Society, patriotism become keywords of blockbusters

Society, patriotism become keywords of blockbusters. September. 19, 2016 07:14. by 임희윤기자 imi@donga.com.

A study shows that movies about social implications or patriotism are gaining popularity for the recent five years.

According to the latest edition of “Korean Films,” a policy research paper released by the Korean Film Council, “social implications” have been the prominent feature of blockbuster films released since 2012.

Although the Korean movie industry had long believed that a movie with a social meaning is hard to become popular, “Silenced (2011, 4.66 million tickets sold),” a movie about sexual violence in a school for the disabled, and “Unbowed (2012, 3.46 million tickets sold),” a film criticizing the corrupt judicial system, broke the longstanding prejudice. “The Attorney (2013, 11.37 million tickets sold)” even made the industry believe that social implications are essential to popularity. The popularity of movies with a social meaning was made possible by the strategy that combines a genre and social criticism. Social implications have been highlighted by different genres: “The Attorney” as a legal drama, “Veteran (2015)” as an action movie, and “Inside Men (2015)” as a crime movie.

Patriotism is a recent keyword of success. Movies such as “The Admiral: Roaring Currents,” “Second Battle of Yeonpyeong,” “Assassination,” “Operation Chromite,” and “Princess Deokhye” were made based on patriotism with the background of the Japanese colonial rule or war.