This paper attempts to analyze how THE DMZ(Bimujang Jidae),directed by Sang-Ho Park, recalls and shows the tragic legacy left behind by the Korean war in the mid-1960s, and examines the independent filmmaking system the producer and film director choose, taking a compromising attitude with the official historical narratives by the state power. The film is concerned with the tragic division of Korean peninsular. The story is about two war orphans, a boy and a girl, who lose their families at the demilitarized zone right after the Korean War. They are wandering over the zone to find their mothers. After the boy’s death, the girl comes south over the border. The film takes both newsreels and documentary-like scenes which melded with the fictional story in an unusual way. Images of painful Korean War are visualized effectively. However its antiwar rhetoric camouflages anti-Communism controlled by the state, because the production had to work hard to challenge the censorship which the authorities in the 1960s had been very keen on it. Like many anti-Communist films, the film was directed at providing superiority over the enemy, at demonstrating the evilness of the other side. Finally, the film provides a simple construction of the polarities of ‘us’ and ‘them’ through the Cold War narrative. Looking at The DMZ, we can see how the cold war with ubiquitous presence has socialized people in war-torn country, Korea. The US-led anti-Communist sentiment has prevailed among many Koreans after Korean War. Thus. the Cold War politics can be read as collective national paranoia in Korea. Film propaganda activities had to play a major role in the process of social conditioning. In conclusion THE DMZ is a example of the Cold War propaganda model, although it conveys antiwar messages. In the Cold war context, the film’s conclusion therefore constructs the South Korean society as peaceful in contrast the invader. On the other hand the figure of the North Korea offers great potential construction of a monstrous alterity.
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