An Analysis of the Films on Independence Activities During the Colonial Period: Assassination, the Age of Shadows, and the Battleship Island

Abstract

This thesis was written to discover how Koreans accept the Japanese colonial era, which is considered one of the greatest traumas for Koreans, as well as how they inherit their anti-Japanese sentiments and memories from the colonial era. Among numerous theories and methods, visual media such as movies, dramas, and documentaries have been noted for their ability to create frames and visceral reenactments of the past. For this reason three movies that cover the Japanese colonial period were chosen in order of Korean box office ranking: Assassination (2015), The Age of Shadows (2016), and The Battleship Island (2017). Narrative theories such as Propps folktale character theory were used as a research method to analyze the narrative structure and discourse surrounding the aforementioned films. The following outcomes were observed as a result of this study: first, those films structure homogenous popular memories regarding rectification of Pro-Japanese issues. Second, the aforementioned films reenact historically forgotten figures or places. Third, the characteristic similarities observed from these films are most likely to be an outcome of the political and economical context of the time in which these films were produced.