Intimate Freedom: Queering Anarchism in Leesong Hee-il’s Films

The characters in Leesong Hee-il’s films dream of and desire a queer utopia and a completely new world. Awakened to their own singularity through gay shame, they are compelled to reconsider the norms and expectations of the established gay community, which they see as trying to assimilate them into the supra-communal state. Through this gay shame, they come to stand as singular beings in the face of an absurd society. They then rise in revolt against the identity that the gay community imposes on them, while expressing their dis-satisfaction with restricted freedoms provided by the state. Ultimately, they end up as queer anarchists in pursuit of social freedom through the ethics of personal relationships. Their gestures to escape regulations and control push them forward with affective resistance in their relations with others, which is the only future left for them after all else is lost. Finding themselves alone and at an impasse, they encounter their own utopian bodies. In a desperate queer dance, they lose themselves and transform their bodies to establish a utopia of the here and now.

keywords: Korean gay film, queer utopia, queer anarchism, social freedom, relational anarchism, affective resistance, utopian body, queer dance

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Article Contents

Vol.58 No.2

Intimate Freedom: Queering Anarchism in Leesong Hee-il’s Films

Abstract

Reference

Korea Journal