Shifting Towards Optimism

As new historical cinema continues to be released and South Korean historical events are gradually being reinterpreted, it is crucial to study the progression of historical representations in order to understand how these events are rearticulated within changing cultural contexts and also evaluate how media contributes to the preservation of historical memory. In this paper, I intend to do this by analyzing the depictions of the 1980s South Korean movement for democracy (or the Minjung Movement) beginning with the Gwangju Massacre. In comparing the different ways this event is portrayed, I aim to assess how the collective memory of this event has been shaped or even redefined, using Marianne Hirsch’s framework of postmemory. I will explain how the film A Taxi Driver (2017) marks a significant shift in cinematic representations of the Gwangju Massacre, especially when compared to films released about the same event in preceding decades, May 18 in 2007 and A Petal in 1996. I argue that cinematic portrayals of the Gwangju Massacre have evolved from being a narrative of mourning and victimization to one of hopefulness and heroism over the course of twenty years, with May 18 indicating the beginning of this progression and A Taxi Driver illustrating a more apparent shift towards an optimistic perspective. In addition to these three films, I also examine 1987: When the Day Comes (2017) specifically in comparison with A Taxi Driver. With an analysis of this additional film, I will demonstrate how more recent depictions of the Minjung Movement have also come to focus on heroism and contributed to an optimistic narrative about the formation of the South Korean democratic state.