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From Our Shelves: 올드보이 (Oldboy)

April 23, 2015 / / 0 Comments

올드보이 (Oldboy)  is one of many vengeance films in South Korean cinema and the second film in director 박찬욱‘s (Park Chan-wook) vengeance trilogy. Oldboy received over 28 awards and 15 nominations from around the world. The story follows the protagonist, 오대수 (Oh Dae-su) as he exacts his revenge after being captured and imprisoned for 15 years. The movie was inspired by an eight volume manga made by Garon Tsuchiya. The movie was remade in America in 2013.

  • 올드보이 (Oldboy) DVD in OSUL can be accessed here.
Old Boy Movie Poster

Old Boy Movie Poster

For articles on the Vengeance films and the director, 박찬욱 (Park Chan-wook):

New e-resource for Korean Language Films

April 21, 2015 / / 0 Comments

OSUL added a new e-resource for video, audio and mixed media – Alexander Street, which  includes Korean language films. The list of films can be found in the Korean Studies Collection’s monthly New to the Collections website  starting from the February 2015 list. These films include different genres such as dramas, documentaries, short films, and animated films. Most films come with English subtitles and transcripts .

Here is a list of selected  films with transcripts or subtitles:

Here are some films with little or no dialog:

From Our Shelves: 태극기 휘날리며 (The Brotherhood of War)

April 7, 2015 / / 0 Comments

“태극기 휘날리며” (The Brotherhood of War) is one of many Korean War depictions on film. The film begins

태극기 휘날리며 (Taegukgi, The Brotherhood of War

with the start of the invasion of the North, which causes two brothers to join the South Korean army. During the war, tragic circumstances and misunderstanding lead to one of the brothers joining the North Korean army.

For essays written on the movie, see:

This movie is one of the many great films and literature in the War genre.  This genre of films is commonly used to explore the deep emotional toll it took on the Korean people while the war occurred and the lives they led afterwords.

Another Korean War film approached with a fantastical comic story:

  • 웰컴투동막골 Welcome to Dongmakgol (disc 8 of the set) directed by Kwang-Hyun Park (2006) – Korean film about an American, two North Korean Soldiers and Two South Korean soldiers life in a remote village.

웰컴투동막골(Wecome to Dongmakgol)

The Korean War was fueled by altercations at the border of North and South Korea after World War II. Such altercations were influenced by the differences of ideals over the Korean Peninsula. The war was three years long and ended in a still standing armistice.

Books about the Korean War located at OSUL

From Our Shelves: 깊은밤 갑자기 (Suddenly in the Dark of Night)

March 10, 2015 / / 0 Comments

The box set of “Women on Screen: Understanding Korean Society and Women through films” (Korean Film Archive, 2013) highlights the female protagonist and their reputation in Korean cinema from the 1930’s to the late 1990’s. This DVD set contains eight DVDs and two books.

IMG_0077

Suddenly in the Dark of Night DVD

One of the films in the set, 깊은밤 갑자기 (Suddenly in the Dark of Night), is a horror movie that follows the story of a house wife and her jealousy over her husband hiring a new caretaker, and eventually leads up to a tragic death.

Hyun-suk Seo, the author of  “The Obscure Object of Desire and Horror: On Some Uncanny Things in Recent Korean Horror Films”, pointed out in his essay that females’ actions in horror genre are typically influenced by jealousy, betrayal, and in many cases lead to murder. This movie was one of the first in its class to explore these themes due to the lifting of many censorship laws in the late 1970s. Seo’s essay can be found in Horror to the Extreme: Changing Boundaries in Asian Cinema (2009 edited by Jinhee Choi and Mitsuyo Wada-Marciano).

김영애 (Kim Young-ae), who plays the female lead of this movie, is still acting as of today. She is credited with film, radio, and television appearances since the 1971 and has won 17 awards in the categories of “Best Actress” and “Best Supporting Actress” since 1974.

For more information on 김영애 (Kim Young-ae):

  • Han Cinema – A website that provides news, pictures and other media with 김영애 (Kim Young-ae)
  • Korean Movie Database – A website with film credits and information about those in film is available

For more information on the censorship acts see:

For more information on the horror genre see:

Here are some books about Korean movies from the library:

 

From Our Shelves: 괴물 (The Host)

February 24, 2015 / / 0 Comments

“Family on Screen: Understanding Korean society and Family through Films” (Korean Film Archive, 2013) is part of the series “Understanding Korean Society through films”. It contains 8 films and 2 books that are based on families and their different struggles. The movies have a wide array of subjects such as poverty, war, suspense, and even monsters.

One of the more shocking and top grossing movies is the monster movie 괴물 or The Host. The movie focuses on a giant monster terrorizing citizens along the Han River. The movie tells the story of a family’s struggle to defeat the monster and stay together during the monster attacks.

For more information, here are some articles from DBpia (OSUL login required):

The Host DVD

The Host DVD

 

The McFarland Incident

In February 2000, a US civilian mortician, Albert McFarland, ordered his staff to dispose chemicals into drains at a U.S. Army base. The monster’s origin is a reference to this event.

For more information, see:

From Our Shelves: 고령화 가족 (Koryŏnghwa kajok) and Korean Families

February 18, 2015 / / 0 Comments

The unique dynamics of a modern Korean family is explored in 고령화 가족 (Koryŏnghwa kajok) by 천명관 (Ch’ŏn, Myŏng-gwan). This novel follows the lives of three adults who end up moving back into the home of their mother after various complications in their own lives. This particular family situation is somewhat unusual and comedic.  However, through 고령화 가족 we are able to see the extent to which contemporary Korean family dynamics challenge former traditional ideals. In 2013, this novel was released as a movie under the same name. Here is a link to the movie trailer:  고령화 가족

Cover of 고령화 가족

Cover of 고령화 가족

There has been a severe shift in the structures of families in Korea over time, especially in the status of women and their rights. Traditionally, Korean families were extremely patriarchal and scarcely gave any rights to women.

Families also placed a heavy significance on sons. Women went under great pressure to have numerous sons that would ensure financial security and carry on the family lineage. OSUL has several resources on the subject of Korean families. These are just a few:

From Our Shelves : Easy Korean Readers – 디즈니 골든북 (Disney Golden Books)

February 9, 2015 / / 0 Comments
Disney Book Covers

OSUL’s Korean Disney Books

OSUL has several resources for students in the early stages of learning Korean. These include picture books such as Snow White, The Little Mermaid, Cinderella, Aladdin, and Sleeping Beauty from the Disney Golden Book series.

From Our Shelves : 꼬마 점쟁이(Kkoma chŏmjaengi) and Korean Poetry

February 3, 2015 / / 0 Comments

The Korean Studies Collections is starting a blog series – “From Our Shelves”. This blog series will consist of posts about interesting items that are available in the Korean Studies Collections of The Ohio State University Library.  As our first blog post, we will be featuring a children’s poetry book – 꼬마 점쟁이  (Kkoma chŏmjaengi).

Although꼬마 점쟁이  (Kkoma chŏmjaengi) is told from a child’s point of view, authors 박정(Pak Chŏng) and 숙희(Suk-hŭi) make clear that the universal themes of this book are pertinent to people of all ages. The short poems are divided into five categories, which range from emotions such as “사랑, 희망, 꿈”  to nature such as “꽃, 식물, 곤충, 동물”.

Poetry has a rich history in Korea. According to The British Council’s How to Understand Korean Poetry, poetry was an essential aspect of 19th century Korean culture and continued to be so during the war.

According to Traditional Korean Poetry Has Rich History by the Korean Times, the market for poetry in South Korea today is greater than in the West, reflecting the significance of poetry in South Korean culture. 고은 (Ko Un) is one of the most renowned Korean poets, and his works are recognized worldwide.

꼬마 점쟁이

Cover of 꼬마 점쟁이

Online articles about Korean poetry and 고은 (Ko Un) in English  from  World Literature Today v.84 (OSUL login required):

Books by 고은 (Ko Un) in OSUL:

New to the Collections lists on OSUL Korean Studies Collections website

January 28, 2015 / / 0 Comments

The Korean Studies Collections at the Ohio State University Library are posting New to the Collections lists on our website. The lists are monthly or bi-monthly updates of materials and resources added to our catalog. They include books, films, music records, and e-resources OSU library has acquired or received as gifts.

The titles are sorted by call numbers, and the hotlinks will take you to the item record in the OSU library catalog.  A new list is typically uploaded within the first week of each month, and most materials take a couple of weeks to be processed before reaching the shelves.

Please contact us if you have any questions or if you would like to suggest books or other resources for the library.

If you are interested in other East Asian topics, we also have New to the Collections list for the Chinese Studies Collections, and New to the Collections list for the Japanese Studies Collections.

 

Korean Studies Collections at OSUL – New Blog Launched

January 27, 2015 / / 0 Comments

Welcome to the Korean Collections blog. The blog will be updated regularly with highlights from our collections, useful Korean study resources,  and more. Please add us to your feed, and check back occasionally to see what’s new.

To learn more about our collections, please visit our Korean Studies Collections website.

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