Movie posters show a changing Korea

The familiar faces of movie characters such as James Bond will begin greeting those entering… The familiar faces of movie characters such as James Bond will begin greeting those entering the foyer of Pitt’s Hillman Library, but their famous quotes may not be recognizable – they’ll be written in Korean.

This week Pitt welcomes the traveling exhibition titled “Advertising a Dream: Movie Posters from Post-War Korea” featuring 23 full-color movie posters from the late 1950s and 1960s.

According to The Korea Society, a private, nonprofit organization dedicated to the promotion of greater awareness between the people of the United States and Korea, the posters represent a period when Koreans were “just waking up” from war.

Ebru Turker, a visiting assistant professor at Pitt, recognized an opportunity to learn about Korean culture and society through film and created a class to do just that. The $1,000 exhibition runs in conjunction with her spring 2007 course, introduction to Korea through films, and will be on display through March 1 in Pitt’s Hillman Library.

The exhibition is Turker’s most recent effort to improve Pitt’s Korean program through cultural activities, which she said teaches students things that can’t be brought to the classroom.

“I want my students to see these things so they can visualize it,” she said. “I want them to understand Korean struggles.”

The film industry played an important role in post-war Korean society, which looked to film for healing and a means of venting their collective feelings about the future of South Korea.

During the war, the movie industry was highly controlled by the Korean government and survived only under tight restrictions. The Motion Picture Law of 1962 put strong emphasis on commercial filmmaking and outlawed directors making movies that contained any political material.

After the war, the film industry recovered and the number of movies produced increased from eight in 1954 to 100 in 1959.

Historical films and melodramas became the most popular among Koreans.

The exhibition will feature posters of Korean melodramas such as “Hongdoya Ujimara, (My Dear Sister Hongdo, Do Not Cry!) and American classics such as “The Sound of Music,” “Gone with the Wind” and “Roman Holiday.” Turker said that the posters of American films show how Korea became westernized.

“It is important to see the influence of America on Korean culture,” she said.

Donald Goldstein, a Pitt Professor who witnessed the changes in Korean culture before and after the war, said he has seen a tremendous change.

“South Korea is an example of an American success story in Asia,” he said. “They were devastated, but they rose up.”

Goldstein, who teaches at Pitt’s Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, said the United States impacted South Korea economically, socially, politically and militarily, or what he referred to as “ESPM.”

He said that, although they still have their own ways, much of South Korea’s culture comes from American influence through movies, newspapers, music and fashion.

“These movies show the impact of our world on Korea,” he said, citing the United States as their big benefactor.

Other movie posters highlight Korea’s class and generational differences. According to Turker, they show students how different factions of society struggled in post-war Korea.

“I told my students that I’m not showing these movies for entertainment,” she said.

Turker, who is of Turkish, not Korean, descent, hopes that the exhibition will draw more people’s attention to Pitt’s program and generate an increased interest in students to study Korean language and culture. She said she thinks students are more receptive to her teaching because she is not Korean.

“Just because I am not Korean, I have a better impact on students,” she said. “They see it’s not an impossible thing to do.”

So far, her efforts have paid off. Since coming to Pitt in 2004, Turker has had a hand in increasing student enrollment in Korean courses. She is also trying to get a minor program in Korean studies approved so her students can “see the fruits of their efforts.”

“Every semester is getting better,” she said. “Hopefully with these improvements, the University will make a commitment to Korean studies

The library will welcome students and the Pittsburgh community to learn more about the exhibition at its grand opening reception on January 17.

Xiuying Zou, Public Services Librarian in the East Asian Library, also hopes that the exhibition will get more people interested in Pitt’s Korean studies program.

“The movie posters are vivid and visually appealing,” she said, adding that they portray a more direct idea of the period’s culture than through reading a book.

“It is a good way to promote Korean culture in the Pittsburgh community.”