21세기 한국 현대사 영화의 흥행성과 대중 감성 코드 연구

Abstract

The social significance of commercial films lies in the public response. When tens of millions of people watch and support a certain film, it should be read as a sign of the collective taste of the time. Cinematic attempts to recreate Korean modern history from a social movement perspective have been produced within the framework of mainstream commercial cinema since the 2000s. This paper examines the popular emotional codes of Korean modern history cinema that reproduces memories of the past in order to read the meaning of creating a new past that meets and shapes audiences, focusing on the Korean modern history cinema that became a social phenomenon at the time of their production and release. The successful Korean modern history films made in the 21st century, such as Silmido, Taegukgi, May 18, The Attorney, A Taxi Driver, 1987: When the Day Comes, The Spy Gone North, The Man Standing Next, Escape from Mogadishu, and 12.12: The Day, share common box office and popular emotional codes. As a genre of the memory industry, it becomes a marketing strategy for Korean modern history films to be closely linked to the political and social situation at the time of their release. Five popular emotional codes are presented: the questioning of leadership, nostalgia and retro style, the public square as a forum for public debate, the debt of the fair generation, and the triumphal narrative as a utopia beyond reality. In addition, this paper attempts to imply that Korean modern history cinema in the 21st century functions as a medium that fixes the cultural memory of the public, or as a memory industry, as a public space where citizen audiences meet togather.