Title: “Happy Seoul for foreigners”: scenes from multicultural life in South Korea
Abstract: Since the mid-2000s, multiculturalism has become a prominent buzzword in South Korea as the nation, which was founded on the myth of a single bloodline, tries to come to terms with its growing foreign population. This article looks at the figure of the industrial migrant worker who, despite being ignored by the mainstream media, has appeared in a handful of independently produced Korean films, including three—Bandhobi (2009 Bandhobi [반두비]. 2009. Directed by Shin Dong-il. Seoul: IndieStory Inc. [Google Scholar]), Hello, Stranger (2007 Hello Stranger [처음 만난 사람들]. 2007. Directed by Kim Dong-hyun. Seoul: IndieStory Inc. Host and Guest [방문자]. 2005. Directed by Shin Dong-il. Seoul: LJ Film. [Google Scholar]), Where Is Ronny? (2008 Where Is Ronny? [로니를 찾아서]. 2008. Directed by Sim Sang-kook. Seoul: JinJin Pictures. [Google Scholar])—that will be discussed here in detail. These films, as I will show, not only provide an alternative perspective on immigrant life in Seoul and other parts of the country, which is more often than not represented through the privileged world of the Western “expat,” but also reveal the underlying tensions and contradictions in Korea's approach to multiculturalism as it tries to regulate diversity through the fiat of legislative policy while ignoring the moral and political choices confronting its citizens as they decide whether or not to befriend the other.
Publication Year: 2014
Publication Date: 2014-04-03
Language: en
Type: article
Indexed In: ['crossref']
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Cited By Count: 2
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