Foreign Bride Film

[Silvana Fleischacker]

Thisarticle examines images of migrant workers and brides in recent South Korean films in order to demonstrate how popular media can complicate the issue of multiculturalism in Korea, and to problematize the ethnic and gender hierarchy embedded in multicultural policies and in the social fabric of Korean society.

Although Korean films have not enjoyed global popularity as widely as Korean TV dramas and K-Pop, they have come into the spotlight in global entertainment industries by winning numerous awards at major international festivals in the last decade. Domestically speaking, there was sharp hike in the market share of Korean-made films, jumping from around 20 per cent in 2001 to reach 59.1 per cent in 2013 (Korean Film Council). Since the early 2000s, several domestically produced films in Korea have attracted audiences of over ten million into theatres.1

Less welcome are the migrant workers who come to Korea mainly from China, Southeast Asia, South and Central Asia, and South America, and most of them are employed in low-paid and low-skilled jobs in smaller firms (Kim and Oh 2011, 1564), whereas foreign brides arrive in Korea mainly from China, Vietnam, and the Philippines (Kim and Oh 2011, 1571). The approximate number of migrant workers and migrant brides in Korea is over 1.5 million in total, comprising almost 3 per cent of the whole population in South Korea as of 2013 (Korean Statistical Information Service, hereafter KOSIS). The rate of international marriages has been well above 10 per cent of all marriages every year since 2005, although it dipped to about 8 per cent in 2013, the lowest over the last ten years. This is one-sided: while the rate of international marriages between Korean men and non-Korean women has been increasing substantially, the rate of marriages between Korean women and non-Korean men has not, comprising less than 30 per cent of international marriages over the past ten years (KOSIS).4 This pattern has resulted from the difficulty men in rural farming villages have in finding native Korean women, who tend to seek urban lifestyle and jobs in cities rather than settling into farming communities.

Besides the unaccommodating government policy, discrimination against migrant workers and foreign brides on an everyday life level is alarmingly widespread. Foreign brides often face verbal and physical abuse from their spouses and in-laws (Freeman 2011; M. Kim 2014). It has been reported that most of these children experience bullying at schools because they are different, and due to this bullying, these children are discouraged from obtaining higher education, limiting their choices for future careers (Kim, Chǒng, and Yi 2012).

And it is extremely challenging for migrant workers to find long-term employment or an opportunity to change their status to immigrant due to the draconian labor laws. Media have also played a significant role in producing biased views on migrant workers and foreign brides though right-wing media are taking a leading role in producing such views. The right-wing newspapers, for example, tend to focus on violations of labor law and crimes committed by migrant workers, while foreign women and wives are represented as an object of assimilation. Progressive newspapers, on the other hand, focus on violations of human rights committed by native Koreans against foreigners (Im 2012).

This is the context for the films analyzed here. They are noteworthy for the following reasons. First, they provide a critical perspective on both state policies and social discrimination against migrant workers and foreign brides by realistically rendering the struggle to adjust in Korea. Second, the films reflect current social and economic issues that concern both foreigners and Koreans, such as the worsening labor market. Third, film viewers, both Koreans and international migrants in Korea, really responded to these films. Despite the biased representations of foreigners in some of these films, they deserve our attention because they generated so much popular response from the audiences regarding multiculturalism.

In the film, the chosŏnjok are far more violent than the native Korean gangsters in the film, resonating with a rhetoric that often surfaces in newspapers and social media when describing chosǒnjok. Furthermore, in contrast to the shabbily dressed chosŏnjok characters in dark spaces, such as basements and construction sites, their South Korean partners appear in stylish dress and drive top-notch cars in a gentrified urban landscape. Korean gangsters in New World are particularly chic, accentuating the contrast with chosŏnjok characters, who have a country-bumpkin-like appearance and exhibit impulsiveness in both speech and behavior.

I examined films that concern the multicultural discourse in Korea as a way to problematize the deeply seated notion of monoethnic and patriarchal nationalism that is manifest in the representation of hypermasculine and emasculated male migrants and domesticated female migrants. Some of these films play a constructive role, by providing an opportunity for Koreans and migrants to respond to the problematic representations of culturally and ethnically different Others; and to enhance mutual understanding between them. Indeed, these films are often discussed and critiqued by Korean citizens and migrants. While government policy lacks inclusive measures, it is noteworthy that the films are expanding the communication space for critiquing the changing social landscape of Korea.

Dr. Jooyeon Rhee is Lecturer at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Her main research examines gender representation in modern Korean literature. Her research interests include Korean film, Korean diaspora and Korea-Japan cultural interactions.

I would like to thank Professor Elyssa Faison, Professor Tessa Morris-Suzuki, and Professor Laura Hein for their constructive comments and suggestions that contributed to improve the article. And I would like to thank the Director of The Harry S. Truman Institute for the Advancement for Peace, Professor Menahem Blondheim, for his great support for Korean studies at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

The recent blockbuster was Myŏngnayng (The Admiral: Roaring Currents), a film about General Yi Sunsin and his leadership in naval battles during the Imjin War, which drew more than 1.6 million viewers (Korean Film Council).

A further explanation of this pattern is that many men in rural areas have difficulty finding marriage partners, since young Korean women are reluctant to settle into farming households. Due to the shortage of marriageable women, the state and private marriage agencies have provided opportunities for these men to seek foreign wives.

This festival was established in 2006 by native Koreans and foreigners in Korea, including migrant workers and multicultural families. The festival is held annually and it encourages the participation of anyone who is interested in making films about the living and working conditions of foreigners in Korea and enhancing communication between migrants and native Koreans. Mahbub Alam, who plays Ronnie in the film, is one of the most representative media activists in trying to improve human rights condition for foreigners in Korea.

Dr. Jooyeon Rhee is Lecturer at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Her main research examines gender representation in modern Korean literature. Her research interests include Korean film, Korean diaspora and Korea-Japan cultural interactions.

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