What a wonderful and memorable show. Understated, quiet, tender. And I, like most here, got the chance to experience because of a fansubber. So thank you to aoinousagi! A link to their Tumblr (you can see all the shows and movies they sub here) as appreciation: https://aoinousagi.tumblr.com/
u do know he conducted underage prostitution right
To whom is Korea behind? This sort of common characterization, of Korea and Asian nations, always implies the West. Such characterizations are founded on the falsehood of an enlightened West. So I’m addressing that implication; if that is actually not your implication, then I am addressing only that type of characterization and its necessary presumption, not you specifically.
To characterize Korea (or any Asian nation) as behind requires an ahistorical understanding of Korea and other nations. Korea is a very economically young nation, only recently emerging from many generations of Western imperialism, continuing American neo-imperialism, Japanese imperialism, and military dictatorship. In just a couple decades, it has risen to a level of political, economic, and cultural parity to the world’s most influential nations, but it remains a very young nation in this regard. And yet despite this youth, it is only merely as disappointing as its long since (economically) developed peers—and in many ways much less disappointing.
Just a couple examples. These are not the exceptions, they represent the culturally permissible norm.
America:
The wealthiest nation in the world is home to Harvey Weinstein, whose storied and known life of serial rape and harassment was given cover by women and men and institutions, government and entertainment, allowing for an even more storied career of accolades, fame, and prestige. Only until appropriate cultural conditions gave rise to a powerful movement, MeToo, was his demise, with much collective effort, finally possible.
Woody Allen. He is serially accused of sexual harassment, including by his ex-wife, Mia Farrow, and the molestation of their adopted daughter. And then, like something beyond the darkest satire, he goes on to marry marriage this adopted daughter (decades younger).
Of course, there are also his films: they are comprised of such consistently and frequently infantilizing and sexist portrayals of women, especially very young women romantically and sexually paired with men almost in the grave, that his filmography could serve as evidentiary documents in a indictment of pedophilia, or at the least, comically abject wish fulfillment. Despite all this, he has long since been canonized in Western cinema. He continues to win awards and American and European studios continue to green light his projects.
France, Europe, and America
Roman Polanski. Like Allen, long since anointed to the status of a living legend by the West, with revered veterans and young up and coming stars all still willing to work with him. They are willing to work with a made who, through premeditation, while in Los Angeles, drugged a 13 year old girl, then raped her.
Then he fled to France to escape imprisonment. France and various European nations have since given him a home on their lands so he can continue to avoid extradition to the US. France, Europe, and America continues to celebrate him regularly: at last year’s French “Oscars” he won for best director. And just a decade ago, there was a petition signed by many of the most famous and beloved American stars, including women (most shamefully), in defense of Polanski: Natalie Portman, Harrison Ford, Tilda Swinton, etc.
These three men, if we can actually call them that, are exceptional examples not merely because they are so highly and widely lionized despite the severity of their crimes, but because they are also all so widely known: by the industry and by the public. They can all (except for the recently imprisoned Weinstein) continue lives of such visibility, wealth, adoration, and status only if the cultures, institutionally and individually, they flourish in permit it. And the West clearly permits it.
To characterize Korea (or any Asian nation) as behind requires an ahistorical understanding of Korea and other nations. Korea is a very economically young nation, only recently emerging from many generations of Western imperialism, continuing American neo-imperialism, Japanese imperialism, and military dictatorship. In just a couple decades, it has risen to a level of political, economic, and cultural parity to the world’s most influential nations, but it remains a very young nation in this regard. And yet despite this youth, it is only merely as disappointing as its long since (economically) developed peers—and in many ways much less disappointing.
Just a couple examples. These are not the exceptions, they represent the culturally permissible norm.
America:
The wealthiest nation in the world is home to Harvey Weinstein, whose storied and known life of serial rape and harassment was given cover by women and men and institutions, government and entertainment, allowing for an even more storied career of accolades, fame, and prestige. Only until appropriate cultural conditions gave rise to a powerful movement, MeToo, was his demise, with much collective effort, finally possible.
Woody Allen. He is serially accused of sexual harassment, including by his ex-wife, Mia Farrow, and the molestation of their adopted daughter. And then, like something beyond the darkest satire, he goes on to marry marriage this adopted daughter (decades younger).
Of course, there are also his films: they are comprised of such consistently and frequently infantilizing and sexist portrayals of women, especially very young women romantically and sexually paired with men almost in the grave, that his filmography could serve as evidentiary documents in a indictment of pedophilia, or at the least, comically abject wish fulfillment. Despite all this, he has long since been canonized in Western cinema. He continues to win awards and American and European studios continue to green light his projects.
France, Europe, and America
Roman Polanski. Like Allen, long since anointed to the status of a living legend by the West, with revered veterans and young up and coming stars all still willing to work with him. They are willing to work with a made who, through premeditation, while in Los Angeles, drugged a 13 year old girl, then raped her.
Then he fled to France to escape imprisonment. France and various European nations have since given him a home on their lands so he can continue to avoid extradition to the US. France, Europe, and America continues to celebrate him regularly: at last year’s French “Oscars” he won for best director. And just a decade ago, there was a petition signed by many of the most famous and beloved American stars, including women (most shamefully), in defense of Polanski: Natalie Portman, Harrison Ford, Tilda Swinton, etc.
These three men, if we can actually call them that, are exceptional examples not merely because they are so highly and widely lionized despite the severity of their crimes, but because they are also all so widely known: by the industry and by the public. They can all (except for the recently imprisoned Weinstein) continue lives of such visibility, wealth, adoration, and status only if the cultures, institutionally and individually, they flourish in permit it. And the West clearly permits it.