| Description |
The phenomenon of the Kimchi Western, a South Korean cinematic genre, emerges from the blend of various historical and cross-cultural influences. The term was first coined to describe Kim Jee-woon's The Good, the Bad, the Weird (2008), a film about a battle for long-lost treasures in the deserts of Manchuria. The Good, the Bad, the Weird is a transnational remake of Lee Man-hee's Break Up the Chain (1971) and Sergio Leone's The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (1966), and was intended for consumption by broad audiences from its creation through the release of two distinct versions. The original Korean release and subsequent international release vary most significantly in that the international release lacks much of the film's original context on the Korean independence movement against Japanese colonialism. This paper evaluates the impact of these differences and argues that the international version's absence of historical context and focus on action replaces the narrative of heroic nationalism with shallow themes of existential angst and nihilism. This analysis is conducted within the context of glocalization to conclude that because of these changes, the film's two versions cannot be considered a congruent work in the realm of transnational cinema. |
