Nationalism in the Arts

Jeon Woo Chi:The Taoist Wizard, briefly put, was my least favourite movie of the semester. In my opinion, the story line was confusing, the characterization was weak and there was too much dialogue. But most of all it is the “time traveling” motif, which makes me cringe, that made me dislike this movie most. With that said, I can still imagine this movie being immensely popular with teens who have grown up with these types of myths and who enjoy these types of movies for their CGI effects.

Putting my dislike for the movie aside, I found the representation and importance given to traditional Korean art to be very interesting, especially in comparison to its representation of Western art. In the movie the shots of traditional Korean art, scroll paintings in particular, are beautifully crafted and affectively give the art mysterious and magical qualities which leave the viewers enchanted by it. I was stunned at how beautifully the special effects made the paintings move and brought the scrolls to life.

Traditional art is an important element to the movie's plot, so it was interesting to compare the treatment of traditional Korean art to the treatment of non-Korean art in the movie. In the scene where Woochi and Chorangyi are searching for the bronze dagger in the warehouse they come across some famous European paintings. The paintings depicted in this scene are Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres's “Grande Odalisque,” Francois Millet's “The Gleaners” and Paul Cezanne's “Apples and Oranges,” which the duo then proceed to toss around and step on in search of the highly important Korean artifact. Although these paintings may not be what first come to mind when one thinks of European art they are none the less representations of the western art in the movie. 

 The final battle between Woochi and Hwadam takes place on a movie set which greatly resembles a historical Japanese colonial town or city. This setting, similarly to the European paintings is violently treated and practically destroyed. Could the careful treatment and importance given to traditional Korean art, in the movie, compared to the disrespect inflicted upon both colonial Japanese and European art be the director's criticism of colonial powers? Or a statement against Westernization?