DIFFERIG SOCIO-HISTORICAL COTEXTS

This section investigates how differing socio-historical backgrounds influence individuals’ different experiences of globalisation. Complex social factors that involve not only income differentials but also aspects of emotional and psychological well-being are just some of the components which constitute conditions of social inequality.

Globalisation, in this sense, should also be understood as being informed by the ‘new dynamics of re-localisation’, which is referenced through (Robins, 1997: 28) use of the term “global-local nexus”. Now, due to differing social contexts, the local (re)shapes the impact of the global according to their own specific context. It is, however, not enough to emphasise that how Korean animators experience and handle the impact of global forces should be studied in a global-local nexus. I would argue that Korean animators’ in-between experiences, including value negotiation, conflicts, and

emotional struggles, occur as a consequence of such re-localisation. To understand this, here I briefly examine Korea’s history and traditional culture; at the same time I will also briefly explain how these socio-historical factors cause Korean animators’ in-between states.

(1) oticeable Historical Factors and Events in Korea as regard to Korean

ationalism

This particular section suggests several important historical factors and events in modern day Korea which are key to understanding why globalisation can be

experienced in forms of inequality. I believe, and will prove in this thesis with carefully collected and examined data, that these particular socio-historical factors have had great impact on how Korean animators experience feeling emotional inequality while

participating in global animation production. The three specific characteristics from

Korean history and events I would like to examine are: 1) the belief that Korea is an ethnically pure nation; 2) the Japanese colonial period 1910-1945; and 3) the Korean War in 1950. Firstly, it is important to recognise that many Koreans believe that Korea is an ethnically pure and one-blooded nation. It is commonly agreed by many scholars (see Kim Y.M. 2002; Tak 2004; Kwon 2000; Kim D.H. 1985; Hong 1973) that this belief makes people be inward and family-oriented, and has made Korea a nation with a strong sense of nationalism even in this global era. Tak regards nationalism as a

“ladder” and as a critical moment in the development of Korean nationalism:

Nationalism is a ladder, which has its base and foundation on modernity and its top towards nation-building. […] In the case of Korean nationalism, it has five rungs and as they were made, it required so much blood and sweat. In other words, it is not a ladder that Korea borrows from others. Instead, in order to make one step, numerous people suffered and made sacrifices (2004: 108).

In the above quote, Korean nationalism is already differentiated from that of the West and many other nations. This is because people in Korea believe that they are ethnically pure and that their national identity is continuously contested. This is explained by Gi-Wook Shin- Director at Shorenstein Asia Pacific Research Center,

Koreans have developed a sense of nation based on shared blood and ancestry.

The Korean nation was "racialized" through a belief in a common prehistoric origin, producing an intense sense of collective oneness. Ethnicity is generally regarded as a cultural phenomenon based on a common language and history, and race understood as a collectivity defined by innate and immutable phenotypic and genotypic characteristics. But historically, Koreans have not differentiated

between the two. Instead, race served as a marker that strengthened ethnic identity,

which in turn was instrumental in defining the nation. Koreans thus believe that they all belong to a "unitary nation" (danil minjok), one that is ethnically homogeneous and racially distinctive. (The Korea Herald, August 2, 2006)

Korean people’s vision of a single-blooded national identity plays a significant role in informing Korean nationalism which has in turn bolstered Korea’s successful modern processes of industrialisation and democratisation (Han, 2008: 106). Thus, Korea’s current modern society can be understood as a direct consequence of such a strong sense of nationalism. Shin’s view below clearly synthesizes the significance of Korean

nationalism for Korea’s modernity. It is lengthy but worth paying attention to.

Ethnic national identity has been a crucial source of pride and inspiration for people during the turbulent years of Korea's transition to modernity that involved colonialism, territorial division, war, and authoritarian politics. It has also

enhanced collective consciousness and internal solidarity against external threats and has served Korea's modernization project as an effective resource. At the same time, such a blood-based ethnic national identity became a totalitarian force in politics, culture, and society. It came to override other competing identities and led to the poverty of modern thought, including liberalism, conservatism, and radicalism. It has hindered cultural and social diversity and tolerance in Korean society. Ethnic nationalism will remain an important organizing principle of Korean society. We cannot ignore ethnic national identity or treat it as a mere myth or fantasy. (The Korea Herald, August 2, 2006)

Belief in ethnic purity has thus become a firm platform to grow Korea’s nationalism and achieve Korean modernity.

As Shin points out above, Korea’s nationalism has also become stronger through historically turbulent years. The period of Japanese occupation is one of these. Japan invaded and colonized the Korean peninsula for thirty-five years from 1910 to 1945.

During the Japanese occupation period, Koreans had lost their autonomy and control of their country to Japan. Hence, the pain caused by losing a nation was soothed by an

‘empty’ emotional belief, namely nationalism (Schmid, 2002: 145). The Japanese forced Koreans to change their names to reflect Japanese style, and learn and use the Japanese language so that eventually, Korean people would be assimilated into the Japanese culture and nation. Cultural assimilation was the predominant aim of Japan during this colonial period (Yuji, 2002). Therefore the Japanese colonial period left a huge

psychological wound on post-colonial Koreans. The colonial memory caused by the Japanese occupation period has greatly impacted and influenced the political

relationship between Korea and Japan; and it continues to do so through, for example, the recent territorial dispute over Dokdo and the political complications surrounding the on-going debates related to the Japanese use of “comfort women”. Having been

colonised by Japan for thirty –five years, these colonial experiences are embedded in Koreans’ collective memory. Even though some of these shared experiences may have been ‘fictionalised’ (Kozakai, 2000) and ‘distorted’ (Park, 2002), it is indisputable that Koreans share historical and cultural memories that are based on different social circumstances from any other country.

Next, Korean territory has been divided by two political ideologies since the Korean War in 1950 and the 38^th parallel remains firmly in place as a border between the two until the present day; communism (North) vs. democracy (South). Under the period of US administration, the Southern half of the peninsula could restart the process of building a democratic nation whilst the north was heavily affected by the communist

regime of the Soviet Union. Thanks to the establishment of democratic freedoms, the South Korean economy enjoyed various benefits including private ownership of property and a close relationship with the US which led South Korea to be rather Americanised in various political, economic, and cultural aspects (Han, 2008: 105).

Whilst the Japanese colonial education system (i.e. its cultural assimilation strategy) forced Koreans to struggle with “negative self-identity” issues, such Americanised surroundings brought a different kind of cultural chaos and Koreans began to search for their national identity from the 1960s onwards in various ways (Han, ibid: 105-106).

Sometimes searching for their national identity took the form of student demonstrations against the US. Koreans become more antagonistic to Americans as a result of particular events, an example of which is some American soldiers’ act of brutality which caused the death of two teenage girls on June 13^th 2002 in Yang Ju, Korea.

These contemporary historical events are arguably embedded in and affect Korean people’s mindset. In this research, it is clear that these socio-historical events influence individual animator’s emotions and work ethic. Korean animators in the OEM industry work mainly on Japanese and American-owned animations. As the later chapters (Chapters 6 and 7) will reveal, during the course of production they cannot help having mixed feelings about their work. The OEM animators (in many cases, in-betweeners) work in very poor working conditions with low wages and long hours. Most of the time, they accept the work for Japanese or American productions as a part of their job

particularly as many of them got into the field because they loved Japanese and American comics. However, on particular dates, such as Korean Independence Day, rather than seeing their working conditions as resulting from world economic logic, Korean animators tend to feel a sense of repugnance towards those foreign companies for whom they work. (See the interviews in later chapters for evidence of this fact.) Although most of my interviewees are too young to have experienced Japanese

colonialism personally, images of that time have been indirectly imprinted on their minds. Furthermore, today’s on-going political conflicts with Japan and the USA (e.g.

Dokdo, comfort women and American soldiers’ acts of occasional brutality) repeatedly remind the animators of this history. These examples partly reflect the ways in which collective memory and contested and thereby strengthened national identities influence people’s experiences of globalisation. Due to their particular place in history, Korean animators experience the effects of inequality with strong emotional context and consequently position themselves as globalisation’s in-betweeners. Despite the

difficulties of the past, their history and the reminders of colonial memory which remain also motivate the in-betweeners to be determined and strong-willed in order to create their own uniquely styled and defined Korean animation (See Chapter 10). This style of animation then sees animators developing content which is uniquely Korean. In addition to this, they believe that making their own creative animation is a way to compete against others and survive in the global marketplace.

(2) Confucianism in Korea

As is widely recognised Confucianism has played a critical role in Korean history and has had a great impact on the culture of the society. It comes as no surprise then that the principles of Confucianism, which have been embedded in the Korean mindset for centuries, affect Korean’s attitudes toward globalisation. Respecting parents and ancestors, acting generously towards children, and emphasising the significance of blood relations are important Confucian ideas. Today Confucianism in Korea is regarded as an ‘ideology and value system’ (Young, 1994: 37). One of the main Confucian principals is filial piety and having been influenced by this ideology for a long time Korea has become a family-oriented nation. This family-oriented attitude led

the nation to grow more internally-focused and encouraged the Korean population to unite as one to stimulate the strong rapid growth of the Korean economy. Korea’s rapid economic growth is partly due to its Confucian mindset which led Western thinkers to invent the term ‘Confucian capitalism’ (Choi, 2007: 123). A strict work ethic and a devotion to learning and educating children are distinctive characteristics of Confucianism. Positive Confucian values are even praised as a “catalyst” for the modern Korean education system and in the development of the Korean economy (Lee, 2001). This analysis is supported by Yu (1998) who suggests that the success of Korea’s economy is due to the fact its people are accustomed to a strong central power system; a lifestyle the Confucian attitude has contributed to shaping. However, Yu also argues that such an internal focus can function in a negative way in that it has led to people being overly passive. Yu believes that, because of a combination of factors, including the 500 year long Confucian (Chosun) dynasty, Japan’s several decade long colonial period and the Korean war with its resultant martial administration by two powerful external nations (the former Soviet Union and the USA), Korea became accustomed to a central power structure rather than a decentralized system (Yu, 1998: 5). The characteristics which result from such an inward-looking system are apt to be found most often in Korean’s education system and organisational culture (Lee, 2000; 2001). For example, Lee argues that relationships between superiors and subordinates are determined by status based on rank, age and gender. He continues on to point out that age is an important determinant of social or administrative position in Korean society (ibid.).

Indeed, such positive as well as potentially detrimental Confucian values have become rooted within the Korean perception of daily life. Nonetheless, as a result of its active participation in global and economic activities, Western values and cultures also flow into Korean society. As a consequence of its recent embracing of foreign cultures,

determining characteristics of Korean organisational culture and higher education are becoming much more complex (Lee, 2001) and this causes individuals to experience globalisation through the lens of various ideological confusions and dilemmas.

How then does this situation affect Korean animators’ experiences of globalisation? As will be revealed in the later chapters, the in-between dilemmas and conflicts between Confucian values and Western assumptions affect Korean animators with particular difficulty in the beginning of their careers. As Chapter 9 shows, Korean animators struggle with the question of whether to identify themselves as labourers or as artists.

Having a well-respected degree and higher social status are regarded as giving one pride of place in Korean family and animators experience the resulting familial pressures in the same way as do those in other professions. Indeed, for long time Korean parents have had negative views of animation and careers as “animators” and felt their children who are working in this field were a disgrace to them. Hence, animators in the Korean animation industry feel doubly isolated as they receive this kind of treatment both inside and outside the country/family. Nonetheless, their Confucian belief system provides them with inspiration to find new, creative, Korean-style animation materials. The merit gained from a Confucian life style can be used as a selling point in the global animation market which results in an increase in their global competitiveness. In conclusion, what can be clearly seen is that Korean animators’ in-between experiences seem inevitable in the era of globalisation. Perhaps, Korean animators’ status as in-betweeners could also be regarded as paradigmatic of Korea’s globalisation process itself. This problematic state of Korean animators, I argue, is one of the many defining features of Korea’s unique paradigm of globalisation. For this reason, the following section investigates globalisation in reference to Korea’s social context.