Eroticism in the Relation with Liberation - Essay Example

Eroticism in the relation with Liberation Introduction In contrast with the conservative and introverted stereotype of Asian, productions of erotic films are considerably common in East Asia in fact; Japan is the earliest country developed erotic genres since the 1960s, where the most influential yet controversial movie “In the Realm of the Senses” (Nagisa Oshima, 1976) involves senses of unsimulated sex, erotic asphyxiation and penis removal caused a huge sensation to the world; Hong Kong, on the other hand, the establishment of film rating system in 1988 gave impetus to the growth of erotic movies (known as III films) and became prosperous from the early to mid 1990s; notable movies such as “Sex & Zen” (Michael Mak, 1991, a story based on a classic erotic novel by Li Yu in the Qing Dynasty), and “Happy Together” (Kar Wai Wong, 1997, a romance between two young men) are produced during this period. Development of erotic films in South Korean cinema began later than Japan, Hong Kong and even Taiwan due to the strict censorship in the 20th century. Since the 1960s, film censorship was strongly restrictive in South Korea under the regime of Park Chung-hee’s (1917-1979); movies, videos as well as literatures containing sexual, communist, political or subjects that considered as ‘inappropriate’ were censored by the ‘South Korea Art and Culture Ethics Committee’ (now Korea Media Rating Board), which resulted in limited film productions with low qualities. Long period of depression in Korean film industry has lasted not until the emergence of young filmmakers such as Park Chan-wook (b.1963), Kim Ki-duk (b.1960), Bong Joon-ho (b.1969) and Im Sang-soo (b.1962) in the late 1980s, where they began to against the censorship by adapting the subject of ‘sex’, ‘politics’, ‘homosexual’, ‘extreme violence’ and such sensitive ideas to their works; where their radical and controversial concepts reflecting political, social and gender issues have effectively mobilised the public to give pressure to the government, forcing the Rating Board starts reducing restrictions on movie screening. Their effort continuously widen the border in Korean cinema in the 1990s, and eventually, in the government of president Kim Dae-jung (1924-2009) enthusiastically allocated resources and supported the movie industry, opened up the freedom of expression, and announced the abolishment of film censorship in January 2001; leaded South Korean cinema began to achieve success in East Asia. Unlike the erotic films in Japan and Hong Kong, in South Korean movies the subject of ‘erotic’ is more involved in a social and political level which has a strong link with the concept of ‘liberation’; as I have mentioned in the previous chapter, performance of erotic scenes is the way to express the voice of sexual autonomy of women and reflecting the unequal social structure influenced by Confucian ethics; also, it is used to against the strict censorship to fight for the freedom of expression. In this chapter, I will analysis the how eroticism has to do with liberation in different aspects through the reviews of notable erotic movies in the 1990s and 2000s. Find me utopia “Lies” (Jang Sun-woo 1999) is one of the most controversial movies against the film censorship in the 1990s; it has been censored twice before release and with the final version of four minutes missing due to the great amount of nudities and sadomasochistic scenes. Base on a banned novel “Try Lying To Me” by Jang Jung-il in 1996, ‘Lies” details about an intense relationship between a 38 year old married sculptor J (Lee Sang-hyun) and a high school senior Y (Kim Tae-yeon). The story begins with Y and her best friend Wuli (Jun Hye-jin); Wuli is a great admirer of J who obsessed with his collection of sculptures while Y knows nothing about him; however, the obsession of Wuli starts making Y curious about J and she therefore decides to call him. The correspondence between J and Y soon leads them into attraction and as a result they have their first sex at a cheap motel that J takes Y’s virginity; the two subsequently continues their tryst, and as the story processes, J starts to show his singular interest in sadomasochism with whipping and beating during their sexual encounter where Y initially enjoys the feeling of being beat; in their regular meetings, they use various of equipments such as cane, wood and rod to experience the different levels of pain until one day Y can no longer endures the harsh whips and asks to shift the role with J. Jang constantly applies the subjects of ‘sex’ and ‘politics’ in his movies to challenge the Korean social structure; previous work such as “Seoul Jesus” (1986), “The Age of Success” (1988) and “A Petal” (1996) are concerned about political issues and religious matters while “To You From Me” (1994) (another movie based on Jang Jung-il’s novel) is about sexual relationship in the society. Similarly, “Lies" expresses the human desire of sexual liberation under morality constraints which also criticises against the ethical standard of this Confucian-dominant country. “It is a story about the dream of living, eating and making love without having to work. Social orthodoxy has it that all of the world has the right to work and to lead a decent life and for this reason I find it most amusing to show a point of view to the contrary.” Jang Sun-woo ‘Seeking for utopia’ is an essential element of “Lies”; through the twisted sadomasochistic relationship between J and Y and pornography-like scenes with a gradual sequence of vaginal, oral and anal sex, it shows the two characters have isolated themselves from the reality, living in a world with no rules restricted; and there is no such ‘gender status’ in their world though J initially plays the roles of master, he is happy to (desires to, perhaps)shift his position with Y, which equally having the same power and dominance in their world. However, utopia is just a fantasy. After a year of their relationship it results in disapproval of J’s wife and Y’s brother, and of course the whole society; therefore Y decides to leave J and goes to Brazil with her sister while J stays with his absent marriage. The conclusion does not only shows the reality but also shows the fact that there’s no ‘equal’ between them, where Y can choose to move on and ‘back to normal’ but J, instead, have to repress his desire of sadomasochism again, lies to his wife, lies to the society and even lies to himself. Over the last half-century, South Korea has made substantial economic progress, with the capital income increasing from 80 dollars in 1960 to more than 22,000 dollars last year. But its potential for sustained growth is stumbling, owing to the impending decline of its working age population projected to fall by 25% in 2050, paired with the rising competition from China and other rising economies. To improve its prospects, South Korea must pursue economic reform and restructuring with an emphasis on maximizing its human-capital resources especially women. South Koreas success over the last five decades has been achieved due to the rapid growth of its well educated labour force. Between 1960 and 2010, the share of adults with secondary education ascended from 20% to an impressive 87%. Despite increasing returns on investment, women remain underutilised, to the loss of the entire economy. To its credit, South Korea has built relatively gender-equal society. The gender gap enrolment in both secondary and higher education is very small. Also, women’s access to elite positions in law, medicine, and the civil service has increased considerably in recent years. The country elected its first female president, Park Guen-Hye, in 2012. A significant gender gap remains in terms of the return on human capital. According to OECD data, only 55% of South Korean women aged between 15-64 years are in the labour force, compared to the average of 65% in the advanced economies. The male labour-force however, contrasts this standing at about 77% close to the OECD average of 79%. There cases where women who have completed either secondary or tertiary education are likely to get into labor market than those with less education. Participation of labor for women who have attained post-secondary education is exceeding 50 percent and less 50 percent for those with only a primary and middle-school education. The most educated and capable women South Korea have a problem with child rearing. In additions, they participate in the labor force when they in their late twenties. With that the research has shown that the rate drops sharply among women in their thirties, as inflexible working environments and a lack of affordable child care undermine their ability to continue venturing in their careers. 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