Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

Monstrous Science: The Great Monster Yonggari (1967) and Cold War Science in 1960s South Korea

Monstrous Science: The Great Monster Yonggari (1967) and Cold War Science in 1960s South Korea This essay explores the cinematic Cold War in 1960s South Korea, focusing on a popular film, The Great Monster Yonggari (Taegoesu Yonggari, 1967), and its transnational production, circulation, and responses. Initially produced as a children’s movie by Korean film director Kim Kidŏk, Yonggari had great success at the box office in South Korea. Later, with cooperation and international marketing by the Japanese company Toei, this film was introduced by American International Pictures television in the United States in 1969 with the title Yongary, Monster from the Deep. The transnational cultural nexus in the production and distribution of The Great Monster Yonggari obviously reflects the global Cold War politics among the nations in the “free world.” While paying attention to this ideological aspect of the film and the centrality of science as a national developmental agenda in South Korea, the essay also looks closely at the anxieties behind the Cold War science within Yonggari, as the “silenced” nuclear disaster of Japan started to be publicly spoken in South Korean media in the mid-1960s. The film reminded Koreans of the victims in Hiroshima and Nagasaki and of East Asian “Hot Wars” that were hidden behind monstrous Cold War science. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Journal of Korean Studies Duke University Press

Monstrous Science: The Great Monster Yonggari (1967) and Cold War Science in 1960s South Korea

Download PDF
25 pages

Loading next page...
 
/lp/duke-university-press/monstrous-science-the-great-monster-yonggari-1967-and-cold-war-science-Zw0rL7K5qr
Copyright
Copyright © 2018 by the Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York
ISSN
0731-1613
eISSN
2158-1665
DOI
10.1215/21581665-6973383
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

This essay explores the cinematic Cold War in 1960s South Korea, focusing on a popular film, The Great Monster Yonggari (Taegoesu Yonggari, 1967), and its transnational production, circulation, and responses. Initially produced as a children’s movie by Korean film director Kim Kidŏk, Yonggari had great success at the box office in South Korea. Later, with cooperation and international marketing by the Japanese company Toei, this film was introduced by American International Pictures television in the United States in 1969 with the title Yongary, Monster from the Deep. The transnational cultural nexus in the production and distribution of The Great Monster Yonggari obviously reflects the global Cold War politics among the nations in the “free world.” While paying attention to this ideological aspect of the film and the centrality of science as a national developmental agenda in South Korea, the essay also looks closely at the anxieties behind the Cold War science within Yonggari, as the “silenced” nuclear disaster of Japan started to be publicly spoken in South Korean media in the mid-1960s. The film reminded Koreans of the victims in Hiroshima and Nagasaki and of East Asian “Hot Wars” that were hidden behind monstrous Cold War science.

Journal

Journal of Korean Studies – Duke University Press

Published: Oct 1, 2018

References

  • The Cultural Cold War in Korea, 1945–1950
    Armstrong, Charles
  • Kukga ideologi wa SF Han’guk ch’ŏngsonyŏn kwahak sosŏl: Haksaeng kwahak chi surokchak ŭl chungsim ŭro
    Cho, Kyesuk
  • 1970-yŏndae ŭi ŏrini chapchi: Sonyŏn chungang kwa Sonyŏn segye rŭl chungsim ŭro
    Ch’oe, Sŏngil
  • Pak Chŏnghŭi wa 46-yŏn chŏn e manna
    Ha, Chuhŭi
  • Han’guk yŏnghwasa ŭi kiwŏn ŭl saeropke han munje ŭi kongsang kwahak taejak
  • Depiction of the Atomic Bombings in Japanese Cinema during the U.S. Occupation Period
    Hirano, Kyoko Broderick, Mick
  • Containing the Atom: Sociotechnical Imaginaries and Nuclear Power in the United States and South Korea
    Jasanoff, Sheila Kim, Sang-hyun
  • Munhwajŏk naengjŏn kwa Han’guk ch’oech’o ŭi tellebijyŏn HLKZ
    Kang, Myŏnggu Paek, Misuk Ch’oe, Isuk
  • Nation, Subculture, and Queer Representation: The Film Male Kisaeng and the Politics of Gender and Sexuality in 1960s South Korea
    Kim, Chung-kang
  • Science and Technology: National Identity, Self-Reliance, Technocracy, and Biopolitics
    Kim, Sang-hyun Corner, Lim,
  • Han’guk ŭi wŏnjaryŏk kigu sŏllip kwa kŭ baegyŏng
    Ko, Taesŭng
  • Wŏnjaryŏk kwahaksa
    Ko, Taesŭng
  • The Anatomy of Chaju Kukpang: Military-Civilian Convergence in the Development of the South Korean Defense Industry under Park Chung Hee, 1968–1979
    Kwon, Peter Banseok
  • Kwahak ŭi yŏngdo, wŏnjat’an kwa chŏnjaeng
    Kwŏn, Podŭre
  • Miraehak nonjaeng kumi kakkuk sŏ pum
  • Han’guk ŭi tunŏe yuch’ul pyŏnhwa wa Han’guk kwahak kisul yŏn’guso ŭi sŏllip
    Mun, Manyong
  • 1960-yŏndae kwahak kisul bum
    Mun, Manyong
  • Munhwa yŏnghwa suipsŏn
  • Godzilla and the Japanese Nightmare: When Them! Is U.S
    Noriega, Chon A. Broderick, Mick
  • Kwallyojejŏk munsŏjuŭi sok esŏ kirok kwa kiŏk
    O, Ŭnjŏng
  • P’aljinŭn an’ko taebon man
  • Panghwagye nŭn kisul hyŏngmyŏng chung
  • Riddle of Yongary, the Great Monster! Could Toei Possess Original Korean Elements?
    Ragone, August
  • Han’guk sonyŏn SF yŏnghwa wa naengjŏn sŏsa ŭi tu pangsik
    Song, Hyojŏng
  • The Imagination of Disaster
    Sontag, Susan Broderick, Mick
  • Wŏnp’ok ŭn kukjebŏp wiban
  • Pak Chŏnghŭi sidae Han’guk ŭi oegyo mit kukpang chŏllyak p’yongga
    Yi, Ch’unkŭn Kim, Yongsŏ
  • Haek enŏji ŭi kongp’o wa maeryŏk
    Yu, Kippŭm
  • U.S. Industry and Technology in the Cultural Cold War: Case Studies of Korea and Japan in Mid 1950s
    Yuka, Tsuchiya
  • The Cultural Cold War in Korea, 1945–1950
    Armstrong, Charles
  • Kukga ideologi wa SF Han’guk ch’ŏngsonyŏn kwahak sosŏl: Haksaeng kwahak chi surokchak ŭl chungsim ŭro
    Cho, Kyesuk
  • 1970-yŏndae ŭi ŏrini chapchi: Sonyŏn chungang kwa Sonyŏn segye rŭl chungsim ŭro
    Ch’oe, Sŏngil
  • Pak Chŏnghŭi wa 46-yŏn chŏn e manna
    Ha, Chuhŭi
  • Han’guk yŏnghwasa ŭi kiwŏn ŭl saeropke han munje ŭi kongsang kwahak taejak
  • Depiction of the Atomic Bombings in Japanese Cinema during the U.S. Occupation Period
    Hirano, Kyoko Broderick, Mick
  • Containing the Atom: Sociotechnical Imaginaries and Nuclear Power in the United States and South Korea
    Jasanoff, Sheila Kim, Sang-hyun
  • Munhwajŏk naengjŏn kwa Han’guk ch’oech’o ŭi tellebijyŏn HLKZ
    Kang, Myŏnggu Paek, Misuk Ch’oe, Isuk
  • Nation, Subculture, and Queer Representation: The Film Male Kisaeng and the Politics of Gender and Sexuality in 1960s South Korea
    Kim, Chung-kang
  • Science and Technology: National Identity, Self-Reliance, Technocracy, and Biopolitics
    Kim, Sang-hyun Corner, Lim,
  • Han’guk ŭi wŏnjaryŏk kigu sŏllip kwa kŭ baegyŏng
    Ko, Taesŭng
  • Wŏnjaryŏk kwahaksa
    Ko, Taesŭng
  • The Anatomy of Chaju Kukpang: Military-Civilian Convergence in the Development of the South Korean Defense Industry under Park Chung Hee, 1968–1979
    Kwon, Peter Banseok
  • Kwahak ŭi yŏngdo, wŏnjat’an kwa chŏnjaeng
    Kwŏn, Podŭre
  • Miraehak nonjaeng kumi kakkuk sŏ pum
  • Han’guk ŭi tunŏe yuch’ul pyŏnhwa wa Han’guk kwahak kisul yŏn’guso ŭi sŏllip
    Mun, Manyong
  • 1960-yŏndae kwahak kisul bum
    Mun, Manyong
  • Munhwa yŏnghwa suipsŏn
  • Godzilla and the Japanese Nightmare: When Them! Is U.S
    Noriega, Chon A. Broderick, Mick
  • Kwallyojejŏk munsŏjuŭi sok esŏ kirok kwa kiŏk
    O, Ŭnjŏng
  • P’aljinŭn an’ko taebon man
  • Panghwagye nŭn kisul hyŏngmyŏng chung
  • Riddle of Yongary, the Great Monster! Could Toei Possess Original Korean Elements?
    Ragone, August
  • Han’guk sonyŏn SF yŏnghwa wa naengjŏn sŏsa ŭi tu pangsik
    Song, Hyojŏng
  • The Imagination of Disaster
    Sontag, Susan Broderick, Mick
  • Wŏnp’ok ŭn kukjebŏp wiban
  • Pak Chŏnghŭi sidae Han’guk ŭi oegyo mit kukpang chŏllyak p’yongga
    Yi, Ch’unkŭn Kim, Yongsŏ
  • Haek enŏji ŭi kongp’o wa maeryŏk
    Yu, Kippŭm
  • U.S. Industry and Technology in the Cultural Cold War: Case Studies of Korea and Japan in Mid 1950s
    Yuka, Tsuchiya