“The King and the Clown” director Lee Jun-ik, whose film was sent to the U.S. Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences to represent Korea for best foreign film, expressed his dislike of the U.S. film award ceremony.
Explaining his dislike, he said, “I think the Academy is a means to expand and maintain U.S. cultural imperialism.”
Just to be fair, however, he noted, “The Cannes Film Festival, too, is a means to maintain French cultural imperialism.”
And a lot of good it’s done them.
Lee didn’t mention if the Blue Dragon Film Awards were a means to maintain Korean cultural imperialism.
He said, “The Academy nominates six films sent from 60 countries. And only one wins, while the others are dropped. It hurts one’s pride.”
He did say, however, that he agreed to his film being submitted to the Academy.
27 Comments
I’m sorry, but you can’t tell me he’s incapable of understanding the concept of competition. Korea is a very competitive society…
If he’s worried about his pride, don’t compete. Set your standards low, and you’ll never be disappointed.
Darin, remember that Korea is a country where competition is quite often trumped by money, influence and connections. And that dude decidedly can’t win an Award this way, so it’s “unfair”…
what a numbnut this guy is.
I’d like to remind you that Hurts One’s Pride™ (and its variations Hurts My Pride™, Hurts His Pride™, Hurts Their Pride™) is a trademark belonging to me. Please use it in its appropriate capitalized form and remit royalties to my account.
He might actually love Hollywood, where celebrities say a lot idiotic things, too.
I know where he can stick his Academy Award if he doesn’t like it!
But his film didn’t win the award, did it? Why do I get the sneaky feeling that had he actually won, he wouldn’t be saying these things? Or would have said the same thing as a magnanimous gesture to the other nominees? (Yeah, right.)
Although given that the film’s content is domestic only (the bad guy is Yŏnsangun and not Joe Foreigner), we should probably let him off lightly….
(If he wins, that is!)
A man of principle!
In the Korean sense of the word.
And Brendan, have you forgotten Hurts Our Pride and Hurts Korea’s Pride?
No ™ on those yet? Whoops, they’re in the constitition. Public domain.
As long as he makes good films it does not matter too much since everyone is guilty of saying dumb things once and a while.
He probably didn’t mention any Korean movie festivals because those are bridges he can’t afford to burn…well that and he’s appealing to nationalistic sentiment. Either way, it’s grandstanding.
By the way, the Academy Awards and the Cannes Film Festival (actually, the French ‘Oscars’ are the ‘Césars’, not the Palme d’Or of Cannes…you’d think a movie maker would know that) are marketing tools…all film festivals are. I would like to see him prove that they are ‘imperialist’ in nature. For that to be the case, he would have to prove that the awards themselves have prevented local film industries of thriving.
Did he give an example of American cultural imperialism?
Well gee whiz. How better it would be then had his little film not to have been nominated at all. Of course, considering that the nominations haven’t even been announced yet, Lee’s ‘graceful loser’ speech seems a little bit premature.
Oh well. He could always pimp his film out to other awards… There are so many, I’m sure he could win at least one. Even if it is just a Golden Raspberry.
Oh, this is for next February’s awards. Whoops…I speculated wrongly there.
Well, then his comment makes even less sense. Had he said this after the fact, one could call it gracious or sour grapes, depending on whether his film won or lost. Saying it ahead of time, though? Isn’t he counting on the good graces of the jury (whoever they are) to select his film?
’set your standards low, then you’ll never be disappointed.’ darin
isn’t that the slogan of the angry expat brigade?
Zonath, based on his logic, you could say that every time a fat inhibriated foreigner gets shot down by a lady at some nightclub in Hongdae, it’s because of Korean cultural imperialism.
Most if not all Korean movie directors are proud card carrying members of the Uri party. So expect more nationalistic crap from them in the future.
To be quite honest, all of those award shows are nothing but self-glorificational bullsh1t. “look at me, I ate catered lunches and got paid millions over the course of 4 weeks to make this crappy movie, and now I need an award to reinforce my feeling of self-worth”.
But thats just me
Well, no question that the Oscars leave a lot to be desired. And yet, I just can’t avoid sitting through all 4 hours of it every spring. Each ceremony is so cheesy and tedious and long, and yet I can’t stop watching. It’s like rubbernecking at a car accident.
yankeesfan, that’s pretty much how it’s been summed up to me by someone who has worked with and for a lot of the big Hollywood stars. They always try to be the centre of attention because, deep down inside, they know they aren’t as talented as we are made to believe they are (it’s not as if they reinvent the wheel whenever they appear in a movie). Nepotism and backroom deals is a big thing in the movie industry.
His movie sucked anyway.
You know he’d piss himself if his movie actually won an Oscar, and you’d never hear a word about “cultural imperialism.”
Dogbertt: At the time that I saw it, I don’t remember thinking, “this sucks,” but the funny thing is that even though I saw it quite recently, I hardly recall the movie at all now. This would suggest it wasn’t that great, especially as I do vaguely recall thinking it started off well but fell apart halfway through. Don’t think it’s early-onset Alzheimer’s….
sewing, I remember thinking it was not nearly as interesting as Jiwaseon. In fact, I remember thinking it would have been pretty boring if it wasn’t for the performance of the actor who played the eldest performer (Woo-seong Kam?).
I must admit, I did enjoy the scene where the performer challenges the king while standing on the tight rope (can’t remember if he already was blind at that point). Makes me wonder, any symbolism to be found in this movie?
Is American Cultural Imperialism the “American Wave”?