1980년대 성애영화 재평가를 위한 소고(小考)

Abstract

Korean erotic film was the most popular film genre in 1980s. Starting with <Madam Ae-ma>, erotic film genre was produced briskly. However in the Korean film history, 80s’ erotic films have been treated academically as unimportant. Because these erotic films were thought as an anesthetic to appease the public’s political criticism as part of ‘3S(sex, screen, sports) policy’ by authoritarian regime. Furthermore People generally recognize as the same as 80s’ erotic films and 90s’ erotic video movies. But 80s’ erotic films are different from 90s’ erotic video movies distinctly. The 80s erotic film is one of the important cultural code to understand era of 80’s. The reason is that the erotic film can be read as cultural code understanding the process of democratization of Korea society and the collapse of authoritarian regime. Although the erotic film genre was the result of the relaxation of sexual expression, there were a lot of interesting points that relief of sexual expression brought in social changes. And 80s’ korean erotic films dealt with female sexuality, futhermore these films show liberation of sex. Sexuality, especially female sexuality can be read as a political allegory in the background authoritarian society. <Eo u-dong> is a typical example. Above all, 80s erotic films are closely related to the The May 18 Democratization Uprising. Eventually the 3S policy was intended to hide the May 18. However, on the contrary to intention of the government, 80s erotic film exposed the The May 18 Democratization Uprising and contributed to the democratization of society. Therefore the purpose of this study is to reassess the 1980s erotic films, and to understand how these films could to change Korean society. So as a part of the cultural history, this study attempt to figure out the social meaning and value of 80s erotic films.