Romantic Movies, STDs, and Eugenic Marriage. Discourses about Seoul’s Female Spectators during the 1920s and 1930s

Abstract

This paper explores what prompted the media discussion of Korean schoolgirls’ cinema attendance in the 1920s and how this was related to the tension between romantic love and the eugenics movement in colonial Korea. Using historical discourse analysis, this paper identifies the cinematic portrayal of romantic love, concerns about its affective power on adolescents, and the influences of eugenics as referential frames for the debate. While Korean youth used films as a reference system for their own practice of “love supreme”, eugenicists sought to regulate their sexuality for “racial improvement and the prosperity of the state.” Korean Eugenics Association (KEA) focused on the realization of eugenic marriage by preventing sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), advising women to marry men without STD and to take care of their husbands’ sexual health. Furthermore, attending films during the pregnancy was seen as critical, as it would do harm to the health and psychological hygiene of mothers. Meanwhile, women who offered sexualized service were seen as a risk of infection. This thesis finds that the Korean eugenic debate of the 1920s and 1930s exhibited gender- and class bias, aiming to control young women’s bodies and sexuality in everyday life, including watching movies.