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Life Art , Democracy, Freedom of Speech
2020.02.15 23:20
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Toward Mature Korean Democracy & Society with Tolerance & Magnanimity
Art, Democracy, Freedom of Speech 조중행
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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 a 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/ |
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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."--------- |
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JFK'S SPEECH IN AMHERST, MASSACHUSETTS (OCTOBER 26, 1963) |
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For Old Times" sake, clips of the Epic Movie "Reds", 1981 & Warren Beatty accepting the Best Director Award, 1982 |
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| prepared by J H Choh, class of 1969 | |
Comment 16
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On the day when the Korean Government eliminates Ministry of Culture, when they eliminate
many government-sponsored organizations supporting movie(영화 진흥공사--), music (국립 오페라단----),
many other cultural support organizations----,ㅡㅡmaybe will see truely democratic Korea with freedom of expression.
Sometimes it reminds me of "Ministry of Truth" or likes in G.Orwell 1984.
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I think it is a very timely posting for Koreans worth listening to carefully words by words.
A nation can make a perfect democratic government by the law, but it is a different story
for society to practice democracy. The social pressure inevitably hinders freedom of
speech, equality that are core values of democracy. Korean people are restricted by the tradition
of Confucianism, Japanese occupation, Korean War, and ideology caused by the division of country.
The history, certainly unfavorable to the next generations, soaked the society with the prejudices.I thought the atmosphere of the Oscars were full of anti-Trumpism( if there is any). They were showing
the vision the country must go forward to. Kennedy's speech was so right. Hollywood was saying
to Trump, "You are wrong". Bong's Parasite was part of the process.
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Warren Beatty-----"I think that your decision, taken in the great capitalistic tower of Gulf + Western,
to finance a three-and-a-half-hour romance which attempts to reveal for the first time just something
of the beginnings of American socialism and American communism, reflects credit not only upon you,
I think it reflects credit upon Hollywood and the movie business wherever that is.
And I think that it reflects more particular credit on the freedom of expression that we have
in our American society and the lack of censorship that we have from the government
or the people who put up the money. "
I guess those guys who invested in the production of the epic movie in the 1980s were mostly interested
in making money---and entertainment to public, arts, maybe ----?? ㅎㅎ
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이병철 삼성 heiress Miky Lee's decades' long funding and vision was behind the latest success, Parasite, as well.
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Bernie Sanders won Iowa, New Hampshire primary and is winning Nevada.
Parasite won the best picture and best director award. Joker won the best actor.
Income inequality is second to the 1930's. All of these remind me of "the grapes of wrath" by John Steinbeck.
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Strength of American capitalism still vibrant today when you see David Geffen donates, on & off,
hundreds of millions $ to UCLA med-school, other programs of arts and literature
or when Langone donates similarly to NYU medical school----.
Hard-won money, sometimes through odd jobs in younger years, are sometimes well spent.
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It seems that, for some unknown reason, the following theories are being discussed above
1. Art = Truth
2. Freedom of Artistic Expression = Truth
The above theses are all wrong. Please don't be so naive. Please wake up!
For example:
A communist creates a movie in order to propagate the communistic dogma.
A politician creates a speech in order to turn people's votes for his advantage, and etc.
These kinds of arts or speeches have nothing to do with the truth.
Instead,
1. Arts are more likely cheatings without letting you know.
2. Freedom of artistic or journalistic expressions is more likely cheatings for a profit.
However, I can assure that "Arts" can be the truth only when they were created by "pure artists."
A speech can be true only when the speaker has no personal gain by it.
Also, Academy awards or Nobel prizes are not always the truth, actually very far from it.
For God's sake, we do not want these kinds of dubious arts, freedoms, awards,
or championship trophies.
The granddaughter of Samsung did not support the movie in her loyalty "for Korea."
They did it to "enrich themselves" and did it illegally by bribing the Academy people.
Please don't be so proud of it.
There can be a lot of errors in judgment when we consider something
only by the final awards or trophies.
김대중이가 Nobel상 탄것이 그렇게 위대했나?
Obama가 Nobel 상 탄것이 그렇게 위대했나?
Our website may be heading towards mental or intellectual corruption.
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In my opinion you are totally missing the point, WM.
Aristotle said the happiest man on earth is the one who
has the freedom of thought, the freedom of speech and
the freedom of act.
Democracy is supposed to guarantee this kind of freedom,
including the artistic expression.
I believe the evolution and maturity of the democracy can be measured by
how well the people under that political system enjoy that freedom.
And that is, I believe, what was discussed.
It is nothing to do with truth, etc., and what you are talking about.
I could be wrong so prefer letting the others speak their minds if they will.
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What I was trying to say was... "the freedom of thought, the freedom of speech and the freedom of action."
would be wonderful when they are done in a good, honest, and responsible way.
Aristotle was talking about good freedom, not about any bad freedom !!
For good freedom, I totally agree with you. Such freedom should be free.
For "any bad" freedom whether it is for arts, speeches, or anything else, I do not agree with you.
Such bad freedom is away from the truth and is not acceptable. That's where the truth came in.
Sorry to say that there is no such thing as "unlimited, uncontrolled, and totally free" freedom.
Please show me if there is such a thing. Where can I find it?
Would you clap your hands when a stupid 쫘빨 guy is lying and misguiding Korean people
in order to disrupt the democratic society into a communist state?
Doc, please join him for his greatness and try to do the same thing.
Such anti-social freedom is not allowed even in America when a certain threshold is broken.
Are you telling me that Trump may do anything he wants because he is a free man?
Why was he impeached by the House?
According to your logic, he should have been totally free and no one should have bothered him.
In this civilized nation of the U.S., there seem to be too many restrictions on your freedom.
Why don't you go to North Korea and try to find your honorable Aristotle
together with a whole bunch of freedom you are yearning about?
Because a 좌빨 guy in Korea got the Academy Awards, anything he did or does is "all" OK??
Have you become totally blind because of the damn idiotic Academy Awards?
You are almost crazy when you said,
"Democracy is supposed to guarantee this kind of freedom, including artistic expression."
Doc, where have you been all these years. Are you sure about what you said above?
Why are there so many prisoners in America if what you said was true?
Democracy, even in America, does not guarantee any freedom even to Donald Trump (!!)
if it is not good enough for our society. Now, you know.
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On Dr. Choh's mention of the movie, Warren Beatty's REDS:
I have not seen this movie personally, but after it was mentioned on our website,
I went into Wikipedia and Internet searches and studied about the movie.
My study was reasonable, not professional though, in nature and I got some idea about it.
It was a story about an avid communist journalist (John Reed) in America.
Actually, Warren Beatty had some trouble (He was not absolutely free in making this movie)
in the beginning because of the content having been about a communist thing.
But the story was about John Reed's life through the Bolshevik Revolution together a love story
with an American girl who shared the same interest with him.
But there appeared to be no content in the movie that attempted to spread communism to American society.
It seems to be unfair to compare the "Reds" to the "Parasite". The Reds was an honest good movie.
In the movie Parasite, the actual murder of the higher class (richer) person did happen.
The actions in the movie suggested such revolutionary action against the rich by the poor people.
Fortunately, the movie was made by a dumb 좌빨 director (Mr. Bong) and ended up into a rather stupid outcome.
One can see that the intention of the director was to promote social riots by the poor to kill the rich,
but it ended up as a miserable failure where the poor became the poor again.
However, the plot is very disturbing, almost like a prelude of the future Korean society.
It was almost like a Bolshevik Revolution (1917 in Russia) to happen in the future of Korea.
Under Moon's regime, the movie was allowed but, under a conservative regime, it might not have been.
I ended up LOL as I was coming out of the theater. What a fuXXing Academy Awards !!
Then, shall we give unrestricted freedom to the Academy Artists as Dr. HJ Lee said?
No way... They don't deserve it.
They should be given full censorship to keep them from making stupid mistakes.
Walking on a strip of the red carpet with luxurious costumes does not make them any smarter.
I think any 좌빨 must be a stupid person (like Bong in Parasite and like the Academy Artists).
You can see my point in this "Parasite and Academy Awards" fiasco !!
With the right mind, how can you be a 좌빨?
But that is exactly what makes me nervous. If given the power, these stupid guys will ruin Korea into nothing.
Please forgive me. I don't go along with the crowds or follow the general tendency of society.
Long ago, I have awarded myself freedom. If you read what I wrote, you will know that I am free.
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Wow! What A controversial posting did I do? I agree with 110 % what William 선배 said.(Many arts & artists sell psedo-truth and make money in real world).
I agree with 110% what Lee HJ 선배님 said, as well.(One important Ideal for art in democratic society should be “freedom of expression” and the road to truth & freedom of expression has been a process on going)—
Please remember Larry Flint(Hustler) First Amendment case in the US supreme court.?? 1980’’s? Nobody has the right to shoot him down physically or spiritually according to the US law. US Supreme court does not want somebody else or -government make decision for good freedom or bad freedom. The net worth of Larry Flint $400 million,ㅎㅎ, not a bad achievement, selling pornography magazine-----
Many liberals in the left side of art-world are well known hypocrites in real life(Peter Schweizer--“Do as I say(not as I do)--Profiles in Liberal Hypocrisy”, 2005).
I did not think “Parasite” was the movie depicting “Truth” of whole Korea today.
Some of you may rememeber discussion on ultra-realistic painting, unrealistic oriental painting or surrealistic painting.
Maybe same argument goes for movies like this, as well. But some elements in the movie might contain reality of Korean society today both rich & poor sectors. But most of it's contents, very unrealistic---
What was the true motif of Bong to make this movie? No body knows--- Maybe, he was dreaming of revolution somewhere deep inside(as suspected by some?), maybe not –Maybe he was just booing & hissing “Pariah Capitalism” of Korean society today.(야지 –야 유) and
at the same time, laughing at disgusting profanity, rampant in lower economic stratum of Korea today----
Maybe he is enjoying all the commotion he received & laughing loud alone in his bed tonight , knowing stupid public(press) is glorifying him and SNU medical school graduates with highest intelligence are having serious heated discussion on his “stupid” movie.(personally I did not think it was a great movie—like many other movies with glorious accolades.)
Paik Nam June, the legendary video artist, said “Modern Art is Fraud”(예술은 사기다).
Coming from one of the richest families in Korea during 1940’s, no worry of money or away from the war, his free spirit could experiment with whatever toys he had, in Europe, USA, Korea----enjoyed loyal worships of NY Times art critics, all the big shots of art world---
His body & soul splitted in three ways(pursuant to his will) are laughing tonight somewhere from German, US, and Korean sky.
He did drop his pants down in front of Bill Clinton. Could BJH or any other Korean Artist do same thing in Blue House?
So enjoy the movie. Don’t agonize---
By the way, all the money you spent in the theatre, tickets, pop-corns, Coke all went into pockets of Lee MK & Bong JH---ㅎㅎㅎ
Last but not the least---the famous 술자리 advice for friends from “명동 백작—소설가 이봉구” from our student years, many years ago---. 1. Don’t talk about politics.(친구들 모임에서 정치 이야기 하지 말기
2. Don’t ask friends to lend you money(돈 꾸어달라는 소리 말기)
3. Don’t criticize a friend , not present there(그 자리에 없는 친구를 욕하지 말라)
4. ----have three drinks quietly & leave(술은 석잔만 마시고 조용히 사라질것------without paying bills---ㅎㅎ—this last line is my creation tonight.
Anyway, the first Academy awards for a Korean Movie after 100 years---something to be congratulated for.
Good night
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내 속이 후련하고 시원하게 말잘했오이다, Dr. Choh.
I certainly thank you for all your enlightened remarks that
resonate with my heart, and ?surely with our WM's.
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I love to have friends that I can talk about politics. It does not really matter wether
one had opposing views or not. What matters is how you talk about without hurting other's
feelings.
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Dr. Ohn,
I couldn't agree with you more.
I believe you certainly read our minds,
and I appreciate it. Thank you.
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Well, after all these arguments and discussions, my feeling is that the director, Bong Joon Ho,
must not be a 좌파 빨갱이, as suspected by some Korean people.
Those Koreans thought (imagined) he was a 좌빨 on the basis of his past movies.
If he was a true leftist-communist, he would not have finished the movie in such a style or form.
The guy who first brought the knife was a mad man who secretly lived in the basement.
The family who lived in the basement at the street (The Jee people, a true replica of the poor class)
was not the one who started the blood-shedding against the rich.
To make things really odd was that the basement mad man killed one of the street basement people.
So what the hell is that? A poor class killed another poor class?
This was far from a communistic uprising or a struggle between the social classes.
The communist ideology never showed up in the movie even once.
Have we gotten all upset for nothing? Was it just an innocent horror movie?
Then, where is the beef that can justify the Academy Awards?
I must say your presentation is most appropriate for all Koreans to be reminded
properly in regard to where we are in terms of the evolution of their democracy
and individual freedom as you eloquently pointed out.
I personally thank you for your sincere effort.