Spot Light on North Korea Part Three: Propaganda for All
Since the death of Kim Jong-il in
2011, North Korean cinema has received a surge of interest. The facts and
fictions surrounding the North Korean cultural propaganda industries are as
dark as they are bizarre. This three part article interrogates the construction
and the function of the myths surrounding North Korea’s global image by
examining the film produced there.
Critical
geopoliticians have long been alert to the ways in which films not only
represent but also influence the way
in which the world is understood. From the unrelenting American heroism of Independence Day to the post-Franco
‘Spanishness’ (re)created by Almodovar – the global film industry has a central
role in the way we imagine national cultures. Film assists us in developing a
national identity internally (in Britain we affiliate with black comedy and
social realism) and determines the way in which we imagine other cultures from
the outside. Far from being absurd or unusual, Kim Jong-il’s overt use of film
as a geopolitical weapon is merely a more frank rendition of the conscious and
subconscious politics of film globally. True, most national rulers don’t kidnap
directors and insist upon being executive producer – but you only have to look
to the UK Olympic opening ceremony last year to appreciate that the cultural
output of most nations is very carefully considered. What is so fascinating
about Kim’s film industry is not that it is peculiar or anomalistic, but that it
displays such frankness and openness about promoting national ideology at a
time when other national film cultures promote their ideologies far more insidiously.
North Korea’s blatant and overt use of film to spread a message seems in some
senses parodic of other national cinema industries. In a telling interview with
The Seoul Times, a reporter asks Shin Shang-ok what impact Kim Jong-il’s
isolated state has on his awareness of how the world works. Shin responds
saying that “sometimes Kim looks at films like social documentaries. I told him
that most American films are fiction.”
