10 October 14 – Secondary Sources on Korean War Blockbusters
Thursday’s class has two foci, each of which is geared toward building your knowledge for the group project:
- how to use with secondary sources to enrich your own engagement with Tae Guk Gi: The Brotherhood of War.
- building your knowledge of South Korea’s extensive body of films that depict and deal with the unresolved issues of national division and the Korean War.
To prepare for Thursday, read one of the following two essays:
- Theodore HUGHES, “Planet Hallyuwood: Imaging the Korean War“
- We Jung YI, “The Pleasure of Mourning: Korean War Blockbusters in Post–Cold War South Korea, 1998–2008“
Hughes and Yi are both scholars of modern Korean literature and culture, but each offers distinct insights on Tae Guk Gi as well as other Korean War films. You are welcome to read both articles, but I am requiring that you only read one. You will spend a good portion of Thursday’s class working in pairs to discuss what you acquired from the article that you have chosen to read.
Read your article actively, and think about it in connection to The Other Korean War and our most recent class session. Come to class with your thoughts organized into notes and ready to share the main points about the article as well as the insights that you gained from it. I will be pairing you with a person who read the other reading, so you will be discussing your reading with someone who hasn’t read it. The idea is that you will share what you’ve learned and then discuss the articles together, thereby engaging in a collaborative process of learning.
Finally, as you read your article, ask yourself the following questions about it:
Tips for Critical Reading
- What kind of text is it?
- What was the author’s basic intent in writing it? What’s the point/argument?
- What questions does the author pose?
- Why are answers to those questions important?
- What is the author’s central position?
- What types of evidence does the author use to support their position?
- Does the author’s position rest on any unsupported assumptions?
- What are the strengths and weaknesses of the author’s position?
As you think about the above questions, it might be helpful to ground your thinking by asking several concrete questions, specific to this class:
- How does the author’s reading of Tae Guk Gi contribute to your understanding of the film?
- Do you disagree with any aspects of the author’s reading of the film or their broader interpretation?
- How does the author’s discussion of other Korean War films, other blockbuster films, the Sunshine Policy, etc. add to your understanding of Tae Guk Gi?