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Essay / Portrayal of the end of the Korean War in the film The Front Line
The Front Line is a useful historical depiction of the end of the Korean War that has both value and limitations, given that from the Korean perspective, therefore describes the war as having been civil and centered on the attempted unification of Korea. The director wanted to create a film focused on the ties between the two sides in order to illustrate the attempt to unify Korea. In doing so, director Jang Hoon fails to portray the war without bias, downplaying international involvement and loyalty to the South. Symbolism and contrast are combined with downplayed war visuals to depict war as a disorder with questionable purpose. Because it focuses on the bond between the two sides, some symbols of that bond are presented in a way that presents the war in a historically inaccurate way, also being criticized for how what it "presents as telling ironies are mostly rusty tropes.” ". The film depicts to society the impacts of war on the humanity of people, sacrificed for hills that served as mere currency. When viewed, only the end of the war is seen without the context of why the war broke out, with limited representation of foreign involvement in the war. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get the original essay The South Korean film was produced in 2011 by director Jang Hoon, depicting the last six months of the Korean War which lasted from June 25, 1950 until July 27, 1953. It is considered a historical drama and takes place during a real event and period in history, the Korean Civil War, which was the first physical war of the war cold. Historical places such as Panmunjom, where the armistice between the two sides was signed in 1953, are used to depict real events that took place, such as conversations between the two sides regarding the armistice. Surrounding elements such as war orphans, PTSD and the constant change of control over the hills represent real historical parts of the war, with the film being able to "show how impersonal military operations literally turn mountains into molehills". The film loosely depicts the involvement of China, the United States, and the UN in the war, instead focusing on depicting the war as a civil war that was not part of the spread of communism as portrayed the Western perspective. Although set in a historical period, this film shows more of the modern perspectives on war which are now seen from three different perspectives, with The Front Line thus portraying the modern Korean view of war. The value of the director's choices in depicting the war is that he was able to depict the end of the Korean War to younger generations by focusing on the connection between the North and the South. The majority of previous films about the Korean War focused on how the war started, such as the 2004 action drama Taegukgi, but Jang hoon decided to release a film about the end of the war to "allow them to question the historical war and the current Northern War. South relationship. It aimed to allow younger generations to form their own opinions on the relationship, and therefore portrays the bond between the parties as being the fault of the hardships of war rather than either party. Both are depicted as fighting against the brutality of war, sharing the same view on the futility of the fight for Aerok Hill, as theylose understanding of why they are waging such a war. By depicting the past in this way, Jang Hoon portrays war in a way that inspires "disgust with war and leaders who gleefully send men into deadly combat", through characters like the soulless commander brought to lead the company that follows blindly. orders from superiors. This places the blame on the leaders of the Korean War and shows all citizens and soldiers victims of their orders. The director succeeds in allowing younger generations to form their own opinion on the current relations between the two countries by placing the responsibility for the war on the leaders involved. Jang Hoon faces limitations in his ability to provide context on the involvement and role of international countries in the war, as well as his inability to lead without bias in favor of South Korea. Jang Hoon depicts America as an air force that "indiscriminately drops bombs on the battlefield", portraying Americans as out of touch with the South and making relations between America and the South appear worse than between the two sides of Korea. America is barely represented in The Front Line, with only one American representative visible in the entire film, despite the bias favoring the Southern military. The film includes a character who was an old war veteran who fought in the war against Japan, a reference to the nation that colonized Korea for thirty-five years, which came from the North but turned away. This character had a deep hatred towards the North, presenting himself as "Not Red at All", the use of such a character who was from the North but fought for the South illustrating how the film is made with a bias in favor of the South. , despite claims to illustrate the connection between the two parties. The director faces limitations as he failed to portray aspects of the film such as the importance of foreign armies fighting the Korean War and depicting the camps with a bias in favor of the South Koreans. The visual techniques and filming methods used in The Front Line to depict the horrors of war. The opposing policies are represented in the landscape, as "the South Korean camps are bluish gray and those in the North are brownish orange". Red is a known symbol of communism, blue its opposite, such contrasting imagery representing the forms of political government of each side. The director wanted the battle scenes to "downplay the visual fireworks of war in favor of expressing it as disorderly, senseless chaos", keeping the glorification of war to a minimum, depicting it as a grim mess. Jung Hoon makes "the futility of sacrifice symbolized by the hill" on which all the battles take place, so that the insane reasoning behind the war is depicted in his film. The filming styles also aim to reveal the horrors of the past, filmed first by a handheld camera with rapid cuts, then by a steady, smooth camera that felt "as if we ourselves were getting used to what happens around the characters. ". This reveals how soldiers became desensitized to the ruthless nature of war and quickly suffered from the sacrifice required. The techniques and methods used by Jang Hoon have value in how they work together to depict the nature of the Korean War. The techniques and methods used have limitations in the way they describe the relationships between the parties as well as in their use of war clichés. tropes. During the film, a boxin a tunnel on Aerok Hill is used to exchange small gifts between North and South Korean soldiers, symbolizing the friendly relationship between the two sides. This depiction of the relationship is historically inaccurate, given that they were at war and kill each other in other scenes, with the film following the same "war is hell" concept as the one seen in films such as Saving Private Ryan. The concept of the box is therefore added for entertainment purposes rather than to accurately depict the war. The film was also criticized for its use of clichés of characters such as the old war veteran and the frightened young soldier new to the war. These tropes make it difficult to understand the type of soldiers involved in the war, nor do they allow for historical detail, as they "are the standard characters we have encountered in countless war films." The techniques and methods used by the director have limitations as a source of history in that they ignore parts of the war to create a more interesting story. The Front Line depicts the inhumane nature of the people brought out in the war by accurately depicting the role of the 38th parallel hills during the Korean War. The Korean War, as wars tend to do, left soldiers suffering from PTSD, as well as an undying sense of guilt, depicted through the shell-shocked soldier who had forcibly forgotten that his troop was wiped out. , as shown in the Pohang flashback. The scene shows the character Shin Il-Young having to shoot many South Korean soldiers so the others can escape, an inhumane action leaving him addicted to morphine as he is unable to cope with the pain caused. Scenes like this and Suhyeok's death scene show society the inhumane nature of war, as well as how forced and broken actions leave soldiers, given that Suhyeok says he believes he is " died a long time ago,” although he is only on the verge of death in this scene. The society constantly observed the fighting over Aerok Hill, which, while not an actual hill, represents the fighting that would take place over ownership of the hills. It depicts the futile nature of the war which lasted three years, with the majority of battles fought on hills whose sole aim was to gain ground on the opposing side. This film does a good job of depicting how traumatic it was for those involved in the war because they were fighting a pointless cause. The Front Line's depiction of the Korean War fails to illustrate the essentials of the war for society as well as the foreign involvement. As it focuses on the last six months, it is understandable that it does not show the war until the end, but in doing so the company does not see the cause of the war, much less the fact that Korea was divided because of the Soviet Union. The Union and America want to maintain power in Korea after World War II, creating the 38th parallel. This shapes society's view of limited information about the war, a personal perspective therefore limited since the films focus on a specific element. The countries that aided each side are only briefly shown throughout the film, although China was involved in the war before it began and America officially joined two days after the first attack on the July 25, 1950. Although this was done due to the West considering the Korean War to be "a proxy war for the Cold War", downplaying the involvement of countries and organizations 30/05/2019, 2014.