towards their wife’s family. For example, a woman will use dolyeonnim (도련님) to address her husband’s little bother, which literally means ‘young master’ or ‘gentleman’. While husbands call their wife’s older brothers maehyeong (매 형), which means ‘older brother-​in-​law’ yet without a respectful suffix such as nim. Similarly, a wife will address her husband’s younger sister as agassi (아가 씨), which means ‘young lady’, while a husband will call his wife’s sister chuhje (처제), which literally means ‘sister-​in-​law’. Gender hierarchy has, however, become unacceptable in the workplace in recent years. This is particularly evident since the rise of the Korean take on the Me Too movement, and also in response to gapjil since it is difficult to know whether improper treatment from superiors is due to gender or gapjil. 3.2.1  Oryun in contemporary Korea In this section, we will explain Oryun in contemporary Korea in greater depth. Table 3.1 gives a brief summary of some of the similarities and differences in how the ideology functions in contemporary Korea and the side effects that have resulted, all which can be observed commonly in K-​films.

50  The Korean cultural context Table 3.1 The five relations in contemporary Korea Five relations

Contemporary Korean adaptation

Some side effects

Parents and Children

Serving parents/​in-​laws matters greatly

In-​law conflicts Post-​holiday syndrome Paying tributes to parents Freedom to choose career and spouse

King and subjects or Employer and employee

Modified to depict relation between employer and employee

Gapjil (power abuse by superiors) Gender hierarchy unacceptable in workplace

Husband and wife

Husbands over wives, gender inequality

Gender-​role inequality despite increasing expectation for women to be educated professionals as well as housewives

Siblings

The same balance of order and intimacy is employed in building friendships and new relationships

Inequality between siblings (privilege for the eldest or first son)

Old and young

Age still matters, and is very powerful in all aspects of daily life

Misuse of half-​talk can cause serious violence. Not giving due respect in a variety of forms to elders is looked down upon (e.g., not giving up one’s seat on tube)

3.2.1.1  Parents still hold the power Bujayuchin remains in many respects unchanged since the Joseon period. Children, regardless of age or gender, feel a duty to their parents and must be respectful, caring, and obedient at all times. This duty also requires them to take their parents’ wishes very seriously, whether this be regarding their level of education, career path, or even choice of spouse. For example, Korean parents often play an active role in debating the compatibility of their son or daughter and a prospective spouse, determining suitability and trying to ensure a match of equal contribution. Being of a similar level or being able to compensate for a downfall with one’s wealth is key to successfully negotiating a marriage. Love and the children’s preference towards a particular partner are less important to parents. Then parents debate their contribution towards starting the newlyweds off in their new life together. The groom’s family is expected to pay for the marital home, while the bride’s family is expected to furnish it to the same standard. The inability or failure on either side to provide goods equal to the quality of that provided by the other side can result in arguments, loss

The Korean cultural context  51

Figure 3.12 Parents look at the bride and groom’s apartment together for the first time. In this case, the groom’s parents prepared the apartment and following the  honeymoon they show the bride and her parents the new home, in Eorin Sinbu (어린 신부) ‘My Little Bride’ (2004).

of face, and again this can result in the wedding being called off. This is shown in a scene in Eorin Sinbu (2004), in which the groom’s parents show the bride’s parents around the marital home that they have prepared (Figure 3.12). During marriage, Bujayuchin often comes before the duty of husbands and wives to one another. Certainly this was traditionally the way, and this remains, particularly concerning husbands putting their parents’ wishes before their wives’. This is shown in numerous K-​films and is even made the focal subject matter in Yoon Je-​kyoon’s film Gukjesijang (국제시장) ‘Ode to my Father’ (2014). The film tells the story of a son’s duty to his family, showing the sacrifices he makes throughout his life and particularly when it comes to putting Bujayuchin before his relationship with his wife. In the scene shown in Figure 3.13, the adult son asks his mother’s permission to go to Vietnam during the war in order to make money to fund his younger sister’s wedding, which they can’t afford. He does not even inform his wife (pictured centre) before making the decision. She is visibly concerned but is powerless because of Bujayuchin. This kind of situation, particularly involving only or eldest sons, is common in Korean society and thus frequently depicted in K-​films. Bujayuchin has also undergone some modifications. Firstly, while filial piety remains a fundamental expectation in Korean society, the severity of the punishment for not doing so has also lessened. Rather than punishing children with death or abandonment, in contemporary Korea parents express their frustration if they feel there is a lack of filial piety. Practices of Bujayuchin have also changed. For example, it was previously an underlying assumption that the eldest son and his family would live with his parents. In Korea, mosigosanda (모시고 산다), which refers to ‘living with in-​laws’, though it

52  The Korean cultural context

Figure 3.13 Son asks his mother about working abroad in a war zone before discussing the matter with his wife (centre), who observes powerlessly and visibly uncomfortable, in Gukjesijang (국제시장) ‘Ode to my Father’ (2014).

Figure 3.14 An example of how Bujayuchin manifests in the relationships of mothers and children in contemporary Korea: A son feeds his mother to demonstrate how glad he is to have her stay with him when she expresses concern over her intrusion, in Eorin Sinbu (어린 신부) ‘My Little Bride’ (2004).

literally means to ‘serve and live’, was traditionally the duty of eldest sons. Nowadays, however, it is rather working mums who hope for the support with childcare that living with in-​laws can bring while in-​laws no longer welcome the practice because there are fewer benefits. The new environment requires an adjustment for in-​laws in order to meet their expectation of their daughter-​ in-​law being the caretaker rather than themselves, which if they were responsible for childcare would not be the case. Therefore, this responsibility no longer exists as it did, giving greater freedom to young married couples to

The Korean cultural context  53

Figure 3.15 Jae-​mun gives an elderly man a bicycle ride despite it being impractical and exhausting, in Yeolhyeolnama (열혈남아) ‘Cruel Winter Blues’ (2006).

live the lifestyle that they wish and transition into their traditional roles when spending time with parents (Figure 3.14). 3.2.1.2  Age is still powerful Besides SES and the relation between employer and employee, age is the most powerful criterion in determining interpersonal relations, so much so that if an older person finds themselves in a junior position to a younger person, it often creates severe discomfort. Also, Jangyuyuseo and Bujayuchin are often combined in contemporary Korea. Younger people often treat elderly people with care as if they were their own parents or grandparents. For instance, the still in Figure 3.15 shows a scene from Lee Jeong-​beom’s 2006 gangster film Yeolhyeolnama (열혈남아) ‘Cruel Winter Blues’, in which mob boss Jae-​mun gives a bicycle ride to an elderly man. It is not uncommon for younger people to even give piggybacks to elderly people in Korea, though the practice is seen less frequently these days. Acts like this are relatable for Koreans and often generate humour, because the young understand the burden and the old understand their privilege. For instance, Jangyuyuseo, like Bujayuchin, often requires the younger person to put aside their own emotions, desires, and even physical comfort, while the elder can ask for these things knowing that the junior must oblige. 3.2.1.3  Husbands and wives still have naewoe The rules of naewoe still remain in contemporary Korea; however, it has mutated also. While segregation doesn’t take place within or outside of the home generally anymore, except by some families during traditional holidays,

54  The Korean cultural context skinship –​‘affectionate touch’ –​is discouraged before the eyes of others. It is a last means of controlling husbands and wives’ interactions in a society in which the actual segregation of space can no longer function. Often if skinship is seen, the individuals will feel embarrassed or even apologise. Public displays of affection (PDA) are thus far more subtle compared to what is considered acceptable in the West. According to a survey done by marriage consulting company Duo, in 2014, 79% of the young, single participants aged 29–​31 found a young couple’s skinship –​in a public space such as on the escalator or in the street or in public transportation –​very annoying. They express their discomfort by texting their friends or complaining in a quiet voice or staring at them. Seven percent of the participants thought skinship in a public space should be banned legally. Women thought holding others’ arms or putting one’s hands on the other’s shoulder can be tolerated, whereas men thought that a light kiss is tolerable. In a similar survey done in 2012, 57% of the participants said that too much skinship should be punished. The Korean mindset towards PDA makes it a powerful tool in K-​films, such that even subtle and indirect expressions can indicate characters’ feelings for another. Even the grazing of one’s hand against another’s can be a powerful image, and is a far more common way to express love or attraction than kissing, as is often seen in Hollywood films. 3.2.1.4  The couplehood loophole and new generation married couples While the tolerance of PDA is significantly less than in the West, young unmarried and married couples no longer observe naewoe when they are alone together. Husbands and wives’ relationships are based on emotions as well as respect, rather than purely respect. Wives and girlfriends are thus allowed to express emotion, jealousy, dissatisfaction, and their general preferences to their husbands. There is also no restriction on the subject matter of their discussions, whether the topic be based inside or outside of the home. Likewise, men can also express emotions like joy and sadness, and discuss domestic matters. Lee Myung-​se’s 2014 film Naui Sarang Naui Sinbu (나의 사랑 나의 신 부) ‘My Love, My Bride’ provides ample examples of the couplehood loophole and this new generation of married couples. The film follows a newlywed couple, Mi-​ young and Young-​ min, who struggle to make their marriage work once the honeymoon phase is over. On multiple occasions the couple are physically affectionate, express emotion, and are direct in expressing their dissatisfaction with their relationship. In one scene, Mi-​young complains to Young-​min about his ill-​treatment of her, many behaviours of which in neo-​Confucian Korea would have been considered acceptable, to which he responds by comforting her through physical affection (Figure 3.16). In public, young couples are finding alternative ways that don’t involve touching to express their affection for one another. These mutations appear as Confucian-​friendly loopholes that allow young people to develop while not

The Korean cultural context  55

Figure 3.16 Husband comforts wife when she cries over her dissatisfaction with how he treats her, in Naui Sarang Naui Sinbu (나의 사랑 나의 신부) ‘My Love, My Bride’ (2014).

Figure 3.17 Married couple wearing matching jumpers, in Naui Sarang Naui Sinbu (나의 사랑 나의 신부) ‘My Love, My Bride’ (2014).

assaulting the long-​standing ideologies that Korea is not ready to shake off yet. One of the most noticeable loopholes for expressing romantic affection in public is in the wearing of matching outfits. From jumpers, tracksuits, and shoes, to socks and other accessories, it is very common to observe younger couples, whether married or not, wearing matching items. This practice produces a similar affect to public displays of affection. It makes a clear statement that ‘we are a couple’ and ‘we are in love’ without the need for touch (Figure 3.17). 3.2.1.5  The affection loophole: ‘geogi meokeo!’ Interestingly, this isn’t the first-​time loopholes have been created in order to show affection or express love within the boundaries set out by Confucianism. One example is of how elders show love through the encouragement of

56  The Korean cultural context

Figure 3.18 Ji-​young’s father expresses his love and affection using the loophole of an intertext that allows him to do so indirectly rather than breaking Confucian custom by using physical affection or speaking plainly, in 82 Nyeonsaeng Gim Jiyeong ‘Kim Ji-​young: Born 1982’ (2019).

juniors, who they favour, have good feelings towards, or wish to demonstrate their care of, to ‘eat well’ and especially to ‘eat meat’. An example of this culinary intertext can be seen in 82 Nyeonsaeng Gim Jiyeong. In one scene, Ji-​young finds out that her university application has been successful. Ji-​ young’s mum and siblings rise quickly, animated, hugging and congratulating Ji-​young. Meanwhile, her father smiles but remains sitting. In Korea, fathers are expected not to be overtly physically affectionate towards their grown-​up children, and to contain their emotions. Instead, to express his care, love, and to encourage his daughter, he uses a culinary intertext (Figure 3.18). He says “bap meokja, bap meokeo, geogi meokeo”. Firstly, bap (밥), which means ‘rice’, is considered the same as saying ‘meal’ because it is the staple food in Korea. Meokja (먹자) means ‘let’s eat’. So, bap meokja (밥 먹자) means ‘let’s eat/​start the meal’. Bap meokeo (밥 먹어) similarly means ‘eat’, but in this case it is more like saying ‘go on!’ Then comes the intertext geogi meokeo (고기 먹어), which means ‘eat meat’. For viewers with limited or no knowledge of Korean culture and language, the father may come across as cold and held back –​maybe he isn’t as fond of his daughter or perhaps he is irritated by her (since before she received the good news, he had lost his temper with her). However, the encouragement for juniors to ‘eat a lot’ and specifically to ‘eat meat’ comes from the idea held by post–​Korean War (1950–​1953) generation Koreans, who suffered from hunger and believe that eating meat is a blessing. In contemporary Korea, although meat is now widely available, many people of the older generations still treat meat as a luxury, and encouraging those they care about to ‘eat meat’ continues to be a way of taking care of them. Expressions like this one have thus become a loophole for expressing love and affection, even publicly, without stepping outside of Confucian customs.

The Korean cultural context  57 3.2.1.6  The female relation in contemporary Korea The Confucianist regulation of women has lessened in contemporary Korea; however, the neo-​Confucian expectations of women’s roles remain largely in families and in the idealisation of women. Women becoming professionals as well as wives and mothers hasn’t meant that they can relinquish their traditional roles within families; rather, they have to juggle their traditional role with their contemporary freedoms. This presents a whole host of new issues in Korean society. The only respite from the vertical relation between women and Korean society seems to be old age or wealth. In this section, we will explore the mutation of the relation between women and Korean society in contemporary Korea. 3.2.1.6.1  NEO-​CONFUCIAN EXPECTATIONS REMAIN FOR WIVES AND DAUGHTERS-​IN-​LAW

Housework and childcare remain predominantly in the female domain, and even until the millennium, serving in-​laws was considered a daughter-​in-​law’s first priority before any professional obligations she may have. Women who do not fulfil these traditional obligations will only bear the blame for it. The difficulty balancing the traditional and contemporary responsibilities that women face is reflected in the annual report by the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), which found the fertility rate per woman in Korea was only 1.1. This was the lowest among 201 countries surveyed. Moreover, at the same time as having to juggle their work and home life, if women are more successful professionally than their husbands, then they can also be disliked for this by their husband and in-​laws. For those who do not live with their in-​laws, the holidays is a time when husbands exercise filial piety through the labour of their wives. Men who do not live with their parents are often under pressure to compensate during the holidays; however, rather than participate in the labour, they traditionally place the entire burden on their wives. One of the side effects of this practice in contemporary Korea is myeongjeoljeunghugun (명절증후군), ‘post-​holiday syndrome’, which has become a serious problem for married women that is reported annually on the news. Symptoms of myeongjeoljeunghugun are commonly fatigue, emotional stress, and depression. The cause is the expectation for daughters-​in-​law to cook an array of labour-​intensive foods, which they are then responsible for serving to their husband’s relatives, all under the instruction of their mothers-​in-​law. This situation isn’t helped at all by the traditional idea, also from the neo-​Confucian period, that women shouldn’t rest. This tradition continues today when in the company of in-​laws and particularly during the holidays, and prevents women from lying down or lounging at all in the view of in-​laws. Segregation is also still observed by some families during national holidays, though this is changing. The default for spending traditional holidays remains to visit the husband’s family’s home rather than the wife’s family home and so the pressure on women remains. According to a survey done in 2018, the ratio of work during holiday time was 78% for women

58  The Korean cultural context and 22% for men. 89% of married women said that the holidays are the most stressful and burdensome time of the year. Much worse, the divorce application rate around the holidays has been known to rise to 35%. 3.2.1.6.2  THERE’S STILL A PREFERENCE FOR SONS

The vertical hierarchy between genders still exists in Korea. One of the reasons for this is the tradition of parents-​in-​law being the first priority for daughters-​in-​law, because this means that daughters have less time for their own parents. As a result, producing a son also still remains a top priority for Korean families. The only difference from the Joseon period is that not producing a son is no longer legal grounds for a husband to divorce his wife. However, until the millennium, a common attitude among women was still that failing to produce a son was a disservice to their husband and his family. Figure 3.19 shows a common scene in K-​films, this time extracted from Kwak Kyung-​taek’s film Chingu (친구) ‘Friend’ (2001), in which a father prioritises his son’s education over his daughter’s when he chooses to move their family closer to his son’s school even though it is far away from his daughter’s school. 3.2.1.6.3  A NON-​NEO-​CONFUCIAN GIRL IS A ‘BAD GIRL’

What are and are not considered attractive characteristics in women remains similar in many respects to the beliefs during the neo-​Confucian period. Again, the main difference is the consequences to women’s actions. Talking less is still preferred for women and considered an attractive virtue. Talking a lot or loudly, similarly laughing loudly, making broad and expressive gestures,

Figure 3.19  Father chooses son’s education over his daughter’s, in Chingu (친구) ‘Friend’ (2001).

The Korean cultural context  59 having a relaxed and broad posture in which one’s extremities are spread out, drinking alcohol, and smoking cigarettes are all believed to be unattractive qualities, while, for men, all of these are somewhat acceptable. This then extends to manners, such as how one eats and drinks. Koreans tend to turn away from seniors when drinking to be respectful, sometimes even covering the observable side of their mouths while doing so. Women employ this as a far more basic practice, and far more frequently cover their mouths in addition to turning away. This is a means of expressing higher levels of politeness, which is more submissive, and thus considered feminine. These neo-​Confucian ‘good girl’ and ‘bad girl’ images can be seen frequently in K-​ films. A good example is Park Chan-​ wook’s Chinjeolhan geumjassi (친절한 금자씨) ‘Sympathy for Lady Vengeance’, which tells the story of wrongly accused Geum-​ja, who after serving her prison sentence seeks revenge. When Geum-​ja is in jail, she pretends to be a model prisoner –​ a ‘good girl’ –​displaying all of the neo-​Confucianist-​deemed good girl traits as we have described (Figure 3.20). After leaving prison, and shifting into revenge mode, Geum-​ja then revokes her good behaviours entirely, displaying the anti-​neo-​Confucian traits that would typically be considered unattractive in Korean women (Figure 3.21). 3.2.1.6.4  THE RULE-​BREAKING SAMONIM AND AJUMMA

There are only a couple of salient loopholes available to women to overcome the vertical gender relation in contemporary Korean society. The first is women of privilege –​the super-​rich elite –​the wealthy samonim (사모님). These wives do not need to work outside of the home or inside of the home. Their main concerns are that they maintain their social status, and to ensure their children are accepted by a good university. In Gisaengchung, for instance, Mrs Park has a housekeeper to cook and clean, and her own

Figure 3.20  Geum-​ja’s ‘good girl’ image: compact posture, neutral facial expression, and soft spoken, in Chinjeolhan geumjassi (친절한 금자씨) ‘Sympathy for Lady Vengeance’ (2005).

60  The Korean cultural context

Figure 3.21 Geum-ja’s ‘bad girl’ image: Geum-​ja laughs loudly while smoking, in Chinjeolhan geumjassi (친절한 금자씨) ‘Sympathy for Lady Vengeance’ (2005).

husband proclaims that she is not good at cleaning or cooking. This is certainly not the neo-​Confucian idealisation of a Korean wife and mother, yet it is completely acceptable. Mrs Park even has a driver to escort her, and to carry her shopping for her. If she is found carrying anything, it is her mobile phone or her small Pomeranian dog. The other loophole is being an ajumma (아줌마), which refers to a married or middle-​aged woman; however, it represents a contemporary mythology of older, outspoken, pushy women in Korea who are often caricatured by their fashion and leisure activities. Ajummas are famous for taking liberties in Korean society, a fame acquired because of this very break away from neo-​ Confucian tradition. This freedom of sorts is perhaps granted to them by a mutation in contemporary Korea in which the power of Jangyuyuseo is able to ease the vertical relation between women and Korean society. However, even if they have managed to create a loophole to bypass the gender hierarchy, they have not managed to keep an attractive or feminine image by doing so. 3.2.1.6.5  CONTEMPORARY SEGREGATION IN THE FORM OF SAME-​SEX SOLIDARITY

The segregation between men and women in Korea is not only continued in quite a traditional respect within some families, but it also appears to have undergone a mutation in society in general in the form of same-​sex solidarity –​ in the sisterhood and brotherhood between same-​sex friends. It is particularly facilitated by the number of same-​sex schools and universities in Korea. This form of siblinghood between friends is an extension of hyeongjeuae but is noticeably predominantly between same-​sex friends. Between friends of all sexes this is expressed through the use of sibling address terms; however, between same-​sex friends there is noticeably a considerable degree of skinship (Figures 3.22 and 3.23).

The Korean cultural context  61

Figure 3.22  Skinship between adult female friends, in Hanyeo (하녀) ‘The Housemaid’ (2010).

Figure 3.23  Skinship between adult male friends, in Chingu (친구) ‘Friend’ (2001).

Skinship is used as an indirect expression of love and emotion, and is regarded as an important component for building intimate relationships, particularly in building bonds between parents and children and in friendships, since touch is considered very personal –​people do not tend to do it at all unless they are very close (e.g., family, friends, or lovers) or are seniors touching juniors. Unlike between couples, skinship between friends is acceptable even in public. For example, putting an arm around your friend, touching their thigh, hugging, piggybacking, and holding hands are all common acts of skinship. Young men can often be seen holding hands and linking arms with their male friends, which is not a common sight in Western regions of the world.

62  The Korean cultural context

3.3  Additional concepts to familiarise yourself with There are some key concepts in Korean culture that we have not mentioned yet that it is helpful to be aware of. Many of these concepts, and we will only include a very limited number here, form the mindset and cultural identity of Koreans and play important roles in the reasoning for their communicative practices. These concepts play important roles in K-​film strategies at higher and finer-​grained levels of narrative construction, in themes and plots (at the higher level) down to the expressions employed in interactions (at the fine-​ grained level). Among the many concepts worth discussing, and we encourage you to explore more, we present a small collection of some of those we believe to be the most vital here. 3.3.1  Han (한) Han is a type of emotion, often conceptualised socio-culturally as a collective feeling of unresolved resentment, grief, and anger, which is considered an essential element of Korean identity by some and a modern postcolonial identity by others. Literature has historically been a medium by which han has been defined and expressed. Michael D. Shin argues that storytelling like this is one of the ways in which Koreans articulate han. However, han didn’t appear as we know it today until the nineteenth century and, even then, it didn’t become widespread and seemingly inherent in the Korean identity as it is now until the twentieth century. Han is particularly difficult to define in English and for Westerners to understand, and subsequently until now remains without a comprehensive definition in English, with many simply translating it as resentment, lamentation, sentiment, hatred, and regret (Shin, 2019, Kim, 2017). It is often considered the embodiment of the indigenous ethos of Korean culture. However, it is also argued that it is insufficient to define han in terms of emotions. For example, Kim argues that han is not a socio-cultural concept of unresolved resentment but rather ‘an affect that encapsulates the grief of historical memory –​the memory of past collective trauma –​and that renders itself racialized/​ethnicized and attached to nation’ and proposes that han ‘emerged first during the Japanese colonial period as a colonial stereotype’ (Kim, 2017: 253). 3.3.2  Jeong (정) Jeong describes the warm feeling of attachment felt between people who share a close relationship. What makes jeong unique, compared to feelings of attachment between individuals within Western cultures, is that the sentiment is based in the concept of collective social responsibility. Historically, Koreans have been especially reliant upon their bonds with family, teachers, schoolmates, work colleagues, and others from their hometowns, because people could not rely upon laws, government bodies, or outsiders when they

The Korean cultural context  63 were in need. Among these bonds, chinjok (친족) ‘blood kinship’ is the most powerful. Despite dramatic changes since the 1900s, jeong remains one of the most important concepts in Korean society. Networking is incredibly important, and Koreans value these links. When people wish to contact a business or the government, they often will find out if they have any jeong links first, while business owners prefer to hire family members, alumni, or people from their hometown. It is perhaps unsurprising that jeong has continued its importance in Korean society, since it plays an important role in the hwa ( 화) ‘harmony’ that the Confucian ideology aims to serve. It is, in fact, the concept of hwa that transformed Korean attitudes and behaviour and which continues to play a key role in Korean socio-​pragmatic communication (De Mente, 2017: 132, 133). 3.3.3  Ansim (안심) Ansim literally means ‘peaceful heart’ and is similar to the English term ‘peace of mind’. This concept represents the contemporary Korean ideal in interpersonal relations, which ‘much of the Korean language, etiquette, and ethics is designed to create and sustain’ (De Mente, 2017: 9). Maintaining ansim often involves things like a person keeping quiet when they encounter a problem rather than asking for help. Even though it is well known that this often causes problems in itself in Korea, it is all in the effort of preserving one’s own as well as others’ ansim. One then relies upon others to pick up on their indirect expressions in the hopes of solving the problem. 3.3.4  Nunchi (눈치) This is where nunchi comes in. Nunchi refers to the subtle art and ability to gauge others’ feelings and thoughts –​a kind of cultural telepathy –​that is derived from the very issues that maintaining ansim creates. While similar in some ways to the concept of emotional intelligence in the West, nunchi differs in that it involves the practice of reading considerable ambiguity in Koreans’ indirect use of verbal and non-​verbal language without asking or being told directly. It also relies heavily upon understanding one’s own status relative to the person with whom one is interacting (De Mente, 2017: 267). Nunchi is therefore of central importance to the dynamics of interpersonal relations. In fact, in Korea you can overhear socially clumsy people often being referred to as nunchi eoptta (눈치 없다) ‘without nunchi’. 3.3.5  Chaemyeon (체면) When neo-​Confucianism was developed in Korea, precise etiquette became the very essence of morality, and since etiquette was governed by social status, it placed the focus of Koreans on getting the respect that they felt was due. As a result, people became extremely sensitive to the details of others’ behaviour;

64  The Korean cultural context if a person did not receive what they believed to be due respect, they would feel their image had been damaged. From this has arisen a concept known as chaemyeon, which is often referred to in English as ‘saving face’, This concept is not exclusive to Korea, but well known in East Asia also. In Korea. the concept has even influenced how Korean culture and language was moulded, and in contemporary Korean it is a key element of how one communicates; it is vital for maintaining ansim and one of the key goals of nunchi (De Mente, 2017: 29, 30).

4  Socio-​pragmatic strategies in K-​film

Film comprehension is a logical process that involves reasoning about what is happening and what is potentially going to happen on-​screen (Bateman & Schmidt, 2012; Wildfeuer, 2014). This reasoning involves interpreting not only the function of filmic modes such as camera shots and angles, but also the expressions and body language of the actors; this is especially important when viewing foreign films. As we explained in Chapter 2, verbal and non-​ verbal expressions can have different meanings depending on the language and culture within which they are used, and this has been demonstrated by a recent analysis of K-​film (Kiaer & Kim, 2021). In Chapter 3, we explained the Korean cultural context underlying the use of body language and expressions in Korean interactions. In this section, we will explain how a selection of common verbal and non-​verbal expressions function in Korean communication in film: our ‘socio-​pragmatic primitives’. The reasoning for the employment of these expressions was determined by identifying expressions used commonly in K-​films, and includes the politeness functions of expressions when used in a selection of hierarchised social dynamics as well as their meaning potential in a range of film narrative contexts. The socio-​pragmatic primitives that we have selected are generally invisible to English-​speaking, non-​ Korean viewers, especially those from Western cultures, because such expressions are either not used or do not have the same meaning potential. The socio-​pragmatic primitives presented here are by no means an exhaustive list, but rather a taster extracted from a more comprehensive list that is currently under development (Kim & Kiaer, forthcoming). For instance, when identifying non-​verbal expressions, we do not attempt to analyse every movement but rather focus on non-​verbal customs with hierarchical implications. We recognise that expressions come in degrees, and also that there are gradients of interpretation because culture differs at familial and personal levels, as well as the societal, levels (House, 2002: 93). However, we are not able to account for the invisibility that may result from these factors. Nor are cross-​cultural microscales accounted for, for example, invisibility encountered by English speakers from England as opposed to Singapore. Rather, we provide a selection of common socio-​pragmatic primitives to attempt to reveal the invisibility that is typically encountered by English speakers from Western cultures when they view K-​films. DOI: 10.4324/9781003089896-4

66  Socio-pragmatic strategies in K-film

4.1  How to address people: address terms and second-​person pronouns Before we move on to specific discussions of verbal and non-​verbal expressions in K-​films, we should first cover the basics of Korean address terms. Korean address terms are varied and, like speech styles, convey important information about the context of a given utterance. In fact, speech styles are rendered meaningless if used alongside improper address terms. Whether an address term is appropriate or not depends on many variables, including power and intimacy. Here we will summarise the basic rules of address terms in Korean. For the purposes of this chapter, second-​person pronouns and all terms with a vocative function will be considered address terms, including names, titles, and kinship terms. Firstly, let us discuss the second-​person pronoun. Korean, unlike English which has the word ‘you’, does not have a universally acceptable second-​ person pronoun (Yeon & Brown, 2011: 76). Like speech styles, second-​person pronouns in Korean serve mainly to denote levels of intimacy and power. One’s choice of pronoun often depends on the speech style (Lee & Ramsey, 2000: 225). As we demonstrate in Table 4.1, second-​person pronouns can be divided into the same categories as the speech styles summarised previously. For example, more formal styles of speech do not allow for the use of second-​person pronouns; titles are used instead (Yeon & Brown, 2011: 78). This indicates that in Korean, referring directly to the person one is talking to is very personal and intimate, and is therefore reserved for situations where such interactions are socially appropriate. Within each style, there are other second-​person pronouns and address terms that are used with more specificity. Each term avoids directly referencing the hearer by using ‘you’ or a name, suggesting complex feelings around terms of address. In English, the most used vocative address term is the personal name, yet in Korean names are not used nearly as often (Kiaer, 2020); middle-​aged and older Koreans, who spend less time with

Table 4.1 Speech styles and second-​person pronouns Speech style

Correlating second-​person pronoun (subject)

1.  Formal style/​hapsyoche 2.  Polite style/​haeyoche 3.  Semiformal style/​haoche 4.  Familiar style/​hagaeche 5. Half-​talk or intimate style/​ panmal/​haeche 6.  Plain style/​haerache

None (or gesture, often using two hands)/​title None (or gesture, often using two hands)/​title Dangsin (당신) Janae (자네) Noe (너)/​name+vocative particle (a/​아, ya/​ 야, i/​이) Noe (너)/​name+vocative particle (a/​아, ya/​ 야, i/​이)

Socio-pragmatic strategies in K-film  67 parents and intimate superiors, often report that they rarely hear their own name used. Second-​person pronouns are difficult to translate from English to Korean. Dangsin (당신), a word which can sound rude in many instances, often serves in the place where ‘you’ would normally be used in English. This creates pragmatic inconsistency, displaying the core pragmatic differences in the two languages, and illustrates how even a simple pronoun like ‘you’ poses pragmatic difficulty for learners of Korean. Titles are also used as address terms in the vocative sense. These titles can include occupational titles, such as gyosunim (교수님) ‘professor’, gisanim (기사님) ‘driver’, or moksanim (목사님) ‘preacher’, but such titles are also extended to general use. For example, the term seonsaengnim (선생님) ‘teacher’ can be used to address socially superior strangers of any profession, as can the term sajangnim (사장님) ‘manager’. Each of the titles listed here also includes the honourific suffix nim (-​님), which is used deferentially to superiors or strangers. To people of similar or lower social position, ssi (-​씨) –​ similar to ‘Mr’ or ‘Ms’ in English –​can be added to the full, family, or given name; each combination expresses a different level of respect or lack thereof (Kiaer, 2020; Lee & Ramsey, 2000: 230–​238). Within families, a strict and complicated system of kinship terms is used. As in English, parents are referred to as ‘father’ or ‘mother’, but each other family member also has an assigned title too. These kinship terms depend on Table 4.2 Kinship terms in Korean

Male

Female

Father

Mother

Older brother

Older sister

Younger brother /​sister

Aunt

In-​laws

Abeoji (아버지) ‘father’

Eomoni (어머니) ‘mother’

Hyeong (형)

Nuna (누나)

Name + a/​ya (-​아/​-야 ​ ​)

Appa (아빠) ‘daddy’

Eomma (엄마) ‘mother’

Gomo (고모) ‘dad’s sister’

Abeonim (아버님) ‘father-​ in-​law’

Abeoji (아버지) ‘father’

Emeoni (어머니) ‘mother’

Appa (아빠) ‘daddy’

Eomma (엄마) ‘mother’

Imo (이모) ‘mum’s sister’ Gomo (고모) ‘dad’s sister’

Eomonim (어머님) ‘mother-​ in-​law’

Oppa (오빠)

Eonni (언니)

Name + a/​ya (-​아/​-야 ​ )

Imo (이모) ‘mum’s sister’

68  Socio-pragmatic strategies in K-film age and gender (Yeon & Brown, 2011: 36); for instance, given names are only used towards family members younger than oneself. Table 4.2 illustrates how these kinship terms are gender and age sensitive. Often, kinship terms for older siblings are attached to their name. For example, a younger brother might say, ‘Cheol-​soo hyeong’ (철수 형), or ‘Min-​ hui nuna’ (민희 누나). When parents or older siblings call the names of their children or younger siblings, they usually attach the vocative particles -​a/​-​ya/​-​i (아/​야/​이) after the name, depending on the context and whether the name ends with a consonant or a vowel. Even twins address each other with these kinship terms, depending on who was born first (Yeon & Brown, 2011: 38–​39). Further, kinship terms are not only limited to use within family: they are hugely important in Korean society in general. Given names are only used between close friends born in the same year as each other, or to refer to close friends younger than oneself. In these cases, the vocative particles mentioned above are almost always added, while, for close friends who are even one year older than oneself, the same titles are used as with older siblings. For example, if Kim Cheol-​soo (김철수) were born in 1993 and were very close to Sin Jeong-​woo (신정우), born in 1992, he would call him hyeong (형) or Jeong-​woo hyeong (정우 형). This would be maintained even if they were in a setting where half-​talk is appropriate, and they were close friends (Kiaer, 2020). Other kinship terms, like ajeossi (아저씨) ‘uncle’ and imo (이모) ‘aunt’ are also extended to non-​related adults, from servers in restaurants to adult intimates (Yeon & Brown, 2011: 39). These kinship terms create a feeling of belonging and intimacy and differentiate between in-​groups and out-​groups.

4.2  Non-​verbal honourifics The non-​verbal aspects of the Korean honourific system are also an essential part of Korean pragmatics. Although these have not been explored or defined in as much detail as verbal honourifics such as speech styles and address terms, they cannot be overlooked in the Korean honourific system. In a Korean context specifically, gestures showing deference are used almost inseparably from the honourific system, making gesture an essential part of pragmatics in any Korean interaction. Main features of the deferential gesture system include bowing, nodding, posture, and eye gaze, among others. Though these gestures are not formally defined or standardised, they so often accompany honourific and deferential interactions that their absence may undermine the honourific function of verbal honourifics altogether. For learners of Korean and other Asian languages, these gestural honourific may pose challenges that must be overcome in order to become pragmatically effective communicators. The problem of cultural differences and the difficulty in accurately sending and understanding gestural cues that arise as a result has been discussed by various researchers, and even the examination of a single form of gesture reveals the complexity posed by gestural honourifics in a Korean context.

Socio-pragmatic strategies in K-film  69

4.3  Multimodal modulation hypothesis These non-​verbal honourifics are intrinsically linked to other aspects of the honourific system and cannot be examined effectively outside of that context. Honourific expressions, both verbal and non-​verbal, must be selected at every level of discourse to present attitudinal meanings, such as respect, in a consistent way. If the attitudinal expressions in an utterance show contrasting attitudes, the utterance can seem less sincere. For instance, the expressions in A) below show respect from a junior’s perspective, while those in B) below are those used by equals, such as same-​age friends or family members. If expressions from two groups are mixed, the utterance becomes socio-​pragmatically incoherent, as in (1) and (2). In (1), the vocative particle -​ya (-​야) indicates the speaker’s seniority over the hearer, yet -​seyo (-​세요) contradicts that pragmatic expectation, making the entire utterance sound pragmatically strange. In (2), contrary to (iii), the respectful suffix -​nim (-​님) indicates the hearer’s seniority over the speaker, yet the verb wa (와) is a casual, non-honourific form and contradicts this pragmatic expectation. Hence, this utterance also becomes pragmatically strange. A) Expressions used by a junior to a senior i. Honourific suffixes: -​nim (-​님) ‘dear’, -​si (-​시) ‘subject honourific suffix’ ii. Formal or polite speech styles iii. Non-​verbal expressions: nodding, bowing or slight bending, clasping hands, indirect gestures such as hedging expressions (e.g., scratching the head) B) Expressions used by equals (same-​age friends and family members) i. Vocative particles -​a/​-​ya (-아/​-야 ​ ) ii. Address terms and second-​ person pronouns: Second-​ person pronouns are quite difficult to choose unless the two parties have a close relationship, as in family. iii. Casual or half-​talk speech styles (after negotiation) iv. Non-​verbal expressions: patting, straight back, nodding, bowing or slight bending 1. ???1 Jina-​ya, yeogi o-​sey-​yo. 지나야 여기 오세요. Jina-​vocative her come-​honourific-​polite ‘Jina, please come here.’ 2. ??? Jina-​nim, yeogi wa. 지나님 여기 와. J-​respect here come ‘Jina, please come here’.

70  Socio-pragmatic strategies in K-film Kiaer (2020) proposed the multimodal modulation hypothesis, which states the following: The core linguistic ability found in human communication is to be able to modulate or attune/​orchestrate different levels/​modes of information in a harmonious way, sensitive to the socio-​pragmatic needs of each situation. If conflicting or inconsistent meanings are communicated, the communication will become socio-​pragmatically inappropriate, insincere or unreliable, or convey humor or sarcasm. (Kiaer, 2020: 93) This multimodal modulation hypothesis suggests that honourifics are multifaceted and involve a huge range of variables, of which non-verbal honourifics are just one. All of these variables, including speech styles, address terms, and non-verbal honourifics, must show consistency. For instance, if one begins with an honourific attitude implying a relationship where the hearer is superior to the speaker, the speaker must maintain this attitude throughout; otherwise, the utterance appears unnatural or even sarcastic due to semantic and pragmatic inconsistency.

4.4  How do we define a ‘socio-​pragmatic primitive’? When we use the term ‘socio-​pragmatic primitive’, we refer to a common form of verbal or non-​verbal expression, which functions as a part of a system of social communication, such as waving, shaking hands, raising one’s voice, or explaining something using formal or informal terms. Each of these forms of expression is a socio-​pragmatic primitive. We base the social reasoning drawn in this book, to explain the functions and meaning potentials of these expressions, upon what is deemed to be im/polite and therefore in/appropriate by societal ideology. This is because much can be expressed simply by one’s choice to be im/​polite and in/​appropriate in a given situation, ranging from somebody’s attitudes, emotions, motivations, and intentions to their personality or socio-​ economic background. This is especially true of East Asian regions like Korea, where politeness and respect are employed regimentally in verbal language and behaviour, used as a means of expressing these meanings indirectly as it often is not possible to express one’s opinions and feelings directly. 4.4.1  Social factors In Korea, a range of hierarchical factors are considered when expressing socio-​pragmatic meanings. Therefore, we have documented these factors by including examples of socio-​pragmatic primitives functioning in a range of hierarchical dynamics. We include age, position (e.g., professional, familial), SES, class (for period films), and gender hierarchies. Further, we also consider intimacy (in contemporary films), which intercepts traditional hierarchies, as well as additional factors such as generational differences on politeness levels and the meaning potential of expressions.

Socio-pragmatic strategies in K-film  71 4.4.2  Classifying the politeness of expressions We have classified each socio-​ pragmatic primitive as either ‘very polite’, ‘polite’, ‘acceptable’, or ‘rude’, in a range of social dynamics that take into consideration the previously mentioned social factors. This is a broad system of classification that deals with expressions in somewhat black-​and-​white terms, in that they are decontextualised and do not consider degrees of expression (except for the case of bowing, in which degrees of bowing constitute types of bows that serve different social functions). We should also mention that, as touched on in our discussion of the multimodal modulation hypothesis, these socio-​pragmatic primitives do not exist in a vacuum; they are intrinsically linked to both other aspects of the Korean honourific system and the context and situation in which they are used and must be used in a way that is coherent with other elements of this system in order to appear sincere. As such, we will be also considering instances of these expressions in films where the ‘wrong’ expressions for the situation are intentionally used to deepen characterisation and express meaning, providing evidence for the multimodal modulation hypothesis in the process. We define our politeness classifications as follows: • •

•

• •

Very polite classification is determined when an individual makes an effort to be more polite than is required of them according to their social status. Polite classification if determined when an individual is meeting the required level of politeness according to their social status or performing a basic level of politeness. However, they are not making an effort to go beyond this. Acceptable classification is given when an individual is within the boundary of what is acceptable according to their social status; however, they are not being polite. In Korea, where many expressions that are not morally unacceptable are still socially unacceptable if you are junior (e.g., a junior male patting a senior male on the back), this classification is needed to explain how these expressions are understood when a senior performs them. They are then not rude but also not expressions of politeness: they are simply acceptable. Rude classification is given when an individual is not meeting the necessary level of politeness according to their social status. Conflict classification is added to very polite, polite, acceptable, or rude classifications in cases when both individuals in an interaction have their own claim to seniority. This classification is needed because when hierarchical conflicts occur, they affect the politeness level of expressions and their meaning potential. For instance, in a conflicting hierarchy, while an expression might be acceptable within the speaker’s seniority, it may be rude in context of the hearer’s seniority, and there is greater potential for insult to occur.

72  Socio-pragmatic strategies in K-film It is important to note that, because the extremes of our politeness classification system end at ‘very polite’ or ‘rude’ (with the option of a conflict), there cannot be any further shifts beyond this point to show increases or decreases in politeness. The purposes of this book did not require further classifications beyond these. Either extreme of the scale combined with a ‘conflict’ already serves to indicate the severity of an expression’s unnecessariness (at the polite end of the scale) or unacceptability (at the rude end of the scale) and could be used to indicate the meaning potential of expressions in these cases. These classifications could, however, potentially be refined should they be utilised in film analysis in the future.

4.5  Socio-pragmatic primitives in more concrete terms The socio-​pragmatic primitives examined in this book are presented in logical, somewhat concrete terms. By this we refer to the use of formalisms, which are combined with generous excerpts from the evidence collected of these socio-​ pragmatic primitives at work in K-​films. Formalism, in this case, serves as a language for simplifying the otherwise complex and wordy explanations of how verbal and non-​verbal expressions function, including a range of influential factors, and their meaning potential. This is appropriate for the subject matter at hand, since we are describing the reasoning for the use of Korean expressions. Formalisms are drawn using a combination of conditional (if-​then) logic, which serves to explain the politeness level of expressions if they are used in particular social dynamics; and defeasible logic according to Wildfeuer (2014), which serves to describe the defeasible eventualities (the potential meaning inferable) of expressions depending upon their politeness levels in these social dynamics. When we provide defeasible logic for specific K-​films, the information provided by the narrative context will also often be taken into account. Therefore, in these cases, further specificity will be clear in the defeasible eventuality, reflecting both the politeness level of the expression in the given dynamic and the narrative context. 4.5.1  Abbreviations and logical operators In this section we will provide tools and examples for getting to grips with conditional and defeasible logic in preparation for our coverage of socio-​ pragmatic primitives throughout Chapter 4 and Chapter 5. For both conditional and defeasible logic, we use abbreviations and logical operators in order to simplify our explanation. It would be helpful for you to familiarise yourself with these at this point, in order to proceed forth with ease. Abbreviations • •

G –​Gesturer (of non-​verbal expression) R –​Receiver (of non-​verbal expression)

Socio-pragmatic strategies in K-film  73 • • • • • • • • •

S –​Speaker (of verbal expression) H –​Hearer (of verbal expression) F-​M –​Female speaker/​gesturer to male hearer/​receiver M-​F –​Male speaker/​gesturer to female hearer/​receiver M-​M –​Male speaker/​gesturer to male hearer/​receiver F-​F –​Female speaker/​gesturer to female hearer/​receiver A –​Age P –​Position (professional/​familial/​commercial server) A/​P –​Either age or position

Logical operators • • • • • • • • •

∧ –​And (in conditional logic only) , –​And (in defeasible logic only) < –​Junior (A is junior to B: A –​Senior (A is senior to B: A>B) → –​If-​then (e.g., if A then B: A→B) ¬ –​Not |~ –​Defeasible eventuality (likely meaning potential) of an expression is ∴ –​Therefore /​– Used to indicate multiple options (e.g., S>H (A/​P) means that the dynamic an expression is taking place can be either ‘speaker is senior in age to hearer’ or ‘speaker is senior in profession to hearer’, and therefore that the result that follows both will be the same).

4.5.2  Reading conditional and defeasible logic Using some examples, we will now explain how the abbreviations and logical operators are presented in the conditional and defeasible logic. To begin, let’s go over the basics! As we have explained, conditional logic serves to explain the politeness level of employing a particular verbal or non-​verbal expression in a particular social dynamic according to the Oryun’s hierarchical rules. This is presented as propositional statements (e.g., if A then B). The defeasible logic used to present the meaning potential of expressions describes the defeasible eventuality of an expression in a given social dynamic (e.g., the defeasible eventuality of expression A in social dynamic B is C). The narrative context is not included in the formula itself, as we provide this discursively. Now let’s try an example of a propositional statement using abbreviations and logical operators! Imagine a scenario in which a younger person gives an object to an older person with one hand. If a ‘gesturer’ (G) who is ‘junior’ () in ‘age’ (A) ‘then’ (→) the expression is classified as rude. This formula would be presented like so: GR-​1H ∧ GR

74  Socio-pragmatic strategies in K-film (A) → Acceptable. The formulas work similarly to equations, by adding a type of expression to a social dynamic using the ‘and’ (∧) operator and then explaining the politeness classification that results following the ‘if-​then’ (→) symbol. Now let’s try an example of defeasible logic, continuing with the scenario used in the previous examples. Firstly, let’s transfer the conditional logic of the previous scenario into defeasible logic and remove the politeness classification, which is now unnecessary. The formula will look like this: GR-​1H, GR (A/​P) → Acceptable ii. Patting ∧ GF/​F>M/​M>M/​F>F) → Acceptable vii. Patting ∧ GM) → Rude (high risk) viii. Patting ∧ GF) → Rude The meaning potential of patting In this section, we will provide a selection of generalised defeasible eventualities that can commonly be inferred from patting, using the same social dynamics that we presented in our conditional logic. At this point, it is helpful to note that meaning potential diversifies when a socio-​pragmatic primitive is presented within a narrative context, so we will increasingly provide examples of this in addition to the more general meanings. Formulae i–​ii describe the meaning potential of patting in social dynamics hierarchised by either age or position. Formula i shows that patting means the gesturer cares about the receiver when it is employed senior-​junior. Formula ii describes patting as meaning that the gesturer is belittling the receiver when it is employed junior-​senior. i. Patting, G>R (A/​P) |~ G cares about R ii. Patting, GR (A/​P), G