Leiden University Student Repository

Dekker, Mila (2025)

Representation of the Gwangju Uprising in Cinema Through Time: A Comparative Analysis of ‘A Petal’, ‘May 18th’, and ‘Taxi Driver’ and the Impact of the Sociopolitical Climate on the Movies

Bachelor thesis | Koreastudies (BA)

This thesis explores the representation of the Gwangju Uprising in three South Korean movies – A Petal (1996), May 18th (2007), and Taxi Driver (2017) – to investigate how sociopolitical climates shape cinematic narratives. Through comparative analysis, the study examines how each movie portrays the uprising through the themes of characters, violence, romanticization, and message, comparing this with the sociopolitical climate at the time of the making of the movies. The analysis is grounded in Hayden White’s theory of Narrative History, highlighting that historical retellings are inherently political. Findings show that each movie mirrors the political climate of its release: A Petal reflects trauma and repression during post-dictatorship silence, May 18th emphasizes holding those in charge accountable and communal grief while in transitional justice, and Taxi Driver focusses on moral responsibility and truth-telling during a wave of democratic activism. This thesis argues that...Show moreThis thesis explores the representation of the Gwangju Uprising in three South Korean movies – A Petal (1996), May 18th (2007), and Taxi Driver (2017) – to investigate how sociopolitical climates shape cinematic narratives. Through comparative analysis, the study examines how each movie portrays the uprising through the themes of characters, violence, romanticization, and message, comparing this with the sociopolitical climate at the time of the making of the movies. The analysis is grounded in Hayden White’s theory of Narrative History, highlighting that historical retellings are inherently political. Findings show that each movie mirrors the political climate of its release: A Petal reflects trauma and repression during post-dictatorship silence, May 18th emphasizes holding those in charge accountable and communal grief while in transitional justice, and Taxi Driver focusses on moral responsibility and truth-telling during a wave of democratic activism. This thesis argues that historical movies about the Gwangju Uprising not only preserve memory but also acts as political mirrors shaped by their time, emphasizing the need to place historical movies in it’s context to observe them critically.Show less

Gwangju Uprising

Korean movies

sociopolitical climate

movie analysis

state violence

Author

Dekker, Mila

Faculty

Faculty of Humanities

Supervisors

Veldkamp, E.

ECTS Credits

10

Language

en