In My Queer Korea: Identity, Space, and the 1998 Seoul Queer Film & Video Festival , Chris Berry examines the beginnings of queer Korean cultural space.
The piece reads as a travelogue as Berry attends the 1998 Queer Film & Video Festival. The previous year's festival had been banned and authorities tried to ban the 1998 festival as well. Berry talks about the atmosphere at the first queer festival as well as his thoughts on lecturing a Korean audience on Asian film from the point of view of a white man. I enjoyed reading his thoughts while comparing them with my own experiences at the queer culture festival (which has grown immensely).
Although this article was only written some 15 years ago, the societal change is immense. This was the year Kim Dae-jung's election: the first transfer of political power through popular elections. This was also right after Korea's IMF crisis (IMF 한파). The queer Korean space was just beginning to be noticed by the public eye; Baker points out, however, the reluctance for queer filmmakers and audience members to talk openly about their sexual identity. Unfortunately, Korea still has a culture of silence on GLBTQ issues. We have a long way to go.
You can read the article over at Intersections: Gender, History and Culture in the Asian Context .
The piece reads as a travelogue as Berry attends the 1998 Queer Film & Video Festival. The previous year's festival had been banned and authorities tried to ban the 1998 festival as well. Berry talks about the atmosphere at the first queer festival as well as his thoughts on lecturing a Korean audience on Asian film from the point of view of a white man. I enjoyed reading his thoughts while comparing them with my own experiences at the queer culture festival (which has grown immensely).
Although this article was only written some 15 years ago, the societal change is immense. This was the year Kim Dae-jung's election: the first transfer of political power through popular elections. This was also right after Korea's IMF crisis (IMF 한파). The queer Korean space was just beginning to be noticed by the public eye; Baker points out, however, the reluctance for queer filmmakers and audience members to talk openly about their sexual identity. Unfortunately, Korea still has a culture of silence on GLBTQ issues. We have a long way to go.
You can read the article over at Intersections: Gender, History and Culture in the Asian Context .
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