To live or not to live as chosunjin?

While watching the film Our School , some of the question that came to my mind are what school and sports/singing competitions mean for the chosunjin students. This is because the place school seems to mean something greater than what I usually think of as school.

In the essay “Between the Nations: Diaspora and Koreans in Japan,” Ryang talks about the history of the hostile relationship between Korea and Japan. Ryang claims that during the Japanese colonial rule in Korea from 1910 to 1945, Koreans were oppressed and looked down upon (4). For instance, Koreans were given unflattering terms, one of them being “senjin” which is an abbreviation for chosenjin—chosen means Korea and Jin means a person. Thus, they were not even called by their proper name but half of their name. In fact, one of the decrees in Japanese Constitution in 1947 was that all Koreans in Japan were to lose their national affiliation to Japan. Moreover, there was the formation of Korean Expatriate Organization in 1949. As a consequence, we see the sufferings of chosunjins throughout the film due to the painful history.

I think the oppression of the chosunjin in Japan is expressed through the motif of winter. This is because it reflects their hopelessness that comes from being the minority and living under the inequality, the darkness and the coldness sentiments they must be feeling. For instance, the film opens with the camera being situated outdoors on a snowy day. The snow appears again and again as the film progresses: the kids have snow-fights and the graduation ceremony takes place in winter.

Despite such oppression, the resilient spirit of chosenjin to maintain their national identity is conveyed through the motif of hanbok the female students wear as school uniform. Even though the Japanese government tells them not to wear it, and it is very inefficient during the winter, they wear it as a reminder of who they are, Koreans.

I find it fascinating and saddening at the same time that school and sports mean more than they are for chosunjin. For instance, the teachers function as parents, going to bed with young-age students who live in the dormitory and cooking for them. In fact, Mr. Park and his fiancé, Jung Kyung ran, gets married in the school cafeteria. In addition, the members of the soccer team shave their hair the day before the tournament out of desperation to win victory for their school. Thus, school becomes a place of refuge for chosenjin to gather and to give courage to each other and to keep fighting to keep their national identity.

However, I could not help but wonder whether the chosunjin students are being brainwashed by school or not. At the opening ceremony of the school year, the preschoolers shower praises over their school in their short speeches. I am sure that somebody wrote the script for them and they are merely reciting words they do not understand of. At the graduation ceremony near the end of the film, the twelfth graders individually give short speeches that glorify their school yet again. Thus, despite the fact that the school accomplishes many good works, and despite the understandable history between Korea and Japan, there is a sense of forcing an ideology upon innocent chosunjin students who could have a life without conflicts without this ideology.