On Representations of Masculinity and Intellectual Disability in Contemporary Korean Cinema

Korean representation of marginalized communities and subsequent public advocacy has been steadily increasing since the advent of New Korean Cinema, with top directors such as BONG Joon-ho and KIM Ki-duk putting those in oppressed socio-economic groups at the forefront of their most popular films. And yet there is a glaring shortcoming when it comes to the filmic representation of one particular minority group - those with intellectual disabilities. Representations of disability in modern Korean cinema often intersect with a greater exploration of masculine identity, and this is most evident in the proliferation of a unique character trope in popular culture. The description provided by filmmakers to characterize this figure, an intellectually disabled adult, is almost always gendered:“a man with the intellect of a six-year old,” or “a man with stunted intellect.” These films reflect greater structural and rhetorical gaps that exist in Korean society which propel the stigmatization of mental illness. The subject of disability is still taboo; so much so that disability is never labeled or diagnosed. The descriptions mirror a general lack of public awareness or acknowledgement of intellectual disability, and further exacerbate the infantilization of these individuals. This paper will ultimately serve as a documented chronology and extensive analysis of the intellectually disabled male figure in post-1997 Korean cinema. The considerable range of these films construct a narrative that lobotomizes, invisibilizes, and dehumanizes disabled individuals by cementing representations of disability as an absence of full personhood - which, in the case of Korea, is unquestionably gendered and tied to male personhood.