SOCIETY IS A FAMILY: social exclusion and social dystopia in South Korean films

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapterpeer-review

    Abstract

    The family lies at the heart of Korean ideology and social organisation. Yet, the conceptual metaphor SOCIETY IS A FAMILY has grim implications for children who are socially excluded or abandoned when their birth family disintegrates or is refashioned to their disadvantage after the loss of a parent. Such children may find they have no place either in family or society and are thus ostracised, maltreated or generally impoverished materially and emotionally. Films often perceive the plight of such children as a metonymy of a more extensive dystopian element in a society structured around processes of inclusion and exclusion. Separately and together, the three contemporary films discussed in this analysis offer a sharp critique of social values in South Korea.
    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationAsian children's literature and film in a global age
    Subtitle of host publicationlocal, national, and transnational trajectories
    Editors Bernard Wilson, Sharmani Patricia Gabriel
    Place of PublicationSingapore
    PublisherPalgrave Macmillan
    Chapter4
    Pages71-88
    Number of pages18
    ISBN (Electronic)9789811526312
    ISBN (Print)9789811526305
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - Mar 2020

    Publication series

    NameAsia-Pacific and Literature in English
    PublisherPalgrave Macmillan
    ISSN (Print)2524-7638
    ISSN (Electronic)2524-7646

    Keywords

    • conceptual metaphor
    • family
    • dystopia
    • adoption
    • multiculturalism
    • social exclusion

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