영화인의 부역과 냉전 한국영화의 형성

Abstract

The primary focus of this paper is the effects of the USAMGIK occupation and the Korean War on the collaboration of Korean film technicians. Korea under American occupation from 1945 to 1948 marks the departure from the Japanese totalitarian rule. But this occupation period brought back to Korean cinema the system of control similar to the late-colonial wartime mobilization. The state control of film production faculties, the utility of cinema for war operation, and the overall underdevelopment of film production continued. Concurrently, the film industry witnessed the rise of a group of film technicians indispensable for producing newsreels and documentaries. They also shared a strong sense of bond and historical experiences. A significant change occurred as the Korean film industry underwent a structural transformation after the Korean War. From the late 1950s onward, the various types of assistance and aid from the US into Korea triggered a series of seismic changes in the Korean film industry. They include the provision of filmmaking infrastructure and facilities and film production resources. These changes, in turn, facilitated the steady production of commercial narrative films, specialization, professionalization, and division of filmmaking techniques, as well as the rise of American film standards and their application in Korean filmmaking practice. Most of all, they brought the generational change, which also paralleled the historical shift from the postwar state of emergency to the prolonged condition of the Cold War contention. In this context, the accusation brought on by Yi Pil-u and his cohorts against the Yi Hyongpyo marks a historical significance. It ties to the issues of the generational change of film technicians. It also relates to the authoritarian politics where rumors on the pro-communist collaboration functioned as a source of the Cold War cultural mobilization. In short, the controversies of pro-communist collaboration serve as the marker that illustrates the historical change in the Korean film industry: from the colonial model of film practice to the new Cold War cultural politics and its practice. This paper aspires to illuminate the advent of the Cold War cinema production through specific cases of the pro-communist collaboration.