ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on a quintessential director from the 1960s who illustrates the complex relationship between filmmaking and the state, as well as investigate some of the strategies used by industry players to negotiate a pathway through the hazards created by an omnipresent political power struggle. It explores the tactics adopted by director Yu Hyun-mok (1925-2009), a leading arthouse filmmaker and auteur who was able to sustain his creative impulses under duress to enable him to do more than simply survive in this hostile environment. Yu’s films Aimless Bullet (1961, aka Obaltan) and The Empty Dream (1965) are analyzed as case studies showing how he developed a particular style that blended realist, expressionist and modernist elements. Yu was one of a handful of filmmakers of the 1960s who developed personal styles that set them apart from the propaganda and commercial productions of the time. Despite the control over the industry exercised by the regime, this director developed a unique style and strategies for survival-at the same time bringing a fresh face to Korean cinema. In addition, Yu’s distinguished career shows how the Western auteur theory of film could be successfully adapted to a Korean context.
