The one thing you have to realize, however, is that, no matter how dysfunctional and fractional our little family is, this is not going to keep us from intermarrying and remaining self-absorbed. And this is the reason that we like to make up stories about how popular we are with the rest of the world. There need not be a shred of truth in such stories for us to believe them. It’s just part of the self-deception that we indulge ourselves in to continue to live in our little fantasy world. Just leave us alone and stop holding us up to analysis. We’re happy this way. Or at least that’s what we need to believe…

Better decades late than never, Bluejives. Now that US society has moved so far beyond racism that the race card has become nearly obsolete, hardly anyone but insecure Korean Americans take it seriously anymore.

It would be intellectually lazy to put everything that is said, done or decided in Korea down to nationalism. But in a country where the patriotism meter is usually turned up to 11, it would be wrong to dismiss it outright as some here are wont to do.

Cinemas to Maintain Screen Quota Voluntarily
Korea’s leading movie theaters said Wednesday they will voluntarily continue showing Korean movies for 146 days a year despite a government decision to halve the official screen quota.

The announcement came after representatives of major theater chains including CJ CGV chief Park Dong-ho, Megabox CEO Kim Woo-taek and Lotte Cinema head Kim Gwang-seop met Culture Minister Chung Dong-chea and Uri Party chairman Chung Dong-young. It was organized by the government to listen to concerns of theaters in response to the decision to halve the quota.

“Theaters too can survive only when there are many good local movies being produced,” the CJ CGV president said. “So we’ve decided to maintain the screen quota to help the film industry grow.” The government slashed the quota last month to accommodate U.S. demands ahead of free-trade talks. (Chosun)

BOA likewise is fairly bland and imitative of Western pop singers, sorry. Someone like Park Jin-young had a better chance of crossing over because he understands the market, but it looks like he’s concentrating on producing now.

In the end, it’s a big world, as there’s really no need to seek validation in the U.S. As Sperwer said at the very beginning of the comments, it’s proof of what, exactly?

K-Drama’s are a perfect match for America’s Soccer Mom crowd.

http://boa-nation.com/

That doesn’t jibe with me or anyone I know, but whatever. “Origami” said Americans were closed-minded about film fare, and my point was, no more so than Koreans. I don’t see a great embrace of foreign films in Korea vis-a-vis America.

On nationalism in the preference for Korean movies (what this has to do with “race-card fatigue” I have no idea), I was thinking of all the recent movies–”Typhoon,” “Welcome to Dongmakgol,” “Shilmido,” “Taeguki”–with overtly nationalist themes, which has obviously translated into box office success. So I still think nationalism is a bigger factor here.

I’m really starting to understand the race-card fatigue that you White folks have to go through back home. Really, no joke.

I just reread this and maybe we are on the same page: it seems the article in 2001 was overly optimistic about how well French films would do in the coming years.

By the way, a number of those obscure French films have shown up on cable TV here in Korea.