Efforts on Hyun vs. Hee

As Kyung Hyun Kim states, women are put in an inferior position to men in the film Shiri in order to further fuels men’s success. If I recall correctly, other than Hyun/Hee, there is only one other woman who is seen on screen as a ‘threat’ to men, and that is the North Korean soldier that is a part of the 8^th Special Forces. There were of course other women in the film however these women were not in a position of power, they were either sick, or a nurse, or a waiter.

What I think is most interesting about this film is that even though the two women mentioned before were in positions of power, they both killed and were a part of an organization that was mostly dominated by men, but there were actions taken by the director to ensure that they were always inferior. I will look at the actions that the director has taken towards Hyun/Hee.

As Hyun, the director made efforts to make her more feminine. He did this by dressing her in light colours such as yellow, or when she was wearing black it was very little clothing, leaving her partially exposed. There is one specific scene that comes to mind when she was wearing all white. White is generally interpreted as pure, a characteristic that is enjoyed by men when thinking about women. However this is in stark contrast to her second identity, which is evident when Lee hands her his ‘ex-girlfriend’ dinner. We, as viewers, do not know that Hyun is the same girl in the photo, especially because of the differences in what they are wearing as well as the fact that her make up is done in a more fierce way, with more dominant and arched eyebrows as well as dark eye make up and lips.

When her identity was a secret, there was not a point where you could see her whole body. The first time you see her in the photograph it is for two seconds, only of her upper body, and hardly enough time to register that they are in fact the same person. For the rest of the movie there are only close up shots of either her hands to show the nail polish she was wearing, or her sunglasses. The scene where she is shot her back is facing Ryu so though he knows who she is at this point, her face is still hidden. They are in effect reducing her actions to her body parts.

What is most interesting is the transformation at the end that results in her final living appearance in the film to be Hyun while she is being Hee. The final stadium scene starts out with her wearing sunglasses. When she is chasing after the presidents and Ryu finally catches up with her, she is not wearing the dark coat that is expected of assassin Hee but a beige lighter colour, reminiscent of the white jacket combination she was wearing earlier.

The final moment when Hee is alive she is a combination of her two identities.

Roles of a Woman

“I’m looking for my ex-girlfriend. I have not found her yet…”

He keeps on repeating these words. 

I wasn’t actually too sure whether he was talking about Hee, the North Korean spy, or her actual girlfriend. I can’t help but think that the feminine character is intentionally confusing the audience. Hee/Hyun is a character that crosses the boundaries of femininity and their roles in society. Hee, as a North Korean spy, a top-notch militarily-trained assassin, is a femme fatale, who gives up her family and regular life, to take on the responsibility to protect her nation, proving her loyalty. 

In order to complete her tasks, she has to disguise as Hyun, a woman who has a terminal disease, neglected by society. But through this identity, she was also able to be herself: a pet shop owner, a music lover, a sweet child-like woman who lives like a regular person. 

This topic is mentioned twice in the movie: the first time by Ryu, when he is out with Yu and his girlfriend (Hee/Hyun). It was a directed to Hyun during a conversation. He showed her a picture, and after that, he received a piece of food on his shirt and she leaves the table to get a call.

The second time happened during Yu’s visit at the hospital to meet the real Hyun. 

Although it may only seem like a foreshadowing agent in the plot, it reveals that in their eyes, the femme fatale assassin-spy is only a woman. To have the guts to label her as an ex-girlfriend seems to delegitimize her abilities as an assassin to become an inferior entity.    

I don’t agree that Hee is a “ventriloquist.” Although she is “not only pitied but also desired and loathed… invites a seductive gaze that fatally turns her seducer into a victim,… and is left with no other option than self-destruction," (Kim, 261) her self-destruction seems to me like an inevitable end to liberate her from all her commitments/obligations. 

Her character from the beginning of the movie has softened a lot throughout, despite her political implications, which brings out our sympathy for this character, especially at the end. But because of her inevitable death at the end, does it reveal a stronger masculinity identity in contrast? 

Multiple Femininity in Shiri

          Watching the film Shiri, directed by Kang Je-gyu, one can easily notice the different types of femininity portrayed under the person with the same name- Hyun.  As mentioned in Kim’s readings, meta-wise the three characters, the monstrous female sniper, the sweet romantic partner of Yu, and the hospital patient is all acted by the same person.  In a movie where it places its theme on the reunification of Korea, what does this multiple personality portray?  In the film, Yu brings up the notion of Hydra, a Greek mythological creature with its many heads representing different personalities, when he explains how the split in the nation of Korea has created someone who is neither Hee or Hyun.  But one needs to ask why was it necessary to portray a female character in such a way and why focus was put into a female spy more than a male one.  And also, what does this multiple identity of femininity contribute in portraying the masculinity of major male characters including the protagonist?

         Yu’s fiance, Hyun, is an interesting character as we learn that she has had drinking problems that is likely due to her conflict in character and identity.  As Hee, her monstrosity as a femme fatale is shown early on the film through her brutal training and the assassinations she has accomplished.  But her vulnerabilities are also as evident, as we learn that she is also a woman who is so vigilant that she sleeps under her bed, is unskillful with the use of chopsticks, and relates so much with fish.  In Kim’s readings, he mentions a quote from Barbara Creeds that, “when woman is represented as monstrous it is almost always in relation to her mothering and reproductive functions”.  At the end of the film we find out that she was pregnant without Yu’s knowledge.  Why was this mentioned?  Is there a significance behind the fact of Yu being the one who murders his wife-to-be along with their offspring that could have been potentially a symbolical hope of the reunification of the North and South?  At the end, Hee was never able to shoot her lover while Yu was practically forced to do so.  Is the director trying to put an allegory in the difference of gendered reactions in similar situations?

Lenin Amaya

Gender Roles in Shiri

Shiri is one of the most popular Korean films that appeared shortly after the 1997 financial crisis in Korea and it proved that Korean blockbusters can be just as successful as Hollywood blockbusters, thus regaining confidence in Korean national cinema. Despite its resemblance to Hollywood films, Shiri contains a few key differences that are particular to Korean history, culture and identity. The film uses gender roles and symbols of masculinity and femininity to portray the internal differences between North and South Korea. These differences are depicted in Hee/Hyun’s inner conflict between the innocent wife of the South Korean secret agent and the dangerous lover of the top agent of the North Korean Special Forces. In this case, North and South Korea are both embodied in the feminine (Hee/Hyun), and any possibility of reunification is symbolized by Hee/Hyun’s unborn child, which is the product of a North Korean spy and a South Korean agent. The film, however, does not revolve around femininity; in fact, it acts to restore the masculine identity of South Korea through the success of the Korean blockbuster, which has finally reached the level of success of Hollywood blockbusters, and through the destruction of the feminine. According to Kyung-hyun Kim in “Each Man Kills the Thing He Loves”, Hee represents the “monstrous-feminine”—both terrifying and desirable—who is constructed under a patriarchal system and forced into her role as femme fatale until she is killed. Kim thus argues that masculine power can only be reclaimed through the destruction of the North Korean Other and the historically repressed—both of which are embodied by Hee. Agent Ryu can therefore only represent the restored masculinity of South Korea once he has killed his fiancé; until he has killed Hee and has overcome the 50 years of war that stand between the two Koreas, Ryu’s masculinity remains threatened by the North Korean spy. By embodying the history of war and power struggles between North and South Korea, Hee/Hyun therefore also serves as a symbol for the broken Korean masculine identity which threatens the Korean national identity that has been negatively affected by Korea’s colonial past, the experience of the IMF crisis, and the Korean War. 

Action Thriller Genre

Shiri  is a perfect depiction of a Korean action film.   It is one of the top korean movies in box office history. The action thriller genre with a side of spies like 007. I really enjoyed this film but because I had the preconception of it having so much success in the box office I was expecting it to be  a happy ending. Growing up here in Canada I am used to all the well known movies that do the best at the box office are always based on the misconception notion and theme of the American dream. Most movies here always end in a happy ending where the two star crossed lovers put their beliefs or orders aside and get together at the end. I find this type of ending much more effective  as it is a great twist.  I always find that foreign films are much more realistic and depressing in the fact that they are under the illusion of the American dream like Hollywood is over here. The fact that the male character is the one who ends up killing the female is also a classic binary of male oriented action films. The man always has to come out on top. The men's strength had to reign above all, the woman always has to be seen as the inferior race. Even though she was sent on a special mission to kill targets in Seoul, she even had plastic surgery to hide her true identity. She made so many sacrifices for her job and yet her inferior strength is shown at the end. The tragic air of this film and the fact that they don't end up together at the end allowed me to understand the directors stance in continuing within the limits of the action thriller genre.

North and South, Red and Blue, and White

The plot of Shiri, the first blockbuster film in South Korea, is told largely through the formal and technical elements rather than the dialogue. For instance, the first ten minutes of the film is completely action-packed with zero dialogue.

One interesting motif that says a lot about the plot is the color scheme. I noticed that blue and red appear over and over again throughout the film, especially red in relation to North and blue in relation to South. For example, the movie opens with the severe training the North Korean soldiers undergo while wearing a hat with a red band around it. Furthermore, Hee wears a red coat when she is walking behind Lee Jang-gil at the grocery store. On the other hand, the South Korean soldiers are dressed in blue uniforms and there are blue candles on the tables at the restaurant where Yu and his friend meet to discuss about the information leakage. Nonetheless, we do see North in association with the color blue and South with red. For example, the South Korean citizens are dressed in identical red colored shirts at the soccer stadium. In addition, the blue soft drink, Pokari Sweat, appears in relation to both Park and Yu. Yu drinks it when Hyun comes back from the grocery shopping and Park hides behind the Pokari vending machine when he is being chased by Yu and his men.

White also plays a significant role, for Hyun knits a white sweater for Yu. In her voice message, Hyun remarks how she feels neither as Hyun nor Hee when she is with Yu. Thus, she is able to be a person who does not have to pretend to be someone who she isn’t, a person with no or pure color. In fact, It is interesting to note that one actress plays three characters; Lee Myung-Hyun the fiancé of Yu, Lee Bang Hee the spy, and Lee Myung-Hyun the sick patient (Kim 260).

There is a theme of reunification in Shiri that is either supported or looked down upon. There are elements that are against the convergence, including Hee and the baby Hee carries. For instance, the movie ends with the death of Hee, who represents the North, and the death of the baby that she carries, who symbolizes the hope of integration between the North and the South.

However, the hopes and dreams for the reunification are prevalent throughout the film, represented by the motifs of family photos and the main theme song. We see Hee who burns her family photo in the beginning, and Hee who keeps a photo of her and Yu in her room which Park sees. Thus, there is a sense of nostalgia for someone who cannot be in the same space and time. In fact, Hyun’s favorite song, “When I Dream”, has a line that goes like the following: “when I dream, I dream of you / maybe someday you will come true.” For these reasons, there are definite sense of longing for and antagonism against the reunification .

The Fish Tank as Illusory Refuge

Kang Je-gyu’s film Shiri depicts a motif of fish, which is shown in numerous instances throughout the film. The nature of fish represents the freedom that the characters in the film possess when they live in blissful ignorance, external of the political strife that pervades in Korea due to the issue of Korean reunification. However, this bubble of ignorance is depicted to be fragile and vulnerable to destruction by reality. 

The motif of fish is first introduced in the film when Hyun gifts a pair of kissing gourami fish to Yu, noting that if one of the pair dies, then the other dies of loneliness. The pair of  kissing gourami symbolizes the blissful relationship between Hyun and Yu, when Yu is initially ignorant of Hyun’s true identity. In this state of blissful ignorance, Yu is able to live a happy life with Hyun. In return, Hyun is also able to express her genuine feelings for Yu, without consideration of her mission as a North Korean secret agent. 

During a phone threat to Yu, Park gives both Yu and the viewer a description of shiri fish. Shiri are a type of Korean aboriginal fish that swim freely in the waters from both North and South Koreas, unable to distinguish between the waters of the two due to the fact that they join together. This symbolizes the lack of a natural border between the Koreas, and suggests a juxtaposition between actions that are induced by society and actions that are induced by the intuitive self. This intuitive self is represented by fish in the film, who are unaware of anything outside of their natural environments.

The fish tank as a symbolic place of refuge is shown to be fragile and vulnerable, as the fish in the tanks at Yu’s workplace are revealed to be bugged by SU300. The presence of SU300 symbolizes corruption in the fish tank. Evidently, the fish tank has never been truly separated from the ugliness of the real world - the ugliness was merely hidden from view. As Park shoots Lee in the aquarium and shatters the fish tank behind him, the blissful illusion of a personal refuge for Hyun and Yu is shattered as well.

Shiri

I remember watching the climactic scene of the film, where JongWon shoots Banghee, as a seven year old and being extremely overwhelmed by the fact that two people who love each other had to kill the other due to the political division of the country. Watching the film twelve years after as a nineteen year old adult did not alter my overwhelming reaction to the film, as the melodramatic element seemed to once again serve as a tearjerker.   

Not only is the film Shiri is very similar to Hollywood action movies but also the frame where women are often depicted as deceptive beings who can put on a mysterious mask in their strategies of survival is also alike. As well, Kim addresses the “monstrous”,“dangerous femme fatale”(Kim, 261) where these two dangerous identity merge into one woman who is quite vulnerable indeed, which “reclaims the masculine power through the destruction of the North Korean Other that is embodied in the female”(Kim, 266). Although I somewhat agree on her point in Lee BangHee being “monstrous”, I think this “monstrous” being is similar to the beauty and the beast monster, where one character becomes evil due to the circumstances, rather than the character itself being innately evil.  

Kim’s point where she talks about the “weight of history crushes any hope for romance, and erases her fetus that crucially embodies the reconciliatory spirit between the North and the South” appropriately explains the ending as well as demonstrates the situation of the South Korean and North Korea’s reconciliation. Despite certain people’s efforts to reconcile with one another, there are always these hindrances, such as political and economic reasons that change people to be hopeful, then hopeless.    

The auspicious timing and place where Hollywood films became more expensive after the local currency lost half of its value, Chaebol’s withdrawal of capital allowed the venture capital companies to fill the void in the Korean film industry, and protective measures for domestic products increased, allowed for Korean cinema’s commercial renaissance(Kim, (Kim, 271), and Shiri was released at this perfect timing. I wonder if the movie would still have been a blockbuster if it was released at a different time period than 1999.  Thus, although very similar to the Hollywood action movie pattern, Shiri was a blockbuster, and provided the outside countries to get a sense of what and how the people (at least) in South Korea feel about the division between the two countries. This division that always seems to stay divided despite all endeavors to reconcile.

Reunification or Partition?

When I watched Shiri last week, this film reminded me of the K-drama ‘Iris’. I think ‘Iris’ is a drama version of Shiri. The plot of Iris is particularly similar to Shiri.  They both deal with the North Korean spies and Korean undercover organization. In parallel to Shiri, the South Korean undercover agent falls in love with North Korean spy. Moreover, both have the sad ending, one of the main protagonists dies. According to the reading "Shiri was the most successful commercial film of the 1990s" (Kim 270). I think this film left a very strong impression to Koreans because of the plot / theme and all the action scenes. When Koreans talk about North Korean spies, they refer to Shiri or Iris. Personally, I believe that this film shaped the discourse on North Korean undercover / spies.

       

        As I watched Shiri, it was funny to see how North Korean agents were in the darkness most of times. When Lee Bang Hee was in North Korea, it was very difficult to see her face since she either covered her face with a red scarf or was practicing in the dark. In addition, when Lee was in North Korea, it seemed like she had no emotion. She even burned the family photo before coming down to South Korea. When she comes to South Korea and meets Jung Won, she changes completely. She becomes a person with emotion. She even frames photos of her and Jung Won.  The movie discreetly gives the message to audience that North Koreans are double-faced nation. On the outside, the North Korean government pretends to keep peace with South Korea but inside, they plan to demolish South Korea.  

            Thus, I think Shiri is such a biased movie. It generalizes North Koreans way too much. I’m not trying to defend North Korea. I also have negative feelings towards North Korea but I wonder if it is because I was taught this way since I was a kid.  I know North and South were divided for more than 50 years; but the films which mass population watch should not make the biased atmosphere. What was the hidden message that the director really wanted to portray? reunification or partition? 

Woman's Monstrosity??

In Kim's artile, he talks about how "woman's monstrosity" remedies the failure musclinity. In the case of Shiri, a so called men’s film, there are only three female figures contribute to the narratives, one is the ignorant official and another one is the real Hyun who is kept in the hospital for chemo therapy. Then the only one that can be qualified to this “monstrous” feature, it’s the Northern sleeper agent Hee who later impersonates as Hyun to continue her secret reunification mission by being with Ryu. Her monstrousness is illustrated in terms of the brutal military training she has been through in North Korea, the bloody assassinations of important political figures she has conducted throughout the years and the skillful rifle shooting technique that enables her to be the only sniper in the assassination project of South Korea’s president. However, her weaknesses and vulnerability are as obvious as her monstrousness. According to the memory the real Hyun recalls in the ending scene, Hee is so vigilant and insecure that she would be found under the bed everyday morning. Fish is another signifier of Hee’s inability to master her emotion since she transmits her personal interest into Hyun’s characteristics. I have to say the voice message she leaves for Ryu is very touching, which strengthens the dramatic aspect of the film as well as the articulation of the tragic ending. Although the film mainly focuses on male’s struggle in terms of morality, patriotism, friendship and romance, the thematic importance is actually manifested through the female character Hee. As an individual strives to live up to the specific historical moment, she left with no choice but turning her gun towards the president and being shot by her beloved. Since Hee has failed to kill Ryu for two times, I wonder if Ryu has a moment of hesitation when he makes the decision of pulling the trigger. If the answer is negative (which is very sad), then we might able to make a clear distinction between males and females by their fundamental rationalism or sentimentalism. No matter how physically monstrous Hee is, she is emotionally frail. Because of that, she can’t master her feeling like Ryu, Park or even the “oddball”, which constrains her only to the subplot and tragic element of this so-called men’s film.

(By the way, I find that the sound track is very disturbing since I can always tell what's gonna happen based on it. And it always appears before the actual scenes, which drains off the fun of watching)

Monsters?

            
         During Park Chung-hee and Jun Doo-hwan’s military regime in the 1960’s through the late 1980’s, the North Koreans were depicted in movies as ‘red commies’ and ‘monsters.’ They were ruthless villains whom the South Koreans soldiers heroically fought against in order to save the country. Towards the end of the 1980’s when the film censorship was lifted, movies such as “Nambugun: North Korean Partisan in South Korea” by Jung Ji-young and “Tae-baek Mountains” by Im Kwon-taek were released, portraying the North Koreans as victims of war, just like the South Koreans. In 1998, president Kim Dae-jung announced the Sunshine Policy, in which the main aim was to soften North and South relationship by encouraging interaction and economic assistance. The movie “Shiri” was released in 1998, just in time as the Sunshine Policy began. If “Shiri” was released any time before, I don’t think it would have been such a major hit. The success of “Shiri” gave rise to movies such as “JSA” “Welcome to Dongmakgol” “Secret Reunion” and most recently “Secretly, Gently,” depicting the North Korean soldiers and secret agents as more humanistic than ever. The gradual change in the way films portray North Koreans, and the changes in the ways people perceive them can be seen throughout “Shiri”.

In the beginning, we see the upbringing of killing machines that brutally kill even their own people to get hands-on practice in killing. Their living conditions are inhumane and the way they were shown was enough to make me think of them as monsters without feelings, created to slaughter. However as I came to realize that Lee Bang-hee is Lee Myung-hyun, I sympathized for her. The fact that she doesn’t even have a proper identity, the dilemma she would have had to face every time she killed someone near Joong-won made me feel sorry for her and her situation. My sympathy heightened as Park Mu-young shouted in agony about the people in the North dying of hunger while the South were eating rotten cheese and hamburgers. He wasn’t killing on order just because he wanted to terrorize South Korea; he was doing it for his people just as Joong-won was trying to save the innocent citizens. Even up until this point, I still saw them as “North Koreans”, who were victims of war and tyranny. But when Bang-hee pulled her gun away from her fiancée and chose to shoot at the car driving by, the notion broke. She was no less humane than anyone, who couldn’t pull the trigger on someone she loves. She was not a “monster” or a “North Korean,” she was just a woman, a human being.

History & Reunification

                                           History & Reunification                     Yu-Han (Frank) Chang

In 1998 Kim Dae Jung became the 8^th president in the South Korean history. Kim Dae Jung was most well known for his “Sunshine Policy”, for which he was the 2000 Nobel Peace Prize. Kim’s administration placed emphasis on cooperation rather than active absorption on the North-South Korean and reunification issues. Kim’s office reintroduced contact between the two states. Politics and economics were separated with more emphasis on the economic cooperation.  Investment laws were loosened. Tourism was opened for South Koreans to visit Mount Kumgang. Few families were reunited. The trans-Korea railroad was also initiated and finished in 2003. Kaesong Industrial Park was also established where both North and South Koreans were employed as an economic collaboration effort. Some sports events also took place. For instance, the 2000 and 2004 Olympics the two States marched together in the open ceremony. Most importantly, the very first ground breaking Inter-Korea Summit took place in Pyongyang in 2000 where the South Korean president was invited to visit the North for the first time in the history.

With the historical events in mind, Shiri is a film from the year of 1999 which coincided with the early period of Kim’s administration. The North-South Korean issue had been touched on by films before Shiri. But Shiri was the first major release, especially being the very first Korean blockbuster, since the 1998 election and introduction of the Sunshine policy. Reunification was a major theme in the film. Prior to Kim’s administration, reunification was primarily, if not solely, associated with military pressure and possibly war. This film reflected some elements of a more peaceful interaction outlined by the Sunshine policy which were previously not available or imaginable by the people and directors in all the films before. For instance, the soccer game was an evident reflection of the time and official policy in 1999. Nonetheless, the idea of reunification remained controversial throughout the1990s and 2000s. In fact, it is still controversial in present time. One question after viewing the film was to address whether the film was optimistic or pessimistic towards the Sunshine policy and idea of reunification.

Personally, I think the film was real smart in the sense that it combined not just the Hollywood style action movie elements but also incorporated the controversial and hot topic at the time- Inter-Korea relationship. What was even smarter was that the film touched on the issue but gave a rather mixed, ambiguous stance. Optimistic viewers could argue that the soccer game proceeded and the entire event despite the twists and obstacles succeeded. This could be reflective of the difficult path in reunification but success is possible. Alternatively, pessimistic viewers could argue that relationship between Ryu and Hee/Hyun despite their love and passion for each other failed. The couple were representative of the North and South Korean relationship. Could this translate into that no matter how much love, it simply wouldn’t work out? More importantly, the unborn child symbolic of an unification was killed tragically. Was this the fate the film saw? By providing a mixed answer, the film had the potential be accepted by both groups of viewers.

The next question to be addressed is then was the film antagonizing or sympathetic towards North Korea in the pretext of reunification. In the real life at the time, there had been critics toward the Sunshine Policy as well. There were issues in that North Korea never intended to hold up their end in this partnership cooperation. In other words, the “reciprocity” was more of a one-sided giving by the South Korea. One could argue that the film was antagonizing North Korea and the policy towards reunification by casting the North Koreans as the villain attacking South Korea. Superficially they appeared to be in agreement with the people in the South but in the hind side they still wanted to take over through military and armed forces. Could this be a reflection of the general critics and suspicion in the North Korean’s commitment to the cause?

Alternatively, the film was named “Shiri”, the aboriginal fish found in both North and South Korea. The fish was a reflection of the common ancestry and the idea that we are the “same kind” such that one day the water will flow freely again and the fish would swim freely between again. Kissing gourami represented the couple and the couple represented the reunion of the North and South. It was mentioned that the kissing gourami occasionally fight each other like a couple bickering but otherwise are peaceful. More importantly, they need each other. Furthermore, Ryu at the questioning at the end after he had shot Hee/Hyun mentioned that Hee/Hyun was like a hydra with multiple personalities. He bear no resentment nor hatred but sympathy that she was a product of the separation. Could this be the ultimate opinion of the film instead?

Shiri - Who's there to blame for this tragic situation?

While a lot of film directors have already dealt with political issues of South Korea, the director named Kang Je-Gyu demonstrated the idea of reunification through his action film, Shiri. The film title Shiri refers to a fish, indigenous to Korea that swims upstream to spawn, which Kang has made a symbol of the Korean longing for reunification. He not only showed us the familiar view of South Korea but also the North Korean view of the separation of the two countries. The film begins with North Korean soldiers brutally fighting and killing each other for a training purpose. Emphasizing the cruel reality of North Korea, the director depicted North Korean characters as desperate animals rather than human beings. In the movie, the agents who survived to the last are sent to South Korea, and they start to kill so many South Koreans in an attempt to have a bomb exploded in the right place at the right time. The ultimate goal that the North Korean agents including the commander, Park My-young, had was to assassinate all the North and South Korean Politicians. According to Park, they wanted to end the 50 years of deception by their government that had forced their people to sell their children into slavery or even feed on their flesh to survive. They know that the presidents don’t actually want renification, so they think, by killing both of them, they can start a war that will lead to the reunification of the two countries. Thus, this movie focuses on the current situation in Korea and how North Korea is viewed at the period. Furthermore, Yu’s comment about Hydra of Greek myth also tells us the tragic reality aroused by the separation of Korea. The ace of the North Korean agents is a female sniper, Lee Bang-hee, who has disguised herself as Hyun, an innocent-looking woman. Although she approached Yu on purpose, she actually falls in love with him. Unable to resist the order from North Korea, she is eventually shot dead in the end. In the scene where Yu revisits Hyun’s fish store, he listens to a voicemail he received from Hyun. She professes to Yu that the year she had with him was the best thing in her entire life. This message clearly sends us Kang’s argument that the two countries are one body divided by governments. Like the six-headed Hydra of Greek myth, Bang-hee and Hyun are one hydra with multiple personalities, and she is the victim of the split between the South and the North , unable to become one full person, This is neither her fault nor Park's but the governments' who deceive their people with fake attempts of reunification.

[Shiri] Why the female spy?

From what I recall, Shiri is the first action movie that I have watched. Although I have not seen the full movie, I remember few scenes that were shown in TV (during Korean national holidays). I have always wanted to watch the whole thing, so this screening was quite exciting for me. It turns out that Shiri has a typical Hollywood-style action movie (so nothing too exciting about the movie itself) but I was quite impressed by the fact that such blockbuster movie was produced in 1999 (still during the time of financial crisis in South Korea). While I was watching the movie, I was especially interested in the female character(s) Pang-hui Yi/ Myong-hyon Yi.

As Freud writes, “…we are accustomed to say that every human being displays both male and female instinctual impulses, needs, and attributes […]” (Freud, in Kim 275). This can be seen through the depiction of Pang-hui Yi/ Myong-hyon Yi. She is a highly trained sniper that can shoot at any distance, without ever missing a shot. At the beginning of the movie, the brutality, cruelty of the North Korean female spy is shown through her assassinations of key persons in the South Korean society. Despite her gender, she surpasses her male comrades (North Korean spies) and is able to hide herself from the eyes of Korean agents/ O.P. without getting caught for few years. The fact that Yi is a female does not seem to give her any harm in performing as a North Korean spy.

           However, it turns out that Yi is not a male-like, “strong figure”. She plays the role of the “victimized female”, by becoming the object of the “thing” that each man has to kill, even if he loves it (Kim, 269). Even though she is an excellent sniper who comes from the North, she is unable to kill her lover. Yi is also pregnant with Yu’s child, but does not get rid of the baby, even if it is the child of her “enemy” (South Korean). Towards the end, in the voicemail that Yi leaves for Yu, she confesses her identity, and the North Korean spies’ plan to attack South Koreans with the CTX (liquid bomb). No matter how brutal she was, Yi chooses love over her country.

Perhaps because “…we [people] far too readily identify activity with maleness and passivity with femaleness, a view which is by no means universally confirmed” (Freud, in Kim 275), there was no way that Yi could have survived and remained as the cold-blooded spy. Female’s role as being submissive, mother-figure, emotional (e.g. choosing love over orders etc.) is what most would agree with, and expect to happen.

If the spy were a male instead of the female, I believe that there would have been more possibility for agent Yu to get killed by Yi. Maybe that is why most North vs. Korean related films/ dramas chose their male protagonists to be males while female protagonists are females?

Shiri

The film, ‘Shiri’ is considered as the first ‘Hollywood-style’ blockbuster in South Korea. Kang Jegyu filmed it in 1999, which contains the story of strong Korean national sentiment to fuel its drama after the Cold War. According to the reading (Kim), he film, ‘Friend’ we screened last class and ‘JSA’ were followed the success of ‘Shri’ in 2000 and 2001, respectively, each of them breaking ‘Shri’’s box office record with more than 2.7 million tickets sold.

According to the Barbara Creed, ‘when woman is represented as monstrous it is almost always in relation to her mothering and reproductive functions’ (pg. 261). In this film, Lee Banghee(Myunghun), who had been responsible for several assassinations of the government officials and the theft of CTX (bomb), had to betray her lover, Yoo Joongwon. At the end of the film, on the day of the North and South Korean’s soccer game, Park Mooyoung placed the CTX at the stands of the soccer field. After a violent struggle with Park Mooyoung, Lee Joonwon was able to stop the CTX bomb. When the light has been turned off, Lee Banghee (Myunghun) went out to explode the CTX by hands. On her way to explode the CTX, Lee Banghee (Myunghun) faced Lee Joongwon and Lee Joongwon shoot his lover, Lee Banghee. This scene was the saddest scene of the film. The scene when Lee Joongwon looks around the objects, which had the memories with Lee Banghee, (Myunghun) and the voice message, that Lee Banghee (Myunghun) left made me tears. Despite the actual ‘love’, they had to ‘betray’ and ‘kill’ each other under the government control, and yes, even though it was the ‘action’ ‘blockbuster’ film, the ‘romance’ scene brought the tears. “Once her life is taken away by Yu Joongwon and the weight of history crushes any hope for romance, which cannot free itself from rigid ideological stratification, so too erased is her fetus that crucially embodied the reconciliatory spirit between North and the South” (pg. 261). Also, the song ‘When I dream’ was played with the scene when Lee Joongwon and Lee Banghee (Myunghun) together.