Recovering Social and Cultural Resources in a Realistic Local Film : The Value of a Local Film in the Age of Postmodernism

Abstract

I start from a view in which the postmodern turn has brought significant changes to everyday lives of individuals as well as the scope of social science. The postmodern turn would provide new possibilities for social science that has been overwhelmingly 'scientifically' based. By keeping critical distances from both too narrow 'scientific approaches' and extreme post-modernistic perspectives, I would suggest a well-balanced postmodern social theory between the two, which can become even a more powerful tool when it is reconciled to a certain aspect of the realistic approach. To acknowledge the importance of realism in the postmodern turn can rightly broaden the scope of social science into the inclusion of art, emotionality, sensuality, phenomenology, hermeneutics and so on that have been neglected in social science, and avoid the confusions of identity brought about by a lack of understanding of history, culture and society. Combined with this theoretical stance, I would argue that locally embedded cultural artefacts, especially realistic local films, take an important role for audiences to anchor their confused identities and to restore the sense of history, place and culture. As an example, I will analyse a realistic film text on a shared past, Spring in My Hometown (1997, dir. Yi Kwangmo) to illustrate the importance of a realistic film text as a cultural resource for audiences.