Two Lenses on the Korean Ethos ─ Key Cultural Concepts and Their Appearance in Cinema

While South Korea has rapidly industrialized and achieved global integration, North Korea remains insular. It is hard to imagine how these two seemingly different countries could ever have a shared ethos. In this book, Keumsil Kim Yoon and Bruce Williams explore the shared Korean ethos and its manifestation in key cultural works and film. They begin by considering hard to translate Korean words, like “han” (loosely translated to regret), “jeong” (loosely translated to feeling), and “deok” (loosely translated to virtue), and what role these ideas play in Korean films. They then take a closer look at ten South Koran and three North Korean films. Annotation c2015 Ringgold, Inc., Portland, OR (protoview.com)

Keumsil Kim Yoon is a professor of linguistics in the Department of Languages and Cultures at William Paterson University, Wayne, New Jersey. She has published widely in the areas of bilingualism, sociolinguistics and pragmatics. Bruce Williams is a professor in the Department of Languages and Cultures at William Paterson University. He has published extensively in the areas of cinema history, film theory, and language and cinema.