Masculine Virtues in Friend and Joint Security Area

In most cultures, masculine virtues are seen as superior, and are represented by qualities such as integrity, loyalty, discipline, strength, and courage. At a time when South Korea was feeling anxious and uncertain about its state, the entertainment industry provided its citizens with films that portrayed these desired masculine qualities to give them hope of recuperation. Two of these films, Friend and Joint Security Area, depicted brave and loyal men and the filial relationships that they formed with each other to inspire a nation that had forgotten that it had these values. In 1997, the Korean financial system collapsed and its stock market plunged (Paquet, 61). As a result, South Korea faced bankruptcy and had to depend on the International Monetary Fund to bail its economy out. The humiliation of having to rely on the IMF left the nation vulnerable and desperate for a way to recover its pride. As a result, the people of South Korea welcomed jop’ok, or gangster, style movies that redefined and exercised manhood (Shin, 118). Friend, the archetype of a jop’ok style movie, featured four male friends who embodied the masculine virtues Korea was seeking in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Similarly, Joint Security Area also featured four courageous male friends, but the movie wasn’t part of the jop’ok cycle. Its characters were soldiers and personified bravery, loyalty, and courage in the face of adversity. Both movies were received so strongly by the Korean movie-going public because they served as reminders of the hegemonic masculine virtues that Korea needed to remember it had as a nation to recover from the humiliation and embarrassment of bankruptcy. Friend, as a part of the jop’ok cycle, epitomized “hypermasculine ethics [that sought] to resolve national anxieties by recuperating male agency at a time of economic uncertainty” (Shin, 121). It illustrated the relationships of four male childhood friends as they experienced difficulties. Each character embodied masculine characteristics that made them loved by the Korean movie-going public. Joon-seok, the leader of the group and the son of a powerful gangster, is the loyal and protective one. Dong-su, the other gangster, is the strong one who climbs up the hierarchical gangster ladder all on his own. Jung-ho, the clown of the group, is the charismatic and well-loved one who always gets along well with everyone. Sang-taek, the brain of the group, is the intelligent, principled, and successful one. All four characters personified desirable masculine characteristics that made them well loved and accepted by the Korean-movie going public. Joon-seok showed his ultimate loyalty at the end of the movie, when he pleaded guilty for the death of Dong-su. When asked why he decided to plead guilty when the jury was already prepared to declare him innocent, Joon-seok responds “Embarrassment.” Dong-su was betrayed and murdered by his own gang, which is the ultimate embarrassment, and Joon-seok did not want his childhood best friend’s legacy to be tainted and humiliated by this betrayal. Joon-seok shows his protectiveness when he prevents Sang-taek from dropping out of school and becoming a gangster. Joon-seok realizes that Sang-taek has the opportunity to become successful so he keeps him out of trouble to ensure that his friend achieves the best. Dong-su is the strong one who, although was destined to become an undertaker just like his father and was poorer than the others, changed his destiny and became a powerful gangster. He, along with Joon-seok, also kept Jung-ho and Sang-taek from getting beaten up while they were in school. He manifested the masculine quality of dignity and refused to let his limitations to define his life. Jung-ho and Sang-taek both attended colleges and became successful career men, but also never forgot about their childhood friends who weren’t as smart as them. Sang-taek returned to Busan to visit Joon-seok and took care of him when he was at a very low point in his life. As seen from these descriptions, each of the characters protected and supported each other in different ways. Although they faced hardships that drove them apart, they were always “one another’s bodyguards and, as the film’s catchphrase illustrates, when they were together, they were not afraid of anything” (Shin, 122). Consequently, the film effectively promoted a united vision of nationhood and statehood through the brotherhood of these four male friends. On the other hand, Joint Security Area took the approach of using North and South Korean soldiers who became close friends and formed strong relationships in the face of adversity, which is the ultimate virtue of masculinity, to attract Korea’s movie-going public. In addition to serving as a reminder of the masculine virtues after the IMF Crisis, the film also served as a beacon of hope during a period when the ‘Sunshine Policy’ seemed to be working and North and South Korea were thought to achieve reunification (Paquet, 68). JSA featured two North Korean soldiers and two South Korean soldiers who become very close friends even though they were forbidden to communicate with each other, let alone socialize and hang out with each other. The four courageous soldiers presented the filial relationships the society as a whole had lost after the division of the Koreas and the humiliation of South Korea with its financial crisis. Individually, these heroic soldiers recovered the virtues of loyalty, courage, and integrity to a nation that had forgotten that they had personified these qualities before the crisis. Sergeant Lee Soo-hyeok, the South Korean soldier who initiates the fraternization and friendship, is a loyal soldier who sees past the political differences to form strong bonds with North Korean soldiers Sergeant Oh Kyeong-pil and Private Jeong Woo-jin. He displays admiration for Sergeant Oh, viewing him as an “elder brother” (Jager and Kim, 31). Sergeant Oh personifies the ideal soldier: he is “poised, confident, courageous, and principled” (31). He proves his ultimate virtuosity when the soldiers are caught fraternizing by another North Korean soldier. During the crisis, he uses his experience and professionalism to quickly and successfully plan out a way for the two South Korean soldiers to make it back to their own territory without getting caught or killed. On the other hand, Sergeant Lee’s masculinity is more on the surface. He is quick with a gun and has a reputation among his compatriots for being well skilled in battle. Together, the four soldiers form a brotherhood that eliminates the differences in political ideologies, consequently providing the Korean movie-going public a hope of possible unification and restoration of nationalistic pride. Masculine virtues are admirable and desired by most and provide a sense of pride and confidence for the individuals who embody them. At a time when Koreans were suffering from political and economic depression, the entertainment industry provided the people with relief and hope of a new beginning by reminding them of the traditional, masculine virtues it once embodied. Friend and Joint Security Area both portrayed strong male leads that exemplified courage, bravery, strength, and most importantly, loyalty. As a result, the Korean movie-going public welcomed and embraced these movies to show that the recent historical events wouldn’t be the end of Korea.

Sources
Jager, Sheila M., and Jiyul Kim. "Good Brothers, Model Soldiers: South Korea's Blockbuster War Films in the Post-Korean War Era." (n.d.): n. pag. Rpt. in Hahn Moo-Sook Colloquium in the Korean Humanities. Washington, DC: Sigur Center, 2005. 29-41. Web.
Paquet, Darcy. "The Boom." New Korean Cinema: Breaking the Waves. New York: Columbia UP, 2009. 61-91. Print.
Shin, Chi-Yun. "Two of a Kind: Gender and Friendship in Friend and Take Care of My Cat." New Korean Cinema. Edinburgh: Edinburgh UP, 2005. 117-31. Print.