El objetivo de este trabajo es analizar los aspectos de la narrativa audiovisual de las películas Snowpiercer (2013) y Parasite (2019) de Bong Joon-ho que permiten que se evidencie la diferencia de clases sociales. Este protocolo de investigación tendrá un enfoque metodológico cualitativo y se dividirá en cuatro etapas: durante la primera etapa se identificarán las diferencias sociales en la estructura narrativa de ambas películas; la segunda etapa analizará las diferencias sociales en la construcción de los personajes protagonistas y antagonistas de ambas películas; la tercera etapa se centrará en reconocer cómo las acciones de los personajes anteriormente mencionados evidencian la diferencia de clases sociales; y en la última etapa se buscará establecer cuáles son los recursos narrativos que se utilizan para revelar las diferencias de clases sociales. / The objective of this work is to analyze the aspects of the audiovisual narrative of the films Snowpiercer (2013) and Parasite (2019) by Bong Joon-ho that allow the difference in social classes to be evidenced. This research protocol will have a qualitative methodological approach and will be divided into four stages: during the first stage, the social differences in the narrative structure of both films will be identified; the second stage will analyze the social differences in the construction of the main characters and antagonists of both films; the third stage will focus on recognizing how the actions of the aforementioned characters show the difference in social classes; and in the last stage it will be sought to establish which are the narrative resources that are used to reveal the differences of social classes. / Trabajo de investigación

The family has always been a central narrative theme in cinema. Korean cinema has been no exception, where the family has proved to be a popular subject since its earliest days. Yet Western scholarship on Korean cinema has given little attention to this dominant theme, preferring to concentrate on the film industry's recent revival and its blockbusters. Scholarship in Korea and in the Korean language, on the hand, has continuously discussed some of the major cinematic works on the family. However, such literature has tended to be in the form of articles discussing one or two particular works. A comprehensive study of the family in contemporary Korean cinema therefore remains absent both in Korean and in English. This thesis is an attempt to provide such a work, bringing together films on the family and writings on them in both Western and Korean scholarships, as well as filling the gaps where certain trends and patterns have gone undetected. How are the changes in the understanding of the family or in the roles of individual family members reworked, imagined, or desired in films? Taking this question as the starting point of the research, each chapter explores a separate theme: transformations in the structure of the family; faltering patriarchy and fatherhood; motherhood and the extremity of maternal love; and certain children's experiences of the family. The first chapter detects a general move away from the traditional patriarchal nuclear family and an interest in depicting alternative families, exploring shifting family forms in contemporary society and the public discourses surrounding them. The second chapter highlights the contradictory ways that the father has been illustrated in films during and after the IMF crisis. The third chapter explores a branch of recent thrillers that depicts mothers as dark and dangerous characters, offering an interesting cultural framing to the multiple perceptions of the mother figure in contemporary society. Finally, the last chapter aims to extend representations of the 'Korean family' to include films by/about those currently living outside of Korea, namely Korean emigrants and adoptees.

Selon le philosophe Gilles Deleuze, l’arrivée du néo-réalisme italien constitue le point de passage entre une forme classique du cinéma (L’image-mouvement) et une forme moderne (L’image-temps) entre le cinéma moderne. Une telle distinction est largement approuvée par les théoriciens, les critiques les historiens du cinéma. Loin de correspondre à unerupture historique, elle renvoie à deux types de cinéma qui possèdent leurs propres caractéristiques. Cette étude envisage dans un premier temps d’aborder, à partir de la typologie deleuzienne, les spécificités de chacun de ces régimes du point de vue de la création. Les films de Takeshi Kitano, cinéaste japonais, et Hong Sangsoo, cinéaste coréen, sont analysés selon cette perspective. Les premiers présentent effectivement une structure basée sur un régime classique, tandis que les seconds se fondent sur les caractéristiques du cinéma dit moderne. Leur analyse permet aussi de suivre le processuscréatif de ces deux réalisateurs reconnus internationalement. Cette étude tente, dans un deuxième temps, de montrer qu’ils s’inscrivent dans une perspective universelle sur le plan de la création. / According to the studies of French philosopher Gilles Deleuze, the arrival of Italian neorealism is the crossing point between a classic form of film (The movement-image) and a modern one (The time-image). Such a distinction is widely endorsed by theorists, critics and historians of films. Far from corresponding to a historical rupture, it refers to two types of films that have their own characteristics. This study intends initially to approach, from Deleuze's typology, the specifics of each of these regimes in terms of creation. The films of Takeshi Kitano, Japanese filmmaker, and Hong Sangsoo, Korean director, are analyzed under this prospect. The former represent a structure based on a classical scheme, while the latter is based on the characteristics of modern film. The analyst also allows following the creative process of these two internationally renowned filmmakers. This study attempts secondly to illustrate that they have a universal perspective in terms of creation.

From the dynamic landscape of contemporary South Korean cinema, one trend that stands out is the palpable revival of the historical drama (known as the ‘sageuk’ in Korean). Since the early 2000s, expensive, visually striking, and successful costumed pieces have been showcased to the audience. Now rivalling the other mainstream genres such as gangster action, romantic comedy, and the Korean blockbuster, the sageuk has made an indelible impact on the national film industry. Even so, the cycle has yet to receive much critical attention. This thesis addresses the gap, driven by the question, what is the impetus behind the surge of the ‘historical’ witnessed in recent sageuk films? For this, I first take a diachronic view of the historical context of the genre, which later serves as the reference point for the genre memory. Adopting a synchronic approach, I then examine the industrial, political, and social contexts in Korea at the turn of the new century that facilitated the history boom. While national memory and transnational politics fuelled Koreans’ interest in their past, the popular media – cinema, television, publishing industry, and performance theatre – all capitalised on this drive. The government also took part by supporting the ‘culture content industry’ as a way to fashion an attractive national image and accelerate the cultural export system. Collectively, these efforts translated to the emergence of history as a commodity, carving a unique space for historical narratives in the national heritage industry. As such, different agents – the consumers, the industry, and the state – had their stakes in the national mobilisation of history and memory with competing ideological and commercial interests. Ultimately, the sageuk is the primary site in which these diverging aspirations and desires are played out. In chapters that follow, I engage with four main sub-types of the recent historical drama, offering textual and contextual readings. The main discussion includes the ‘fusion’ sageuk (Untold Scandal), the biopic (King and the Clown and Portrait of a Beauty), the heritage horror (Blood Rain and Shadows in the Palace), and the colonial period drama (Rikidozan, Blue Swallow and Modern Boy). While analysing the generic tropes and narrative themes of each film, I also pay attention to contemporary discourses of gender, and the cultural treatment of masculinity and femininity within the period setting. Such investigation, in turn, locates the place of the historical genre in New Korean Cinema, and thus, offers a much-needed intervention into one of the neglected topics in the study of cinematic trends in South Korea.

The purpose of this thesis is to examine the filmography of Korean filmmaker Bong Joon-ho [Pong Chun-ho], and to provide a limited textual analysis of each film divided across two categories: the “explicitly ecological” and “implicitly ecological”. The intent is to, by viewing all of Bong’s films leading up to his critical and commercial success Parasite, argue that Parasite is as much an environmental film as it is critical of neoliberalism and globalization, both of which are common readings of not only Parasite, but all of Bong’s work.The findings are that while Parasite avoids overt and exaggerated displays of eco-destruction visible in his Sci-fi films, the film still displays a conscious environmental awareness. The rainstorm featured in the second act of the film can be viewed not only through a local lens as an example of the dichotomy between wealthy and poor families in South Korea as it pertains to environmental crises, but as a microcosm of how climate change stands to impact the financially disenfranchised across the globe as climate shifts continue to grow. / Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka den koreanska regissören Bong Joon-hos filmografi och genom en begränsad analys av varje enstaka film, uppdelade i kategorierna ”explicit ekologiska” och ”implicit ekologiska” filmer. Avsikten är att genom en genomgång av alla Bongs filmer upp till publik och kritikersuccén Parasit argumentera för att Parasit är lika mycket en ekologisk film som den är en kritik av globalisering och neoliberalism, uppfattningar som förekommer ofta när det Bongs filmer diskuteras.Slutsatsen är att även om Parasit undviker lika storskaliga och överdrivna exempel av ekologisk förstörelse som i hans science-fictionfilmer så visar filmen fortfarande upp en ekologisk medvetenhet. Regnstormen som förekommer i filmens andra akt kan ses inte bara som ett exempel på skillnaden på hur rika och fattiga familjer i Sydkorea hanterar ekologiska kriser, men kan även tolkas som ett mikrokosm av hur klimatförändringar kommer påverka de finansiellt utsatta världen över allteftersom de förvärras.

This thesis investigates the historically composed political and economic contexts that contributed to the late 1990s commercial renaissance of Korean national cinema and that have sustained the popularity of Korean films among local and regional audiences ever since. Unlike existing approaches to the topic, which emphasise the textual characteristics of national film production, this thesis considers relations between film production, distribution, exhibition, and ancillary markets, as well as Korean cinema’s engagement with international cinemas such as Hollywood, Hong Kong, China and Japan. I argue that following the relaxation of restrictive film policy towards the importation and distribution of foreign films between 1986 and 1988, the subsequent failure of the domestic film industry to compete against international competition precipitated a remarkable shift in consensus regarding the industry’s structure and functions. Due to the loss of distribution rights to foreign films and the rapid decline in ticket sales for Korean films, the continued economic viability of local film companies was under enormous threat by the early 1990s. The government reacted by permitting conglomerates to seize control of the industry and pursue vertical and horizontal integration. During the rest of the decade, Korean cinema was transformed from an art cinema to a commercial entertainment cinema. The 1997/98 economic crisis led to the exit of conglomerate finance, but streamlined film companies were able to withstand the monetary meltdown, continue the domestic revitalisation, and, since the late 1990s, build media empires based on the expansion of Korean cinema throughout the Asian region.