This thesis aims to analyse the depiction of LGBT characters in contemporary South Korean Cinema through a technical analysis of the 2006 movie "King and the Clown" and the 2012 movie "Two Weddings...Show moreThis thesis aims to analyse the depiction of LGBT characters in contemporary South Korean Cinema through a technical analysis of the 2006 movie "King and the Clown" and the 2012 movie "Two Weddings and a Funeral" in combination with theories regarding (South Korea's) LGBT community forming and media representation.Show less
In the last decade, K-pop has become one of South-Korea’s most important business cards, turning its idols into the icons of the newly emerging pop culture. This new focus on K-pop has brought...Show moreIn the last decade, K-pop has become one of South-Korea’s most important business cards, turning its idols into the icons of the newly emerging pop culture. This new focus on K-pop has brought about an increase in the commercialization of female sexuality.This sexuality is often justified through the notion of girl power. This thesis will add to the discussion on the nature and rationality of female sexuality in K-pop. Hereby I will suggest that not the often used term sexualization, but ‘sexual exploitation’ is more appropriate. The sexual exploitation of female K-pop idols will be uncovered by answering the following questions: How are female K-pop idols sexually exploited? Can this exploitation be justified by the concept of girl power? The findings in this thesis will lay bare the manner of sexual exploitation. Hereby I will argue that there is no room for girl power in the K-pop industry. Instead, the sexual exploitation of female idols is a result of K-pop being a male preponderant industry which creates interdependency and oppression.Show less
Instead of focusing on how the Korean cinema represents the migrant worker minority group, this paper will examine the factors that might have played a role in influencing this representation. Two...Show moreInstead of focusing on how the Korean cinema represents the migrant worker minority group, this paper will examine the factors that might have played a role in influencing this representation. Two films have been chosen for analysis in this paper, based on their shared theme of South Korean societal issues regarding its Southeast Asian migrant workers yet difference in their representation of this minority group and variety in potential influencing factors: He’s on Duty, a movie about a native Korean man posing as a Bhutanese migrant in order to get a job at a chair manufacturing site, is produced and marketed as a mainstream comedy movie. Bandhobi, on the other hand, is an independent romance movie about the relationship between a Bangladeshi worker and a native Korean girl. The film branch and film genre, thus, are the factors that will be analyzed in both movies. This paper strives to identify the influence of both movies’ differences regarding film branch and film genre on its representation of the Southeast Asian migrant workers in order to answer this paper’s research question: How does the film categorization of He’s on Duty and Bandhobi influence their representation of Southeast Asian migrant workers?Show less
