(In)Commensurability of Korean Cinema: International Coproduction of Korean Films in the 2010s

Abstract

Probing into South Korea's international co-produced films in the 2010s, this article assesses Korean films' commensurability in the globalized world sharing capitalist modes of living. Since the 1980s, neo-liberalistic globalization has been in full swing in most part of the world. In the course of this transition, capitalist modes of living, such as economic inequalities, the rise of social precariats, and social fragmentation, have become commonplace conditions easily recognizable by any individual with access to their external world. Since the 2000s, the development of Internet technology and media content in East Asia have created an environment wherein the South Korean film industry has an aspiration to expand its market share beyond Korea in terms of its own globalization. With the media globalization, films co-produced by South Korean and foreign filmmakers have appeared in earnest since 2010. These internationally coproduced films, which endeavor to go beyond the realm of Korean national cinema, address external audiences by seeking commensurability in a way of negotiating global audiences. This paper argues that Snowpiercer, Okja, and Parasite by Joon Ho Bong contain commensurability in addressing international audiences who communize capitalist modes of living.Â