logo

English
                 
   
 

   Toward Mature  Korean Democracy & Society with Tolerance & Magnanimity

 

                            Art, Democracy, Freedom of Speech      조중행

 

   
 

Listening to the controversy on the intention of  Director Bong’s movie “Parasite”,

I, who grew up during the “Cold War Era”, tempered by the war, poverty, dictatorship, 

북진 통일 education, could not help feeling certain sadness on the social & political

reality of current Korea. 

In spite of the so-called “democratization process” Korea has accomplished to

some believers, I feel "democracy” seems still far-fetched, & a promise unfulfilled.

 

Just like France where it took almost a hundred years after the revolution

for them to achieve modern free democratic society, maybe Korean history still needs

more smells of blood.

 

Many years ago, I was totally moved by a speech by Actor & Director Warren Beatty

and John F Kennedy.   The principle of “Art and Democracy”  so well  defined in JFK’s

Amherst address on the occasion of dedicating "Robert Frost library" in October 1963,

the last address before his tragic death, was truly moving.

It was one of the best speeches by a politician.

 

When America embraced such movie like“Reds”(Story of An  American Communist

journalist John Reed) during the cold war era and even endowed “Best Director Award”

in 1982, to Warren Beatty, it showed strength & magnanimity of American democracy 

& freedom of speech.   

 

Watching  the China-story during this coronavirus situation,

unless D.T like stupidity prevail, Pax Americana will have future for many generations

to come on the firm ground of transparent democracy and freedom of expression.

 

https://www.jfkthelastspeech.org/the-film/
   
 

    Following is part of the JFK Speech.

 

When power corrupts, poetry cleanses. For art establishes the basic human truth which must serve

as the touchstone of our judgment.

“The artist, however faithful to his personal vision of reality, becomes the last champion

of the individual mind and sensibility against an intrusive society and an officious state.

The great artist is thus a solitary figure. He has, as Frost said, a lover's quarrel with the world.

In pursuing his perceptions of reality, he must often sail against the currents of his time.

This is not a popular role. If Robert Frost was much honored in his lifetime,

it was because a good many preferred to ignore his darker truths.

Yet in retrospect, we see how the artist's fidelity has strengthened the fibre of our national life.

 

If sometimes our great artists have been the most critical of our society,

it is because their sensitivity and their concern for justice, which must motivate

any true artist, makes him aware that our Nation falls short of its highest potential.

I see little of more importance to the future of our country and our civilization

than full recognition of the place of the artist.

 

If art is to nourish the roots of our culture, society must set the artist free to follow

his vision wherever it takes him. We must never forget that art is not a form of

propaganda; it is a form of truth. And as Mr. MacLeish once remarked of poets,

there is nothing worse for our trade than to be in style. In a free society, art is not a weapon

and it does not belong to the spheres of polemic and ideology.

Artists are not engineers of the soul. It may be different elsewhere.

But democratic society--in it, the highest duty of the writer, the composer, the artist is

to remain true to himself and to let the chips fall where they may.

In serving his vision of the truth, the artist best serves his nation. And the nation

which disdains the mission of art invites the fate of Robert Frost's hired man,

the fate of having "nothing to look backward to with pride, and nothing

to look forward to with hope."---------

   
 

 

                              JFK'S SPEECH IN AMHERST, MASSACHUSETTS (OCTOBER 26, 1963)

   
 

 

   
 

 

 

For Old Times" sake, clips of the Epic Movie "Reds", 1981 & Warren Beatty accepting the Best Director Award, 1982

                                                              prepared by J H Choh, class of 1969
   

 

No. Subject Date Author Last Update Views
Notice How to write your comments onto a webpage [2] 2016.07.06 운영자 2016.11.20 17768
Notice How to Upload Pictures in webpages 2016.07.06 운영자 2018.10.19 31850
Notice How to use Rich Text Editor [3] 2016.06.28 운영자 2018.10.19 5493
Notice How to Write a Webpage 2016.06.28 운영자 2020.12.23 43427
8832 돌아오는 기러기 [1] update 2024.03.27 정관호*63 2024.03.28 12
8831 이강인-손흥민 ‘골 합작’ 한국, 태국 3-0 완승…월드컵 최종 예선 진출 성큼 [2] 2024.03.26 황규정*65 2024.03.27 8
8830 1945년 8월 15일 오후 강릉 홍제정 안마을에서 [2] 2024.03.19 정관호*63 2024.03.24 55
8829 이승만은 왜 김구를 제거 했을까? [1] 2024.03.17 온기철*71 2024.03.18 34
8828 My Grandson [1] 2024.03.15 노영일*68 2024.03.18 77
8827 蜀相(촉상): 촉한 승상 제갈량 [1] 2024.03.15 정관호*63 2024.03.15 34
8826 1945년 8월15일에는 서울에 아무일도 없었다. [1] 2024.03.13 온기철*71 2024.03.14 34
8825 왕소군 고향에서 [1] 2024.03.08 정관호*63 2024.03.20 37
8824 정약용; 늙어가면 친구가 점점 없어진다. [5] 2024.03.06 온기철*71 2024.03.08 65
8823 Trump is OK to be a candidate. 2024.03.04 온기철*71 2024.03.17 46
8822 AMAZING GRACE [1] 2024.03.01 정관호*63 2024.03.08 50
8821 한국에의 복수국적 - 이중국적이 더 불리한 경우를 알려 드립니다 [1] 2024.02.24 운영자 2024.02.24 67
8820 신진서, 농심배 16연승... 중국 기사 올킬로 한국 4연속 우승 [1] 2024.02.23 황규정*65 2024.02.23 39
8819 古朝鮮:고조선 [1] 2024.02.23 정관호*63 2024.02.26 41
8818 한국진공작전; Eagle Project and Napko Project [2] 2024.02.22 온기철*71 2024.02.28 87
8817 일제의 김구 암살 공작과 밀정 [2] 2024.02.19 온기철*71 2024.02.22 73
8816 장개석은 한국에 친중정부가 수립 되게 하려고 임정을 도왔다. [1] 2024.02.17 온기철*71 2024.02.24 80
8815 봄날의 원망 [1] 2024.02.16 정관호*63 2024.02.16 36
8814 내 마음은 가을 달 [1] 2024.02.08 정관호*63 2024.02.14 470
8813 1945년8월15일은 과연 해방이었을까? [2] 2024.02.06 온기철*71 2024.02.07 62