Abstract

This paper examines the Socialist film movement of Korea during the colonial period, with the focus on its discursive practice between 1927 and 1935. The first socialist film discourse appeared when the Korean cinema saw its first renaissance after the big hit of Arirang(Na Un-kyu, 1926), and when a series of filmmakers and criticsorganizedanAllianceof Emerging Film Artists[Shinheungyesulgadongmaeng](1929)criticizing the unprogressive impact of Americanism on Korean popular culture. This discursive movement with its filmic productions experienced transformation in tandem with the reconstruction of KAPF in 1930 as well as with the definitive dissolution of socialist cultural movement in 1935 by the colonial government. This paper analyzes the transformation by articulating three discursive stages of socialist film movement: the inquiry into the propagandistic characteristics of film(1927-30), the debate on the ‘tendency film[Kyeonghyangyeonghwa]’ related to the concept of ‘people’ in socialist cultural movement(1930-1931), and the pursue of survival strategy in the face of global fascism and the development of talkie technology(1932-1935).