Analysis of a Rare Film Green Fish The evolution of Korean gangster movies has highly evolved over time. In 1997, Lee Chang-dong released one of the first ever Korean gangster films. The title of the film is Ch’orok Mulgogi (초록 물고기) also known as Green Fish. This movie is about an unnamed man referred to as Makdong; “youngest sibling.” In the beginning of the film he meets a woman by the name Mi-ae on a train while returning home after completing his service in the army. Later in the film he meets her again and discovers that she is the lover of a local gang leader by the name Bae Tae-gon. Jobless and naïve, Makdong ends up working for Tae-gon as he enters the world of organized crime. Makdong’s feeling for Mi-ae grows throughout the film and so does his loyalty towards Tae-gon. Tae-gon, however, is constantly bullied by his rival gang leader Kim Yang-gil. As a result, Taegon orders Makdong with a mission to kill Yang-gil, and then disposes Makdong once the mission has been served. While Lee relies on familiar genres for his plot, the analytical process clearly demonstrates that the film is highly revolved among four main themes; love, status, loyalty, and family. The director Lee Chang-dong was born on April 1, 1954 in Daegu, which is officially called Daegu Metropolitian City. Daegu is one of the four largest cities in South Korea after Seoul, Busan, and Incheon. Lee graduated in 1980 with a Korean literature degree from the Kyngbuk National University. At the university Lee spent most of his time in the theater writing and directing plays. He then became a novelist and came out with his first novel “Chonri” in 1983. Shortly after, Lee turned his attention into movie making. Unfortunately Lee did not have any knowledge about filmmaking before starting his movie making career. His first two screen plays were for the movies: To the Starry Island in 1993 and A Single Spark in 1995, which finally encouraged him to get behind the directors chair. Lee wrote the screenplay and directed his first film, Green Fish in 1997, a "critique of Korean society told through the eyes of a young man who becomes enmeshed in the criminal underworld.” Lee received several awards for Green Fish. He was awarded best film, Blue Dragon award and Dragons and Tigers award at Vancouver International film festival in 1997 as well as the Netpac award at Rotterdam International film festival in 1998. Green Fish was also ranked number 8th in the best selling films of 1997 with Seoul admission of 163,655. Lee also released several other films in the later years, Peppermint Candy in 1999, Oasis in 2002, and Secret Sunshine in 2007. Starring in film Green Fish are three main characters: Han Suk-kyu (Makdong), Shim Hye-Jin (Mi-ae), and Moon Sung-Geun (Bae Tae-gon). Han Suk-kyu was born November 3, 1964 in Seoul and is a South Korean actor. He graduated with a degree in Drama from Dongguk University. While attending the university, Han sang in an amateur folk rock band and became a contract voice actor for KBS, before moving onto TV and film acting. Furthermore Han was casted in several dramas in the 1990’s up until the 1997 when he did his first film Green Fish. He earned many awards for this film, such as the Dae-Jong Movie award for most popular male and best male actor. In addition he was also awarded Chung-Ivong Movie award for most popular celebrity and best male actor. Moreover Han was also awarded most popular male by the Gold Film Awards. Another main character is Shim Hye-Jin. She born on January 16, 1967 and ranks of one the most visible stars of the 1990s. Shim graduated with a degree in communications from Korea National Open University. Her film career began in the 1990’s in the film Black Republic, Out of the World in 1994 and No Emergency Exit in 1995. Also she was cast in several TV shows and dramas which made her quiet popular. Afterwards In 1997 she was casted in film Green Fish and earned the most awards in her life time with film then all of the others. She was awarded the Dae-Jong Movie award for most popular female artist and main female character. In addition she received the Baek-Sang Artist award for best female artist, as well as most popular female artist from Gold Film Awards. Last but not least is Moon Sung-geun who is born on May 28, 1953. Sung-geun graduated with a degree in International Business from So Gang University. However Sung-guen came to the film industry late, after spending time working as a businessman in Saudi Arabia. Throughout the 1990’s he was casted in many films’ such as Black Republic in 1990, Out of the World in 1994, No Emergency Exit in 1995, A petal in 1996, Green Fish in 1997, and etc. Unfortunately Sung-guen was not recognized for his debut in Green Fish. In addition there are also some minor characters in the film and some of them became really popular in their acting career. These characters are Han Seong-Kyu (Mak-dong’s 2nd eldest brother), Jeong Jin-Yeong (Makdong’s 3rd eldest brother), Oh Ji-hye (Mak-dong’s sister), and Song Kang-Ho (Pan-su). One of themes in Green Fish was the role of status in society. This movie does a good job of expressing the differences between the wealthy and the poor. The rich and wealthy are the ones who are high in social status that own businesses and are mostly shown as gang leaders, while the poor are portrayed as uneducated people, struggling to make a living. Since Makdong’s family was from a poor background, he took it upon himself to find whatever work possible to support his family. Thanks to the help of Mi- ae, Makdong lands a chauffeur job for the gang leader (Bae Tae-gon), who also happens to be Mi-ae’s lover. Makdong enters the world of organized crime with the help of Mi-ae, who later becomes his lover. This leads us to another important theme of forbidden love. On the train back to his parent’s house in Ilsan, after serving his days in the army, Makdong has an encounter Mi-ae on the train who is getting bullied by some thugs. Trying to be a hero, Makdong goes to assist Mi-ae, but ends up getting beat up and left stranded at the train station with only Mi-ae’s scarf as a memory. According to Kyung Hyun Kim from “The Remasculinization of Korean Cinema”, the scarf symbolizes the love between Mi-ae and Makdong. Luckily Mi-ae grabs Makdongs belonging and contacts him to return his things. After running into Mi-ae again in a local night club, he is reunited with her, but again gets beaten up by Tae-gon’s crew. Makdong has never been in love until he met Mi-ae, nor has he ever kissed a girl. Mi-ae who really likes Makdong and vise-versa teaches Makdong how to kiss, and she was his first female companion. Towards the end Mi-ae is exposed as being pregnant, the director portrays Mi-ae as being pregnant with Tae-gon’s child, but according to Kyung Hyun Kim, “The Remasculinization of Korean Cinema”, the baby’s father can be either Makdong or Tae-gon, due to her encounter with Makdong. Even though Makdong really loved Mi-ae, he still did not disrespect Tae-gon, when he forced Mi-ae to do horrendous things. As for Makdong entering the world of organized crimes, he was not yet a part of Tae-gon’s group. Makdong had to complete several tasks that he was asked to perform in terms of being accepted to gang. Thus, this brings us upon the theme of loyalty. Makdong being innocent and naïve shows great loyalty to Tae-gon and his crew. Tae-gon knew Makdong is not a good fighter, but he will never give up during a fight. So Tae-gon gets Mak-dong to follow the organized crimes that were set up to lure in the city official that Tae-gon was trying to convince in letting him have a particular landsite where he wanted to start a new night club. Makdong always did what Tae-gon had asked him to do, and thus earns an official spot in Tae-gon’s entourage. Not only does Makdong portray his loyalty to Tae-gon, but also shows his respect and loyalty to Mi-ae, Tae-gon’s lover. By showing all his gratitude and loyalty to Tae-gon, Makdong was made a part of Tae-gon’s family and was told to address Tae-gon as his brother. This ultimately brings us to the final and most important theme in the film, the principle of family. The film shows that Makdong has two families, one that consists of his mother, three elder brothers, and his sister; while his second family consists of his entourage in the underworld. According to the Kyung Hyun Kim from “The Remasculinization of Korean Cinema”, “Bae fills the patriarchic center which had been left void by Makdong’s absent father and his dysfunctional brothers.” Makdong finally accomplishes his dream of having his entire family living together in one household while running a restaurant business, even though Makdong had to pay a hefty price. Makdong’s mother’s house is an old rigged concerted building, which has been threatened by the city to be demolished. Fortunately Tae-gon helps Makdong by supplying him with money to pay to the city and also to aid his mother in starting their restaurant business. However Makdong had to do something in return for Tae-gon. Hence Makdong is told to kill the opposing gang leader who had been picking on Tae-gon after being realized from prison. Makdong being loyal to Tae-gon performs the mission successfully. Unfortunately it was too late for Makdong to realize the consequences of his actions. Before Makdong is killed by Tae-gon, he reminisces on a last phone call that he made to his family. In the book “The Remasculinization of Korean Cinema”, Kyung Hyun Kim, describes to us that, the last phone call symbolizes that Makdong is really happy when he is surrounded by his family and wanted to feel the happiness one last time. Green Fish is a film with many different twists and turns. Although Lee’s usage of familiar genres for the plot was a bit confusing, after analyzing the film, it is easy to understand the film by following the four major themes: status, love, loyalty and family. In my opinion, the movie is not much of an action gangster film, unlike the American films from the 1990s such as: Out of Justice, A Bronx Tale, Young and Dangerous and etc. But if you are interested in a slower, mellower setting in a gangster film, I would high recommend watching the film Green Fish. Bibliography: Nigel D’Sa. “LEE Chang-dong Tribute in Fribourg.” Korean Film Council. 04 March 2008. < http://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/KOFIC/Channel?task=kofic.user.eng.b_filmnews.command. NewsView1Cmd&searchPage=1&Gesipan_SCD=1&Gesimul_SNO=942>. Korean Film Council. “Green Fish (Chologmulgogi).” Korean Film Council. 07 February 1997. < http://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/KOFIC/Channel?task=kofic.user.eng.a_filmdb.command.Fil mDB1Retrieve2Cmd&MainGBN=1&MVIE_CD=T970048N&pageSize=5>. Darcy Paquet. “Short reviews: Green Fish.” Darcy’s Korean Film Page. 27 November 2007. < http://www.koreanfilm.org/kfilm97.html>. Wikipedia. “Green Fish” Wikipedia. 14 December 2008. < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Fish>. Wikipedia. “Han Suk-kyu” Wikipedia. 20 May 2009. < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Han_Suk-kyu>. Koreanfilm.org. “Korean Actors and Actresses.” Actors and Actresses of Korean Cinema. 25 December 2005. < http://www.koreanfilm.org/actors.html>. Kim, Kyung-hyun (2004). "1. At the Edge of a Metroplis in A Fine, Windy Day and Green Fish" (in English). The Remasculinization of Korean Cinema. Durham and London: Duke University Press. pp. 34–43.
