Film Posters Explore Motion Picture History

By Kang Hyun-kyung

Box-office hits mirror how Korean society has been evolving over the past century.

In his new book 'Faces of Movies: Yang Hae-nam's Collection of Korean Film Posters' published by Sakyejul or Four Seasons Publishing, author Yang shared 248 film posters with his knowledgeable interpretation of each film and its role in Korea's motion picture history.

'Faces of Movies' gives a rare snapshot of 100 years of Korean cinema history. Director Kim Do-san's 1919 film 'Righteous Vomiting' is the nation's first motion picture.

The movie is about a son's revenge on his wicked stepmother who took the family's fortune.

Yang says censorship and the diffusion of TV sets in the 1970s were two milestone events that prompted the decline of Korean cinema in the 1970s and 80s.

He characterizes the previous two decades, the 1950s and 60s, as the golden age of Korean cinema Having no other media to have fun with, Koreans flocked to theaters. Several well-made films filled over 100,000 theater seats at that time.

The good old days for Korean cinema were gone with the diffusion of TV sets. Koreans were drawn into TV and spent most of their free time at home watching TV.

State intervention in film production made things worse, according to Yang.

Then the Park Chung-hee government adopted a set of guidelines filmmakers 'must abide by' when making and releasing films.

Some 'problematic' or obscene scenes were cut and some films were not allowed to screen.

In the face of endangered freedom of expression, some filmmakers turned to sex and violence as topics of their movies.

Due to limited budget, however, action movies were coarse and drew ridicule from viewers. Film lovers turned their backs on Korean cinema and Western films dominated theaters in the 1980s.

Amid dark days, the surge of movies featuring teenage stars was a noticeable trend in the 1970s. The 1976 film 'Yalkae, a Joker in High School,' which revolves around the adventure of a naughty teenager, became a box-office hit.

But the presence and popularity of films starring teenagers were not strong enough to turn the tide.

'Faces of Movies: Yang Hae-nam's Collection of Korean Film Posters' by Yang Hae-nam

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