[기자메모] Was your movie really ‘art’?

Can art and the artist’s life be separated? Director Kim Ki-deok, who died in a Latvian hospital due to complications from Corona 19 on the 11th, was at the center of this debate. Domestic activities had practically ceased following allegations of victims of sexual violence during filming. Of course, the life of the artist and the message that the work tries to convey do not always coincide. However, most of the arguments that art and artist should be separated have a “hidden meaning.” “You have to admit the art of your work.”

Director Kim used to use the unhappiness of women to reveal “the desire to live on the ground” and “the contradiction of society.” The female characters destroy themselves by becoming tools to maximize the desires of other male characters, rather than acting independently to overcome the misfortunes they face. Or love a man who sold himself to a prostitute (<나쁜 남자>), or trying to ‘save’ a man who had a helping relationship with a dead friend (<사마리아>) Damages his penis from his ‘obsession’ with men trying to leave (<섬>) Expression. The criticism that director Kim’s film is misogynistic has been around since the early 2000s, but it gradually lost its steam as he toured famous overseas film festivals and became a ‘teacher’.

The Me Too Movement, which began in the United States in 2017, revealed just how misogynistic the world of film art was, praising director Kim. Among the famous national and foreign filmmakers whose history of sex crimes was revealed, the case of director Kim was problematic. This is because this violence occurred in the process of making the film, not outside of it. As the victims directly led the criticism, the weight of the criticism also shifted. What was the ‘art’ that director Kim wanted to show off while abusing, sacrificing and using female workers? I should have found a different answer.

Depending on the times, the valuation of the works varies. Creators can also correct their own mistakes according to these changes. It is director Kim himself who missed the opportunity. Instead of reflecting on her sexual violence or apologizing to the victims, she filed a civil and criminal lawsuit against the victims, as well as the women’s organizations and the media that supported them. Director Kim emphasized the fact that the allegations of forced harassment were not prosecuted on ‘insufficient evidence’, but both the prosecution and the court dismissed them, saying: “It is impossible to clarify that the victim’s allegations are false with the provision of non-prosecution “. When the national film industry union announced the results of its seven-month investigation and asked the victims to apologize, director Kim was silent.

“It seems to me that when director Kim died, the need to update his appreciation for the film was gone. Aside from the crimes he committed, it would be nice to think if his films could be called ‘art’ even in the eyes of this advanced age. ” An official from the film said, referring to a critic’s Twitter account in memory of the recently deceased. Who was Director Kim’s art created by excluding and repressing whom? Can we still call it art, not violence, in 2020? It is not a courtesy to the victims still struggling with their daily lives to leave it “stuffed” under the modifier “the director who dominated the three major film festivals in the world” without such questions.